How Affiliate Marketing Can Boost Your Business

Who is An Affiliate?

An Affiliate is an individual who markets other people’s products on the internet for a commission on the individual sale. As a merchant or business owner, this is great news for you – as long as you are prepared to offer a percentage of sales to your customers. This is also a very risk free method of advertising because affiliates are only paid per acquisition. They send a customer to your website through their unique affiliate link, the customer buys and only then do they earn a commission too. Unlike other digital advertising strategies that involve spending money prior to customer acquisition, with affiliate marketing, affiliates are only paid per lead acquisition.

Thousands of affiliates do this because they can start making money almost immediately without the expense and time needed to produce a product themselves. Having a website is not necessary and there is no interaction with your potential customers beyond getting them to the sales page.

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Getting involved in affiliate marketing is a great opportunity to make a lot of money on the Internet, but one should not go into it blindly. As an affiliate you must invest some time in research, this is absolutely necessary. Know what products you want to promote, how much you will make on each sale and the return rate of the product. If possible it’s a good idea to buy or request a sample so you know the product inside and out.

As a first time affiliate it’s a good idea to start with reasonably priced products making at least 15% commission. The most critical part of affiliate marketing is of course marketing. The issue of traffic is one of the most central and fundamental issues in making any money online. You can separate your marketing campaign into two distinct groups, paid and non-paid. Free marketing can be quite effective if you know how it’s done. Here is a list of the most popular methods for getting traffic for free.

As a merchant or business, you need to ensure the commission percentage is agreed with your affiliates to avoid any conflicts that may arise later. You also need to ensure you are still able to make a good profit after your customers get paid.

The good thing about affiliate marketing is, there is always some interest with people looking for ways to make money online. For example if you own a fashion boutique, you could set up an affiliate program to encourage fashion bloggers or people with a passion for fashion to join, promote your business and in exchange earn a commission on every sale.

You have absolutely nothing to lose but so much exposure to gain at a more realistic rate. There are so many affiliate platforms out there, but if you are interested in starting one, you can always contact your web designer to create one for your website, or research on the best affiliate platforms out there and go for what suits your business needs the most.

Learn More about Affiliate Marketing at the Income Reap Academy.