Affiliate Marketing Definition – What exactly do they mean when they say that they make money with affiliate marketing?

According to the dictionary, the affiliate marketing definition goes like this: “Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals”.

I am sure for most people the above definition won’t mean much and they would like to know about affiliate marketing more clearly and precisely.

Let’s try to simplify the above affiliate marketing definition and let’s learn something fascinating about this lucrative online money-making-opportunity.

What Exactly Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is an online business model where one makes money promoting other people’s product. Yes, you don’t need to create your own product or sell your own services if you want to become an affiliate marketer. Cool, isn’t it?

What Products Can You Promote As An Affiliate Marketer?

Basically, anything that has an affiliate program. Yes. You can promote digital products (nontangible products that can be downloaded on to your device), physical products (tangible products that can be felt with hands), services, and even tours and travel packages, events, etc.

Can You Really Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?

That depends. You may not earn even a single penny or you may end up a millionaire by the end of this year.

The amount of money one earns with affiliate marketing isn’t a constant. It varies from individual to individual. There are no income claims being made here.

But yes, we can assure you that there is enormous potential in this business model. There are many affiliate marketers who are earning six-figure commissions every month. But that’s not a common occurrence.

Most people fail to make any significant money with affiliate marketing because they quit. It isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s a real business. You need to hang in there. You need to put in your hard work and wait with patience to get life-changing results.

This training teaches anyone how to do affiliate marketing and make a living online.

How to Get Started as an Affiliate Marketer?

Getting started as an affiliate marketer is the easier part. All you need to do is search for affiliate programs and join them. Almost all the times, signing up as an affiliate is free.

Once you sign up and your application is approved, you will be given a unique URL, which is nothing but your affiliate link. Now to get started, all you have to do, is start promoting that affiliate link. Whenever a person clicks the link and buys the product/service you are promoting, you get a commission.

Let me give you an example.

One of the biggest affiliate programs in the online world is AMAZON ASSOCIATES PROGRAM. Unless you have been living under a rock, I am sure you have already heard about Amazon by now. At the time of writing this post, Amazon is the largest internet retailer in the world. It’s hard to find a product that hasn’t been listed for selling on Amazon. Yes, it’s that big, which is a good thing for you if you want to start your affiliate marketing business. You can promote and sell almost anything, right?

To get started as an affiliate go to Amazon.com and scroll downwards. Search for a section which says ‘Make Money with Us’.

Under that tab, there is a link which reads ‘ Become an affiliate’. Click that.

On the next page click on the ‘Join Now for Free’ button.

And then on the next page, click on the button that says ‘create your Amazon account’. And fill in the required details.

And that’s it.

In most cases, the approval will be almost instant. Recently they have started enquiring about the applicants’ website/blog. So to be on the safer side, please start a blog/website and post some content before applying for the Amazon affiliate program.

Once approved, log in to your Amazon associates account dashboard, search for the product you want to promote and then look for the Amazon Associates SiteStripe on the upper left corner of the page. In the ‘Get Link’ section click on the ‘text’ tab which will generate a link that looks as shown in the picture. That’s your affiliate link.

However, the all-important question still remains.

How to promote that unique affiliate link of yours on the internet?

How to Promote Your Affiliate Link?

There are many ways to promote your affiliate links. What we are mentioning below are the non-spammy, ethical and effective ways of promoting your affiliate links.

Start a blog:

Blogging is arguably the easiest and the best way to promote your affiliate offers to a targeted audience. The targeted audiences are the people who are specifically looking for the product/service you are promoting or any relevant information in that niche. These people have the highest chance of buying the products you are promoting than the non-targeted ones who are most probably virtually wandering the net without any buyer intent.

With a blog, you can start creating unique content about certain specific topics and start attracting readers. Don’t forget to promote relevant products and add your affiliate links in these articles, which add value to your readers and money into your wallet.

For example, you can start a health blog, create some content about ‘how to cure acne’ and promote a product that helps get rid of acne quickly. Or you can write an article about ‘high blood pressure remedies’ and promote related products.

You got my point, right?

YouTube Videos:

If you don’t have the time or the patience to sit and write a blog post, start creating simple informational videos and post them on video sharing platforms like YouTube. All you need to do is put your affiliate link in the description area of your YouTube video.

Write an EBook: You can write an eBook about a specific topic in a PDF or EPUB or any other format and include your affiliate links in that book. But please remember that Amazon doesn’t allow the promotion of its affiliate links in an eBook or a PDF. You can always promote other affiliate programs with this method, but not Amazon.

Blog Commenting:

This used to be one of the most popular ways of earning huge affiliate commissions online, especially without a website. Not anymore. This is not to say that the method is complete garbage. You can still make some commissions here and there. But blog commenting isn’t a sustainable way of making affiliate commissions on a regular basis.

How it’s done?

All you need to do is, search for blogs/websites that are relevant to the product you are promoting. Check whether the commenting feature is enabled or not.

If yes, just go through the article and write something of value in the comment section. Add your affiliate link where it says the website. That’s it. If your comment is really good and if it’s adding great value to the topic in focus, people may click your comment and visit your website, which in this case is your affiliate link.

Forum Marketing:

Join relevant forums and start answering questions and solving problems. You can use your affiliate links in these forums as a signature. Please don’t spam.

Most Popular Affiliate Programs to Join as a Beginner

• Amazon Associates Program
• ClickBank
• ShareASale
• Rakuten Marketing
• MarketHealth

Best Affiliate Marketing Training for Beginners

There are numerous, quality affiliate marketing training programs out there, which are specially designed, keeping the beginners in mind.

Right now we are recommending this program for learning affiliate marketing and starting a sustainable genuine business online. Click here to check out the complete ClickBank University 2.0 review.