12 Things You Didn’t Know About Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a popular term nowadays that most people must at least heard of it, although they never start doing it.

Affiliate marketing actually is a special term that is popular alongside the popularity of the internet which people will basically refer others to numerous types of services or products on the internet.

People that refer others to certain products or services, will get a commission if other people buy the products or services through an affiliate link.

The commission itself is different depends on the company policy. Mostly, the commission will be bigger if there are more products or services being sold through your affiliate link.

Although becoming an affiliate marketer seems very easy and appealing, there are several things you should know first before investing your time or even money in becoming an affiliate marketer for certain products or services.

Here are 12 things you didn’t know about affiliate marketing from both the legit side and not-so-legit side.

1. Started as an Affiliate is Pretty Easy

Becoming an affiliate marketer for certain products or services from a company seems pretty easy. Some companies even don’t ask you to invest money to become an affiliate marketer for their products.

You simply just need to register on their website or another official channel to become an affiliate marketer, then you will get a special affiliate link that is special for you.

This “special” affiliate link is the key to earn a commission from every people that purchase products or services through the link.

Therefore, you have to promote the products or services first to everybody so that they will purchase products from your affiliate link.

You can promote your affiliate link through every channel you have such as your social media account or website.

2. Earn Commission is not THAT Easy

Starting as an affiliate marketer is one thing, but earning a commission from it is completely another thing.

Actually, there are many people who struggle with affiliate businesses. Actually, there are many reasons why this happened.

Posting the products regularly through your social media accounts so people will be attracted to purchasing it surely sounds easy.

But unfortunately, not many people will directly attract to the products or services you promote especially if your products or services don’t fit with their needs.

This is a very big problem, even for someone who already has so many loyal followers on social media. You also have to invest time and huge effort to create content marketing.

You also have to be aware of the niche you choose is very competitive since there will be many competitors who already get attention on the internet.

3. It Consumes a Lot of Time and Hard Work

Many people think that an affiliate marketer is one of the fastest schemes on the internet to get rich. Unfortunately, this is the wrong idea.

If someone tells you this, just don’t believe it so quickly. Becoming an affiliate marketer means that you must invest a lot of hard work and time in order to earn some money, especially when you just start it.

In order to attract people on the internet, you have to create high-quality content from the writing quality, picture, or even video so people will believe in what you offer. It surely consumes a lot of time especially if you are working alone.

4. Affiliate Marketing is About Gaining People Trust

Many people think that an affiliate marketer is one of the fastest schemes on the internet to get rich. Unfortunately, this is the wrong idea. If someone tells you this, just don’t believe it so quickly.

Becoming an affiliate marketer means that you must invest a lot of hard work and time in order to earn some money, especially when you just start it.

5. Many Affiliate Marketers Quit in the First Three Months

Studies showed that almost up to 90% of affiliate marketers never even earn any money from the beginning they start to work on it.

Most of them even decide to quit in the first three months because they feel that their hard work never pays off.

Many affiliate marketers start their affiliate business while thinking that this is a get-rich-quick and easy scheme.

Therefore, many of them are not ready when they face the ugly truth of affiliate marketing. After several months of working on it, they realize that affiliate marketing is a slower and tougher business scheme than they first thought.

6. It Needs Longer Time to Earn Much Money

There is no such a get–rich–quick and easy scheme to start with. To become a successful affiliate marketer, you should give a lot of hard work and time, especially in the beginning.

Like what has been stated above, most affiliate marketing beginners quickly in the first 3 months because they realize that this is different from what they think.

Although this is not an easy and quick scheme to get rich, studies showed that most affiliate marketers who last at least a year have a 90% success rate.

Therefore, those who cannot even earn any money even though they have started more than 12 months, indicate that they maybe did something wrong.

Affiliate marketing is a type of business that needs months to grow the business from zero before it can generate a hundred dollars.

7. Getting to Know with Best Affiliate Model

There are many types of affiliate models that you can choose from on the internet. Some affiliate models need you to sell their products to the customers.

Whereas some affiliate models only target search traffic on Google and want their content to be found on a search engine. If you want to create long-term success, we suggest you have a range of services and products to offer.

If you only focus on one item, then your commission will be very limited. If you choose membership products, then you will have the chance of getting up-sell and monthly commissions.

However, it is best to choose an affiliate model that suits your passion. It is a bad idea to choose every affiliate model even if you have no interest in it.

8. Anyone Actually Can Do It

One of the biggest advantages of affiliate marketing is it gives everyone a fair chance to succeed.

Everyone that has access to the internet and technology will have the same chance to grow their own online business.

The key to success in this business is the desire to keep on learning, prepare yourself to learn regularly, and implement all the knowledge you get in real action.

You only need, at least, understand these three factors:

Understand how to operate basic features in email
Understand how to use online platforms
Understand the tools that are needed to develop an online business

9. Only Sell Products or Services that You Already Know

Never ever sell products or services that you don’t even know! If you just randomly choose products to sell on the internet even if the products seem fake, you will break your reputation on the internet.

People who visit your site and then click your affiliate link to purchase the products will be scammed because of the fake product.

Finally, it will make you end up looking very stupid and untrusted. People will never ever trust your words which will cause them to leave your site.

10. Finding Your Best Niche

There are a lot of niche options available on the internet that you can choose to sell. Make sure that you only choose the best niche that you really love.

Choosing a specific niche will help you find a suitable customer. Some examples of specific niches are smartphone accessories for animators, home décor for minimalist houses, friendly footwear for old people, and so on.

11. Your Main Job is Providing Information

When you build your blog, don’t think of it as a means to just sell products or services. Think of your blog as a means to provide information for all people.

Most people come to your site not to purchase something, but they want to get some useful information. Therefore, use your blog as a soft approach to offer products to customers by giving them useful information first.

This way, you can build a loyal community that sees you as a teacher and problem solver for them. Finally, they will trust whatever you offer to them on the site, including purchasing products or services.

12. Don’t Easily Trust with Strategy Guides

Learning how to improve your affiliate marketing commission is a good step. But, you have to be cautious of who gives that guide to you. Some of them might be people who have failed as affiliate marketers and try another way to earn money.