Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money selling other people’s products. It’s a way to get your “feet wet” in the online business world without having to create your own products or services. Simply, you sell other people’s products on your website, blog, social media pages and many other online media channels.
You’re called an affiliate because you’re associated with the product or service but you’re not directly part of the product creator’s business.
When you see a product you would like to promote, you can sign up for the affiliate program and start promoting that product. As an affiliate, you’ll receive your own unique ID which will track any sales sent from you to the product sales page.
FREE Checklist: Affiliate Marketing For Beginners
How Do You Start Selling Other People’s Products?
When you first get started in affiliate marketing, it can be a pretty daunting process. It can all look pretty confusing but by following a few simple rules you can get started and learn more as you go along. You don’t have to learn everything at once and a lot of your experience and growth will come through trial and error; having said that, it’s best to arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can so that you can get started on the ‘right foot.’
Affiliate Marketing Do’s and Don’ts
Do figure out who you are selling to
Defining a target market is a key task in building up an affiliate income. If you don’t know who you want to sell to, how will you decide what to promote? And dig deep here. Don’t just say ‘Men’ or ‘Parents’. Choose a people group that can be defined in just a few words. For example, ‘Brand new single moms’ or ‘Older men with thinning hair.’
Do make a list of what your target market needs
Is there something that your target market needs right now? What do they consume a lot of? What do they want when they have extra money?
Do choose affiliate programs carefully
Different merchants offer different commission rates. Scout out the highest commission rate with the best affiliate resources available. Check out the website and make sure that it’s easy to navigate and buy from. Check the affiliate program to make sure that you have the greatest chance of profiting from your promotions.
Do treat affiliate marketing like a real business
The more you put into your affiliate marketing the better your chances of success. Treat your affiliate marketing like a real business and it will grow and develop over time. Spend time writing reviews, articles and promoting the products you believe in.
Don’t plaster your website with affiliate banners
Introduce your affiliate recommendations in a natural way. A button or banner is great but may not make you too many sales. A product review or a personal recommendation will go further.
Don’t over promote products
It’s easy to get overexcited and overdo the product offers with your subscribers. Keep some balance and give more than you take. This will keep your audience happy and more willing to consider your offers. Of course, you do need to promote products to your audience. After all this is your business, but try to find a balance between free information and product promotions.
Don’t give up too soon
Affiliate marketing is a business that builds up over time. You need to focus on developing your web traffic and email lists while you continue to faithfully offer your market what it wants and needs. As the months go by if you’re applying all the correct methods, your income will increase.
How To Make Affiliate Programs Work
Make the affiliate programs that you select really relevant to your niche subject to keep the credibility of your site and entice your members into purchasing the products they need. It goes without saying, but if you have a site about babies and parenting, it’s not a good idea to promote pet-related products as these aren’t relevant to your target market.
Set up your own website or blog
Although you don’t actually need your own website to make money selling other people’s products, having your own website looks much more professional than just an affiliate link and will be easier to remember too. It’s great for using when writing articles and content as well.
A good website can really increase your sales where a poorly designed website can really reduce your income, and that does’t mean you have to design a flashy, all singing and dancing website (actually you’ll want to avoid that). Instead concentrate on offering quality content and clean design to your visitors.
Search engines are in the business of providing the best quality search results to their visitors, by doing that in your own website you’re pleasing your visitors as well as the search engines. It’s a win/win situation for everyone involved.
Write honest product reviews
Write informative and honest product reviews on your website. This is a great way to give your unbiased opinion on a product and to build trust with your audience. And if a product is faulty in some way you can add that as a note, your audience will trust you more if they know your recommendations are honest and sincere.
Find the correct placement for affiliate links
Providing informative content and weave in affiliate links where appropriate throughout that content. For example, you can write a quality article about helping your baby recover from colic and in that article you insert a link to resources which will help the parents remedy this problem.
Try to find affiliate programs that offer ‘lifetime cookies’
When someone clicks on your affiliate link, a piece of code called a ‘cookie’ is placed in their browser. This includes information that says you are the person that directed the visitor to that website. It’s how the sale of the product is linked to you. Some affiliate marketing prodcuts allow for 30, 60, 90 day or even 1 year cookie duration. Some offer lifetime cookies! This means that if you are the first person to send someone to that website, if they make a purchase 10 years from now, you’ll receive a commission!
Where To Find Products To Sell
You can find affiliate products through a number of affiliate marketing companies. These companies act like “middle men” and connect product vendors and creators to product sellers. You’ll also be paid directly through the network rather than from the vendor.
The plus with these types of programs is that you can choose as many products as you’d like all in one convenient place and payment is quite easy to track. The downside is you don’t often get the same promotional tools or training that individual affiliate programs will offer you. Many individual affiliate programs (especially those related to information products) will also offer you higher commissions.
Free Checklist: How To Make Money Selling Other People’s Products
There are many companies that pay you to sell their products online. Success from selling other people’s products comes down to choosing the right niche, staying committed and understanding your audience. One thing to keep in mind when you start affiliate selling is that success isn’t going to happen overnight. You can make unlimited profits, but it will take time. For more information on how to sell other people’s products online, download my free checklist, Affiliate Marketing For Beginners.