Making money with affiliate programs is one of the most popular ways to earn money online. Many bloggers and other website owners around the world earn passively due to its simplicity and high-income potential.
It is a simple way to earn money online since it does not require us to have greater technical knowledge in programming or web design, create a product and, in some cases, not even have a website.
It is only a matter of registering in one of these programs and starts promoting the product that it provides us.
Affiliate Marketing is a way with a high-income potential mainly because you only need to get a user to visit the web page where the product is sold and make them buy it to earn a commission that often exceeds 50% of the sale.
In this article, I will show you everything you need to know to make money with affiliate programs.
What Are Affiliate Programs And How Do They Work?
Affiliate programs are programs that allow you to promote a product and earn a commission every time you get a user to go to the website where the product is sold and they buy it.
You only have to promote the product that the program provides (for example, in our blog or electronic newsletter), and once you manage to get a user to go to the product's sale page through our affiliate link and buy it, the program will pay us a commission or percentage of the sale.
Then, once you accumulate a certain amount of money (generally $100), every so often (in most cases every month), the program will send you the accumulated earnings via check, bank transfer, Western Union, or PayPal.
How Much Can You Earn With Affiliate Programs?
It is difficult to establish how much you can earn with these affiliate programs since it depends on several factors such as the product, the number of visits or subscribers that the blog or website has where it is promoted, and the commissions paid by the program.
But to take a reference there are several blogs that earn about $30,000 a month only with these programs, although this only happens in the English-speaking market.
In other markets, where there are fewer Internet users and fewer purchases through this medium, it is likely that you will only find blogs that earn about $4,000 a month.
Whatever the case, you should bear in mind that getting to earn these sums of money will only be possible if you have a blog or website with a good traffic of visits or a good number of subscribers, which does not necessarily take enough time, but a lot of work and dedication.
How To Make Money With Affiliate Programs?
Here are the steps necessary to earn money with affiliate sites and services.
1. Choose An Affiliate Program
Today there are a large number of affiliate programs, ranging from those that have different types of products such as ShareASale, Impact, Amazon, and Digistore24 platform that is looking for people who help them promote their products for a commission.
To search for these programs, it is only a matter of browsing the Internet a bit; For example, to search for a program in general, you could put the phrase: “affiliate program amazon” or “affiliate products” in the search bar of your browser, and to search for a certain type of product you could put: “Affiliates + the type of product” (for example, “affiliates + tour packages”).
And then, to choose a program, take into account factors such as the products & reputation it has, the commissions it offers, and the tools it provides (for example, banners, statistics, etc.)
If you are going to promote affiliate products on your blog or website, make sure they are related to the theme of the blog or website.
If you want to promote a product or services for a well-known company and you want to find out whether it has an affiliate program, is just a matter of looking on its home page for a link that says: "Affiliates", "Affiliate Program", “Become An Affiliate” or something similar, you'll usually find the link in the footer of the website.
2. Register In The Affiliate Program
Once you have chosen, one of the affiliate programs, the next step is to sign up for it.
To do this, while on their Affiliate Page, click on the link that says: “REGISTER OR SIGNUP AS AN AFFILIATE” then “CREATE ACCOUNT” or something similar, and then follow the registration process.
Generally, you will simply be asked to fill out a form with some of your basic personal data such as your name, your physical address, and your email.
3. Choose A Product To Promote
In the event that the affiliate program where you have registered has several products, the next step is to choose the product that you are going to promote.
To do this, look for the products that the affiliate programs have, and then choose the one you are going to promote taking into account factors such as its sales statistics (if they are available), the commissions it offers (in case they are commissions vary for each product), your personal tastes, and your knowledge about it.
4. Get an Affiliate Link
The affiliate link is the link that allows us to direct a user (referred) to the product's sales page, and to the program (a tracking code that the link has) to identify the person (affiliate) who is it sending, and thus know to whom the commission should be paid in case the referral buys the product.
It could be said that when promoting the product of affiliate programs, in reality, what we are promoting is this affiliate link, since our main objective should be for users to click on it, and thus be directed to the sales page of the product and, if possible, that they buy it.
How to get your affiliate link will depend on the affiliate program, but generally, you only need to click on the product, click where it says “Promote”, or go to a section where you can get it.
In addition to the referral link, some programs usually offer banners (graphic advertisements) that also allow you to direct users to the product's sales page, and to identify so that you can place them, for example, in the header or sidebar of your blog or website.
5. Promote The Product
Once you have obtained your affiliate link, the next step is to promote the product.
There are several ways to promote an affiliate product, many of which do not require you to have a blog or website such as promoting it in article directories, through emails, in forums, and on social media.
However, if you are looking to generate good income with these affiliate programs, a requirement is that you have a blog or website with good visitor traffic or a good list of subscribers.
The following are the main ways that exist to promote the product of an affiliate program on a blog or website:
1. Through Banners
It consists of placing the banners provided by the affiliate programs on the pages of our blog or website; for example, in the header or in the sidebar.
2. On the “RESOURCES” Page
It consists of creating a page with resources that could be of help to your readers, where we would include the product or products that you are promoting, and whose link you would put in the navigation menu of your blog or website.
3. In An Article Or Post
It consists of publishing an article or post where you talk about the product; for example, an article where we tell about our experience with the product, and at the end, you make an invitation to try it that says something like:
Example: I invite you to learn a little more about the product or service. Click the following link.
“YOUR AFFILIATE LINK GOES HERE”
4. Through Electronic Bulletins
It consists of sending electronic bulletins or newsletters where you recommend the product.
For example, in An electronic newsletter where you mention the benefits of the product, and in the end, you make an invitation to purchase.
Tips For Making Money With Affiliate Programs In 2024
To end this article, here are some tips to help you make money with the affiliate programs:
- When promoting an affiliate product make sure you only address the public that might be interested in it; For example, if you are going to promote tour packages, target only users who might be interested in them, such as users of a tourism forum. Make sure to only promote products that are related to the theme of the blog or website.
- If you are going to recommend a product in an article or post, make sure you have tried it before. This will give you more possibilities to sell it. Since it will allow you to make a better description of it and its benefits. Showing that you also use it, generates greater confidence in your readers.
- Also, be sure to recommend only good quality products. If you recommend poor-quality products, your readers who buy them will feel cheated and they will most likely never trust you again.
- If you promote a product through electronic newsletters, make sure not to abuse this practice as it could be spammy. Which in addition to losing subscribers, could mean the cancellation of your account in the affiliate programs. It is best that you send them after other types of newsletters and you have earned the trust of your subscribers.
- Finally, always monitor the performance of the products you are promoting with the help of the statistics on the program dashboard If you are not obtaining the results, try another product.
