Okay, so you might have heard all of that before, but the rest of this article will explain what you can expect if you paddle into the affiliate waters.

You’ll also get answers to the questions that all beginners wonder about, but are often afraid to ask.

What Exactly is an Affiliate Marketer?

This is the obvious first question for many as the term confuses many  people I meet in everyday life, when they ask what I do for a living.  Acting as an affiliate for a company means that you advertise for an  e-commerce website either by adding a text link to a website you  write  on, or by paying for search engine ad space. Then each time  your link leads a prospective customer to the website and they  purchase through your link, you receive a commission payment on  that sale.

Not all online retailers offer the opportunity to advertise their products for reward, so you need to find one that has an affiliate program which you can sign up to (almost always for free, but you might need a website to sign up to some).

Is Affiliate Marketing Respectable?

My answer is yes, absolutely. Sadly there are still some  misconceptions about affiliate marketers due to the work of online  spammers who misuse affiliate links, especially those advertising  online pharmacies in their quest to ‘get rich quick’. This is not what  affiliate marketing is about at all. Professional affiliate marketers only  behave ethically – adding value to the buying experience for  customers and working very hard at doing this. A lot of genuine hard  work is the only way to become successful in the long-term.

Until recently the industry has been poorly controlled and largely unregulated, but this is all changing as affiliate marketing now accounts for a substantial chunk of online retailers’ revenues.

These are exciting times for affiliate marketing as the industry is growing rapidly and is becoming a very professional area to work in – as anyone who attends the frequently held industry events and conferences will vouch for.

How Affiliate Marketing Works

Now if you’re wondering how the sales you make are tracked to you, the  answer is that each affiliate’s web link is encoded with a unique ID tracking  code, and this tags the sale to your account. Your commission amount per  sale will usually be in the form of a percentage – with a commission rate like  10% being a good figure to aim for.

Commissions will build up in your account as you make sales, and these are  held until you reach a certain payout level – usually about $100 or so. Your  earnings are then released, and a good affiliate can hope to receive a cheque  or direct transfer to their bank account each month.

How Hard is it & How Much Will You Earn?

credit:duchessa

In principle, affiliate marketing is very easy to do. You drive traffic to  your website or advertisement, and any sales you make earn you  money. However, it is not for the faint-hearted – especially if you  choose to pay for traffic. And affiliate marketing takes serious  commitment in terms of learning time, especially at the beginning.

You must be prepared to make a lot of mistakes and do a lot of  reading in forums initially, but over time the amount of money you  earn is only limited by the amount of time and work you put in. Of  course, you must also be working in profitable ways, which you learn  as you go along – through trial and error.

A recent survey commissioned by a UK affiliate network has showed that the majority of active affiliates make around $200 a month, but are also only working in the industry as a part time hobby. However, at the other end of the scale there are some affiliates who make millions a year through affiliate marketing alone (generally working full time at it). And of course there are many, many more who make a respectable full time income of several thousands a month.

How Should You Get Started?

The easiest way to get started is to read as much as possible  on the subject of being an affiliate. There is a lot of free  information online – especially in forums, about affiliate  marketing, so is not essential to buy a guide on the subject.  However, for those who would like a step by step guide, you  might want to consider buying Holly Mann’s Honest Riches (available as an ebook or paperback book).

Even whilst you are still learning through reading all you can  on affiliate marketing, you’ll need to sign up to some  affiliate  programmes to start putting your knowledge into  practice.  This is where the real learning begins, and things  become  more exciting.

You’ll want to sign up to one or two affiliate programmes to begin with – based on commission rates and choice of products to promote. This is best done through an affiliate network such as Affiliate Window (UK based products) or Commission Junction (international products), because you can browse through the programmes available and receive a single payout for all your programmes.

A simple, no-cost starting point would be to create a free blog about a topic   related to your affiliate programme or products. It is best if these are   interests of yours, but do not have to be. The next step would be to begin   filling this website with useful, unique articles and information. Once you   have a useful website, you can begin adding a few carefully chosen affiliate   links to your site. It is also essential to install website tracking such as   Google Analytics onto your webpages or blog so that you know which   keywords you are showing up for in the search engines, or where your   visitors are coming from.

To avoid confusion I have not touched on link-building, SEO or methods of   obtaining visitors. I will save that for a further guide. Hopefully this gives   you an idea of how to get started in affiliate marketing though.

If any of this sounds complicated, don’t worry, I am always available to   answer questions via my contact form on my website.

Wishing you lots of success and fun in your affiliate marketing adventures!