5 Shocking Things You Didn’t Know About Affiliate Links
Affiliate links are a great tool for many reasons, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some aspects of them that you should know about before using them on your website or adding them to any of your social media posts.
When you’re just starting out online, affiliate links can seem like the easiest, most logical way to monetize your content. They’re simple to add to your content, and the revenue you make from them can be significant enough to cover your site expenses and grow your bottom line.
What is an Affiliate Link?
Affiliate links are pretty standard on most websites. They are code that is embedded into a website or email that allows you to receive a commission for products purchased by someone who clicked your link. In order to make money with affiliate links, you need people to click on them.
If you have a website or email list, then use it! Make sure that if there is an affiliate link available for a product, include it in your content. The more visitors you get, and/or subscribers/subscribed lists you have will directly impact how much money you earn via affiliate links.
How much do affiliate links pay?
In order to decide what commissions you should be paying out, it’s important to know how much affiliate links cost. This will depend on who is placing them on their site, how many clicks are required for a sale, and whether or not there is a down-line involved.
On average, affiliate links cost approximately .30 per click or .50 per action. Meaning that if someone clicked your link, but then left and did not make a purchase immediately following your link (such as having to go through any up-sell page), you would receive half of whatever commission was being offered for that product by the merchant.
Is being an affiliate worth it?
There are many incentives for joining an affiliate program, including a simple way to track revenue and clear commission checks. But in addition to thinking about your potential revenue as an affiliate, it’s also worth considering whether being part of an affiliate program is a good opportunity for you.
If you have a site that relies on content from other sites to keep readers coming back, linking directly might make more sense than signing up with an affiliate program that requires links.
Sites that sell ads often use their own banner network instead of relying on affiliates or networks like Google AdSense. For these reasons and others, it’s important to consider whether being part of an affiliate program makes sense for your site and your traffic goals and whether you should stick with what you know or try something new.
Is affiliate marketing easy?
Many people say that making money online is easy and that anyone can do it. That’s not really true. It’s never been easier to make money online, but making a lot of money requires a very different skill set than what it used to take in 2005.
If you’re just starting out and you expect things to be like they were 10 years ago, you’re going to get disappointed. The good news is that there are tons of resources out there to help teach you how things have changed since 2005 (and more so since 2010).
This post isn’t going to teach you affiliate marketing, but it will cover five shocking things many people don’t know about affiliate links.
1) Content marketing through e-commerce works
One reason people love affiliate links is that they work. That’s not just lip service. I’ve seen websites with a small number of social media followers or subscribers do very well in affiliate marketing, even without a huge email list to tap into for follow-up.
This is because affiliate links can also help generate brand awareness as shoppers click on your product links to see what you’re selling. If you have great products with high traffic, placing them in front of potential customers will make it more likely they’ll convert through your affiliates.
Just make sure you include some instructions and encouragement to visit your site and check out what else you have available.
The best way to get started with affiliate marketing is to find an offer from a company you trust (I recommend Wealthy Affiliate) and start promoting their products. It’s free to join, so don’t wait!
Read Also: 6 Reasons Why ExecuNet is the Best Executive Job Search Site
2) Affiliate marketing will never make me rich overnight
Many affiliate marketers think that if they can make one or two successful sales, they’ll be able to quit their day job and start making money online for good. This is a very risky misconception to have. It’s not uncommon for newcomers to lose money on their first few sales, because they’re still trying to figure out how everything works.
If you want affiliate marketing to be your main source of income, you’ll have no choice but to work hard at it—probably for several months before seeing any money come in at all.
Even if you do make some sales right away, you may never earn enough to replace your full-time income; so don’t count on making affiliate marketing your ticket out of that day job just yet!
3) Understanding how affiliate link works
An affiliate link is a URL that you create and send to people when you recommend a product. When they click on it, they are redirected to an online store where they can purchase that product. They will also have your unique identifier attached to them so that you get credit if someone buys something through your affiliate link.
For example, let’s say I created a website about cars and I want to recommend a new car model for people to buy. If I made up my own URL for a video or post about my recommendation, I could then use that as an affiliate link so that when someone clicked on it and purchased a car, I would get some type of commission for it.
This is how most professional bloggers make money because of their expertise in specific fields and industries.
4) The best way to use it
Choose an affiliate network. In order to use affiliate links on your site, you need to apply to a company that offers affiliate programs. The most common options are Amazon Associates, Share-A-Sale, and Rakuten.
When applying for these networks, remember that if you’re linking from a country outside of their native location (for example, linking from Canada or New Zealand through an American program), you can still sign up with that network but won’t earn any money directly from them.
5) Case studies
Perhaps you’re familiar with other companies who are making money from affiliate links? Reach out to them and ask if they’d be willing to share their story.
If you can put a face and personality behind your audience’s ability to make money with affiliate links, it’ll be that much easier for your audience to imagine themselves doing so. Who knows, maybe they’ll even reach out to those you mentioned in your post!
Read Also: 10 Ways To Make Money Online From Home
Conclusion
So there you have it, 5 simple things you probably didn’t know about affiliate links. Not only will these help your readers make money and save money, but they’ll also increase website traffic, improve search engine rankings and be a great resource for your visitors.
No matter what niche or subject you write about or want to start writing about, affiliate links can help. I encourage you to include these tips in your posts to help improve readability and use these techniques in your own content creation as well! Click here for more information.