Imagine that you could make money by putting a link to a well-known brand name product on your website or in an email. Friends, that's what "affiliate marketing" means!
OK, so it's not that easy, but it doesn't have to be much harder than that either.
First, let's talk about what some words mean. The company selling a product is the advertiser or merchant. Affiliates, who are sometimes called publishers or partners, are other people or businesses that help promote the product and get paid for it. (You could be that!) In the middle is the account management service, which connects the advertisers with the affiliates and keeps track of the sales and commissions.
If you want to become an affiliate, you must first decide what you want to sell or what account management service you want to use. You will end up with both, but how you choose one will affect how you choose the other. If you choose the product first, the advertiser will send you to the account management service they already use. If you choose the account management service first, they will give you a list of merchants they do business with.
Go to the website of your favourite company or product to see if they have an affiliate programme. Check the menu bar or the bottom of the screen. Look for the word "affiliate" somewhere. Click on that link, read about their programme and what you need to do to apply, and then fill out their form. Some companies only want their links to be on certain kinds of websites. They will send you an email with everything you need to know to get going.
If you don't know what product you want to promote or if you want to promote more than one, I suggest looking through the list of participating merchants on the website of the account management service.
Try to stick to products or ideas that you know a lot about and are really interested in. If you can add value to the link you want your visitors to click on, it will be much easier to sell to them. People will respond much better to personal recommendations or stories than to a banner or a single text link. Tell them why they should "click here."
Affiliate marketing is a new world for you. Have success with your new project!
