If you are just getting started, you may be wondering which types of affiliate marketing programs you could utilize to make some serious money. Perhaps you want to diversify income for a content site that generates revenue through display advertising, or you are looking for ways to monetize your blogging content. Chances are, no matter which industry or niche you happen to set out for, there is an affiliate platform that will fit your needs.
Here Is a Quick Recap of What Affiliate Marketing Actually Is
If you are still in the process of learning what affiliate marketing actually is, it is best that we start at the beginning. Put into simple terms, affiliate marketing is where you sign up with a company or a network (a network being a company that houses multiple offers from different businesses) to sell their products or services. You then typically make a commission every time someone either buys something or executes a desired action.
These desired actions could include someone clicking on a link in your blog to purchase a product on Amazon or completing an offer from one of the affiliate networks we will cover in this guide. You are then paid a commission when traffic that you generated to the retailers’ offer completes a desired action. This money is generally part of the company or affiliate program’s online marketing budget.
Some of today’s most popular business models for these programs include Amazon affiliate and AdSense. Before you get carried away with choosing the best affiliate model for you, it’s best to know the exact niche you want to steer towards. Knowing what you will specialize in will give you a course to follow when choosing the program that will offer you the most return on investment (ROI) based on your business goals.
Before you set out into unknown waters for the first time, it would be wise to see if other affiliate marketers and bloggers have already found potential in the same niche. Research whether other WordPress and starter SEO sites within your niche are promoting affiliate products to gauge market demand. It is usually a good sign if there are other affiliates because you know they wouldn’t bother if there wasn’t potential to grow revenue. You can also collect their affiliate partner offers into a spreadsheet to use later when you start ranking your own site.
How to Decide the Best Affiliate Marketing Program for Beginners
There are a few factors that you need to take into consideration when choosing the best affiliate program to start with. You need to look into each program’s offers, the niches it covers, and the quality of both digital products and the physical products they provide. You need to think about whether these products are something that you are going to want to put time and effort into promoting on your website and social media.
Another thing to look for when deciding the best affiliate program for those just getting started is the ease of use. Read reviews on how other affiliates like the programs’ dashboards, how much support they offer their affiliates, and what software as a service (SaaS) tools they provide for those who might not have a background in tech or web development. If you are not familiar with building a WordPress website, email marketing, how to build leadpages, or even how to use plugins, you may want to find a solution that can handle this for you. Only consider programs that make joining their network beneficial to both them and you. If you see affiliates complaining about the lack of real-time support or how difficult it was to join from the start, you may want to consider another program.
The affiliate marketing program you decide on should also have a clearly written, detailed payout structure for its affiliates. If you see reviews about affiliate commissions not getting paid on time, payouts not being processed, issues with paypal payments or anything related to this, you will likely have better luck going with a network that actually pays you for your hard work.
How many merchants an affiliate network or program currently has should also be a consideration when deciding on the best fit. If there are hardly any successful affiliates promoting and selling the offer, it may be best to look for something that is at least generating revenue for others. After all, why would you spend time and money promoting something when it clearly has limited revenue potential?
Now that you have a better understanding of what to look for based on your personal and business goals, we should cover the differences between the different affiliate business models.
Difference Between In-House Merchant Programs and Affiliate Networks
There are two different types of affiliate models you could use in your business when first starting out: in-house merchant affiliate programs and affiliate networks.
In-House Merchant Affiliate Programs
This includes Amazon’s affiliate program, as it manages everything within its own partner program. There are a few other in-house merchant programs, but Amazon is one of the most popular. The network (Amazon in this case) runs its own affiliate software (either custom built or an off shelf one) and pays its affiliates referral commissions through a dashboard they set up.
Affiliate Network
In this model, you are bringing traffic directly to the network’s offer, whether that be a landing page or a form submission. The network will advise you on how you can promote the affiliate offer (usually within a detailed marketing policy), and some even offer marketing content that your business can use to help with conversions and to build trust.
These networks will actively seek new affiliates to spread the reach of their offer and will often have an affiliate manager who oversees everyone in the program. This is a great opportunity for business owners looking to promote a new product, as these networks will manage the affiliates (you in this case), which leaves the company making the offer free to focus on other parts of the business outside of marketing. Now that you have a better understanding of what affiliate marketing is, are familiar with the different models to choose from, and know which niche you want to set out for, what exactly are the best affiliate programs for those just now getting ready to set sail?
