How to Benefit from Affiliate Marketing (Without Having a Huge Audience)
Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but these are for products that I highly recommend. I only share things that I love and use regularly. Thank you so much for your support!
Have you heard that you can use affiliate marketing for your online business?
I used to think that all you needed to do with affiliate marketing was place your affiliate link or banner up on your blog and then you would just start making money. While that method does work for some, that is not how I made it work for me.
Even though I don't have THOUSANDS of people on my email list, I have made over $2K via affiliate marketing in the past couple of months.
Here's the thing, instead of throwing up links on my site, I share WHY I love these products and HOW to use them too! With affiliate marketing, I am able to get paid for this, so it's a win-win situation! YOU can do this too!
Now all affiliate relationships are not equal, for some companies you will have a referral link, a promo code, an affiliate link or etc.
You can benefit from affiliate marketing in a lot of different ways:
You can receive a free month of a service that you're promoting.
You can receive a discount code based off of how many people sign up through your link/promo code.
You can receive affiliate commissions, free products, and etc.
Affiliate marketing is easier than traditional marketing because the hard work was already done by someone else.
You're promoting SOMEONE ELSE's product, service, course or company.
You don't have to create the product, course, etc. except the content which is extremely easy if you're an affiliate for something that you already believe in, use regularly and love.
For instance, I LOVE SmarterQueue, I love it so much that I wrote a few blog posts about it, I made a few YouTube videos on how to use SmarterQueue and I also created a dedicated page on my website because so many people mention that they found me via SmarterQueue and would like everything on one page.
I even landed a testimonial on SmarterQueue's website with my photo next to it which helps me receive more promotion.
Here's an example of my dedicated SmarterQueue page:
By adding my referral link to SmarterQueue inside my own content I receive credit towards my account when someone signs up for SmarterQueue via my link.
I recently received an email about how I have over $2,500 in credit! SmarterQueue for LIFE!
Listen to this audio video about how I use affiliate marketing and how you can use it for your business as well.
I'm telling you all of this because getting started with affiliate marketing is not hard, however, like all things it does take some work.
Here's how you can get started with affiliate marketing:
1. Find programs, products that you love and see if they have an affiliate program or referral program.
If you're already using a piece of software or product that you love, reach out and see if they have an affiliate program.
Instead of asking them if they have affiliates or brand ambassadors.... ask them this: (feel free to copy + paste this phrase!)
"Hey there! I really love your product! Do you have an affiliate or referral program? I'd love to be an affiliate for you!"
If you don't hear anything back, you can always google it or look at the bottom on their website as well and apply through their site.
If you have written any blog post or have any content showcasing their product add it in as well, here's an example:
2. Make sure you know the most recent FTC guidelines for disclosing affiliate links.
The FTC made some changes at the beginning of September 2017. Here's what you need to know so you don't get into any trouble!
As far as what to do next, I highly suggest checking out these resources:
1. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course
I recently bought this course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle of MakingSenseOfCents.com and whoa the framework inside this course is AMAZING!
Michelle earns over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing, and she shares all of her best tips in this course. Yes, you read that correctly! 🤑
In this course, there are 6 modules, over 30 lessons, over 20 worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful exclusive Facebook group, and more, and she goes through everything when it comes to affiliate marketing, such as:
What affiliate marketing is and how it works
Why affiliate marketing is great
The exact steps she's taken to earn over $300,000 from a single blog post
How to pick the right affiliate products to promote
How to increase conversions
How to build trust and not lose followers
Required disclosures that you need to know about
The one major tool you need for affiliate marketing
Different strategies to use to promote your affiliate products
How to use Pinterest to succeed at affiliate marketing (yes, this includes the newest Pinterest affiliate rules!)
Click here to check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing TODAY!
I bought this course not even two weeks ago and I’m already making more affiliate income WHILE I AM SLEEPING by following her methods!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
I'll write up a review of the course when I have time to compare results and post it here.
Every time I earn affiliate income I feel like this:
Michelle posts her income reports on her website and in August 2017 she made over $100,000 that month! That's so amazing to me but super inspiring as well, right!?
She shares all of the strategies, steps and etc. inside her Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course.
I became an affiliate for her course and if you sign up with my link, you'll receive my bonus training on how I promote my affiliate programs on autopilot (without annoying your audience)! It's my Affiliate Promo Planning training, which includes everything that I've done to earn over 2K with ONE affiliate partner and under 1,000 email subscribers!
2. Justine Grey over at JustineGrey.com
You definitely need to check out my friend Justine Grey over at JustineGrey.com.
Justine has helped thousands of affiliates monetize their content through her work as an affiliate manager. Unlike others sharing affiliate tips based on a one-time or one-niche experience, she has worked with bloggers across countless industries and has seen first-hand what it takes to find success as an affiliate.
Her website is full of great resources like:
BEST AFFILIATE PROGRAMS to join
her Affiliate Ace community is full of helpful resources, printables, and etc.
and she has a FREE eCourse called Aspiring Affiliate!
Justine’s Aspiring Affiliate is a FREE eCourse that will help you learn how to go from Aspiring to Active affiliate in 7 days flat!
3. Follow my Affiliate Marketing Pinterest Board
Other helpful resources:
3 Affiliate Marketing Experiments I’ve Had Fun Playing With via Brittany Berger
How to Profit from Affiliate Marketing in Any Niche via Addi Ganley
Ways to Make Extra Money to Fund Your Business via Kate at The Shop Files
One way to see which companies you'd like to work with or where you should share products would be by tracking your growth using my Growth Tracker! For instance if you have an engaged audience on Instagram, you can share in your instagram story about a product that you love, then send them to your link or use a promo code so you can earn some money or something in return! Be sure to use the correct FTC requirements! This is a helpful post: 6 Rules For Brands and Influencers To Be FTC Compliant via Collectively, Inc.
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Hey there, I'm Lindsey the online educator behind hazelhaven.com. I help creative business owners learn how to use the tools to grow their audience online. I'm an introverted extrovert who loves tech systems, dark chocolate and a strong cup of coffee. Be sure to click here to learn about my favorite tools and resources that I use to run my business everyday!
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