Affiliate Marketing: A Complete Guide To Start Successfully
Not long time ago I was exactly where you are right now… looking for info on the web about affiliate marketing or any other possibility to start an online business.
Live a digital nomad life, work from home… achieve the freedom to work when I wanted and from where I wanted!
Why? It migh sound familiar...
I was fed up of my job, feeling a guilty mother that could not be with her kids when and as much as I wanted, giving all my energy to my corporate job with nothing left for what matters the most… (nice memories… agghh ☹)
And with no idea about digital marketing.
I am glad you found me (and you should be glad too! 😊) because what you found is not just an article about Affiliate Marketing, my aim is to help you discover more than that:
-I will explain to you some tips and secrets about affiliate marketing to understand its power and why it is a great way to start earning an online income and maybe the best way to get started in digital marketing
-I will give you a present, a series of 4 free introductory video series about affiliate marketing and digital marketing in general.
-I am going to show you how to become rich in 10 days (just kidding 😁I don’t have that formula, doubt it exists, but if you have it, please please please share it with me! LOL😂)
I know you are impatient by now, so let's start.
(However, if you would prefer to go directly to the free video training, click herebelow)
1. WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING
In my words:
You (the affiliate marketer) promote the creator’s products online: on social media, on youtube or writing in a blog, for instance. The business owner provides you with a unique code/affiliate link that will be used to track the sales that you generate. When someone buys through your link, you get a commission.
You are a digital salesperson, with the flexibility to work whenever you want and from anywhere in the world! So, you understand that affiliate marketing is accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a computer.
You should not be afraid about the technical part -web creation, affiliate code-. It might sound Greek to you 😜, but when taught the right way, with clear steps to follow, things are not that difficult!
Personally, I do affiliate marketing through my webpage (that I have created myself) and my articles (that I write myself).
2. THE PROs - WHY WE LOVE IT!
Lets be positive and start with PROS that in my view, are the absolute winners in Affiliate Marketing.
Freedom and Flexibility
Yes! What we all are looking for! Freedom and flexibility that will allow you live your life at your own terms instead of expecting retirement to start living!
It does not need explanation, you are the boss, so you decide when, where and how much you work, depending on your goals.
Don't get me wrong, I put the work, but I have the freedom to choose when and from where. I can work in the morning but be home when kids comeback from school, arrange my holidays as I like and even go to Spain for a few days and work from there. This freedom is gold to me.
Passive income Potential
Meaning … you do the work and create your content, for instance your blog, you embed your links and build your audience. You are set up, your web/blog/business is out there in the internet and then your business starts running 24/7, generating money even when you are sleeping (or swimming in the sea -as I got my first sale-, watching TV or attending to the kids sports event at school! 😊).
No previous experience of special skills are required
I have seen people in their 20s to people over 60s succeed on this community. Different genders , different backgrounds, education, nationalities, time zones, mother tongue… What is needed is a good training and the right mentors, step by step guidance, together with your energy and willing to learn and do.
I am proof of it, as I have done it myself and I continue learning and putting the work.
More pros:
Diverse Product Selection: There’s an affiliate program for almost every niche and industry, allowing you to promote products you genuinely believe in.
Scale Your Income: As your audience grows and your marketing skills improve, you can scale up your affiliate marketing efforts, potentially increasing your earnings exponentially. It all depends on how much work you want to put in.
Minimal Startup Costs: Compared to other business models, Affiliate Marketing requires little to no upfront investment. You can get started with a computer and an internet connection. My opinion is that you will need, however, to invest in your own education and guidance to do it properly. Keep in mind that this knowledge and the skills you will learn will enrich you as a person and will be yours forever to use them any time.
3. THE CONs.. AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM!!
There are CONs, but there are ways to defeat them. Lets go one by one.
Competition
Yes, there are also other marketers out there. You will need to find ways to differentiate yourself from others and you will need to learn strategies to do this.
There is a lot of crap around, people promoting products they don't know or even they don't like. Articles created just using chatgpt. They just try to fish the commission. I do not think that is a sustainable way to do things.
In order to sell, you need your customers trust, in order to gain trust you must be honest, give your good honest opinion and review. You should love what you are promoting.
If possible, be a product of the product.
I am.
And do you want a proof that things can be done? Here it is: despite the competition, my article is in front of you.
I am sharing with you some tips on this article and I recommend this learning platform because I have used it myself and it has learned me unvaluable things and allowed me build a life in my own terms. I would not recommend it otherwise, honesty is a must for me.
Thanks to following the right steps guidance I have been able to create my online shop, I am affiliate for this educational system, and I am working on a 3rd stream related to one of my passions: design and art. All this from zero, without initial skills.
And you can too!
Reliance on Affiliate Programs
As you are not promoting your own product, your success is tied to the affiliate programs you join. It’s essential to choose reputable programs that offer fair commissions and reliable tracking systems. As your success will be linked to the success of the company you work with, you should carefully choose reliable companies to partner on the long term . You want your work to generate money for you for a lifetime.
Initial Effort and Learning Curve
Work and dedication are needed in order to set up things. -Initial Effort
You also need to learn how to do it, that's why you are reading this article. But this article is not enough. -Learning Curve
There are various strategies you need to know, such as content creation and digital marketing techniques. You know, of course you can go to the web or YouTube and you will find 100,000 free tutorials... that will teach you some valuable things but that will make bigger the mess. But hear this: without an structured system you will just be wasting lots of time, energy, mood and ultimately money.
It is not rocket science, if you want to learn something, you need a teacher, a mentor or someone who has done it before you.
You need steps, you need guidance, you need lessons, advise, support, you need the right teachers and mentors. You are not looking for an University Degree on Digital Marketing, but you want to create a business of yours, right? Then you need professionals who have done this before you, that will go to the point, sharing their knowledge with you and be by your side through the journey.
If you want an effective, organized system to guide you step by step, show you effective techniques and teach you the word, the how and the when, you will have to spend some money on it, this is not a secret.
I recommend you start following the training that I offer you (for free), you will go deeper on the digital world possibilities and will understand the level of professionalism that I am talking about. Then you will be in a position to make your decision on what path is best for you!
4. UNDERSTAND HIGH TICKET ITEMS
Affiliate programs come in different shapes and sizes. Depending on the earning potentials of the program, we have:
Low Ticket Affiliate Programs: These programs focus on lower-priced products that cater to a broader audience. Examples include books, affordable gadgets, or budget-friendly fashion items. In places like Amazon, Walmart, Nike, there are thousands of companies with affiliate programs. Generally these products have 1-10% commissions, so a few bucks per sale. I find these very good for influencers who can put a link in social media and get hundreds of clicks. But what about us normal human beings?
High Ticket Affiliate Programs: high-value products or services with larger commission payouts. Think premium online courses, luxury items, or high-end technology. High ticket items are products or services that cost typically more than $1,000. The commission rate for high ticket items in general can range from 30% to 50% or more, depending on the product and the affiliate program.
Promoting high ticket items requires more effort and expertise than promoting low ticket items. It involves building trust with the customer, aligning with companies that you yourself trust and have experience with, and preferably, as we said before, being product of the product.
The potential earnings for promoting high ticket items worth the effort.
5. HOW TO GET STARTED EASILY AND EFFECTIVELY
Starting your journey can be exciting and overwhelming on the other side. At least that is how I felt when I started: totally lost and unsure where to begin 😊
After some unsuccessful intends to educate myself alone, I realized that I needed the guidance of experts who have done this ahead of me.
Things started to make sense just after the introductory workshops I have told you about. I decided to go deeper and I found the right training, guidance through every step, community and resources. The key to success.
I am introducing to you this same workshops. They will teach you WHAT you can do, not only as an affiliate marketer but also selling digital and physical products through e-commerce. You will then be able to make sure if these line up with your goals and aspirations before you invest any time or money into a paid program.
Then, you will receive an offer for a great starter program and I hope you will be in a position to decide what is best for you.
I thank you for reading this article and I hope it has been of help and that you could understand better what you can expect or not expect as an affiliate marketer.
To learn more sign up here below!
PS - When you sign up, you will receive an email from me. I will be glad to ask any of the questions you may have!
Who I am (about the author)
How Affiliate Marketing took me from a 20 years Corporate Professional to Changing my life and Starting an Affiliate Marketing Business.
I'm Ana Laso and this is my husband and my crazy kids ("Like Father Like Son" 😊). I am originally from Spain, my husband is from Greece, and we live in Athens.
I worked for 20 years in corporate. I managed to build a decent career (which I was dreaming of since University or even before) but one day this career didn't matter to me anymore.
Not having enough time for my kids, for my family in Spain and for the things I like to do while selling my time for money towards somebody else's dream didn't make any sense .
I started asking myself "what the hell I was doing with my life". The breaking point was when my 60 year old colleague Efie (successful career, high salary), told me in tears:
“I feel in prison. I expect to retire in order to start living. All these years I'm doing something I don't like. Every day”
It was so sad and terrifying. Would that be me in 10 - 15 years? what was the point??
Instead of waiting for the years to pass to get retired, I decided to take action and change my life, and... I resigned. I had some savings that would allow for some time to clear my mind, try to do something by my own or in the last instance, go corporate again.
So the next question was "and now what?"
I knew it should be something I could do from home and at my own pace.
I started doing some research on the Internet, looking for education to learn something new, also for ideas about online businesses as I had no clue on how to start. I followed some free training on youtube and read 100 articles on different blogs... but I still could not get things organized, lots of information without structure. I don't want to say I wasted my time... I just spent it in the wrong direction 🙂
Then, luckily, I stumbled upon a program for beginners that claimed to teach you how to start an online business STEP-BY-STEP. I confess I was a bit skeptical at the beginning...
However, following the initial workshops was an eye-opener as it showed me different options in the online world: affiliate marketing, selling physical products in platforms like Amazon, Etsy, create your own online shop for physical products or services. I understood the level of professionalism of the mentors...
A main point for me was that no technical knowledge is needed. I followed the step-by-step (designed for dummies 😜) training to build an affiliate marketing business and voila! here I am, sharing this info with you. I also created my own online shop where I sell physical products, and I have put my first product on Amazon... but we will talk about this another time...
It is your time now! Make yourself a present, spend some time watching the free video training and decide what your journey will be.
Whatever you decide to do, I wish you every success!!