Affiliate Marketing is when you don’t sell a product yourself, however you refer someone to a specific product, and if they buy that product, you get a small commission, ranging from around 5-20% depending on the industry.

This article is an excerpt from our eBook which is available on Amazon Kindle.

What To Sell

You have almost an unlimited number of choices of products, services, and even event tickets to choose from. For example, every product on Amazon is available for you to make an affiliate commission (albeit a small commission) by referring customers to that product.

How to Get the Products

The best route for this work is to specialize in a niche of products you are very familiar with yourself, and help others navigate which products are worth it and which work best.

In terms of finding affiliate programs, just about every major ecommerce store has an affiliate program. Just go to their website and search for “Affiliate” on the home page and you can sign up to earn a commission on most sales.

How to Get Customers

This is actually NOT easy. Some people will tell you Affiliate Marketing is a great business to start from scratch, and if you want to send affiliate links to your friends and family you can “easily” make a few bucks. However, to turn this into a real money making business you will need a consistent source of new customers to refer to products.

In order to do that, you will need to build an audience. Because the commission rates on affiliate products can be as low as a few percent of the sale price (thanks Amazon!) it is hard for this business model to rely on you paying to advertise products. You simply don’t make enough money per product to buy ads, plus your ads are competing with people who sell the products, and make more like 25-50% of the sale price as profit.

So, most Entrepreneurs I know who are successful making money as affiliates are growing an audience in blogs, or on Facebook etc. with content or articles, and refer their customers to products with affiliate links.

Advantages

In this business model, you don’t have any of the responsibilities of making the products, or managing returns or customer service. Your job is just to let customers know which products you recommend with an affiliate link so you can get credit for the sale when they buy.

It is true that you can start an Affiliate Marketing business today with no money however that doesn’t mean it is easy to make money.

Disadvantages

When you are an affiliate, your commission is a small portion of the sale, and you really don’t make enough to advertise on your own for the product. Therefore, you often have to rely on creative ways to get “organic’ traffic or build an audience.

Risks

This is a pretty low risk business model. Maybe the biggest risk is your time lost if you don’t get a sale.

Money Needed to Get Started

$0

Expected Profit (% of sale price)

100% profit off of “organic” referral traffic

Resources and Examples

Third-party links and resources. Commissioned links below.

Rakuten (formerly LinkShare)

CJ (Commission Junction)

Amazon Affiliate Program

Article: The SPI Guide to Ethical Affiliate Marketing

Article: How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing (2020 Guide): He Hit $150,000 Last Year And Wants To Show Other People How He Did It

Article: Affiliate Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide

 

This article is an excerpt from our eBook which is available on Amazon Kindle.

Disclaimers

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Earnings and Legal Disclaimers: The author is a professional 20 year entrepreneur and his results are not typical. His experiences and those of his examples and students are not typical and not a guarantee you will make money. You may make more, less, or the same. There is risk of losing money in every new business. Individual results will always vary and yours will depend entirely on your individual capacity, work ethic, business skills and experience, level of motivation, diligence in applying information, the economy, the normal and unforeseen risks of doing business, and other factors. Additionally, the author is not a lawyer, CPA, or CFP and does NOT offer legal or financial advice. The author is not responsible for your actions. You are solely responsible for your own moves and decisions and the evaluation and use of information should be based on your own due diligence. Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Pexels attribution free license.