Affiliate marketing is a form of online sales where a business or website pays a commission to its affiliates when someone clicks on a link to the merchant’s website. The merchant, also known as an advertiser, sets the terms of the relationship with affiliates. The affiliates then push traffic to the merchant’s website, usually through unique phone numbers or links. Anyone on the web can become an affiliate – just look at the most popular social media profiles.
Unlike advertising with traditional methods, affiliate commissions are usually low, but they are still significant. For example, the ConvertKit affiliate program pays its affiliates $700 per month for every 80 customers they generate. On the downside, niche affiliate programs tend to have high competition, and new affiliates may have trouble competing with experienced marketers. On the other hand, mass appeal affiliate programs pay only a small commission, but the products are widely popular and often have high margins.
To succeed in affiliate marketing, you need to identify a platform or category to promote your affiliate program. You should then develop compelling content around the product that you’re promoting. The content you publish should relate to your niche or target audience. In order to increase your revenue, you should work to increase traffic to your affiliate program’s website. If you’re promoting a pet-related product, for example, you could link naturally to it.
