Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest and standard digital marketing strategies.
A study suggests that about 7.5% of all online purchases are through affiliate links or codes. Affiliate marketing content can drive long-term sales conversions via search. A study reveals that 84% of shoppers use Google to help them find product ideas before purchasing.
Let’s understand affiliate marketing before we see how to monetize your channel.
It is a process wherein the affiliate earns money in the form of a commission by promoting the merchant’s products.
An affiliate shares the merchant website’s link or ad on their website or social media.
A merchant is an individual or a company that sells its products and pays a commission to the affiliate.
The customer is the buyer of the product. The customer follows the affiliate website or social media channel and is encouraged to click on the merchant’s website.
An affiliate network is a platform that connects the merchant and affiliate. The network has a database of affiliate websites. Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra are a few examples of affiliate networks.
Earning money through this network is a very lucrative and cost-effective way to monetize your website or social media channel.
Below are a few steps to create an affiliate marketing platform –
- Build a platform – Understand the buyer personas. Select the platform most suited to your target audience. It could be a website, blog, YouTube channel, social media account, or a combination. To make money off this platform, you must create engaging content.
The website or social media should aim at passing relevant and trending information to the audience. Build a niche audience and bridge the gap between buyer and seller.
- Choose a niche topic – Select a specific area of focus. It will help you attract a relevant audience. Then, share content based on the user search queries to provide the most relatable information.
Strike a balance between informational and promotional content. Engage your audience, inform and guide them to the seller’s products without adopting push marketing strategies.
- Attract target customers – The best way to attract the target audience is to create an SEO-friendly website. Implement SEO strategies to make your website rank higher. Research competitors’ websites or social media to understand their approach and keywords. Do keyword research to bid for the higher ranking and relevant keywords.
- Choose the suitable revenue method – Consider a scenario – You are paid Rs. 500 per sale or lead and generate traffic of 1000 per month. Your conversion rate is 2%. This means that out of 1000 website visitors, 20 are most likely to click on the affiliate link or fill out the lead form. If your Cost Per Click or CPC is Rs. 15, you make more money through a CPC revenue model.
- Choose the products carefully – You can choose between the products with a high mass appeal or the niche products with a higher commission. Another category is high volume-high commission products such as credit cards, luxury holiday packages, etc.
To be a successful marketer, you must know about digital or social media marketing.
How MITSDE help you become a leading digital marketing expert?
MIT School of Distance Education (MITSDE) is a distance learning institute approved by AICTE. It is an institute that understands the current skills gap in the market and strives hard to reduce it.
For this purpose, MITSDE brings you PG Certification in Digital Marketing (PGCM Digital Marketing). It is one of the best online PGCM digital marketing courses. The online course covers –
- Basics of digital marketing
- Content Marketing
- SEO & SEM
- Affiliate Marketing
- Strategies for earned media
- Paid & Organic search marketing
- Latest tools & techniques