What is Affiliate Marketing? A guide for a beginner

Table of Contents

Introduction:

In today’s time of digital marketing everyone wants to earn money online. One of the most effective and better ways is affiliate marketing program through which we can do it easily while staying online at home i.e. through social media because at this time everyone is active on social media and can easily do affiliate marketing. But many people do not have any information about it and also no clarity.

In this blog, we will tell you about the basic concept of affiliate marketing, what is affiliate marketing, how to start it, and how to earn money from it, all these things in detail.

What is “Affiliate Marketing”?
How to earn money from “Affiliate Marketing”?
How to start “Affiliate Marketing”?
Types of Affiliate Marketing?
Top Affiliate Marketing Platforms
Tips to Choose Affiliate Platform
Avoid Common Mistakes
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing means when we buy the products or services of a company and later promote them through different social media platforms and on each sale the company provides us commission through which we earn, that too while sitting at home and doing our other work with less efforts i.e. without any disturbance.

For example: – If you join Amazon’s affiliate program and share the link of a product, then when someone buys the product from that link, you get commission for it.

Similarly, there are many digital platforms where you buy their product with low investment and that company makes you join its affiliate program and whenever you share the link of their product with others and someone buys the product from your link, you get commission for it.

How does Affiliate Marketing work?

Join the Affiliate Program:

Amazon Associates

Flipkart Affiliate

ShareASale

ClickBank

E-learning platform

Get Affiliate Link:

When you join any affiliate program, the company gives you a unique link. Just like we take affiliate links which will track whether the sale has been done through you or not

Promote links:
You can write a blog and share the link in your blog

Share it on social media platforms like reels and posts

Make YouTube videos in which you give information about the product and finally share your link

Earn commission:

Whenever someone buys a product through your link, you get commission for it

What are the types of Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a flexible and dynamic field in which money can be earned in different ways. It is based on different models of marketing, which vary according to the goals of affiliates and merchants. In today’s blog, we will talk about the main types of affiliate marketing and understand which type is best for you.

Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)

What is it: In this, an affiliate gets commission only when a customer buys the products, when a customer buys the products through the affiliate link, if he does not buy, he does not get commission.

Example: Amazon Associates program. Flipkart, click bank
Highlights:
High paying is available
Their focus is to bring more and more customers who buy their product
Best For: This is good for targeted audience where lakhs of customers visit to buy the product

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

What is it: In this the affiliate earns income when the visitor clicks on your affiliate link, whether purchase is made or not. It is not necessary that click is made here
Example: Google AdSense.

Highlights:
You can easily earn money from clicks, but the commission rates are low, and you get very less commission in this
Best For: It is good for bloggers and website owners who have high traffic, and they earn good income from their clicks

Pay-Per-Lead (PPL)

What is it: In this, an affiliate gets commission when a customer fills a form through their link, signs up on their website, or registers for a free trial. In this, customer information is taken and then they generate income
Example: Insurance or education-related platforms. or fill any course-based form

Highlights:
It focuses more on generating leads so that they get information
It is not necessary to purchase the product
Best For: It is good for content creators who create informative and lead-generating content and can generate maximum leads

Cost-Per-Mille (CPM)

What is it: Here the affiliate gets paid per 1000 impressions (views). That is, when the impression reaches 1000, then the income is received

Example: You can earn through display advertising campaigns

Highlights:
Brand awareness campaigns are best in which you get more and more views

It is beneficial for high traffic websites where there is always traffic

Best For: It is best for bloggers and content creators who have a large audience

Influencer Affiliate Marketing

What is it: Social media influencers promote their products among their followers and earn high commission by selling them because their audience is quite large

Example: Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok influencers earn income though affiliate campaigns hai
Highlights:
The influencer uses personal branding.
Which leads to high engagement
Best For: For influencers and social media content creators who are always present among the audience

Niche-Specific Affiliate Marketing

What is it: Affiliates focus on a specific niche that they like, such as fitness, technology, fashion, or education. They work on their niche

Example: Fitness blogs, tech review channels, education or motivational blogs that are ever demanding
Highlights:
They have their own targeted audience
Which leads to high conversion
Best For: People who want to target a specific audience. Any niche.

High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing
What is it: Here affiliates promote expensive and bigger products, which also have high commission
Example: Luxury items, high-end software, or premium courses in which high commission is given
Highlights:
These products have high earning potential
Skills are required here. You need to know your products completely so that you can earn income
Best For: Experienced marketers.

Top Affiliate Marketing Platforms

Amazon Associates
What is it: This is Amazon’s official affiliate program. Where you can register
Highlights:
You can easily generate and share affiliate link of every product
Best platform for beginners.
Commission Rate: 1% to 10% (according to category).
Pros:
Large variety of products are available
Trusted and loyal platform
Cons:
Low commission rates in some categories.
Flipkart Affiliate
What is it: This is Flipkart’s official affiliate program, which is especially popular for Indian market. Where you can make good income
Highlights:
Tailored products for Indian audience.
Easy-to-use dashboard.
Commission Rate: 5% to 15%.
Pros:
High commission rates on electronics and fashion.
Trusted Indian e-commerce platform.
Cons:
Limited global reach.
ShareASale
What is it: An international affiliate platform that allows you to work with multiple brands.
Highlights:
4000+ merchants available.
Tools for tracking and performance analysis.
Commission Rate: Varies by merchant.
Pros:
Wide range of niches.
Beginner-friendly interface.
Cons:
Minimum payout threshold can be high.
ClickBank

What is it: ClickBank is a marketplace that is famous for digital products. Where you can make good income.
Highlights:
High commission rates.
Popular for courses, eBooks, and software.
Commission Rate: 20% to 75%.
Pros:
High-profit margins.
Easy to start.
Trusted platform
Cons:
Competition is high.

Commission Junction (CJ Affiliate)

What is it: An established affiliate network that offers high-quality brands.
Highlights:
Big brands like GoDaddy, Grammarly available.
Comprehensive performance tracking tools.
Commission Rate: Determinately dependent on the merchant
Pros:
Trusted by professionals.
Variety of niches.
Cons:
Can be a bit complex for beginners.

Tips to Choose an Affiliate Platform

Niche Relevance: Your platform should match your niche. Affiliate with the niche you select
Commission Rates: Choose high-paying platforms from where you can generate more income
Ease of Use: For beginners, it should be simple and user-friendly, meaning the work can be learned and done easily
Payout Terms: There should be quick and reliable payment options. It is better if it is weekly payment or on daily basis

How to start Affiliate Marketing?

Choose your niche: Choose the niche that you like, choose topics like Education, Fitness, Technology, or fashion that you like, and you are also interested in doing
Join Affiliate Program: Join affiliate programs on different platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, or ShareASale programs. Or you can choose any education or skills-based platform for more income
Create Content: Attract audience by creating good content through Blog or YouTube. In which you can highlight some offers and can also use discounts. Such a strategy always comes in handy while writing content.
Maintain Consistency: For this, you will have to make regular updates about your product, so that if any new offer comes, you can promote it in a better way and you can build the trust of your audience through promotions.

Avoid Common Mistakes:

Spamming: Always create and share awareness-giving content that highlights your product well. Only useful and engaging content should reach your users. Do not mislead them
Transparency: You should tell your customer that you are using affiliate links. Through which their company pays, that is, the company gives you the commission from the income generated through this link, not separately
Be Patient: Affiliate marketing takes a lot of time to generate income and success takes time. So, work patiently and patiently, don’t be hyper

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing:

Passive Income: Whenever you promote a link, you keep earning income on your sale. You get this income only if you continuously promote and share the link
Low Investment: You can start this with low investment, there is no need to invest a lot of money in this. Affiliate marketing can be done even in a low budget
Flexible Work: You can work anywhere and at any time. You do not have any time limit here, you can do this work whenever you are free, your other work will not be disturbed, you can give time to your family, you can earn income even by visiting
No Product Handling: You do not have to worry about making or shipping the product. Because the company provides you the product which you sell through the link, you do not have to make any product
No age limit: You can easily do this whether you are old or young, there is no age limit for this, whether you are a student or a housewife or any job holder, you can easily do it that too on your own time
No requirement: You do not need much requirement in this, it does not matter whether you are less educated or more, you should have a smartphone and some time so that you can easily do this.

Conclusion:

Affiliate marketing not only gives you the freedom to work in different ways at your flexible time, but also gives you multiple options and platforms for earning where you can work on the platform of your interest and also improve your skills.

Affiliate marketing is a simple and easy way for you through which you can earn more income online in less time and you can also create a different source of income by learning new top trending skills, but you have to work with consistency in this only then you can be successful.

If you want to start affiliate marketing and need guidance about a specific platform or product, then comment. or follow me. your journey starts from here!