I love affiliate marketing and think that it is an incredible way to earn money online. So when I saw that more than one person has asked if affiliate marketing was “legit”, I had no choice but to respond.
Not only is it legitimate, but it’s something that’s widely used all over the Internet. You just may not realize that some links are affiliate links, as it’s not always easy to tell. Affiliate marketing is a real way of making money online, and is one of the fastest ways to get started with an online business. On top of that, if someone asked me what the easiest type of business was to start online, I’d tell them affiliate marketing in a heartbeat.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
If you’re asking if affiliate marketing is legit, there is a good chance you aren’t 100% sure what it is. Affiliate marketing is when a company pays a person for referring a sale or a lead. Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re an affiliate for Disney, and wanted to share the latest products that they’re selling on their website. You could give people a link that looks like this: https://www.tkqlhce.com/fs105tenkem14567863134477734. That’s an affiliate link to the Disney Store website. If someone clicks on that and buys something at the Disney Store, I’d get a percentage of what the person buys. They’d still pay the same price though, nothing would change on their end.
Here’s another example. You can be an affiliate for Amazon. If you were, you might give someone a link to the Amazon website that could look like this: https://amzn.to/3opt0Dc. If someone clicked on that link and buys something at Amazon, you’d get paid a percentage of what they bought.
You can send someone to the front page of a website, a section of a website, or to a product in particular. It doesn’t matter what the person buys on their trip, you’ll get a percentage of what the person spends. If you sent them to a link promoting a book, and they ended up buying a laptop, you’d get the commission for the laptop. As long as they make a purchase, you get commission.
I think it’s an incredible way to start an online business, because it’s something you are already doing anyway. So you might as well get paid for it! The last time you bought something that you really loved, did you tell anyone? I bet you did. If you had used a special link (called an affiliate link) that could be tracked back to you, you would have made money if the person bought something because of your referral. That’s affiliate marketing.
How Can I Become an Affiliate Marketer?
First, you need to figure out who you want to be an affiliate marketer for. Usually it’s best to promote products and companies you already shop at. It’s a lot easier to promote a product you purchased and loved vs. a product you’ve never seen before. So I’d start looking at the companies you shop at, and see which ones you like and shop at often.
Then, if you go to their website, there is a good chance that at the bottom of the page, you’ll see a link to “Affiliates” or “Become an Affiliate”. If you click on that link, they’ll let you know how to become an affiliate. It usually involves sharing how you’ll be promoting the company. Some companies will ask how big your audience is, but not everyone cares about that.
If there isn’t a link at the bottom of their website, you can always do a search at your favorite search engine. Not every company has an affiliate program, but a lot of them do!
Do I have to Spend Money to Become an Affiliate Marketer?
No. You do not have to spend any money to become an affiliate marketer. I can NOT stress this enough. They pay YOU. You do not pay them. If a company is asking you to pay them in order to become an affiliate for them, run in the opposite direction. Companies want you to be affiliates for them. They make more money this way, so they’re happy to give you a small portion of what they earn.
How do I Find Products to Promote?
The first thing to do is to figure out what type of affiliate marketer you want to be. Do you want to only promote kids items? Do you want to talk about sports? Do you want to talk about books? This will be your “niche.” While you don’t have to choose a niche, if you talk about too many things, a lot of people won’t like a lot of what you have to say, and won’t be as interested. On the other hand, if you talk about a small section of things, they’ll be more interested in what you have to say.
Once you know what types of products you want to promote, think about what you like the best. Are there any products that you really liked? Promote those. You can easily tell people what you like about them. People will see your passion and enthusiasm, and if they like the reasons that you love the product, they may buy the product as well.
How to I Promote These Products?
Once you’ve applied to and have been approved in an affiliate program, you’ll find links to use. If you’re promoting a specific product, your best bet is to get a link to that exact product. If you’re talking about a company, you can get a link to their website.
Now, to promote these links, you need a place to promote! The good news is that you have a lot of options. If you’re going to be building an online business, you’ll probably want to start a blog. To do this, you need a hosting account, and a domain name. You can get hosting at a place like Bluehost for under $5 per month, and you’ll even get your first domain name free (for the first year) so as you can see it doesn’t cost much at all to get started.
Now, if you don’t want to spend that, even though it isn’t a lot, I understand. There are other ways you can promote affiliate products too. You can use social media. You can use email, and put affiliate links there. If you’re going to start building a list though, I’d like to suggest using a company like Aweber. That’s who I use, and they’ll give you free account until you have 500 people on your list.
There are a lot of ways to promote. But the more you get your links out there, and the more people that see them, the more chances you’ll have to earn money. So to answer the question, affiliate marketing is not only legit, but it’s a great way for someone to start making money online. It doesn’t require spending money, it doesn’t require specialized knowledge, or much of anything. You just need to share what you like and don’t like, all with special links. Now it’s time to get started!
Enjoy,
