There are some people that call it mailbox money. Others call it easy money. But the ones that do it for a living call it affiliate marketing.
Whether you fall into one of these categories or not, you’re probably here because you’d like some extra cash coming in. Well, we’ve got great news for you; you’ve come to the right place! Or, more accurately, clicked on the right link.
Not only are we going to explain how affiliate marketing works and how you can use it to create passive income, we’re going to set you up with the best affiliate marketing program for newbies. It’s one that pays you every month, and here’s a phrase you don’t hear a lot anymore, in perpetuity.
A fork in the road
Most people fall into two camps:
- Those who need to know every last detail about a topic to make an educated decision on whether it’s right for them or not.
- Those who simply want the key points, no extra fluff, and how they can get started right now.
So, in an effort to keep our foot in both, we’ve got options for each!
If you fall into that first group, fantastic! Just keep on reading and we’ll provide all the clarity you need and then some.
However, if you’re not interested in all of that background stuff, we’ll just show you the best affiliate program for getting started.
Money makes the internet go ’round
No matter what anyone’s been told, there’s nothing free about the internet. Obviously we all pay for the privilege of “surfing the web”, but that’s not what we’re talking about.
Just about every website in existence is attempting to generate revenue from their visitors, one way or another. Even the largest, technically free sites, have been known to ask their users to kick in a few bucks once or twice a year. And why shouldn’t they?
Producing what we see online takes a whole lot of time, commitment, and proficiency. And as a general rule, it’s not done for the betterment of mankind. Like so many things, the goal is financial gain.
The web is monetized in a handful of ways:
- Running ads on a website that gets a lot of traffic
- Charging for a subscription to a website or online service
- Selling your own product or service from yours or someone else’s website
But by far the least complicated way is by selling someone else’s stuff for money. Or, as we in the biz call it, affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing?
While we pretty eloquantly summed it already, here’s a slightly more technical explanation:
Affiliate marketing is the promotion of a product or service that is produced or provided by a company or individual other than the person promoting it in exchange for a commission when these promotional activities lead to a sale.
We realize that this definition makes affiliate marketing kind of sound like a regular old sales job. Believe us, it’s really not.
“But how is it different?” We’re so glad you asked!
Because these sales take place on the internet, commissions are tracked by using what are known as affiliate links. They’re just like any other links that point towards a product or service, except that they include unique codes. Each code is specific to an individual affiliate marketer. Sales that result from someone clicking on an affiliate link to make their purchase are tracked, and by referencing the corresponding code, the affiliate marketer is credited for the sale and paid per their agreeement.
The more you know…
Do you remember when we mentioned earlier that almost nothing on the internet is done for free? Well, if you’ve ever watched a product review, how-to video, or makeup tutorial on YouTube and wondered why they always encourage you to “click the link in the description” if you’re interested in any of the products they’ve used, now you get it.
But most affiliate marketing doesn’t even require a ring light or a crash course in today’s hip lingo. No cap, marketing can be as easy as mentioning a product in a Facebook Group or writing a quick review of it. Is it really that simple? Bet… Just don’t forget to include your affiliate link!
Stats to get you excited
Just in case you need any more convincing:
- 16% of all internet orders in the U.S. come from affiliate marketing.
- The average affiliate marketer earns $8,038 per month.
- The global affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow to a market size of $27.78B by 2027.
- 94% of publications utilize affiliate marketing programs.
- The global affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow to a market size of $27.78B by 2027.
Yes, we’re aware we included one of them twice. It’s a great stat though, right?
Sounds a little fishy
The reality is, anytime there’s a system that promises “easy money”, there are sure to be bad actors willing to ruin it for everyone to make a quick buck. Actually, anytime there’s a system that promises any money at all, easy or not, several people will try, and a couple of them will probably succeed at exploiting it.
However, let’s keep in mind that over 80% of brands use affiliate programs to boost awareness and drive sales.
Let’s look at Amazon, who we assume you’ve at least heard of. In our opinion, they do a pretty decent job of selling things all on their own. Yet, they’re the largest affiliate network in existence, and by a very wide margin. As a matter of fact, over 40% of affiliate marketing globally is done through Amazon.
Are there people out there willing to take advantage of a system in hopes of getting rich? Of course! But if that’s all affiliate marketing was, would the world’s largest ecommerce company rely on it so heavily?
So Amazon must be the best affiliate program for beginners!
Well, not quite, but we can see how you’d come to that conclusion. Amazon certainly isn’t a terrible choice for your first run at affiliate marketing. They offer multiple, relatively easy ways to get your feet wet.
Plus, you may have already have experience marketing for Amazon, although it was probably unpaid. Well, technically it wouldn’t have been unpaid. It’s just that if you’ve ever written a review for a product you’ve purchased on Amazon, you’ve actually paid them to be a marketer.
All truths aside, anyone who can be an affiliate marketer for Amazon should, because why not? But between most of their revenue coming from lower cost items to begin with, constant sales offering hefty discounts, and an incredible amount of competition, it’s not usually a goldmine for the average person just starting out. Typically, it requires finding a niche, and either already having a large following, or working really hard to gain one.
Also, at least to the best of our knowledge, out of the give or take 12 million items you can market for Amazon, not a single one offers any residual income.
What makes an affiliate program great?
There are a couple of things that you look for in choosing an affiliate marketing program.
Quality offerings
First, you want the product or service to bring real value. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you’re overpromising and under delivering. Sometimes that 75 inch TV going for $200 doesn’t always have the best picture, if you catch our drift.
Sure, you didn’t create the product, you can’t offer support for the product, and you’re not really even involved in the sale of the product. But when you recommend and provide a link to the product, it’s your reputation on the line.
Proper commission
It’s probably fairly obvious that not all affiliate marketing campaigns pay the same, but it’s not always based on the product or service. Commissions and even how you’re paid can vary dramatically depending on who you’re marketing for and who’s actually paying you.
What we’re referring to are the several (very) large affiliate networks out there. They market themselves as a service to both the companies running campaigns as well as affiliate marketers, or as they refer to them, “publishers”. In reality, they’re mostly just go-betweens who are paid by companies to handle all things related to marketers, including pay, and to offer some fancy reporting.
Typically, a marketer will sign up with a network, then be able to choose the campaign they’d like to be an affiliate for from any of the ones available through a job board or “marketplace”. If you’re wondering about what happens when there aren’t any available, don’t, because it’s never the case. As a matter of fact, some networks will consistently have over 40,000 campaigns at any given time.
While having a ridiculous amount of campaigns may not sound like a bad thing, it all goes back to what we said about quality offerings. At least a few of these affiliate networks have been known to be a bit less selective than they should when it comes to accepting business. That might be because it’s really your reputation that’ll take the hit.
Now, back to the pay thing. To start with, assuming the affiliate network uses the tried and true pay-per-sale structure, it’s important to understand how it works. Is the dollar amount you’re paid based on how the customer spends, how many of a specific item they buy, or is it just a flat rate for that campaign? Some networks are a little more generous with the revenue you’ve generated for them, so it’s good to know.
Additionally, more and more companies are adopting different models completely. Of these newfangled ways to pay affiliates, revenue share, or RevShare, is the most popular.
and who market themselves as a service to both merchants and affiliate marketers. for merchant affiliate programs and marketers, or publishers. There are some very large affiliate networks out there. These act as a dwho act as one-stop shops for literally thousands of different products and services. These networks are made up of outsourcing companies that are paid by manufacturers, developers, and distributors to take the hassle of directly finding and paying marketers off of their plate, and provide some nice reports.
While it might not sound all that bad, this means that this company within the network it means that if you were to ma The downside of these affiliate networks is that they usually pay you much less than if you were to have gone directly to the business providing the offer.
Here are some of the largest affiliate networks:
- Amazon
- ShareASale
- ClickBank
- Commission Junction
- CJ Affiliate
- Impact
- Awin
- Refersion
This is by no means an exhaustive list of platforms. You will notice that some platforms may specialize in training courses and downloadable media, while some sell services and others sell mostly hard products.
Recurring Payments
The absolute best affiliate programs are subscription based and pay you every month, as long as the customer is paying.
These deals are pretty hard to come across. You will generally need to go directly to the vendor and avoid the large networks to get paid more than once for a sale.
Paying you every month is a vital aspect of why Please Review Us is the absolute best affiliate program for beginners. It’s so easy, you don’t even need a website to start earning money.
Please Review Us is the best affiliate program for beginners.
Why Please Review Us you might ask? We have gone out of our way to check every box for an affiliate marketer.
- Quality product that fills a need for all businesses
- High commissions
- Ongoing, recurring commissions for the life of the client
- Low churn product
- Live, professional onboarding for a smooth take off
- Real time, transparent commission reporting
Ready to apply to be a Please Review Us affiliate? Get more information on the affiliate program with Please Review Us here.