So how does affiliate marketing work? 

It’s a big question. We’ve all heard about others who bring in an amazing amount of money online through affiliate marketing – and sometimes even replace their entire day job with passive income! 

BUT HOW? 

In this post, I’ll give you an idea of how affiliate marketing works and provide a method you can use to learn to do affiliate marketing yourself. 

Let’s start at the beginning. What is affiliate marketing? 

Affiliate marketing is when you promote products for another company, receiving commissions for each sale when someone buys. 

To borrow from an easy example, let’s say you absolutely love your latest car. One of your friends decides he or she needs a new vehicle, so you recommend your make and model. This friend likes and trusts you, so they go purchase the vehicle based on your recommendation. 

You’re helping sell a product that you’re happy with, which is one of the best kinds of advertising there is. If you’ve built trust and rapport with your audience fairly, they’re going to listen to you and your advice. 

Now – the obvious difference between affiliate marketing and this example is that the car dealership isn’t going to give you any money for your friend’s purchase. But with affiliate marketing, you DO. 

Where Do You Find Products?

You can check out my other videos where I get into this in more detail, but a few examples are sites such as ClickBank and JVZoo. These third-party platforms help streamline the affiliate process so you can more easily search products and pick options based on your niche.

You can also use and recommend software tools. For example, every business needs an email autoresponder, sales funnel builder, etc. So if this is up your alley, you might start using a few similar products and then share them with your audience. 

Note: Make sure you’re recommending produts you use and like. Don’t simply recommend a random gizmo to make money. This can damage your reputation and future recommendations. Some sites and products require you to have used their product prior to becoming an affiliate. 

How Do You Get Paid?

This varies. Many sites offer commissions through Paypal. Others can deposit your payments directly into your bank account. Check with the individual site and make sure you understand their commission agreement before signing up.

Keep in mind that it takes a little while to get going – money doesn’t come pouring in right away. When you sell an affiliate product, you typically have to wait anywhere from 30 to 90 days to get paid. This gives the purchaser a chance to change their mind or return/cancel their purchase. After that timeframe, the sale has been finalized, you get your money, and that’s that! 

Where Do You Put Your Links?

You’ve opened an affiliate account (nearly always free). They’ve provided you with links. Now what? 

You have to have a home “store” for your recommended products – you can’t just post them on social media and hope they work. In fact, that’s called spamming, and it’s not a good idea! Instead, many people set up a website instead. I do recommend this, even if it is a very simple site. If you haven’t set up a website and you’re not sure where to start, I have a one page website that I can share with you. It is simple and does the job!

Initially, you can get away with nothing more than a homepage and a sales funnel. And as your business grows, you can build on this. Perhaps you’ll add a few pages of products, or create a blog and offer content that draws an audience, or use social media to promote your website. 

Note: Track everything! Early on, I made the mistake of NOT tracking my affiliate marketing details. I did not realize how crazy it can get if you don’t! I recommend setting up an Excel spreadsheet or Google sheet to keep track of details. You’ll need to save each different site, your affiliate and dashboard links, and the different products you recommend from each site. 

How Do I Learn Affiliate Marketing?

Many people try to just jump in, watch a few YouTube videos, and get going. However, odds are good that they’re missing details. For example, this post has provided an initial look into affiliate marketing – but I haven’t gone into the deeper details of strategy. So by piece-mailing information together, it’s easy to miss steps

I have a free ebook that I offer where I have laid out the process into 4 easy to follow steps. It takes time to set up systems that eventually will be automated. The hard work you put in early pays off later!. 

In conclusion, the journey is all about figuring out what skills you need, focusing on those and mastering them, and putting them into action – and repeating the process. And as you continue to grow, your business can also grow and thrive. 

You’ve got this!