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As technology surpasses human expectations, copious ways of passive income emerge in the cyber world; one of those is affiliate marketing.
Some of you might be familiar with the term, but most people don’t actually know what it really means and how it works. In this article, you will gain a clear definition and have a grasp of its method.
The Simple Definition
Affiliate marketing is an online industry that involves advertising, promoting, and selling other people’s products via online. In return, the merchant gives you a percentage of the product sales – or a commission.
The strategy in this online business is simple: promote, sell, and get paid.
This might sound appealing to you, especially when you have a website of your own, but have no personal products or services to offer. This will definitely make your website productive.
Getting To Know The Core Players
It is essential to know the core players in affiliate marketing, to recognise who are involved, and to have a better idea of the people and companies you'll be dealing with.
There are four core players in this type of marketing industry.
The Merchant
It is the ‘retailer’ or the ‘brand’ itself. It is the individual or the company who owns the product you are about to promote and sell. It is the person or brand responsible in giving you the commission after a successful sale.
The Network
It is the system that contains different offers for the affiliate marketer to choose from and is responsible for taking care of the affiliate’s payment.
The Publisher
It is also called ‘the affiliate.’ It is the person (in this case, you) responsible for placing advertisements and sales for the merchant. It is a person equipped with online sales strategies to help dealers and shops make a tidy profit out of their products and services.
The Consumer
It is the online buyers who will buy the products promoted by the affiliate.
Aside from these primary players, additional participants are added because of the vast growth of the marketing industry. The secondary players like affiliate management agencies, the super-affiliates, and the specialised third party vendors are the assisting groups in the marketing realm.
How Affiliate Marketing Works
Online business promotion is the easiest way to connect to your consumers. Thus, merchants normally have their own web page with all their products and services offered. Online companies who sell products like shoes, fashion dresses, home equipment, or some other services usually will look for different advertising methods and one of them is the affiliate program. This program is a publisher’s first step in the affiliate marketing trade.
There are three ‘S’ that you need to know, to easily explain the entire affiliate marketing process.
Sign-up
An affiliate program requires you to sign-up. Through doing this, you will be given a tracking link that you can use in your personal website to promote the products and services. This is also the link in which the network will be tracking with, to know who promoted and sold the product. Do not worry about the joining in any program because it is for free.
Start Promoting The Products And Services
Now that you have the tracking link, you can start writing or placing product descriptions and promotions on your very own website – your site is what we call ‘the Affiliate site.’
Once an online shopper reads and wants to buy the product, placing the link on your site will redirect them to the company’s web page and continue their purchasing process.
Successful Earning Of Rewards
As soon as the buyer purchased the item, an affiliate will get a commission.
It is important to know that an affiliate program has a set of TOS. Most of them offer a 60-day period, if a buyer who uses your link to land on the company’s site and buys anything within 60 days, you will still be entitled to the sales commission.
Why Do People Are Getting Into It Today
You might wonder why most people are into the affiliate marketing industry. Here are some basic reasons that might be applicable to you.
First, a lot of people are into online jobs rather than an office-based works, because it has no stringent requirements and the jobs are mostly open to all. Affiliate marketing brings convenience to students, working mums, part-time job seekers, and even full-time businessmen. You don’t need to wake up early and commute to an office; your affiliate site is your workplace. No one demands you to do a task, you are the master of your own ship.
Secondly, it can be easily done with lesser investment and commitment, a laptop or a desktop with an internet connection plus advertising skills will do the trick.
It is also free of charge. Joining any affiliate program requires no money investments. Actually, you can even join to multiple direct product sites and sign-up for an affiliate tracking link.
Fourth, it is harmless and legal. Signing up on any product’s site gives you a tracking link that you will be using on your own web site. As long as you use your own link and not the direct site link, you are on the right track.
Finally, you can earn an unlimited amount of money from different affiliate programs. Profit is all dependent on which program you are promoting and how many successful promotions you earn.
The Potential Profits For People Who Know How To Do It Right
Your income depends on how good you are in your marketing methods. Those who are first-time affiliates earn an estimated income of $47 per month and could reach up to $4K-5K per month by promoting diverse products. Affiliate marketing benefits all core players involve and as shown, it is not difficult to be affiliate marketing for someone.
