Is affiliate marketing worth it?
That’s the question we’re going to cover in this post.
Affiliate marketing has been a common source of revenue for online businesses for as long as online business has been a thing.
It’s even common among social media influencers these days.
That’s why we want to know: what is affiliate marketing, and is it still profitable?
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a form of advertising in which a business pays marketers, known as affiliates, to promote their products or services.
It’s one of the most popular revenue streams for blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels and social media influencers.
That’s because it’s one of the easiest ways to monetize a blog or media-based entity.
It doesn’t require any money to get started, and you can generate revenue with a small audience.
How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate marketing works like this: a company launches an affiliate marketing program or adds their products/services to an affiliate network.
An affiliate network acts as a middleman between a business and an affiliate.
Basically, an affiliate marketer must join the affiliate network the business is part of. They’re free to create affiliate links for that business and any other business that’s part of the network once they do.
Whether a business runs their own affiliate program or uses an affiliate network, the next step involves marketers joining the program to become affiliates.
Each affiliate receives their very own affiliate link in the form of a URL parameter appended to the end of the URL for the product page they want to promote.
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If you look at the end of the affiliate link, you’ll notice our unique affiliate ID located after the question mark “?id=”
A business pays an affiliate a commission (a percentage of the total sale) when an internet visitor clicks an affiliate link for a product then purchases that product.
The unique affiliate ID lets the company’s affiliate system know which affiliate referred the customer. Each completed affiliate sale is called a “referral” for this reason.
Does affiliate marketing benefit the businesses that run these programs? Absolutely!
According to reports by Cheq and Kick Start Your Own Affiliate Marketing Business by Joy Renkins, affiliate marketing spend generated by the affiliate marketing industry amounts to over $6.8 billion in the United States, and affiliate marketers generate between 5 and 25% of sales for businesses.
That’s affiliate marketing in a nutshell, but how do you start your own affiliate business? And is affiliate marketing worth it?
How to start a successful affiliate marketing business
You’ll need the following in order to start your own affiliate marketing business:
- Affiliate marketing niche
- Affiliate products to sell
- A place to promote affiliate links
If you already have a blog, YouTube channel, podcast or popular Instagram/TikTok account, you’re already on the right track.
You just need to join affiliate programs that suit your niche.
Otherwise, research the best affiliate platforms and programs to join.
Coincide this with research on the niches each platform and program belong to. You want to choose an affiliate niche that has a lot of search potential.
This will give you the best chance at creating content that’ll bring in a lot of traffic to your affiliate pages.
Different ways affiliate programs pay affiliates
All affiliates are paid on commission. How much that commission is and how often you receive it is dependent on the program you join.
Most affiliate programs pay commissions at a certain percentage on a one-time basis, such as a 20% commission for each sale you generate.
Some subscription-based programs pay for as long as the customer you refer keeps their subscription active.
So, if a company pays a 20% recurring commission, and a customer you refer keeps their subscription active in June, July and August, you’ll receive 20% of what they pay for each of those months.
Some companies pay a flat-fee as a commission rate rather than a percentage.
Others pay a commission fee for new signups, then pay an additional fee when those signups turn into new subscriptions.
Most companies distribute affiliate payouts through PayPal 30 days after each referral is made.
Some will distribute direct deposits or wire transfers to your bank account.
Is affiliate marketing worth it?
Before you jump into this new business venture, you’re probably wondering a few things: is affiliate marketing worth the effort, and is affiliate marketing still profitable?
The short answer is yes, affiliate marketing is still profitable.
When you pick the right niche as well as the right affiliate programs, you can indeed make a profit.
The real answer is a little more complicated than that, so we’re going to break it down into a few different topics:
- Is affiliate marketing still profitable?
- The pros and cons of affiliate marketing.
- Alternatives to affiliate marketing and how they compare.
Is affiliate marketing still profitable?
Here’s what you need to make a profit with affiliate marketing:
- An engaged audience.
- A quality affiliate product to promote.
- High-quality content to promote that affiliate product.
To break this down even further, you need to start by creating content people care about.
You also need to find ways to encourage your audience to engage with your content. If they’re not engaged, they’re not going to click your affiliate links.
Lastly, don’t just choose the product that pays the highest commission. You want to promote an affiliate product you know your audience loves.
Avoid products that have negative reviews or companies that receive too much negative press.
Get to know your audience and niche instead. It’ll be easy to determine which products to affiliate yourself with when you do.
How much do affiliate marketers make?
Let’s talk real numbers. Here are a few affiliate earnings in income reports from blogs in different niches.
Low earners and high earners are included to demonstrate the diversity in the revenue an affiliate marketer may make.
Each dollar amount was earned in the month referenced in parentheses.
You should also note that high-earning income reports are hard to find these days, but it doesn’t mean that blogs aren’t earning a lot of money from affiliate marketing.
It’s a common trend for blogs to stop reporting their income when they start making six-figures per month regularly.
- It’s a Lovely Life (August 2019, most recent report)
- Affiliate Revenue: $103,720.49
- Total Revenue: $222,857
- This Online World (2021 as a whole)
- Affiliate Revenue: $30,806.48
- Total Revenue: $92,614.42
- Just a Girl and Her Blog (December 2016, most recent report)
- Affiliate Revenue: $27,507
- Total Revenue: $41,700
- One Hour Professor (January 2022)
- Affiliate Revenue: $11,234
- Total Revenue: $31,123
- CarlBroadbent (January 2022)
- Affiliate Revenue: $6,935.91
- Total Revenue: $10,637.61
- Sadie Smiley (February 2022)
- Affiliate Revenue: $2,520.63
- Total Revenue: $17,521
- Fork in the Road (January 2022)
- Affiliate Revenue: $986.16
- Total Revenue: $3,148.45
Who is the most successful affiliate marketer ever?
This is hard to say as many affiliate marketers stop reporting their earnings as they get higher and higher (into six figures and beyond).
However, successful affiliate marketer Jason Stone, known as the Millionaire Mentor, claims to have generated over $7 million in sales in just 18 months at one point.
The pros and cons of affiliate marketing
PRO: It’s easy to get started
Many affiliate programs don’t require you to have a certain number of monthly visitors or followers before you join.
Many also don’t have a quota you’re expected to reach over a certain period in order to remain a part of the program.
This means anyone can get started with affiliate marketing. You just need a place to create content (for promoting affiliate links).
You don’t need a massive audience to get going.
PRO: Create multiple revenue streams
You’ve heard the phrase “don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.”
The reason is simple. If something happen