Affiliate Marketing can seem like a complicated concept, however it is one that you really need to grasp if you intend to generate a passive income online.
In the most simple sense, Affiliate Marketers help businesses by promoting their products, services or site. When a customer clicks the link you are promoting on your blog, ad, social media page etc and purchases that product, you are rewarded with a commission for your efforts (refer to the image above).
Commissions are usually a percentage of a sale and can range from a few percent up to 40% on more select high ticket items – these are the ones we like to work with. 🙂
Commissions can also be a fixed amount per conversion.
Affiliate marketing can be incredibly lucrative, however it is by no means an overnight money making machine – they actually don’t exist.
Learning how to do affiliate marketing effectively takes time and you will also require an advertising budget to get you started. However, it is a substantially smaller investment than purchasing a bricks and mortar business, and I can tell you from my own experience that it is a lot more fun.
Our top tips for starting your own affiliate marketing business are:
1. Learn From The Best
The internet and all the available advertising platforms out there can present a minefield for new affiliate marketers. The learning curve is pretty steep and if you arent careful it can be incredibly overwhelming. Struggling through on your own could mean wasted money and time.
We have learnt everything we know from some of the top digital entrepreneurs and affiliate marketers in the world through the Six Figure Mentors. In addition to the world class training provided, other members are also encouraged to be open about their own experiences meaning that you can learn from others mistakes rather than making them yourself.
2. Choose Your Product Wisely
There are so many products you could choose to promote with affiliate marketing. You may have noticed that I said choose your product (singular) wisely. Do your research and choose one product (preferably a high commission product) and succeed with this one product before branching out.
We have chosen to promote the Six Figure Mentors and Digital Experts Academy because we learnt from them, continue to be a part of their community and feel confident that they the best at what they do. We feel proud to be a part of their network, have experienced the quality of their training and as a result want to expose others to the amazing opportunity they offer.
They also offer high ticket commissions of up to 40% meaning that our potential commission per sale is up to US$8000 (on their highest value product), which is a lot more than 5% of a book sale (potentially $1). It’s a case of simple maths… how many units do I have to sell of low ticket commission products compared to high ticket commission products in order to meet my passive income goals?
We are also aware that the online training industry is poised to reach $107 billion this year with self paced learning estimated revenues of $49.9 billion. With access to a proven training product like the Digital Experts Academy, I expect to take a small piece of that pie. 🙂
3. Be Realistic About Your Monthly Advertising BudgetAnd Stick To It
You will need a regular advertising budget – there is no way around this. Having said that, budget doesnt have to run into the thousands. Online advertising is no where near the cost of traditional advertising. You can run a campaign on Facebook from $5 per day or Youtube with $30/day.
There are also a lot of free marketing options including blogging, forums and general relationship building. Of course, the free options take longer to establish so you will need to determine how quickly you want to be generating a regular income.
One of the main benefits of building an affiliate marketing business is that it can be done around your current lifestyle and commitments. This means that whether you are a stay at home parent or someone working a 9-5 job, you can also build start building a passive income stream using affiliate marketing on the side.
If you would like to find out more information about the Six Figure Mentors, Digital Experts Academy training or the business systems we have used to build our affiliate marketing business, then please click here or schedule a free 30 minute consultation with us.