Affiliate marketing is one of the best platforms of internet marketing. Nowadays, millions of people are making money doing affiliate marketing. When you get a commission selling other people's or companies' products, that is called affiliate marketing. Basically, you are a mediator here for the merchant and consumer.





Merchants got revenue from your help/refer that is why they share revenue with you. When you apply for a product for promotion, the system creates a unique link for you that is called an affiliate link. You can share the link on your website, social media or email. If your traffic/followers buy something by clicking on your link, the system counts the sale on your side as the referrer. This affiliate marketing system works in a few steps. By following these steps, anyone can start an affiliate marketing business. This blog post explains everything to learn more about that steps.


Learn: How To Become An Affiliate Marketer


What Is Affiliate Marketing:


Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways people make money online and for some, it can be a passive income once established. It is a strategy where an individual partners with a business in order to make a commission by referring readers or visitors to a business’s particular product or service.

There are two ways to approach affiliate marketing: You can offer an affiliate program to others or you can sign up to be another business's affiliate. As the business driving an affiliate program, you'll pay your affiliates a commission fee for every lead or sale they drive to your website.


Joining another company's affiliate program is all about extra revenue. Think about your customers' needs: What other products or services would interest your site visitors? Join those affiliate programs. Affiliate programs can increase your sales with no upfront cost to you. It just takes a little time to plan your strategy and select the partners that will have the greatest impact on your business.

One of the reasons affiliate programs are so popular is that they offer a win-win situation for both merchant and affiliate.


How Does Affiliate Marketing Works:


Imagine John has a website about gadgets. He writes reviews about the latest gadgets. He has a section to compare the features and he also tracks the best deals for his readers. And John would like to make some extra money from his passion. He can monetize by placing advertising banners or by referring to special offers from selected stores. So he creates an affiliate account in 2Performant affiliate network. Here, he can choose to advertise an online shop that sells gadgets or any other products related to the topic of his site.


Using 2Performant he can get a banner prepared by the online shop itself and place it on his site. Also, if he wants to place a link to a certain product of a shop on his site, he can use 2Performant platform to turn this link into a special link. This special link is called an affiliate link, and it tracks what his visitors do in that shop after clicking on his ads. If any of the visitors he sent there decides to make a purchase in a certain amount of time, John will get a commission - a percent of the transaction value. This way John makes some extra money while doing what he likes. This is how affiliate marketing works.


What Are Affiliate Networks?


Affiliate Networks act as a middleman between companies and their affiliates. They manage the relationship and providing third-party checks and balances.

These networks track, report, and manage payments to affiliates. When you sign up with an affiliate network, you usually gain access to all the affiliate companies managed within the network.

Some popular affiliate networks include ClickBank, Commission Junction, and ShareASale.


Affiliate Links


After signing up with an affiliate program, you’ll get an affiliate link, or a special URL that contains your affiliate username or ID. You use this link whenever you mention the advertiser’s product on your website or in other marketing efforts, such as on social media.

Whenever one of your audience members clicks on your affiliate link, a cookie is dropped into their browser to track them. If they become a customer, the company knows it received that customer from you and you get credit.



Learn: How To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing?


How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?


A quick and inexpensive method of making money without the hassle of actually selling a product, affiliate marketing has an undeniable draw for those looking to increase their income online. But how does an affiliate get paid after linking the seller to the consumer?

The answer can get complicated.

The consumer doesn’t always need to buy the product for the affiliate to get a kickback. Depending on the program, the affiliate’s contribution to the seller’s sales will be measured differently.


The affiliate may get paid in various ways:


1. Pay per sale.
This is the standard affiliate marketing structure. In this program, the merchant pays the affiliate a percentage of the sale price of the product after the consumer purchases the product as a result of the affiliate’s marketing strategies. In other words, the affiliate must actually get the investor to invest in the product before they are compensated.


2. Pay per lead.
A more complex system, pay per lead affiliate programs compensates the affiliate based on the conversion of leads. The affiliate must persuade the consumer to visit the merchant’s website and complete the desired action — whether it’s filling out a contact form, signing up for a trial of a product, subscribing to a newsletter, or downloading software or files.


3. Pay per click.
This program focuses on incentivizing the affiliate to redirect consumers from their marketing platform to the merchant’s website. This means the affiliate must engage the consumer to the extent that they will move from the affiliate’s site to the merchant’s site. The affiliate is paid based on the increase in web traffic.


Learn: How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing


Conclusion:


With effective Affiliate Marketing, you can discover an item you like, advertise it to others, and procure a bit of the profit for every deal that you convert.

You’re glad since you enjoyed a commission, and your Affiliate Marketing Merchant would be cheerful in light of the fact that they have another deal from a client that they won’t be able to reach via normal procedures of marketing.

Following aforestated steps will help you understand what is affiliate marketing & how does affiliate marketing work for your advantage & how to do affiliate marketing.

You can choose to be, either an Affiliate Marketing Merchant or an Affiliate Marketer, as per your expertise and specific requirements.

In case, you wish to know more about what is affiliate marketing, how Affiliate Marketing works or how to do affiliate marketing,  feel free to ask me in the comments.

If you are also inspired by the opportunities provided by Affiliate Marketing, have a look at our Affiliating Marketing Guide and join our Digital Marketing Course to embark on your journey as an Affiliate Marketer.