As an affiliate marketer, you will be promoting products or services on behalf of a company or person, and will receive a commission for every sale that you make. This can be a great way to earn some extra money, or even to replace your full-time income if you are successful enough.
Another benefit of affiliate marketing is that it can be very flexible in terms of how you work. You can choose to promoting products or services that you are interested in, and can work as little or as much as you like. This means that it can be a great way to fit work around other commitments that you may have. I run my own company, Ramro Synergy and work a full time job and for me it’s just a hobby, but any hobby that brings in income is worthwhile pursuing!
What are the disadvantages of affiliate marketing?
There are a few disadvantages of affiliate marketing to be aware of. First of all, it can be a bit of a waiting game. You could end up promoting a product that is set to come out in six months and not see any return until then, or even worse, it might not come out at all. This is a problem because you are relying on others to buy the product and you earning commission from that sale. This is why even though you can be the first to the playground when it comes to marketing a certain product, it’s best to be an affiliate for an established product until you know what you’re doing.
Another downside is that affiliate marketing requires quite a bit of content creation in order to be successful. You need to have regular blog posts or videos created in order to promote the products you are trying to sell. This can be time consuming and if you are not good at creating content, it may not be worth your while.
You may also notice that sometimes with affiliate marketing, the companies you are working with may change your affiliate links, I first noticed this with Paddle. If you’re a WordPress user like myself, I’d recommend checking out my article on changing affiliate links and how to effectively deal with this issue.
Finally, there is always the risk that the company you are promoting will go out of business or stop offering the product you are promoting. This could leave you without any commission or earnings. While this is not common, it is something to be aware of. You need to keep an eye on the companies you are promoting products for. One of the best ways to handle this issue is to promote products that are quite common – for example, writing blogs on recipes and selling herbs and spices. Then you just have to change the brand of a specific product, and you won’t have to rework your entire campaign or lose it because a company crashes.
How can affiliate marketing be used effectively?
There are many ways to use affiliate marketing effectively. Here are some tips:
1. Use a mix of high-paying and low-paying affiliate programs. This will help you diversify your income sources and minimize your risks.
2. Promote a mix of products and services. This will help you capture a wider audience and increase your chances of making sales. Think of it like this: You might be writing a blog about recipes and cooking, you can sell cooking utensils, spices, herbs, and other cooking related products without sacrificing the integrity of your work!
3. Use a mix of marketing strategies. This includes things like blogging, which you can outsource if needed, social media marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. Blogging is my favourite, and I set things up on auto post rotations once I’ve written enough evergreen content. It’s always nice to see a page you set up years ago bringing in profit occasionally!
4. Keep track of your results. This will help you gauge what is working and what is not so you can adjust your strategies accordingly.
5. Be patient. Affiliate marketing takes time to succeed so don’t give up if you don’t see results immediately! (It took me about a year before I started making affiliate money!)
For maximising your potential on social media, I recommend ContentStudio! I have used them for years, and of course, this is an affiliate link so you can see I’m definitely doing it too! They’re better than Hootsuite and Buffer for sure, because they also allow you to find great niche content when you can use to expand your social media! Also get involved with AdSense. I have over 50 affiliate pages across my websites that rarely sell products, but I make enough from my blogs to run all my sites and help me afford a few programs here and there!
What are some common mistakes made in affiliate marketing?
1. Not understanding the basics of affiliate marketing.
2. Not taking the time to build a niche website or blog. (Don’t get sucked into running entirely through PPC with product based landing pages, you’ll end up broke!)
3. Not creating quality content that adds value for your readers. (Think like this: You’re writing to help people. Help first, sell as a bonus.)
4. Promoting too many products and services at once. (Many YouTubers make this mistake, you get ads at the start of their video and constant sales pitches. It’s infuriating.)
5. Not tracking your results and making adjustments accordingly. (Tracking your social media reach and reactions can help you figure out what your followers like, so they can help you figure out what is going to sell better when building a new affiliate program.)
