What Is Affiliate Marketing?

The Best Way To Earn Money Online

Affiliate marketing is one of my favorite topics when it comes to the world of online entrepreneurship.

Why?

Well, because it is the absolute EASIEST way to earn a very good living online.

So, what does it mean?

Basically, when you become an affiliate what you are doing is selling “other people’s products.” In other words, products created by someone else.

And in turn, the product creator will pay you a commission for promoting their products.

Some Programs Are Better Than Others

Now, it is important to point out the obvious – that some products pay better than others. And some products are better than others.

So, what you are looking for is good products in your niche (target audience) that will pay you a decent commission.

Why Most Marketers Are Doing Affiliate Marketing

I don’t know the exact statistics, but I would guess to say that probably over 90% of all marketers are doing some type of affiliate marketing. 

To prove this to yourself, all you have to do is pay attention to what they are telling you. Especially their emails.

Even those who have their own products will normally recommend other people’s products that are related to the topic at hand in addition to their own products.

There probably are some people who have created their own products and sell ONLY their own products, but the majority will either do just affiliate marketing or do both.

That is why this topic is so important to understand.

The Benefits of Selling Other People’s Products

There are many, many benefits to selling other people’s products.

  1. The most obvious is that you do not need to create the product yourself.
  2. This makes this method an excellent avenue for beginner marketers.
  3. Yet, seasoned marketers are recommending other people’s products as well, often through a method known as “joint ventures.” (You promote my product and I will promote yours.)
  4. The pay can be extremely lucrative.

 

The Two Main Types of Products You Can Promote

There are two main types of products that you can promote. You can promote physical products or you can promote digital products.

Physical products are exactly as they sound. They are, well, physical. You can touch them, feel them, use them, etc.

A few of the most popular merchants where you can find physical products are through Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and affiliate vendors such as Commission Junction.

Now, each one of these topics is an entire course by itself. My personal favorite method of selling physical products would be through Shopify.

The reason I like Shopify so much is that you can do something called “drop shipping,” which means that you sell the product first, and THEN you order it from a supplier and have the supplier ship it directly to the consumer.

This way, you do not need to stock any inventory and you do not need to worry about it at all UNLESS you make a sale. And then at that point, your only responsibility is to order it and get it shipped to the person who paid for it.

Now understand, this is not quite as simple as it sounds. But it definitely is (in my opinion) a better method than having to store inventory in your garage, to have to package that inventory and then ship it out yourself.

So, Shopify really is a fantastic method for selling physical products but you do need to keep your website updated with new products to sell, do promotions and place orders, etc. This method has made several people extremely wealthy.

You can imagine how this could be – just think about Christmas time. How people are always online shopping for physical products to wrap and put under the Christmas tree. This alone could be enough to make someone wealthy if done correctly.

So, for those who know what they are doing, this is an extremely lucrative business. I stress that first part of the sentence – for those who know what they are doing.

The best course I have seen in understanding Shopify is Adrian Morrison’s course, ECom Success Academy. I purchased this course and don’t regret it because I know this is a good way to go for physical products.

It is an amazing course, extremely detailed, and the module on Facebook advertising alone could arguably be worth the price of the course.

Why I Love Digital Products

However, my method of choice is through digital products.

Digital products are (obviously) not physical. They are electronic products of information such as electronic books, videos, video courses, audio podcasts, etc.

What is great about digital products are that they never run out. There is an endless supply and you do not ever have to stock any inventory or depend on others to do it for you.

When marketed correctly, digital products can be extremely lucrative in pay.

But let me re-emphasize. I said, “When marketed correctly.”

Of course, this applies to anything. If products are not marketed correctly, they are not good to anyone because nobody ever sees them.

And if people do see them, you want them to be presented in a way that will make a person want to purchase.

The Best Way To Sell A Digital Product

The best way to do this is by solving a problem.

Since digital products are information based, then this only makes sense.

Nine times out of ten, whenever a person is seeking information, they are seeking it to solve a problem. The other ten percent of the time (approximately), it is purely for entertainment purposes.

Of course, don’t hold me to the percentages because in reality, who knows. But that is a good guess.

One thing that most people will agree on is that the world is full of problems. And those who have the solution and put it in front of the audience seeking that solution wins.

This blog is FULL of fantastic affiliate products. This site is completely an affiliate business.

Why? Because there are so many great marketing tools, resources and courses out there that I figured there was no need to try to beat the best.

And I mean that sincerely. This site contains the BEST resources for marketing a business online.

And they solve ALL of the problems of marketers in one way or another.

There is no way that I can outdo the software and education out there these days that can help businesses succeed.

What I can do is point you in the right direction. This I know for sure.

But this site is just for those who want to start or improve online business.

What Is A Niche (Target) Audience?

There are several other niches out there. And by niche, I mean a target audience. An audience that is interested in a specific topic.

For example, there are people who are interested in pets, cars, clothes, electronics, self-improvement, health, fitness, relationships, dating, politics and on and on and on.

So, although this site promotes products that can help businesses succeed online, you can find affiliate products for just about any niche you can think of.

But remember – make sure those products are worth promoting and will pay you enough commission to make it worth your time.

What are my final thoughts on affiliate marketing? I absolutely LOVE it!! And I am certainly not alone.

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Have you ever done affiliate marketing before? What strategies have worked best for you? Please share below!

 

 

 

 

 

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