Affiliate Marketing

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is defined as a process of earning a commission by promoting a product or a
service offered by another retailer or advertiser. Affiliate marketing is additionally an
advertising and monetization model where a corporation compensates third-party publishers,
also referred to as affiliate partners, to drive traffic or leads to its products and services. The
third-party publishers are affiliates, and the commission fee incentivizes them to come up with
ways to promote the company.

Is Affiliate Marketing worth it?

Affiliate Marketing could be a great source of passive earnings. Your earning potential is
limitless as an affiliate marketer. According to PayScale, the average Affiliate Marketer earns
between $3,000 and $6,000 per month (or, $36K to $72K yearly).

Source: Affiliate Marketer Salary | PayScale

What are the Four components of affiliate marketing? & How AM Works?

Source: www.saylordotorg.github.io

 The merchant:

- The merchant, also known as a seller, creator, retailer, enterprise, or individual is the
party that provides a service or sells a product in an affiliate marketing program. A huge
corporation or a single individual, such as an entrepreneur or a social media influencer,
can be a merchant.
- The merchant does not need to be actively involved in the process of a single affiliate
marketing program, but he or she must meet the requirements for goods availability
and product quality as committed depending on the policy of the publisher.

 The Affiliate:

- The affiliate, also known as the publisher, can be anyone starting from brands and
corporations to individuals. The affiliates are organizations or individuals such as KOLs,
influencers, etc…, who promote the merchant’s service or product in exchange for a
commission from having people use their link to conduct online transactions.
- As an affiliate, you will be compensated based on your own marketing efforts, therefore
if you want to make money from affiliate marketing, you must consistently advertise the
product or service in order to attract people to purchase it by using your affiliate link.
Whenever someone ends up making a transaction of the product or service you
promote, with your affiliate link, you earn a percentage of the price of that product or
service, which is previously decided by the merchant. This is referred to as a
 commission. You can also work as an affiliate for a variety of brands and corporations to
improve your earning potential.

- Affiliates usually have a very specific audience to whom they market, and they often
stick to the interests of their audience. This creates a defined niche or personal brand
that helps the affiliate attract consumers who will be most likely to respond to the
promotion. If you already have your own audiences and followers, affiliate marketing
will be much easier for you to benefit from. For instance, if you're a social media
influencer with a significant following, you will have a better chance of selling stuff to
the individuals who already follow and support you. All you have to do is truly promote
a service or product to them, along with your affiliate link, so you can earn commissions.

 The Customer:

- Customers in affiliate marketing aren't all that dissimilar from customers in other types
of marketing. Customers are people who utilize products or services to suit their own
needs, as we all know.
- The customers are the drivers of affiliate marketing. Affiliates share these products with
them on social media, blogs, and websites. When consumers complete the product
transaction, the merchant and the affiliate share the profits.

 The Affiliate Network:

- The network acts as a go-between for the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs
are typically set up by brands on third-party platforms known as Affiliate Networks.
Brands and affiliates are bought together through these platforms. The affiliate network
does not only handle a variety of aspects of affiliate marketing, such as commissions,
tracking, and reports, but it also acts as a database of numerous products. Usually, this
is how the affiliate chooses which items or services to promote and access the insight of
the work they have done through affiliate marketing. Brands typically set up their
affiliate programs on third-party platforms called Affiliate Networks. These platforms
bring brands and affiliate marketers together.

 Process of Affiliate Marketing

 Source: How to Start Affiliate Marketing in 2021 (7 Simple Steps) (affilimate.com)

 Step-by-step:

1. The Affiliate shares an affiliate link on your website, blog, or social media post.

2. A consumer clicks the affiliate link.

3. The consumer is redirected to the advertiser's website.

4. The consumer is tracked as being referred by you through a “cookie”.

  Cookies: Cookies are small files that are stored on a customer’s device when

they click an affiliate link. They help businesses and affiliate networks remember

that you referred the customer to them, so they can give you a commission later

on.

5. The consumer makes a purchase.

6. An affiliate network attributes the purchase to you and issues a commission.

7. Commissions appear in your affiliate dashboard.

8. You get paid by the affiliate network.

Commission Earning models?

- There are two main models for earning affiliate revenue:

 CPA (Cost Per Action): The standard affiliate marketing structure. Every time one of

your audience or followers performs an action, the affiliate earns a commission.

Depending on the program, the action could be making a purchase, starting a free trial,

or filling out a form with contact information.

 CPC (Cost Per Click): The goal of this program is to encourage affiliates to direct

customers from their marketing platform to the merchant's website. This means that

the affiliate must engage the customer to switch from the affiliate's site to the

merchant’s site. The affiliate is paid based on the increment amount of traffic that is

generated on the website, even if the consumers don’t complete a specific action.
How to Start Affiliate Marketing?

The most well-kept secret in affiliate marketing is that your earning potential is heavily
influenced by the niche you choose. That is, you must determine the type of audience you want
to reach and the products that the audience needs to buy. Before starting your affiliate
marketing firm, you must understand what to look for in a niche.

Step 1: Choose your niche properly based on research

- Choose a topic that you are passionate about: When you have the freedom to do what
you want, everything becomes easier. Furthermore, if you have a passion, you are likely
to be knowledgeable in that sector. This will undoubtedly aid marketing and sales
efforts. If you have a passion for makeup, for example, makeup-related areas may be
your specialization of interest. Consider making money from that specialty, though. As a
result, you may not have a thorough understanding of your niche. You may always study
more about it later if it has the potential to assist you in making money.
- Ensure that your niche can attract enough interest from your followers and audience for
them to reach and be willing to spend money on relevant products.
- It's also critical to comprehend the competition in order to determine your market entry
point. Look for medium-competition niches, where there are a few established players
but where you can better service a smaller audience, differentiate yourself, and develop
later.

Step 2: Choose a right platform

- After choosing a niche, it is significant to figure out where you will host your affiliate
material and what kind of content you'll develop.
- There are many choices for an affiliate to start out including a website, a Youtube
channel, and a social network account.

Step 3: Pick profitable affiliate programs

- Learn about affiliate programs and products to promote after you've settled on niches. It
will take a long time to choose an affiliate network, but don't be scared to invest as your
revenue will come from it. Shopee, as an example, sells practically everything, therefore
your niche is likely to include Shopee products. You may sign up for it. It's a fantastic
location to start practicing affiliate marketing.
 - Most reputable businesses have affiliate programs that allow people to work for
themselves as independent affiliates. You will, however, be requested to give bank
account or PayPal information to pay the commission received on successful sales.
- Some popular affiliate marketing programs in Vietnam:

 Massoffer: As the most prestigious affiliate marketing platform in Vietnam with the
highest share commission today: up to 20%, fast payment time, and support for
publishers with tools to help customize the website such as automatic revenue
reporting system, automatic promotion function.

 Accesstrade: It is also the most prestigious affiliate marketing platform in Vietnam

with advantages such as Diverse campaigns, high levels of shared commissions,
smart systems, continuous transformation, prestigious Japanese technology, etc

Step 4: Create high-quality affiliate content

- The most time-consuming stage, creating a reputable website in your field, and the
most effective method to do so is to consistently provide unique, high-quality content.
Whatever content categories you choose, remember to add an affiliate disclosure that
informs your followers or audiences that you may receive a commission if they purchase
through your links.
- Some examples of high-converting affiliate marketing content are listed in the image
below:
 Source: How to Start Affiliate Marketing in 2021 (7 Simple Steps) (affilimate.com)

Step 5: Drive traffic to your affiliate site and build up followers and audiences

- Some of the greatest free traffic sources for affiliate marketing are listed in the image
below. Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, and Reddit are all excellent free traffic
sources for affiliate marketing, but they do need some time and effort to get them to
work.
 Source: How to Start Affiliate Marketing in 2021 (7 Simple Steps) (affilimate.com)

- An interested audience will not only bring you traffic but will also bring you revenue.
- Promote your content over social media: As a KOLs or Influencer, social networking is
the simplest and most common approach to begin establishing an audience for an
affiliate marketing scheme. You can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, or another
network depending on your niche and sector. Maintaining interactions and interest on
social media is a fantastic way to strengthen business-to-customer ties. After you've
earned your client's trust, you may begin marketing your products and services to them.

Step 6: Try offering a bonus

- Affiliates sometimes advertise their affiliate programs by giving bonuses to anyone who
buys the deal. This type of promotion entices clients to buy by sweetening the deal.
They're especially appealing if the bonus you're offering is something you typically sell
because customers will be able to see the bonus's actual money value right on your
website.
How to do Affiliate Marketing effectively?

 Create solid content

- If you want to supplement your income with affiliate marketing, you'll need to provide
high-quality content. Content is in every piece of communication you use. You'll need to
be familiar with both informational and transactional calls to action, as well as the ability
to transmit in a clear and understandable manner.

 Know your products

- You can set yourself apart from your competitors by gaining knowledge. As an affiliate,
you provide product recommendations to your visitors, therefore you need to be
considered as an expert, or at the very least a resource for thorough information about
the things you advertise, to stand out.

 Engage your visitors

- The most successful affiliate marketers interact with their customers. Allow comments if
you have a blog. This gives you the opportunity to engage in dialogue with your visitors.
Of course, you'll have to filter out the spam, but if you respond to the majority of your
commenters and establish dialogues with them, they'll come back to continue the
conversation.

 Dedicate your time

- You must invest your time in order to be successful. Affiliate marketing necessitates
continual effort, so be prepared, and set aside time for it on a regular basis.

 Provide information along with assistance, rather than sell

- Social media that are just for the purpose of selling and self-promotion seldom gain
traction. You must assist your visitors and present them with high-quality information
that they find valuable in order for them to return. Do your research and provide more
detailed or up-to-date information.
Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing

Pros Cons

Minimal Investment High Competition

Easy to Start Need a lot of Patient and Hard Work

High Passive Income Potential No Guaranteed of Revenue

The flexibility of Commission Models No Control Over some Factors

Freedom of Time and Location Hijack Affiliate Link Possibility