If you are looking to start an internet-based business and grow a steady income, then you should give the affiliate marketing business a thought.
The affiliate marketing business allows you to earn passive income after you must have put in active efforts. Besides, it is a business that can be done remotely just with a laptop and internet connection.
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Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement where the marketer earns income in the form of commission by promoting other people’s products. This commission is earned after the lead must have been converted into sales. First, the marketer builds an online platform, offer products that can genuinely help their audience, and then, monetize through affiliate links.
It is one of the fastest and easiest ways to make money as long as you are willing to put in the required effort. It involves joining affiliate programs, getting products to promote, then sharing with your audience using different methods. Once the tracking link has been clicked, and sales made, you will be cashing out.
There are a lot of merchants in need of affiliate marketers who will promote their products. So, if you are internet savvy, and you find affiliate marketing business very interesting, why not give it a try.
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Affiliate Marketing Business
As earlier stated, affiliate marketing involves promoting products or services for a merchant and getting a commission on each sale. It starts with finding a product of interest and signing up under an affiliate program. You will be provided a unique ID as a tracking link.
Once a potential buyer clicks on the link and visits the merchant’s site, a cookie file identifying the affiliate is stored on the user’s computer. And, as soon as the visitor buys the product, the merchant automatically knows where the buyer came from and then pay the agreed commission.
In the affiliate marketing business, we have the merchant (owner of the products); publisher (affiliate marketer); affiliate network/program (intermediary between merchant and publishers); customers (those who click the publishers link to buy the product).
Generally, the affiliate marketer employs different marketing techniques like SEO, Google Adsense, Pay-per-click ad, google analytics, content marketing, WordPress, etc. to achieve the marketing goals.
These processes make the affiliate marketing business one of the interesting internet-based businesses that anyone can do. So, if you find this interesting, sit tight, as I take you through the exact steps to take to start making money.
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Step by Steps Plan On How To Start An Affiliate Marketing Business
Step 1: Find A Niche
This is the first step in the affiliate marketing business. Finding a niche of interest should be based on what you are passionate about and the topic you are knowledgeable in. It should be one that resonates with people and has the potential to generate profit. For instance, you can choose products in the fashion industry, health, agriculture, etc.
More so, your choice should be based on the demands of your audience and its availability on affiliate marketing networks. As soon as you are able to choose a niche that you can focus on, then you are good to go.
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Step 2: Build A Website
This is the second important step in the affiliate marketing business if you are just getting started. You need a website to direct your audience to where they will take action. Moreover, with a website, the affiliate networks will be sure of who you are and that your content will not dent their reputation. In other words, the niche you choose should inform the kind of website you will be building.
Luckily, the process of building a website has become easier than it was in the past. So, with platforms like WordPress, Wix, etc. you can create a website even without knowing how to code.
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Step 3: Sign Up With An Affiliate Program
The easiest way to begin with affiliate marketing is to sign up with an affiliate program. You can work with well-known affiliate marketing networks or directly with a company that has an affiliate program.
However, there some well-known affiliate programs that you can work with in Nigeria and earn a good commission. It’s free to sign up with them. Signing up with them is free of charge. Some of them include;
- Jumia Affiliate Program
- Konga Affiliate Program
- WakaNow Affiliate Program
- Payporte Affiliate Program
- Web4Africa Affiliate Program
- Vconnect Affiliate Program
- Amazon Affiliate Program
- Travel Start Affiliate Program
- Aliexpress Affiliate Program
You can join as many programs as you can. However, you must understand that each of the programs is unique in their own way, so it is best to do due diligence before you sign up.
How To Sign Up For The Affiliate Program
- Once you choose any of the affiliate programs that interest you, the next thing is to sign up.
- Register for free on the website.
- Log in to the dashboard to choose the product you want to market.
- Get promotional materials like referral links, banners, feeds from the program.
- Use the links on your website, social media campaigns or in email promotions
- Then, once a visitor visits the affiliate site through your link and buys anything, it will be registered.
- At the end of the month, the program reviews, approves, and pays you a commission on each of the sales.
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Step 3: Research And Select The Right Product
The kind of product you choose determines the income you will make, so it is better to do a lot of research on the product before you begin. Doing research can help you ask questions like, do I want to be associated with the product and service? Are the products relevant and of good quality? Will my audience trust me with it? Can I do a sales pitch on the product? etc.
As soon as you are able to do this, make a list of products that you can sell. Then, think of the complimentary items too, and start promoting. For instance, if you are selling wedding gowns, add complementary wedding products like bouquet, crown, wedding ring, etc.
In the process of promoting the products, employ the use of google analytics to identify the ones your audience is responding to and the ones they are not. The insights will help you know the products to spend your efforts on. Also, you can learn how to improve your marketing efforts.
Step 4: Create content
Along with product promotion, it’s important that you consistently create unique and high-quality content to build your website. This can be in the form of videos, reviews; informational materials in the form of an ebook, mini-courses, e-mail series, etc. Your content must be relevant to your audience. By doing this, you will be carving a niche for yourself in the industry and becoming an authority.
Also, you can produce blog posts that address common questions or problems relevant to your target market. Doing a keyword search to figure out what people are searching for and narrowing down the topics to fit your website will help.
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Step 5: Increase Traffic
Building an audience for the site can happen organically once you start producing content that your audience wants to read. Aside from content, there are other methods you can use to grow your traffic. I’m going to dive in and explain some of the ways you can increase your traffic.
1. Promote The website Via Social Media
This is one of the best ways to drive traffic to a website. Depending on your niche, there are several social media channels that have your target audience in it. For instance, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn are great platforms for all kinds of marketing. You can demonstrate your expertise there and share engaging content from your website.
Also, you can build a community and relationships that will earn your followers’ trust. That way, they will be inspired to visit your website. While you can use social media to generate traffic for your site, you can also use it to run paid ads for the affiliate products.
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2. Invest In Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) is one of the effective ways to grow your website and business in stiff competition. It involves appearing on the search engine results pages using paid advertising.
By using search engine marketing tools like Google Adwords, you will generate additional traffic to the website and drive more sales.
3. Employ The Use of SEO Techniques
SEO is one of the most important ways to drive traffic to your website. It involves optimizing your website for certain keywords so that search engines pick it as one of the top search results. It revolves around placing keywords strategically within the site, and other processes that allow google to find it.
To do this, knowledge of SEO is important. This can be incorporated in every post you make. This will help your website appear in search results when relevant terms to your niche are searched.
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4. Guest Post On High-Traffic Blogs
Guest posting means writing content for other high-traffic or bigger sites that are relevant to your niche. By guest posting, you can showcase your expertise on a particular topic and get their audience to trust you. They may even check out your bio and visit your website. If your site is new, you can capitalize on guest-blogging to build more audience.
5. Invest In Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the sustainable marketing tools that you can use to generate traffic for any business. It is crucial to affiliate marketing such that you are able to push your content to your audience via emails and motivate them to take action. The more you are able to build trust with them through your email campaigns, the more they can purchase a product and receive other offers you make.
To achieve this, ask your visitors to sign up for updates, so you can get their emails. Also, you can use a lead magnet where you offer your audience something of value in exchange for their email address.
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Step 6: Promote Affiliate Products
If you have successfully followed the steps above, it is time to start promoting the affiliate offers to your audience. In the promotion, remember to add the tracking affiliate link ID, so that the merchants can be aware that the buyer is coming from you. This means, linking the original marketing page in your promotional messages so your audience can click and purchase.
To make this easy, there are several ways that you can promote affiliate products and motivate the audience to buy. Depending on your site, you can promote affiliate products in the following ways;
1. Writing Product Reviews
One of the viable ways to promote a product is to give reviews. Although, you are not obligated to purchase every product, writing reviews of products you have used will establish credibility with your audience. It will help your audience to rely on and take your opinion seriously.
In giving reviews, be objective; point out the features, uses, and specifications of the products and services. You can also make comparisons, and tell your audience why the product is better.
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2. Use Live Webinars
Webinars are a great way to engage with your audience. It can hold on Hangout, Zoom, or other platforms that allow for video communication. With live webinars, you can show the audience the product you are promoting and answer questions/queries.
Besides, you can also present the product’s features, uses, benefits, and give honest reviews on personal experience. In doing this, the audience can ask questions on where and how to buy and you can direct them to your referral link.
3. Discount And Giveaways
Offering discount and giveaways are one of the practical ways to attract customers in every business. Sometimes, you can spice up the campaign with promotions, discounts and gifts.
As an affiliate marketer, you can create bonus content exclusive to your readers and help them get more value from the affiliate product you are offering. For instance, you can give them guidance, demos, complementary or discounted services, step by step checklists, etc.
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4. Banner Ads
With banner ads, you can drive some sales in your affiliate marketing business. All you have to do is to purchase a banner space in a high traffic site like Entrepreneurs.ng.
Before you purchase a banner ad from a website, ensure that the site has the kind of audience you are targeting.
5. Email Promotions
Email is one of the best marketing channels that enables you to promote affiliate products. To get emails, put a call to action on your website where your audience can drop their emails. Then, engage them periodically with contents.
To market through emails, ensure that you deliver value to your audience. If you continue to market to them without offering value, they will unsubscribe.
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6. Use Pretty Links
Within your content, you can create in-text links that redirect your audience to purchase the affiliate product. The link can be a short branding tool that allows you to track links on the affiliate program you opt for. It can be installed and activated on your WordPress website.
If you want to earn as much as possible, you must know how to link the affiliate products. It should be short and nicely written to motivate the audience to click.
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Conclusion
The overall key in the affiliate marketing business is consistency. Being consistent will have a huge impact on helping you learn new tips and tricks on how to grow. The more you grow, the more you become an authority in the field.
We can help you promote your affiliate business to our audience of entrepreneurs and business owners. So, reach out to us today to increase your visibility and sales.
Have you been thinking of starting an affiliate marketing business? Was this content helpful? Please share it with your audience if you found it helpful. If you are enrolled in any affiliate program, we will like to hear your thoughts in the comments.
