Access to the internet has placed many income-generating opportunities at our disposal. Many of these, like dropshipping, trading, or copywriting, are great passive income sources, but we will not be talking about them today. Instead, we’ll be delving into the subject of affiliate marketing.

If you’ve been online long enough, chances are that you might have heard about affiliate marketing. Maybe you saw a creator promoting his course online, or came across the word in a blog or article. You might have wondered how they did it or questioned the legitimacy of affiliate marketing as a skill. 

Today we will be answering these questions to dispel your doubts. In this beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing, we’ll take you through all the things you need to know about how to become an affiliate marketer. You’ll learn everything from a basic understanding of the business model to strategies you can employ to drive traffic to your links. So, read on to discover the secrets of affiliate marketing!

How does Affiliate Marketing Work?

While some other online business ventures may have a steep learning curve, the affiliate marketing business model is quite easy to understand. In essence, there are only three parties involved in it: 

1. The product owner
2. The affiliate
3. The customer

The product owner is the individual or company that owns a product with an affiliate program. They are the author, the teacher, or the creator trying to sell their product. In contrast, the affiliate is the individual who helps to promote the product owner’s goods or services to the customer and receives a commission for their work. The commission is the amount of money that the affiliate makes from the sale. The amount may vary depending on the product owner, but this interaction between the three parties is how affiliate marketing works.

To illustrate this, let’s say a customer wants to buy a wireless headset, and while searching online, he comes across a blog reviewing a book he wants. At the end of that blog, the reviewer who happens to be an affiliate, places a link that leads to the book’s Selar page. If the customer makes a purchase using that link, the affiliate will earn a 10% commission. So, if the book were N10,000, he would earn N1000 from that sale. This might seem small, but thousands of people coming to that blog could amount in great income for the affiliate, if they all use his link.

There are two ways to turn a profit using the affiliate marketing business model. You could either create a product and have some affiliates promote it for you as the product owner, or you could earn commissions as an affiliate promoting the goods and services of others. The choice is up to you. Now, let’s look into the steps that will help you earn your first commission as a new affiliate.

Step 1: Join an Affiliate Network

An affiliate network is essentially the vehicle through which affiliate marketing is carried out. It is a place where you can find products to link to, sell, and earn commissions from as an affiliate. There are many affiliate networks out there, many of which can be found through a simple Google search, but we’ll highlight two of them in this article namely:

1. Selar Affiliate Network
2. Amazon Associates

1. Selar Affiliate Network

The Selar Affiliate Network is an affiliate marketing platform designed for digital product sellers and affiliates in mind. It aims to be a platform where everyone can earn, and so far, it has achieved this by boosting merchants’ sales through affiliates while paying them the agreed-upon commissions every time they facilitate a sale.

Whether you’re a product seller or an affiliate, there’s a personalized dashboard for you with customizable settings to choose from. The digital product creators decide what % they want to give the affiliates and if the affiliates like it, they promote the product. However, the minimum commision creators can set is 10% which is a high profit margin for affiliates! And the ability to monitor sales is just a bonus!

To be part of the Selar Affiliate Network, you must register as a member of the affiliate network. For only N3000 a year (other currencies available), you can gain access to the tens of thousands of products.

To learn more about our affiliate network, read this article.

Why You Should Join the Selar Affiliate Network

1. Great earning potential: Selar’s affiliate marketers have access to a marketplace of over 70,000 digital products. They can find products that align with their audience’s interests and potentially earn significant commissions (between 10% and 50% per sale).  
2. Fast and efficient payout system: You don’t have to wait every Friday for your payout. For NGN payment, you get your payout 24 hours after a sale has been made.
3. Performance tracking: Selar provides affiliates with a personalized dashboard to monitor their performance. You can track clicks, conversions, and earnings, allowing you to optimize your marketing strategies.
4. Earn in multiple currencies: Affiliates receive their commissions efficiently through various payout methods and potentially in multiple currencies depending on their location and the chosen method.
5. Strong support and affiliate community: Selar offers resources to help affiliates succeed, including access to a community forum, tutorials, or even live webinars. Learn from experienced affiliate marketers and get support to boost earnings.

2. Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is owned and managed by Amazon. It offers affiliates a wide selection of products at different commission rates depending on the type of product. 

Joining this affiliate network is quite simple. It can be done by a simple Google search or by scrolling to the bottom of Amazon and finding the place where they write “Make Money with Us” in the footer section of the website. 

There, as shown above, you click on “Become an Affiliate,” and you will be led to the Amazon Associates website, where you can sign up and join their affiliate network.

Step 2: Find a Good Product

After selecting the affiliate network of your choice, you should be ready for what’s arguably the most important part of the affiliate marketing process: finding a good product. Everything rises or falls at this point, so it’s critical to consider the following factors when looking for products to link to:

1. Appeal

A good rule of thumb to follow when looking for products to sell is to consider whether the product you want to promote is tempting enough to drive a purchase. If it isn’t, you are better off looking for something else because people are not likely to buy it. 

You may be wondering: How can I know what will be appealing to potential customers? And for that, you can simply use yourself and the people close to you as a standard of measurement. If you find the product to be desirable, that is a good sign. But getting similar reactions from your friends and family is an even better sign.

You can also conduct market research to find out the things that appeal to different demographics and turn a profit by targeting them with irresistible offers. In all, ensure that the product you choose appeals to a large number of people. This way, people will be more eager to click on your link.

2. Profitability

Next, generally look out for more expensive products. The importance of this cannot be underestimated, as you’ll earn more in commissions from more expensive products than cheaper ones. 

For example, there’s a world of a difference between a 5% commission on a N2000 book compared to an N30,000 course. One person earns 100N per sale while another earns N15000 per sale. Even if the first person worked several times harder, it wouldn’t come close to the guy in a profitable niche.

3. Passion

From what we have discussed so far, affiliate marketing may seem like a logical source of income, so where does passion fit into all of this? How you feel about a product can be just as important as how appealing or profitable it is, so choosing a product you are passionate about is a must. 

For one, it can keep you motivated through difficult times if you genuinely love what you are trying to sell. This passion can also seep into your marketing approach, which could make it more effective in the process. Even if some potential customers don’t share the same interests, the passion you exude could end up “infecting” them, as it so happens with some people.

Ultimately, buyers don’t want to feel like they’re giving in to an ad. That’s why being real will prove to be a tremendous help in the marketing strategy you select.

READ: From Accounting to Media: How Prince Oluwatosin Carved His Career Path with His Passion

Step 3: Select an Affiliate Marketing Strategy

So far, we’ve looked at how to join an affiliate network and find a good product to link to. All that’s left now is to select an affiliate marketing strategy from among the options listed below to get you to your first commission! Of course, there are more strategies out there, but we’ll be discussing these three:

1. Social Media
2. Blogs
3. Email Marketing

1. Social Media

The online world of social media presents affiliates with several opportunities for affiliate marketing. Whether on Facebook, Instagram or X, you can find millions of individuals to sell your product to, but this has to be done strategically.

When you think about it, people have a bigger influence on us than we realize. You might have never read that book or watched that movie if a friend had not recommended it, so that’s the idea you want to run with. Remember, people don’t like to feel like they are giving in to an ad, so try to make your promotions sound as organic as possible. 

You could create a Facebook group or build a following of people around your passion and niche on Instagram, and then share your selar affiliate link with them. This is just one of the many strategies you can employ to get your link to people. 

If you don’t want to go that route, you can opt for paid advertisements instead. You’ll only have to set up the campaign on social media, fill in the important details, and the platform will handle all the advertising for you. After the campaign, you can look through the results and optimize as you see fit.

2. Blogs

Starting and growing a blog is another affiliate marketing strategy of note. With the right SEO, your blog could potentially rank at the first page results, which translates to millions of potential clicks from people looking for answers to their problems or seeking to buy a product.

Of course, your blog would have to be engaging to keep people reading, but at the end of it, you could place your affiliate link and earn those sweet commissions whenever customers buy products through your link.

Another important thing to note is that with enough traffic, you can keep earning passively from your blogs long after they have been written. So, ensure you employ these SEO strategies to keep your blog at the top of search results and enjoy the benefits that come with it.

3. Email Marketing

Now, when it comes to email marketing, the same social media rules apply. You want to add a personalized feel to it, even if it’s automated before sending it out to as many people as you can.

If this is your preferred strategy, look at how you can build your email list for affiliate marketing. Employ well-known strategies like lead magnets and opt-in forms, and test to see what gives you the best results. 

Email service providers like MailChimp or ConvertKit can also facilitate the email marketing process by automating tasks for you. That way, you can sit back, relax, and watch as your emails are sent to everyone on your email list!

Final thoughts

Affiliate marketing is a wonderful opportunity for individuals from all over the world to increase their income online. Unlike other fields with steeper learning curves, it is quite easy to understand and apply. You could even start today and earn your first commission, but as wonderful as this may sound, it’s important you go into it with the right mindset.

Many things on the internet tend to get blown out of proportion or exaggerated. Many a time, this is done for views on YouTube or reactions from social media, so critically examining the information you come across about online opportunities is crucial. Someone may claim that you can make $5000 a day from affiliate marketing or try to paint a picture of overnight success for you. 

However, affiliate marketing is a legitimate business that requires your time and effort if you want to succeed. You’ll have to work hard and give it your all in the strategy of your choice to turn and grow your profits, but the reward for doing so will leave you with no regrets!

Get started today!