Mastering Affiliate Marketing

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According to 99 Firms, “annual affiliate marketing spending is projected to hit the $6.8 billion mark”. Moreover, “15% of the total digital media advertising revenue is attributed to affiliate marketing”.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is a performance-based marketing model where businesses increase their sales and individuals (affiliates) earn a fixed amount of commission only when a purchase happens or any other qualified action.

It might be hard to understand at first, but you will find that it is an easy and effective model to help you raise revenue once you start.

Who is involved in the Affiliate Marketing process?

There are three people involved in the process: the merchant, the affiliate (or publisher - it can be an individual or a company) and the buyer (the person who makes the purchase).

The affiliate will receive a link from the seller that will be shared with the community, and then the purchase is made.

Why Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing permits companies to efficiently market a product using a minimal budget, with limited effort and time, which in return can earn them a high return on investment, increase in brand recognition, and business development.

Does Affiliate Marketing still work in 2021?

The Affiliate Marketing sector is said to go far beyond $16 billion worth and also to skyrocket even further in 2021. The many lucrative verticals for affiliate markets are ever-green verticals and COVID-19 motivated markets and products.

Can I do Affiliate Marketing without a website?

For Affiliate Marketing, you do not want to have a website, you just need visitors or viewers, it could be on your YouTube channel, Instagram, TikTok or Facebook page. You can paste your affiliate link on your content for verifying that the sales made through your video or post.

Best Affiliate Networks:

1. ShareASale

ShareASale is one of the hottest affiliate programs on the market.

Regardless of which market your website serves, you can most likely find some offers at ShareASale that are value-boosting.

The affiliate will want to independently apply to retailers and be accepted by every retailer, a fairly standard approach to an affiliate system.

In general, ShareASale is a superb option for both physical and digital goods,homes affiliate applications for 4,500+ retailers, both big and small.

2. Awin

Awin, a rebrand of Affiliate Window, is another popular affiliate system that provides you with access to over 13,000 distinct retailers. You will find plenty of retailers for both physical and electronic good.

Awin is set in Germany, which means you will find more European retailer’s on the list, even though there is also a good deal of US/global businesses.

You will also find a lot of smaller retailers across a variety of markets.

Awin acquired ShareASale back in 2017, although both continue to run as separate entities and have various retailers.

Like ShareASale and CJ, you will want to separately apply to retailers within the community. Then, you can create your links and start monitoring statistics.

3. Amazon Associates

What makes Amazon Associates even more valuable is that you make a commission on anything new that someone you refer buys, even if it is not exactly the product you connected to.

For example, if you link into £70 earphones, but that individual ends up purchasing a £500 TV, then you still receive the commission (so long as it is inside the cookie duration, needless to say).

Together with Amazon Associates, you can make a commission on nearly anything offered at Amazon.com.

Before, Amazon Associates paid you a commission fee based on the revenue/sales you drove. In 2017, Amazon transferred into a flat-rate commission arrangement where you are paid a level per cent based on the type that every item:

4. Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Marketing (previously called LinkShare) is an affiliate system that contains a lot of big retailers. Notable retailers are:

• Walmart
• Best Buy
• Macy's
• Papa Johns

They also have some smaller retailers, though their system is not as big as ShareASale, CJ, or Awin (it is"just" around 1,000 retailers). Therefore, if you would like access to a massive assortment of retailers, you may be better off using the other networks. However, Rakuten is a fantastic alternative for gaining entry to the big guns, and they also have some excellent features, such as the ability to rotate ads without the necessity for an outside solution (such as a WordPress advertising management plugin).

5.CJ

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CJ -- previously known by the more extended title of Commission Junction -- is just another affiliate system that brings together tens of thousands of unique retailers under one roof (a whole lot like ShareASale).  

For affiliates signing up for the first time, we believe CJ's affiliate dashboard has a slightly higher learning curve than ShareASale, but we prefer it to ShareASale based on its functionality.

Like ShareASale, you will individually apply to all these retailers from the CJ dash. Following that, you're going to have the ability to create affiliate links and view data on how the links are performing.

Together with ShareASale, CJ is one of the most effective affiliate programs on the market, meaning you'll have the ability to get in touch with thousands of big and small retailers. Presently, CJ has 2,696 distinct retailers.

Best niches in Affiliate Marketing?

✔︎ Surveys & Sweepstakes
✔︎ Gambling (including Casino and Sports Betting)
✔︎ Gaming
✔︎ Dating (mainstream and adult)
✔︎ Finance (also Trading, Binary, and Crypto)
✔︎ Health & Beauty (including Nutra)
✔︎ E-commerce

Top Verticals and Niches for Affiliate Marketing

Pros:

✔️ Affiliate is cost-effective, as you have to pay commission to the affiliates, without spending money on advertising

✔️ Affiliate is performance-based, which means that the affiliates will be motivated to bring sales

✔️ You will gain visibility and broaden your audience  

Cons:

❌ If you chose to work with an agency, there might be higher costs involved

❌ You can’t control where the affiliate will share your link  

Businesses that can use Affiliate Marketing?

Agriculture industry, AI & Machine Learning industry, Beauty/Fashion industry, Electronics industry, Entertainment industry, Entrepreneurship industry, Financial Services industry, Fitness and Sports industry, Food industry, Hospitality industry, Insurance industry, Learning industry, Marketing & Advertising industry, Retail industry, Transport industry, Traveling industry, etc.

‍How to set up Affiliate Marketing for your business?

• Set goals for the affiliate campaign. Think about the outcome for your business and what do you expect to achieve - sales, brand loyalty, etc. Ask yourself what problem you are trying to solve, who is your target audience, is it a short or long term goal.  
• Identify the right affiliate profiles to deliver the campaign. You can select websites in your niche, bloggers, conversion affiliates, cashback and loyalty portals, etc.
•  Think about incentives and what reward you will be offering. You have to do some research and identify which are the best websites for your business and what rates they have.  ‍
• Create content and offer to the affiliates. Make sure you personalise the messages to be more effective.  ‍
• Communicate with the affiliates and keep track of their activity.  
• Last but not least, you should optimise your website for conversion. Make sure the website is easy to navigate and customers can enjoy a smooth process.  ‍
• Analyse the results and see what you can improve.