Today we're going to talk with you guys
about how you can make more money on your YouTube channel
and from your audience by doing affiliate marketing.
This is Melea, and she's going to explain to you guys
and to me exactly how that works.
That's coming up.
Hey, guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer, and welcome to Video Creators.
This channel is all about helping guys grow your YouTube
audience so you can spread a message that reaches
people and impacts their lives.
And one of the best ways to make that sustainable
is to earn money on your channel to really help
you be able to do that so you can keep going.
So Melea specializes in this.
First of all, tell us who you are,
what your background is with all this,
and what you do on YouTube also.
Yeah.
So I used to run a blog that I learned a ton about affiliate
marketing with.
And I recently sold that blog and came over to YouTube
and started a YouTube channel, and realized that nobody
was using affiliate links.
And I was like, what is going on?
Especially the huge channels weren't using these,
and they weren't using them the right way.
And I thought, oh, I've got to tell everyone
that they can make a lot of money without sponsored videos.
So I've just come over and started my own channel
about helping people live the ultimate life for less,
and been incorporating affiliate links
and then showing other people how to do it.
Link to the channel is down below.
You guys can go check it out.
But first of all, for anyone who isn't
familiar with what affiliate marketing is,
what is that first of all?
Just real briefly.
Basically, an affiliate link is a way for a company
to track your personal link.
So if anyone purchases anything on that company's website,
you get a percentage of the sale.
So if I link to something on Amazon using a special link,
and you click it and you buy it, then I
would get a small percentage of that sale
as a thank you for me sending the sale to them, right?
Yeah.
And it's not just Amazon.
It's almost every single brand or company
has some sort of affiliate program,
so Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy.
The list goes on and on and on, and they all
have affiliate programs.
So you can make money when your viewers actually
click on your link.
So how would you go about finding those opportunities
that you could potentially sign up for and become an affiliate?
Right.
Amazon's obviously a really big one.
It's an easy one that a lot of people like to use.
So I would start with Amazon if you're new to affiliate links.
The other places I would check would
be CJ.com, LinkShare.com, ShareASale.com,
and ImpactRadius.com.
They're like the affiliate networks
or the houses that house all the different brands inside.
So you can find the Wal-Marts and the Targets or whatever
inside those networks.
So once you get approved for their service,
you can just start applying to all those different ones.
Yes.
Yeah, apply to all the different brands that
work for your channel or for your channel's content,
and then you can start pulling your links for products.
Cool.
So how would you integrate those affiliates naturally
into a YouTube video that makes sense
for the audience, for you, for the brand?
I think one of the easiest ways to do
it is actually when you're going to do a review video.
So if you're reviewing a specific product,
I would link to that product so your viewers can actually
go purchase that product as well, especially if it's
something that you love.
That's probably the easiest way to integrate affiliate links.
And it's also a great way to monetize
any video that's not sponsored.
So any time you have favorite things
or your favorite products or reviews,
you can throw in an affiliate link
to help people know where to find the product you're
talking about.
And you put the affiliate links in the description
of the video?
Yep.
Affiliate links below in the description.
You want to be careful how many links you
put in the description, because YouTube likes
to keep people on YouTube.
Yeah.
The concern from an SEO perspective
is that YouTube, their goal is to keep people
on YouTube for as long as possible,
watching as much content as possible,
engaging with as many videos as possible, seeing as many ads
as possible.
And so if your video ends the viewing session for a viewer,
like they watch your video, then they click on that link
and go to that company's website and buy the product, that's
great for you, but your video could potentially not perform.
If everyone who watches the video
took you up on that offer, your video
could potentially not perform as well as it otherwise might.
But that's kind of the balance is
you've got to balance like I'm developing an audience,
but I need to make it sustainable.
So sometimes it makes great business sense for you
to go ahead and use an affiliate.
And other times you're like, you know what?
Maybe not on this video because my main goal for this video
is just to get it to rank really high.
I think you have to pick and choose
between making money or engaging an audience on each video
that you do on YouTube.
So how about disclosures, legal disclaimers,
all those types of things.
Have you have to do that?
How does that work?
Yes.
Well, it's a smart idea to put somewhere in your description
that you might be using affiliate links, kind
of like your FDC disclosure, but it's
kind of like an affiliate link disclosure.
I think that's a smart thing.
Even though YouTube hasn't come out saying you need to do that,
basically you should just to be super, super safe.
And it builds trust with your viewers.
Yes.
Your viewers know what's going on.
Other disclosures, I think that's it.
Is there a little checkbox?
Do you have to check that one?
Like under the Advanced tab, you don't
have to check that one for affiliates?
Nope.
How about in the video itself?
Do you need to tell people, hey, guys,
I have an affiliate relationship with these people.
If you buy it, I get a small kickback.
Thank you for supporting me.
You totally could.
I think it's more of a loyalty and a trust thing.
You don't have to.
There's no rule on it.
But if you want to, you totally can.
I try to personally just err on the side of being
as transparent as possible about my relationship with the brand.
So if they gave me a free product,
and I'm not getting compensated for it, I'll just say that.
If it's an affiliate relationship,
like they have no idea who I am, that I'm even talking about it,
but I do get a small percentage of the sale, thank you.
I just try personally just to be-- because trust
is the main thing, like currency with your viewers
that is most important.
And anything that could kind of potentially violate that,
personally I'm just like, I want to be completely up front
with you guys about everything, whatever's going on,
so there's no questions.
And you guys can always feel like you
can trust what I'm saying.
I think that's a good way to go.
Another thing about affiliate marketing
is the payout percentages as well as
how these people track your viewers who
are clicking on these links.
How does that work?
Every time someone clicks on one of your special tracking
affiliate links, a little cookie is
put onto that person's computer to track what they purchase.
The best part about the cookies is
that if you link to a specific product,
they don't have to purchase that product.
Anything they purchase on that website,
you get commissions for.
So they could click over with your affiliate
link and that cookie and decide not to purchase that,
but purchase a whole bunch of other things,
and you get paid commission off it.
Every single brand has a different commission rate.
So Amazon's will go up to 10% depending on how many products
you sell in a month.
But some brands will only do 5%, and some will do 50.
Some will do 20.
So you'll have to look in the terms and conditions
of that advertiser to see what kind of commission they get
and whether you want to work with them or not.
So I'd love for you guys to think
about using affiliate marketing as a way of selling
other people's stuff.
And if you're going to talk about it anyway for free,
you might as well use the affiliate link,
which is usually the situation which I use it.
But you can also make maybe a dedicated
a channel about product reviews and things also.
Or just consider making your own stuff that you're
going to sell as well.
Not every video can be sponsored.
Not every video should be sponsored.
So it's a great way to get some passive income when you
don't have sponsored videos.
Yeah.
Cool.
So where are they going to check you out?
The Melea Show over on YouTube, or TheMeleaShow.com.
It's linked up down below.
Thank you for hanging out.
And you guys who do affiliate marketing
and do affiliate links on your channel,
I'd love to hear what experiences
and stories you guys have.
Any advice, recommendations, leave
those in the comments below.
And if this is your first time here,
I'd love to have you subscribe.
This channel is all about helping
you guys grow your audience so that you can reach people
and impact them with the message that you are spreading,
and ultimately change lives.
That's what it's all about for me and for Melea too.
So thanks for hanging out, and we'll see you guys next week.
See you.
Bye.
Bye,, guys.