Best Affiliate Marketing Programs Online

Affiliate Marketing- The new buzzword in the corporate world

The internet has revolutionized marketing. Traditional marketing campaigns like adverts in TV, radio and print are slowly becoming outdated. Modern marketing techniques are moving towards personalized messages and camouflaged marketing. Affiliate marketing, which is the use of bloggers, articles and write ups to convey an advertising message and close a sale is gaining ground while also providing an opportunity to many for earning a quick buck online. Referral marketing has become the newest buzzword in marketing.

How can I earn online through affiliate marketing?

Earning online through affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make money- all you need is specific knowledge of the product/service and some rudimentary marketing and communication skills.

So, what is affiliate marketing?

When someone buys a product or a service which you have recommended to them, the way of this recommendation is called Affiliate marketing. Many times this way of marketing is seen with a sense of derision, with many calling it a method of cheap publicity. You need to understand that before purchasing any item online, people will first take the opinion of their friends and other sources before making a purchase decision.

This is where the role of the affiliate marketer comes in place. The affiliate marketing message can be in any form- a private message, a blog, recommendations/testimonials or any article in a website.

Unlike other forms of selling, affiliate marketing works behind closed doors of camouflaged exteriors. The seller of the product/service pays the affiliate marketer whenever a sale is made. The affiliate marketer uses his inconspicuous marketing skills to convince his customers to purchase the product. Whether the marketing relationship between the seller and the affiliate marketer is concealed or out in the open is completely the prerogative of the parties concerned.

Here is how an affiliate-promoted sale takes place-

1. A customer intends to purchase an item
2. She/he looks for recommendations/testimonials from his/her social circle and/or the internet
3. She/he lands on the affiliate marketers blog/content/website
4. She/he selects the product that he/she is interested in
5. The customer gets redirected to the sellers website
6. The affiliate marketer gets a commission when the transaction is completed

There is indeed no limit to the amount of money that can be earned through affiliate marketing. One only needs communication and marketing skills to write a post or article that highlights the benefits of the product.

How to choose and promote a product using Affiliate marketing?

Firstly, you need to be sure of the product that you want to promote- it must be something that you are passionate about, something that you know well about and most importantly you must ensure that the product’s Unique Selling Point(USP) is highlighted when needed.

If you are writing a blog or an article, you need to talk about all the uses of the product, its benefits and shortcomings. You should also state which product to buy in which circumstances. (This can help you earn more by referring more than one product to buy for the customer). Eventually the entire article should not look like an advertisement but as a help guide for people to choose the right product.

If you intend to sell through social media, you need to make a post attractive enough with carefully chosen words to make an impact on the customers mind. Photographs and links to the Ecommerce portal should follow to make an impact.

How to get traffic to my affiliate marketing blog?

Okay, so you have developed the blog along with the content for your audience. You now need to increase the traffic to your site.  How do you do it?  The quality of your content will decide. You need to make sure that your content is what your audience expects- it should be written in first person and in a friendly way and not like a high school essay. You should also make sure that the content is SEO friendly to get your content in the top rankings of Google.

Types of affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is not just about referring a product online, it’s about the exact time, place and in what context the product is being referred online. There are 3 ways affiliate marketing is done- Unattached, Related and involved affiliate marketing.

• Unattached affiliate marketing- In this type of affiliate marketing, you have no connection to the product you are referring, you are just referring the product on your website in the hopes that the user will eventually buy the product and that you will earn a commission. This is the easiest way of affiliate marketing but the hardest way to monetize affiliate marketing.
• Related affiliate marketing- When you refer a product on your blog, website or video that is related to your niche but which you yourself don’t use, then this type of affiliate marketing is called related affiliate marketing. Indeed, there is a lot of room for change but this requires a lot of time to instill confidence in the minds of the customers to eventually buy the product. Cubber, an online payments wallet is one such example. It gives related affiliate products marketing on its application and the users can then proceed to purchase goods while also getting a discount on the same

Involved affiliate marketing- When you believe in a product, have used it and would genuinely suggest your viewers to try it- this is what involved affiliate marketing is. Many of the online review sites and blogs are a testament to this. Once you have made a reputation for yourself and your blog starts getting good traffic, you can then expect to earn well through Involved affiliate marketing.