Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has such an air of scam. Sorry but it does. The first thing that comes to mind is someone selling get rich information on how to get rich.

It is why many companies are:

shying away from promoting some topics.
you need to show tax documents/ numbers before you start selling
why there is a wait/ assessment period
they want to know how you are going to sell their products
why companies insist that you state that you are being paid to promote something/ paid a percentage if someone buys through your link.

This sound all so constrictive, but it is not:

It promotes transparency
it encourages trust
it tries to allow "good" products to be sold

It actually increases your chances of someone buying something through your advertisement.

You will convert more people to buying your product if they know you or believe what you say/ write. If they don’t believe you then you have to make sure they believe someone.

That is the fundamental idea behind affiliate selling. You have to have trust in your affiliate promotional materials.

So what is affiliate marketing?

This page already assumes that you know what affiliate marketing is, however my definition is this:

"affiliate selling is a relationship between a producer and a seller. The seller obtains an audience to that product and receives a commission for a sale."

Now you might have realised that affiliate marketing is no where to be seen in the definition. It is because you are

trying to sell a product
through marketing, obtaining customers

Most affiliate sellers use the Internet. The Internet is a marketing tool. Articles, Pay Per Click, SEO are all types of marketing that you can do. To write the words, to write text, place pictures and to know your audience is selling. Admittedly the two cross over and it is because you are a business of one- doing everything by yourself.

Ups and downs

There are multiple ways to find affiliate products- through companies like Clickbank who congregate lots of sellers. You pick the product you like and then you get customers to buy.

They buy through special links that tell the company that you generated that sale. Depending on the company they will give you a percentage of that sale.

The upsides of affiliate marketing are huge:

no product
no aftercare
no payment processor

You get your money when someone buys.

However, there are unsaid downsides:

how much time and money are you going to put into this to make a sale
what are you good at, what are you bad at- each will influence on your sales
do you have to start from scratch every time you promote a new product?
will you have a website?
will you know the product
how will you chose a product
how much competition is there?

That is the main issue with affiliate marketing. The competition. In the rush to get people to sell their product there can be no cap to how many people are selling the product. Some companies will limit the affiliates, many do not. And you can guarantee that someone will do something cheaper/ more expensive than you and lose profit just to get a sale- everyone can loose.

Affiliate marketing info area

Couldnt think of a better title :)

This page is dedicated to affiliate selling (affiliate marketing :) ) where articles will be kept discussing theory, what works, reviews.

Please note. Sometimes affiliate products suggest a brand new way of making top affiliate sales. Most are poor/ wrong. Some are old and in many of those cases the technique has gone as soon as the product has come out.

As a bonus tip. We won't be using any affiliate links.

Basics

What is the best affiliate niche?

What are affiliate links?

What are affiliate programs?

What is an affiliate marketer/ what should you be?

Affiliate product selection- finding the best affiliate products to sell- free online multipart course (no sign up)

Best affiliate channels to sell on?

What is an affiliate and other questions- the FAQ

Affiliate marketing articles.

A tech website selling a Forex marketplace. How did it do?

Improve Amazon associates commissions