How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Considering affiliate marketing? Looking for the answer to the question: How does affiliate marketing work? Read on for an easy to understand break down of how it works.
First, let’s talk about what affiliate marketing IS.
Affiliate marketing is in simple terms an online referral system. It allows you, as the affiliate, to send a referral to a company and get a certain amount of money for doing so. Best of all it’s free for the affiliate. It doesn’t cost you a thing to sign up.
A little while ago I was telling a friend of mine about affiliate marketing and she had a hard time believing it was free. She said to me “It must cost you somewhere along the way if you’re able to make money with it!”. Well sure, it is going to cost you an investment of time and an investment of tools such as a website, email program, etc but you pay nothing to the company who you sign up to be an affiliate for. If any companies asks you to pay to promote their product, then you are likely looking at a completely different business model.
So let’s get right into how it works, step by step:
1. You sign up as an affiliate to any company you choose (for free). Some companies have an in-house affiliate program through their website, while other companies are part of a network of affiliate sites at a large website like ClickBank or Commission Junction. What you need to do is first figure out what products or kinds of products you want to promote and then go sign up for their program.
2. After you sign up as an affiliate, you get your affiliate LINK. This link is completely unique to your company and no one else. This link tracks every click or sale that comes through it.
3. Now that you have your affiliate link, you must promote it. Places to promote are your website, blog, on social media site, in reports, write a review, etc. The ways to promote your affiliate link can be endless.
4. Once someone clicks on your link and completes an action – you get credited as the affiliate. Most commonly you will get credited for a sale. But as an affiliate you can also get credit (money) for generating clicks or leads to certain websites.
5. After the sale is made, tracked and credited to your account your affiliate company will send you payment on the date specified. This is up to the affiliate company or affiliate network.
That’s how affiliate marketing works. It’s relatively very low-cost to get started in affiliate marketing. You don’t even need a website but it is recommended you do have one.
And now I’d like to let you know about a free special report you can download to help you learn more about affiliate marketing and how to get started right. It’s the ‘Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing’ and you can find it here: http://www.marketersmojo.com/freebies/beginners-guides/affiliate-marketing/
By signing up for the report above you will get affiliate marketing tips that teach you how to build a passive income that pays your return on investment for years to come. This has nothing to do with ‘get rich quick’ and everything to do with leverage and smart marketing.