If you’ve been toying on the idea of becoming an affiliate marketer, you probably know how much the big players are earning these days. A lot of them are making 6 to 7 figures a year, or even more.
But while making tens of thousands of dollars each month is nice, you have to be realistic. There’s a 1 in 1,000,000 chance you will make that much after just a month of getting started and anyone who’s telling you otherwise is either trying to sell you an eBook about affiliate marketing or just want to make a fool out of himself.
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Setting Realistic Expectations
The truth of the matter is, starting a career as an Affiliate Marketer is not easy. It’s a lot of hard work. So, you must be physically, emotionally and mentally ready for failures and frustrations. When you’re prepared, you’ll be more capable to face difficulties as they come.
So, let’s just get one thing straight here. You’re not going to become a millionaire overnight. It will take time to build your website/s, get them to rank on search engines like Google and increase your traffic volume. As you know, your traffic is the lifeblood of your business. Without visitors going to your website, no one will buy the products/services you are marketing. No sales equals no commission.
Affiliate Marketing 101
Affiliate marketing is essentially a cost-effective way for companies to increase awareness of their brand and sell their products. It’s sort of a referral system and the affiliate marketer makes money every time someone they refer buys the product or service of the merchant.
So, for example, you have a website that contains reviews of lawn mowers. One of your website visitors, whom we shall call Customer X, reads a particular review about a lawn mower called Magic Lawn Mower 21K. If Customer X likes the information you’ve provided in your review and is convinced it’s the best lawn mower for him, he clicks on the BUY NOW button on the review page and is then led to an Amazon page for Magic Lawn Mower 21K. When he buys the product, you get a commission. That’s how affiliate marketing works.
Best Affiliate Marketing Programs
There are many affiliate marketing programs online nowadays however they’re not created equal. You have to weigh your options carefully to ensure you are signed up with the best program for you.
1. LinkShare
This program has 10 million partnerships with over 2,500 affiliate programs that you can choose from.
The world’s biggest online retail website Amazon gives affiliate marketers a great way to make money online with the vast array of products they sell.
This AF marketing provider caters to the top 1,000 e-retailers in the country and operates globally.
4. ShareASale
This Chicago based company has close to 3,000 merchant programs and they’ve received impressive ratings for their customer service, prompt payouts and security.
5. ClixGalore
This Australian based PPA affiliate network offers Pay Per Impression, Pay Per Sale, Pay Per Lead, and Pay Per Click programs.
Finally, with affiliate marketing, you have to pick niches/subjects that appeal to you and something that you’re knowledgeable with. One of the essential components to your success in this kind of work is to have credibility because when your website visitors trust you, it’s much easier to convince them to buy a particular product or service.
