The story of affiliate marketing dates back to several decades ago. However, when Amazon launched its affiliate program in 1998, it popularized the idea of earning a commission from online sales. Ever since, affiliate marketing has continued to gain traction, bringing onboard thousands of players looking to earn passive income by promoting products online. Today, Amazon’s affiliate program, popular known as Amazon associates is arguably the world’s largest and most popular referral program on the web. Anyone who wants to earn money online by sending leads to an eCommerce website knows that Amazon never disappoints.
However, as the popularity of affiliate marketing keeps soaring, the rules also keep changing. Thus, if you are looking to become part of the large online community involved in the business, you must up your game in 2020. If you want to learn how you are in the right place. But first, here is a quick run-through interesting stats that will spur your interest in affiliate marketing:
- The affiliate marketing industry is presently valued at $12 billion. It means, even if you start now, the sector is so lucrative that doing the right thing will earn you a decent partial income every month.
- Of all the revenue generated by digital media, affiliate marketing accounts for at least 15 percent.
- In Canada and the United States, Affiliate marketing is a big online income generator, accounting for more than 16 percent of all eCommerce purchases.
- The sector keeps growing by at least 10 percent every year since 2015. It means affiliate marketing is here to stay even in the unforeseeable future.
- More than 81 percent of the world’s most popular brands, including publishers, depend on affiliate marketing to realize more sales. It also means that advertisers are roped in a process that involves many players.
- Billions of clicks take place on the web, specifically through affiliate links. In 2017, for example, a study recorded more than 5 billion clicks. There were over 170 million affiliate transactions. In a nutshell, the figures keep growing.
Now, before we explore tips that will help you kick-start your affiliate marketing journey in 2020, it is noteworthy that anyone of any age can participate in the program offered by Amazon or other eCommerce platforms like eBay.
Understanding affiliate marketing: How it works
With the above facts to catalyze your interest in affiliate marketing, here is a question every novice should ask. How does it work? Of course, it involves hosting and selling products but that is not an end in itself. Affiliate marketing is a rather intricate process that if well-mastered, can turn your fortunes around. You will become an internet millionaire in a matter of months. Understanding how it works is, therefore, the first step to doing the right thing.
So, here is the catch. Primarily, there are three parties involved in the process namely the consumer, product owners/creators/sellers and an advertisers/affiliate. For you to enroll with an affiliate program, a seller and a consumer must be part of a complete loop. But let’s delve into your role, presumably a would-be affiliate marketer in 2020.
Also known as a publisher, the role of an affiliate; whether a group, company or individual, is to market products of sellers. The key to marketing here is to use a language that persuades buyers to click through to an eCommerce site like Amazon or eBay then take an action. If a buyer purchases through your affiliate link, you get a commission or part of the income generated from sales. For the best results, affiliate marketers often choose specific products that they want to promote.
The more knowledgeable you are about products, the easier it is promoting brands and persuading buyers to place orders. Your language must also be persuasive enough that a buyer visiting your site would want to click through to the site hosting the real products. Let’s say, affiliate marketing works the same way as email marketing, arguably two of the most popular ways of making money online selling products through leads.
Later on in this post, we will explore how participants in affiliate marketing get paid and why you should take part in it. In the meantime, let’s delve into the gist of this post: Affiliate marketing 2020. Are you ready to get started? Well, here is all you need to succeed in the new decades as an affiliate marketer:
Keep abreast with changing marketing trends
People who started affiliate marketing a decade ago may have sought their inspiration from some of the most successful online merchants and affiliates. While it still works today because from a successful marketer you can always learn a lesson or two, don’t forget that trends keep changing. If, for example, you choose to promote products on Amazon, the company keeps updating the rules of the game. Breaching prescribed codes of conduct in Amazon’s associate program would see you kicked out of their affiliate program.
Moreover, staying on top of your game as an affiliate marketer means you must stay tuned to current trends, especially emerging marketing techniques that will help you generate more leads and realize more conversions. A higher conversation rate in affiliate marketing translates to more revenue. In 2020, we would recommend that you specialize in products with which you are very familiar. However, do not run the risk of telling buyers directly that they should buy a product for, save for an affiliate disclosure agreement.
Your work is to recommend the best available products on eCommerce stores that admit affiliates. The catch here is that people who buy products online often associate more with blogs that teach them about something than those than tell them ‘we want you to buy this item so that we can earn a commission.’
Another marketing trend that is increasingly becoming popular is that you should not put all your eggs in one basket. If you want to make more money through affiliate marketing in 2020, diversify. Promoting products from different merchants will increase your chances of earning more. If one link fails to convert, another one should keep your revenue stream flowing. It is especially workable if you have a website.
Create a strong rapport with potential buyers
If you choose to market electronics, you can diversify into TV sets, smartphones, and other smart gadgets. But the question is can you cultivate a strong rapport with people visiting your site? Well, you should start by building a strong audience online, especially if you are looking to venture into affiliate marketing is crucial. Creating posts that generate conversions because, through them, readers will want to know and do more. In the end, you should infuse an affiliate marketing campaign in the most well-thought-out manner.
A site that delves into matters of technology will most likely realize a higher conversation rate when it hosts electronic affiliate links/products. The trick here is that readers who view you as an authority in this niche hence trust your product recommendations. It is especially workable if your product reviews have a strong correlation with the theme of your website. It is all it takes to create a strong rapport with readers/potential buyers.
Employ wide-ranging channels
If you have always relied on email leads to market affiliate links, you should diversify in 2020. For example, start thinking about how to involve influencer marketing on Instagram. Facebook is another powerful social platform you can use to market products in 2020 and earn more money. If you don’t have a blog, consider having one in the new decade. Most importantly, use a tag manager to determine which channel/source generates more leads then invest more in it.
Select products carefully
You should not expect affiliate links to start converting into real sales as soon as you sign up with a program such as Amazon associates. While it is possible to make big sales in the first month using automation tools in marketing, choosing the best performing products for affiliate marketing in 2020 is a vital step going forward.
We recommend researching and testing products that perform well. Alternatively, the following two approaches will work magic in 2020:
- Choose products in affiliate networks. While Amazon associates are one of the most popular programs, others like Clickbank and eBay Partner Network are equally ranked high as top-performing networks in affiliating marketing. The only disadvantage with this approach is that you are going into it as a novice. You must research the products given a lack of prior knowledge of their performance.
- The second option, which is arguably the most popular, is promoting products you love or use often. You could say, marketing products about which you are extensively knowledgeable. If, for example, you have a read a book sold on Amazon and you would like to share it with others, you can do so via affiliate marketing. Ostensibly, you are recommending the best book while earning a commission from it. Once you decide that you want to market a product, check which eCommerce sites stock it. Most importantly, check if they have an affiliate program.
A notable aspect of choosing products you would want to promote through affiliate marketing is that you can go for hosted/online/professional services, digital product downloads, sell online courses or promote products in leading eCommerce stores such as Amazon. Each of these approaches comes with advantages and disadvantages.
Take, for example, the most popular method which is selecting products on eCommerce stores. The main advantage is that you can grow big over time with the help of a blog. On the flip side, commissions are not much hence the need to market as many products as possible. The more affiliate links, the more income streams you have.
Go personal reviewing products
Assuming you have already set up an affiliate marketing tools and ready to get started, consider going personal. It is a strategy that is set to work even better in 2020. While you can choose from thousands of products on leading eCommerce stores, promoting products about which you are well conversant will increase your income. It could be your brand or selected products buyers enjoy using. The fact that you are presenting details of items from a personal perspective further establishes you as a reliable authority in the enterprise.
Once you go personal with reviewing products, your audience will begin to believe in your expertise. They will rely on your views/reviews regarding products as the true source of information on the web. You should always explain to buyers how they will benefit should they purchase certain products. It further leverages their belief in your expertise as an affiliate marketer. With more followers coming your way, diversify your marketing to cover several channels such as the use of influencers, social media, and a blogging platform.
How do affiliate marketers get paid
Now, before we conclude this discussion on how to start affiliate marketing in 2020, you would probably want to ask, how will you get paid? Well, there are several ways through which you will earn promoting products online. They include:
- Pay per lead or lead conversion.
- Pay per click.
- Pay per sale.
The Bottom Line
Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn passive income online. It only costs a few bucks to get started, especially if you are looking to own a website. You do not need customer support to handle incoming queries because, with product reviews, everything is on autopilot. Something even more noteworthy is that with affiliate marketing, you do not need an office. All you need is access to the internet using either a smartphone or computer from the comfort of your home.
For those who have been following these top affiliate marketers, you probably ventured into affiliate marketing because it is a flexible way of marketing money online. With good marketing funnel and tools, you can set up a program in quick easy steps. To start earning, work hard, diversify, and optimize your content then wait for the income streams to start flowing.
About the Author
Hello! My name is Jennifer and I can’t imagine my life without writing. I’m writing for 5 years and not going to stop! Most of all I like to write about education. It is pleasure for me to write about something that can make your life easier or just make you understand some difficult things.
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Nice article. I’ve always wanted to go into affiliate marketing but my problem has always been how to get paid. I will apply these tips in my business. Hoping it will pay off though.