Affiliate Marketing Websites

 

Affiliate Marketing Websites help consumers identify services and products that solve problems. Before discussing affiliate marketing websites in detail, it is important to define affiliate marketing and the terminology of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is the promotion of products and or services by a third party.  A marketing arrangement by which a retailer pays a commission to a person or website for sales or sales leads. The product or service does not cost the consumer any additional money.

Advertisers – An organization who provides the service or product.

Publisher- The external person or website that promotes the product or service.

Consumers- The individuals who purchase the product or services.

 

Why Do Retailers and other Companies have Affiliate Marketing Programs

Retailers such as Amazon, Target, BestBuy and thousands of other companies have affiliate marketing programs because it saves them money. A lot of money. Affiliate marketing programs expand marketing reach by leveraging hundreds if not thousands of people. People utilizing their time and money to promote the retailers’ products or services. The Publisher only gets paid if there is a sale made or lead generated.  Just a side note, there are even affiliate programs that pay commissions just for leads. Insurance companies are just one example that pays for leads. Because of affiliate marketing more products and services are sold which leads to more profits.

Publishers help advertisers attract consumers by offering discounts and running other promotions. Most companies have affiliate managers with whom you can speak. They are very helpful. The affiliate manager for one of the insurance companies I promote gave me insight on what was and was not working for other affiliates. This allowed me to save the time and expense of trial and error.  Reach out to your affiliate manager as soon as you are accepted and ask for insight. They have a vested interest in your success.

 

Can you make money with an Affiliate Marketing website

 

Absolutely,  a 2016 report completed by Forester Consulting projects affiliate marketing to produce sales of  6.8  billion dollars by 2020. According to the report, in 2015 affiliate marketing produced sales of 4.2 billion dollars. If the projections hold true that would mean a compounded growth rate of 10% annually.

 

 

 

Affiliate Marketers are and will continue to benefit from the growth. There are affiliate marketers making millions of dollars a year promoting products and service. Of course, these results come after years of experience and most importantly…building an audience. The key to success in affiliate marketing is building an audience. An audience that knows, likes and trusts you. How do you do that? By creating great content that solves problems.  If you are researching affiliate marketing for a quick buck or get rich quick plan…good luck. However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort you can be successful. How much would an extra $500 to a $1000 help you? As your audience grows and you help more people solve their problems you are making more money than that job you don’t like is paying. You wake one day and realize you are free. Not the fake freedom most people want, being able to buy a new car or house or take a fancy vacation. But the kind that allows you to put your kid on the bus every day for the first time. The kind that you make it home before 8 pm and can spend time with your spouse.  In my opinion, freedom means being in control of my time. Having an affiliate marketing website is a lot of work but the rewards will be well worth the effort. Read my article 10 Steps to Starting your Business in 2018 for tips to transition into the life you have always wanted.

 

How to get started with your own Affiliate Marketing Website

You need a website. Before applying to any affiliate network you should have a website. Additionally, you should always control your own platform. Your own website allows you to control your own platform. Having a Facebook page, YouTube channel is great but you don’t own those platforms. I just heard today that a business that was heavily reliant on Facebook was negatively impacted when Facebook changed its algorithm recently. Below are some great offers available from the advertisers  I promote. Review the offers below and choose the option best for you.  I prefer WordPress as my CMS (Content Management System). It does have a learning curve but it makes creating content and optimizing content for search engines easier.

 Hostgator Web Hosting

Hostgator is a leader in website hosting. I used them for about 10 websites that I personally owned as well as my customers who want to keep hosting under their own name. Which I support because it allows my customers to pay for and renew their hosting. The only negative is that Hostgator does not offer free SSL certificates. They are available for an additional fee.

1. Hostgator Bundle 60% off that includes a domain name, template website builder and hosting for $3 per month paid annually. Total cost for the first year $32. Click here to review that offer.
2. Hostgator Optimize WordPress Hosting 12 months optimized WordPress Hosting $135. Free migration of existing WordPress site if needed. If you need a domain name add $15. Click here to review that option.
3. Hostgator Hosting 36 Months is just $98.93. Domain name if needed is an additional charge.

  Bluehost Web Hosting

Bluehost is my other recommendation. They offer free SSL certificates.

1. Blue Hosting 12 Months with Free Domain Name ($12-$15 value) and Free SSL Certificate is $65.40. Make sure you remove the optional add-ons if you don’t want them before you check out.
2. Blue Hosting  12 Months Cloud Hosting for Performance Plan. Just $191.40 after removing optional add-ons. Designed for websites that need performance. Free Doman Name and Free SSL certificate. Includes $200 in marketing incentives.

 SiteGround Web Hosting (Update September 2018)

 

 I recently switched to SiteGround for my website hosting. To put it simply, I love it. My websites are faster, enhanced security and most importantly the price is affordable. Read my full review https://jefscot.com/siteground-hosting-review. Check out www.SiteGround.com website  to review all the great features. 

   

 

            Apply to Affiliate Marketing Networks and Directly with the Advertiser

 

There are numerous affiliate marketing networks and advertisers. I would suggest starting by signing up for the Amazon Associate program. They carry many products you will find great ideas for your affiliate marketing website. The commission rates vary according to the product category. Additionally, commissions can be earned through the many Amazon subscriptions services.

 

After signing up with Amazon, it is time to sign up with Affiliate Networks. Affiliate Networks connect advertisers with publishers. They also manage the payments from advertisers to publishers.  Affiliate networks are able to track sales through the links. Each link you promote has a special identifier for your affiliate ID. When a customer clicks on your link and is taken to the advertiser’s website a record of that action is recorded as well the purchase. Even If the consumer comes back at a later time and makes a purchase, you will still receive your commission if the cookie that identifies you has not expired. Cookies are small pieces of software installed on a user’s computer. Cookies store information that helps websites store information. An example, your username, and password are auto-populated when you log into your e-mail account.

 

(Always create terms and condition page and privacy policy page for your website. This will inform users of how your website and related parties used cookies.)

 

List of Affiliate Marketing Networks

Below is a list, in no particular order, of some of the leading affiliate marketing networks. You should research additional options. I currently promote with CJ Affiliate and Amazon Associates.

1. CJ Affiliate by Conversant
2. Rakuten
3. Amazon Associates
4. Terra leads
5. ShareASale
6. eBay
7. Commission Factory
8. Avangate
9. Flexoffers
10. RevenueWire
11. AffiBank

 

 

 

How to choose which products to promote on your Affiliate Marketing Website

Focus on a particular niche. If you try to cover too many bases, you will end up covering none. What problems are people trying to solve? You need to begin by doing keyword research. Keyword research also allows you to identify the search volume for a particular keyword or long tail keyword phrase. Your research should also identify keyword difficulty. My process is to target keywords with a low to moderate difficulty. Although the search volume is less, the opportunities for my content to gained traction is increased.  Once you have mastered your niche you can move on to other niches. Each niche should have its own website. There are many different ways you can position your website. Product review, product comparison, informational are just a few ways to position your affiliate marketing website. You can read more on how to choose an affiliate product by reading: Guide to Choosing Affiliate Products to Promote

 

Driving traffic to your Affiliate Marketing Website

 

Driving traffic to your website is a major challenge in affiliate marketing. There are two types of traffic online: organic or paid. Organic traffic is when a visitor finds your website and content as a result of a web search on Google, Bing or other search engines.  Creating great content that is structured correctly for search engine optimization (SEO) will help your content rise to the top of the search engines. As a result, your website will get more visitors. But not just a random visitor but someone who is actively searching for a solution. Best of all it doesn’t cost anything.

The other option is paid traffic via Facebook, Google etc. I would not recommend this for someone just starting out. However, as you grow you will definitely want to learn what campaigns paid ads are most effective. Your affiliate manager should be able to assist with information as well.

There is so much opportunity for affiliate marketers.  The path to becoming successful is simple but not easy. It takes consistent effort over time. The cost to get started is low. The worse thing that can happen is that you learn so much and that puts you closer to living the life you want.

 

Jef Scot provides solutions to small businesses in website design and hosting, direct mail and online marketing. Affordable solutions that don’t compromise. Please see our Solutions page for a list of available services. As an incentive to help you get started please use the discount code: Business2018 at check out for $50 off your purchase. If you have any doubts about what is possible check out the video below from Matthew Woodard on how he created almost $500,000 worth of revenue helping people solve problems by creating great content.