In this video, I'm not really going to explain
what affiliate marketing is.
I'm going to show you how you can use affiliate marketing to build
an online profitable business.
Fast.
Marketing is a great low to no cost business venture that you
could profit immensely from.
That is if you're willing to watch this entire video and
put in the time and effort that it takes to turn this valuable
information into action.
Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so you don't have
to worry about startup costs.
Additionally, this could be an attractive side hustle if you
want to fund another business.
Affiliate marketing is a monetization model where an
external partner, which would be you, is rewarded a commission
for delivering a specific result to a merchant or advertiser.
Now, typically the result is a sale.
However, some programs can be around leads, referring a click to
an advertiser's website, or even getting a user to download an app.
Now, just like running your own business, becoming a
successful affiliate takes dedication and discipline.
Ideas alone won't cut it.
Having a strategy and executing it is crucial for making top earnings.
We're going to get you started by focusing on three important
components, picking your platform and method, deciding on a niche
and figuring out your audience and deciding on a product.
In order to be effective at affiliate marketing,
you'll need to create an audience around your niche.
Let's start with a platform and method that you're going
to use to start building your audience around.
So I obviously love YouTube, so that would be
where I would default to.
It's the platform that I consume the most of my content
from, and it's the platform that I understand the best.
So for the purposes of this video, I'll use examples pertaining
to this channel and platform.
If you're not big on YouTube and video content, there are plenty
of other content creation methods and platforms that you can use.
The two most important things to remember here are that you'll
need to invest time into creating content for it, and you'll want to
build a strong, engaged audience.
I'm going to quickly list out some ideas that you could
choose to utilize and create content for your own venture.
So there are: review and niche topic sites.
These sites typically review products for a specific audience
or compare a line of products against their competitors.
For this method, you'll need to create content related to
the review space and regularly post to draw in and keep an
audience digital content.
This is the category that I would fall under.
Digital content creators such as bloggers, YouTubers, social
media influencers, create niche content that will resonate
with specific audiences.
Typically, they will then organically introduce products that
they like to their audience, and since their audience likes them
and their niche, chances are that they will also resonate with the
products that are being presented.
So there's courses, workshops, and live events.
If you're currently working within the course space, there are ways
which you can integrate strategic affiliate partnership offers, and
incorporate them into your events.
For example, if you're an instructor, you can partner with
a brand that adds value to your audience and give your audience
a sign up or checkout code apps and solution type partners.
These are partnerships where products and or services are
placed in front of a relevant audience through an app partner.
For this method, you'll need to do some heavy lifting and
making an app and ensuring that you have people using it.
I want to stress that across all of these methods, authenticity
and audience building are the most crucial elements for
longterm high earning growth.
If you cannot authentically connect with your audience.
Chances are that you won't have any meaningful success in converting
them into affiliate sales.
One of the biggest pain points that most people have with affiliate
marketing is that they don't have a sizable audience yet, and that can
be a roadblock to earning enough.
This will take effort and time, but it's absolutely essential.
So let's dive into niche and audience building.
I don't have to dive again, do I?
Now when it comes to selecting a niche, my suggestion would
be to start with something that you're both passionate
and knowledgeable about.
This will help you come across authentically and as a
trusted source of information.
It will also allow you to evaluate what products and brands that you
can or should partner with and how they relate to your niche.
I feel like that's a nugget of gold I added in there.
So for the purposes of this video, let's say that I started a YouTube
channel where I regularly share videos with my audience on how
they can start their own business.
Maybe I would name this channel something crazy
like Learn with Shopify.
And I would regularly encourage people to subscribe and like my
videos if they find them helpful.
Do that now.
Entrepreneurship will be my niche and I'm going to invest time
into building a sizable amount of content to grow my audience.
As I release more videos, I will start to use social listening
tools, website analytics, and advertising reports to
discover and build on who my audience is and what they like.
It's important that you know your audience so well that
you would understand why they follow you in the first place.
Unlike most other content creators, affiliate marketers
aren't paid to post.
You're going to be compensated on a performance model, which
is both a pro and a con when it comes to monetizing content.
If you know what your audience likes about the things that
you publish, you can then capitalize on that knowledge
by delivering the content that your users expect and want from
you, and you can match that with the offers that they'll buy.
Okay, so let's use the most popular reporting tool, Google analytics.
From here, I would typically break down my research
into these four steps.
I would first start by looking at how my audience
discovered my website.
Using the referral paths report, I'll be able to understand who
my users are and which online source brought them to my site.
Additionally, it will help me identify the other places
that they consume my content.
Before visiting under audience, I would navigate to the traffic flow
report and review the outbound traffic from each of my pages.
From here, I would select explore traffic through here.
You'll be able to see where users went to once they left your site,
allowing you to gain insight into their online behavior.
I'm going to be then looking at outgoing links, audience
interests, referrals, and keywords to learn crucial
information about these users.
To understand what content my audience is most interested in,
I will use the behavior flow report in Google analytics to
learn more about website visitors.
The site content section is particularly useful to see your top
performing content and the average revenue that each page generates.
This information then allows you to gain an understanding of what
your followers like about you and what content appeals to the most.
I would then lean heavily on the demographics and interest
data reports to discover basic characteristics like average
age of my audience, their gender and geographical location.
This section will also demonstrate more robust intelligence about
their affinities for brands, their hobbies, topics of
interests, and buying behavior.
In order to earn revenue as an affiliate marketer, your
audience needs to be connected with what you're saying.
This means that the services and offers that you promote need
to be items or services that they'll actually want or need.
Getting this wrong will not only prevent your success and
cause your audience to diminish.
It can also damage your reputation and credibility.
If you've ever been turned off by a celebrity endorsement for a product
that you'd never buy, you've seen affiliate marketing done wrong.
Thank you for joining me today, friends.
I've got this great product to talk to you all about.
It's this hair straightener.
I use it every day for things like straightening my clothes.
So on that note, let's jump right into deciding your product.
If you're wondering how to even start looking for
products and brands to partner with, don't stress,
you've got plenty of options.
An easy way to find affiliate programs is to visit an affiliate
marketplace or platform.
Browse your niche here to find top performing platforms.
Here's some of the more popular ones.
There's Affiliate Network.
Avant Link, ClickBank, flex offers, Link Connector,
Revenue Wire, and Share a Sale.
Another option is to visit the websites of products and services
that you use and like to see if they have an affiliate program.
Large companies often have programs that they promote on their
websites, such as Amazon associates or the Shopify affiliate program.
You can often find these in the footer of websites.
The criteria to qualify for these programs can often vary, but some
of the factors are the size of your audience, the relevancy of your
content, and then the channel or platform that you choose to use.
Make sure that you do your research into what they're
looking for so that you can actively build yourself to
qualify for the program.
Now I want to dive into the Shopify affiliate program.
So once I become a Shopify affiliate, I'll be given a signup
link, which I can add in the descriptions of my videos or in
the videos themselves, and for each person that goes through
that link and ends up converting into a paying customer for
Shopify, I'll get a cut of that.
Now.
I think that this would work because my content is around
entrepreneurship, and so it won't turn my audience off.
And what's nice is that Shopify or other affiliate programs.
Sometimes we'll sweeten the pot for your audience, so they might
give you an extended trial for your audience or something like that.
That'll actually make it worthwhile for your audience
and for yourself to promote.
For brands without an affiliate program, you can always try
taking a more direct approach.
In doing so, they might be happy to set up an arrangement with you,
such as offering your followers a special coupon or sign up code.
Here's a coupon for free, butt scratches.
What's that?
You want to use it right now?
There's really no harm in asking.
The best partnerships are often found when you're the first
person to inquire and have a relevant distribution channel.
Again, the most important criteria to keep in mind is that
the product should be aligned with your audience or the
audience that you plan to build.
Really ask yourself.
Is this something that my audience would actually find
valuable and does it fit within my area of expertise?
Additionally, make sure that the product or service that you're
promoting is a fit for the platform that you're promoting it on.
For example, home decor and clothing are well suited for image
heavy platforms like Instagram.
However, if you're promoting more in depth purchases like
software, your review may convert better on longer form
platforms like a blog or YouTube.
Also, always remember these two golden rules of picking a
product with affiliate marketing.
1: only promote offers that you know will align with your audience
interests.
2: Always try the product or service before endorsing it.
If not, your audience will know and it'll come back to bite you.
Although I did mention at the beginning of this video that
affiliate marketing can be an easy side hustle, essentially
earning your passive income, I want to stress that you will
have to do some heavy lifting
upfront.
Your earning potential will really depend on the quality
of your affiliate integration and your audience's response
to it to create a good review.
It's best to get personal.
Authentically share your experience in your blog,
social media posts or video.
If you're writing a personal review, give a candid opinion
based on your experience with
and knowledge of the product.
The more open you are with your audience, the more they will
embrace and trust your opinion.
Once you feel confident with your first dip into your affiliate
marketing, my next big tip will be to start promoting multiple
products from multiple brands.
This will allow you to avoid dependency on one affiliate
program and diversify your offerings to your audience.
And my final tip, never forget to disclose to your followers that
your post contains affiliate links.
For one, it's required by the FTC.
And trust me.
You don't want them to come knocking.
But also explaining and being transparent about the reason for
your affiliation will further strengthen the connection with
your audience through trust.
And there you have it.
By focusing on these core elements, you should be earning income from
affiliate marketing in no time.
If you found this video helpful, make sure you hit that subscribe
button so you don't miss out on all of the content that we
release each week that will help you grow your business.
Also, if you've decided to give affiliate marketing a go, let
me know what type of content or platform you're going to use.
Will you try blogging reviews or will you come from my job?
Let me know, especially if it's the last one, because I
will find you and too much?