Online Affiliate Marketing - What You Need To Get Started
In the realm of Internet Marketing, online affiliate marketing is probably one of the easiest ways and can be the most lucrative way to make money using the Internet.
So many people have asked us in the past, What is online affiliate marketing? Well, in a nutshell, online affiliate marketing is promoting certain products or services using social media or using websites, and selling those particular products or services through a link that's specific to you. So it actually has a username or a code in the link that tracks where the sellers go to - in other words, it tracks who's selling it. Then when someone purchases the product through your specific link, you earn a commission. It's very simple.
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They are actually tons of ways to sell things to earn money. You can become a salesperson for a company, and you can even join a network marketing company. However, online affiliate marketing is usually free and it's something that you can do during your spare time. All you need to do to get started is simply sign up as an affiliate for product and start promoting the links.
Now, how do you really get started with an online affiliate marketing program?
There are three programs I want to talk about really quickly right now, which are: Clickbank, Amazon, and Empower Network.
Clickbank is a database full of products, services, and courses that you can sell. It's really easy to get started with Clickbank - you go to clickbank.com, you sign up as an affiliate (sometimes referred to as a reseller), and you search for products that you want to promote. They have probably 15 to 20 different categories of types of products that you can sell, and depending on what you're interested in you can choose any number of those to start promoting to whoever you want.
The second is Amazon. Many people don't realize that Amazon has an affiliate program and you can earn commissions by reselling products that people are selling on Amazon. Books, computers, Kindles, I've sold KitchenAid blenders - anything that's currently sold on Amazon, you can earn commission on. And Amazon has some pretty high ticket items they sell, so you can earn really good money by promoting product links from Amazon and having people purchase through your affiliate link.
Lastly I would like to talk about Empower Network, because it's an extremely unique program that has changed a lot of the way affiliate marketing is being done. The difference between the Empower Network online affiliate marketing program and any other ones I've mentioned is that, you not only earn commissions for direct sales through Empower Network of their training products, but you can also earn a commission by selling this product through people who sign up as an affiliate through your link.
This program is unique because it has combined networking with affiliate marketing. It is definitely not a network marketing company or multilevel marketing company, but a unique business model that allows people to make money in multiple ways.
What do you need to be aware of when you're looking for an online affiliate marketing program?
First and foremost, that you earn commissions on direct sales. That's the biggest difference between affiliate marketing and network marketing. With a network marketing, you have to recruit and build a team in order to earn commissions, and they filter through your organization. If you don't have any people in your organization, than you don't earn commissions. You might earn retail commission - which isn't a really even a commission, it's just a small amount over the wholesale price that you pocket - but for the most part you don't earn a percentage commission until you build a team.
With an affiliate marketing program you earn a commission right away. Someone buys the product, you earn a commission. Someone clicks on your link, purchases the product, you earn the commission. It doesn't get any more complicated than that.
The second thing you want to look for is a high commission percentage. Obviously the higher the percentage, the more money you make so that makes the most sense. There are affiliate programs out there that pay as little as 10%, there are affiliate programs out there that pay up to 40 or 50%. Empower Network, which we just mentioned, actually pays 100%. It's pretty interesting in terms of the diversity of affiliate programs out there of what they pay, but you definitely want to look for high percentage. The more percentage you get, the more money you put in your pocket.
Lastly, you want to make sure that the online affiliate marketing program that your promoting has a great track record.
If a program is new to the market, you want to be careful promoting it. At first, product launches seem like a great idea, because the opportunity to make a lot of money is high. But my advice is to stay way from first time product launches.
A lot of times product launches, or even simply new products to the market, have a high return rate. In the beginning you'll make money, but then you'll lose it because someone has returned the product. You really don't want to have to worry about that. Find a product that has a proven low return rate, that have good customer reviews, and that you feel good about promoting.
There's a lot more in-depth that we could go about this particular topic - in fact, stay tuned as we'll be posting another article on how to market and promote your affiliate products. But if you've never heard of online affiliate marketing, or if you have heard of it but you're just not really sure what it's all about, I hope I've given you a good overview so that you can go ahead and do some more research to make an educated decision if this particular industry is right for you.
So many people have asked us in the past, What is online affiliate marketing? Well, in a nutshell, online affiliate marketing is promoting certain products or services using social media or using websites, and selling those particular products or services through a link that's specific to you. So it actually has a username or a code in the link that tracks where the sellers go to - in other words, it tracks who's selling it. Then when someone purchases the product through your specific link, you earn a commission. It's very simple.
Would you rather listen to this article? Download the podcast instead!
They are actually tons of ways to sell things to earn money. You can become a salesperson for a company, and you can even join a network marketing company. However, online affiliate marketing is usually free and it's something that you can do during your spare time. All you need to do to get started is simply sign up as an affiliate for product and start promoting the links.
Now, how do you really get started with an online affiliate marketing program?
There are three programs I want to talk about really quickly right now, which are: Clickbank, Amazon, and Empower Network.
Clickbank is a database full of products, services, and courses that you can sell. It's really easy to get started with Clickbank - you go to clickbank.com, you sign up as an affiliate (sometimes referred to as a reseller), and you search for products that you want to promote. They have probably 15 to 20 different categories of types of products that you can sell, and depending on what you're interested in you can choose any number of those to start promoting to whoever you want.
The second is Amazon. Many people don't realize that Amazon has an affiliate program and you can earn commissions by reselling products that people are selling on Amazon. Books, computers, Kindles, I've sold KitchenAid blenders - anything that's currently sold on Amazon, you can earn commission on. And Amazon has some pretty high ticket items they sell, so you can earn really good money by promoting product links from Amazon and having people purchase through your affiliate link.
Lastly I would like to talk about Empower Network, because it's an extremely unique program that has changed a lot of the way affiliate marketing is being done. The difference between the Empower Network online affiliate marketing program and any other ones I've mentioned is that, you not only earn commissions for direct sales through Empower Network of their training products, but you can also earn a commission by selling this product through people who sign up as an affiliate through your link.
This program is unique because it has combined networking with affiliate marketing. It is definitely not a network marketing company or multilevel marketing company, but a unique business model that allows people to make money in multiple ways.
What do you need to be aware of when you're looking for an online affiliate marketing program?
First and foremost, that you earn commissions on direct sales. That's the biggest difference between affiliate marketing and network marketing. With a network marketing, you have to recruit and build a team in order to earn commissions, and they filter through your organization. If you don't have any people in your organization, than you don't earn commissions. You might earn retail commission - which isn't a really even a commission, it's just a small amount over the wholesale price that you pocket - but for the most part you don't earn a percentage commission until you build a team.
With an affiliate marketing program you earn a commission right away. Someone buys the product, you earn a commission. Someone clicks on your link, purchases the product, you earn the commission. It doesn't get any more complicated than that.
The second thing you want to look for is a high commission percentage. Obviously the higher the percentage, the more money you make so that makes the most sense. There are affiliate programs out there that pay as little as 10%, there are affiliate programs out there that pay up to 40 or 50%. Empower Network, which we just mentioned, actually pays 100%. It's pretty interesting in terms of the diversity of affiliate programs out there of what they pay, but you definitely want to look for high percentage. The more percentage you get, the more money you put in your pocket.
Lastly, you want to make sure that the online affiliate marketing program that your promoting has a great track record.
If a program is new to the market, you want to be careful promoting it. At first, product launches seem like a great idea, because the opportunity to make a lot of money is high. But my advice is to stay way from first time product launches.
A lot of times product launches, or even simply new products to the market, have a high return rate. In the beginning you'll make money, but then you'll lose it because someone has returned the product. You really don't want to have to worry about that. Find a product that has a proven low return rate, that have good customer reviews, and that you feel good about promoting.
There's a lot more in-depth that we could go about this particular topic - in fact, stay tuned as we'll be posting another article on how to market and promote your affiliate products. But if you've never heard of online affiliate marketing, or if you have heard of it but you're just not really sure what it's all about, I hope I've given you a good overview so that you can go ahead and do some more research to make an educated decision if this particular industry is right for you.
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Find out more about online affiliate marketing and Empower Network, be sure to check out this video about online affiliate marketing!
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