Affiliate marketing involves recommending a product or service by sharing it on a blog, social media platform, podcast, or website. The affiliate earns a commission every time someone makes a purchase through the unique affiliate link associated with their referral. While most affiliate marketers have one website, or several websites, or have one or two blogs, it's actually possible to do affiliate marketing without a website. Whichever way you look at it, the industry is growing and thriving, which means there are plenty of opportunities to make money as an affiliate marketer.
If you're in the same space, you can also see where your other affiliate income comes from and potentially promote the same products. It can serve as a central platform for working on your performance marketing skills while generating a revenue stream. However, you can also start the journey from the other side of the fence and become an affiliate yourself. For brands that have a product and want to sell more, they can offer a financial incentive through an affiliate program.
When it comes to affiliate marketing, most people think of it as a process of earning a commission by promoting the products of other people or companies. It could also be a complete site dedicated to finding interesting products related to a given topic and promoting those affiliate products. For example, the seller could be an e-commerce merchant who started a dropshipping business and wants to reach a new audience by paying affiliate sites to promote their products. The advantage of this type of affiliate marketing is that the affiliate has the experience to generate traffic, however, they may risk recommending a bad product or service if they have never used it before, which could cost you the trust of your audience.
While affiliate marketing has a good reputation overall, one of the most common questions newcomers ask is whether it's a scam or not. While brands often pay influencers to promote products, it also makes sense for them to share affiliate links with their followers in exchange for commissions. Since you're probably starting out, it'll be quite difficult to earn a significant amount of money competing against expert sellers with big bucks. In fact, there's usually a long list of questions you'll want answered before starting your online affiliate marketing journey.
They are the ones who buy the product or submit the prospectus form so that the affiliate earns the commission. Once your affiliate marketing business starts to gain traction, you can start thinking about paid advertising.