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Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. But is affiliate marketing legit?
Affiliate marketing is often touted as a “get rich quick” scheme, and while there is potential to make a lot of money through affiliate marketing, it’s not as easy as many people make it seem. There’s a lot of work involved in being a successful affiliate marketer, and it’s not something that can be done overnight.
How Affiliate Marketers Make Money
There are a few different ways to make money through affiliate marketing, but the most common is by promoting products or services on behalf of another company. When you promote a product or service on behalf of another company, you earn a commission for every sale that you generate.
The commission is typically a percentage of the total sale, and it can range from a few percent to 50% or more. Most of my affiliate programs are software, and average a 25% commission.
How Affiliate Marketing Works
In most cases, affiliate marketing works by having a digital marketer promote a product or service on your blog or website. When someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.
For example, let’s say that you have a blog about gardening. You could sign up for an affiliate program with a gardening company and promote their products on your blog through search engine marketing, and organic earned traffic. If someone clicks on one of your links and buys a product from the gardening company, you earn a commission.
Some influencers use social media to make money marketing affiliate programs.
The vast majority of affiliate programs use this model, and it’s how most people make money with affiliate marketing. Some affiliate marketers sign up for affiliate programs that allow them to run display ads. Most affiliate programs prohibit someone from running ads on proprietary keywords such as brand names.
Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks are companies that act as middlemen between affiliate marketers and the companies they’re promoting. In most cases, you sign up for an affiliate program with a company directly, but in some cases, you’ll sign up with an affiliate network instead.
For example, ShareASale is an affiliate network, and if you want to promote a gardening company’s products on your blog, you would sign up for their affiliate program through ShareASale.
Affiliate networks typically have higher payouts than the companies themselves, but they also come with more rules and regulations.
Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are the actual programs that you sign up for with a company in order to promote their products. In most cases, you’ll sign up for an affiliate program directly with a company, but in some cases, you’ll sign up for the affiliate program through an affiliate network.
For example, if you want to promote a gardening company’s products on your blog, you would sign up for their affiliate program. If you want to promote a different gardening company’s products on your blog, you would sign up for their affiliate program as well.
The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a popular way for businesses to promote their products and services. Under this arrangement, businesses pay commission to individuals or organizations who agree to promote their products or services. While affiliate marketing can be an effective way to reach new customers, it also has some potential drawbacks.
One of the main advantages of affiliate marketing is that it provides relatively low-cost and low-risk way for businesses to reach new markets. Because businesses only pay commission on sales that are generated, they can control their costs relatively easily. In addition, affiliate marketing can be a flexible arrangement, allowing businesses to work with a variety of partners.
However, affiliate marketing also has some potential downsides. First, it can be difficult to track sales that are generated through affiliate links. This can make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of the campaign and assess whether it is worth continuing. In addition, some affiliates may use unscrupulous methods to generate sales, such as creating fake reviews or using spamming techniques.
This can damage the reputation of the business and make it difficult to build long-term relationships with customers. It is important for businesses to carefully consider the pros and cons of affiliate marketing before entering into any agreements. With careful planning and execution, affiliate marketing can be a effective way to reach new customers and grow your business.
Can You Really Make Money With Affiliate Marketing?
Yes, you can make money with affiliate marketing. But it’s not easy, and it won’t happen overnight. To be successful at affiliate marketing, you need to:
Have a niche website or blog with a loyal following
Find affiliate programs that offer products or services that your audience is interested in
Promote the products or services in a way that will generate traffic to your affiliate links
Convert the traffic into sales
It’s not easy, but it is possible. And there are people who are making a lot of money with affiliate marketing. I make 6-figures annually as an affiliate marketer.
If you’re looking for a “get rich quick” scheme, affiliate marketing is not it. But if you’re willing to put in the work, it can be a great way to make money online.
Where Affiliate Marketing Gets Cringey
There are a lot of people out there promoting affiliate marketing as some sort of magic solution to all of your problems. They make it sound like you’ll be making money hand over fist just by signing up for some affiliate programs and adding a few links to your website.
This is not the case.
Affiliate marketing requires work. You need to:
- Build an audience
- Find the right affiliate programs
- Promote the products or services in a way that will generate traffic and sales
If you’re not willing to put in the work, then affiliate marketing is not for you.
There are also a lot of people out there who promote low-quality products just to make a quick buck. They don’t care about their audience or whether the products they’re promoting are any good.
This is not how you should be approaching affiliate marketing.
You should only promote products that you’ve used yourself and that you believe in. This is the only way to build trust with your audience and to create long-term success.
The Bottom Line: Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?
Affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money online. But it’s not easy, and it won’t happen overnight. If you’re willing to put in the work, it can be a great way to build an online business. Just be sure to only promote products that you believe in and that will be of value to your audience.
FAQ
Is Affiliate Marketing a pyramid scheme?
No, affiliate marketing is not a pyramid scheme. That being said, there are 2-Tier programs where someone can recruit an affiliate marketer and earn commissions based on their sales.
Is affiliate marketing a scam?
No, affiliate marketing is not a scam. If you’re willing to put in the work, it can be a great way to make money online.
Can you make money with affiliate marketing?
Yes, you can make money with affiliate marketing. But it’s not easy, and it won’t happen overnight. You need to build an audience and find the right affiliate programs before you’ll see any success.
Is Affiliate Marketing a good way to make money
Lori Ballen is a real estate agent in Las Vegas. She’s a digital marketing specialist, speaker, and marketing coach and loves to share her “Ballen Method” to generate website traffic and leads online. Lori’s specialties are SEO content writing (ranking on the search engines), social media strategies, and affiliate marketing. Need a website? Contact Lori’s brothers Jeff and Paul Helvin at Ballen Brands.
