Do you want to earn money online through a side hustle that won’t require you to start and maintain your own business? Are you a stay-at-home mom, a full-time worker, or a student that can’t afford to put most of their time into working a side job?
Then hear me out.
Thanks to the powerful influence of the internet in the market industry, it’s now possible for you to earn money without having to work full-time or even leave your house. There are tons of opportunities out there where you can make money online with just a few hours of work.
One of these possibilities is affiliate marketing.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
To simply put, affiliate marketing is a tactic that brand owners use to widen their audience and increase sales. Through this, they’ll employ an “affiliate” who will refer other people to their products or services and in turn, the affiliate will get a commission.
Affiliate marketing is solely done online which makes it perfect if you’re looking to start a home-based side hustle without actually starting an actual business. By simply linking an affiliate product, you can get commissions each time someone purchases from your unique link.
This allows you to earn money online without actually “working” and build it while you have your other full-time job.
Why Should You Join An Affiliate Marketing Program?
Thanks to the internet and the power of social media, it’s so much easier to start selling and marketing a certain product without having to do it yourself.
This is why brands and companies invest heavily in online marketing —and that includes affiliate marketing. So if you have the passion and skill for selling products online, or you have the drive to make a side income but you don’t have the capacity or time to build your own products or business, then you can resort to affiliate marketing to earn.
Plus, you can make money online without having to actively persuade people to make a purchase. Because in affiliate marketing, you can create content on the internet, then simply attach a link and let people buy the products through it.
Depending on the product or services that you’re affiliated with, the commission rates per sale can go anywhere from 5% up to 50%. You’ll have a huge advantage especially if you’re highly active on social media platforms and you have a decent number of followings or if you have built up your email list.
The great thing about affiliate marketing is that you can put in as many or as few hours as you want. You can work two or 40 hours a week depending on how many campaigns you’re trying to build. And if you get the right products to promote, it could also lead to passive residual income. And the best thing is that once these campaigns have been set up, you don’t have to do anything. you don’t have to be there, and these affiliate links would still continue to bring you recurring income.
How To Start A Home-Based Affiliate Marketing Business
It’s possible for you to earn money online within the comforts of your own home through affiliate marketing. The steps to do so are fairly simple and all it needs is your dedication and initial efforts to build a strong audience for you to market to.
Here’s how you can participate in an affiliate marketing program:
1. Join An Affiliate Program You’re Would Be Comfortable To Promote
The very first step (and perhaps the most work you’re going to do) is to find and join an affiliate program.
But not just any program, the company behind it should be something that you thoroughly believe in. Remember that you’ll be their affiliate marketer and the brand will be associated with your image and social media posts.
So make sure that you’re picking a company that is in line with your personal interest and you’re not hesitant to genuinely recommend to people.
You can find affiliate programs in different online marketplaces. The most popular ones are:
- Amazon Associates
- Affiliate Networks
- ClickBank
- CJ Affiliate
- ShareASale
You could also go to Google and simply search for “niche + affiliate program”. For example, you love to travel and want to promote products or services in this niche. Then go to Google and type “travel + affiliate program” on the search bar.
2. Select A Specific Product Niche To Market
Each affiliate program will likely have different products or services offered within. Normally, companies will let you choose which products you’re going to promote that are in line with the social media content that you put out.
This is a crucial decision as an affiliate. You should take note of your current and target audience and what products they would likely buy. Always remember that the products should be outright sellable so you won’t have any hard time convincing people to buy them.
I also recommend choosing a niche that you’re genuinely interested in. This is because it’s easier to do research and share your knowledge with others if you yourself are interested, or if you’re an actual user of the product that you want to promote.
3. Build Up Your Social Media Audience
An important characteristic of a successful affiliate marketer is their audience and the reach of their specific platform.
If your social media posts, blog content, or website don’t have that much traffic and engagement, then you’ll have a harder time earning a commission. So you can either have a good start in increasing your online presence or have a bigger social circle where you can convince people to buy a product through your link.
You could also build your email list by posting your lead magnet on social media where your target audience can opt-in and then, you can send emails to your list and promote your affiliate links.
If you have no email list or following, you can also use paid ads to drive traffic to your site and build an email list from there and follow them up with email marketing to promote your affiliate links.
4. Create Engaging Online Content With Affiliate Link
Brush up with your art in selling because unlike the traditional way of marketing, you only have one single post to convince your audience to buy your affiliate product.
When it comes to online marketing, people don’t usually like to see content that outright screams advertisement. As an affiliate marketer, your goal is to create riveting and engaging content that piques your audience’s interest. This could be a youtube video or a blog post from your website.
Then once you got the attention of your audience, you have to tastefully incorporate the affiliate product in your content in such a way that your audience will feel the need to buy it. This is why it’s highly recommended to choose a product or brand that is in line with your online image.
5. Collect Your Commissions From Sales
Once you have been approved for the affiliate program, you will be asked to set up and integrate your payment information so that you can collect your commissions.
Different affiliate programs will have different commission agreements. Some companies will treat it as a Pay-Per-Click advertisement where you just need your audience to click on the link even without purchasing for you to earn your commission.
The most common is sale-based commissions. As mentioned, you can earn anywhere between 5% up to 50% of the sales. The lower-end of commission rates typically applies to physical products, while higher-end of commission rates are mostly found on digital products. If your affiliate products are consumable or subscription-based, that could mean a residual income for you, which means you’ll get paid as long as the customer keeps using that product.
Some affiliate programs also offer flat rates instead of percentages. Make sure to thoroughly read the details of your commission system so you’ll have an idea of how much you can make.
Affiliate Marketing Conclusion
With almost no initial investment and a low-cost risk for marketers, it’s no wonder why affiliate marketing has become the most sensible option for people who are looking for a side hustle. I personally love affiliate marketing because it can be a passive income in the long term.
If you’re into health and wellness and would like to be an affiliate with an established company with great products in the health and wellness niche, then I recommend checking out this video and earning from every referral that you make.
But if you don’t want to create content, you don’t want to take the time to build a following or you simply don’t want to talk to people (lol) you can still do affiliate marketing and scale up by doing paid advertising. Check out this free training on how to earn affiliate commissions using paid advertising techniques.
