What is Affiliate Marketing?

There are many ways that you can begin to earn an income through blogging. Some are considered to be low maintenance ways while others require more of your time and attention.

For example, creating your own products can be a great way to build trust and authority with your followers. As more people benefit from the products that you produce, you begin to establish a unique voice. People want to share in your knowledge and expertise.

However, creating your own products can be time-consuming. My first ebook was a 40-page document and took a good bit of my time. I also created an 18 week online video membership site that definitely took some effort on my part. So, how can you leverage getting more products in front of your audience without creating new products every week? This answer is affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

To most people’s surprise, affiliate marketing has been around for a long time. In fact, there are reports that affiliate marketing got its start as early as 1994. To best explain affiliate marketing, let’s take it out of the online world for a minute. In the offline world, companies hire salesmen to go out into the community and convert prospects into sales. Anytime they get someone to buy, they earn a commission of the sale.

By the way, if you’re new to affiliate marketing check out our post: How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing in 3 Simple Steps.

The same is true about affiliate marketing. Anytime you introduce a new product or service to your readers you have the opportunity to earn a commission. Most bloggers do this by way of doing a demo of the product and then writing a thorough review on their site.

Unfortunately, some bloggers have taken this to an unhealthy level. They “over-hype and over-promote” a product for the purposes of making a sale. This is bad behavior in my opinion and it will eventually catch up with them. People buy on the approval of others and if the product you are promoting does not live up to your review, your authority is in question. This is why I always write white I like and what I do not like about a product. People appreciate an honest review.

What is the Earning Potential With Affiliate Marketing?

Most affiliate products (not all) are online digital type products. Because of this, there is a much higher markup for the product. This allows you as an affiliate marketer to earn big commissions (typically 50%). For example, I once reviewed a popular ebook in my niche and the cost of the ebook was $24. The commissions were set at 50% meaning that I earned $12 for each sale.

I targeted a popular keyword phrase for that ebook and ended up ranking #1. Over the next year, I consistently made money each month from a blog post that took about 30 minutes to write. I was adding a benefit to my readers because the ebook was very good. At the same time, I was earning a nice passive income from the review.

Just think if you were able to write one product review a week. After a year, you would have 52 ways to earn an income with your blog. Remember, choose quality products and write honest reviews.

Question: Have you ever made an income using affiliate marketing?