In this series we’ll be sharing with you some amazing and easy to start online business ideas that you can actually start doing right now.
These will be online businesses that generally would not require much capital investment, employment of staff or office rental space.
That being said, I doubt whether it’s possible to for anyone to make money without having some kind of skill or knowledge that can be offered to people.
So remember, You need to give value if you want to be paid.
1. Affiliate Marketing
If you’re new to this and would like to get started online then Affiliate Marketing is without doubt a great option.
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and simplest businesses concepts that you could find anywhere.
It requires very low capital investment and is open to almost anyone in the world.
Though it seems very simple in theory there are some fundamental marketing principals that are needed to be successful.
If you want to do well with affiliate marketing, then it is vital that you first lay a proper foundation and follow a proven marketing process.
Most newbies don’t understand this and they ultimately give up never having realized the power of affiliate marketing.
This, even though their enthusiasm might have initially been very high.
They might get a few sales here and there, but this cannot be sustained in the long term without a solid foundation.
It offers a unique opportunity to almost every individual who has a little bit of drive to sell unlimited products and services over the world.
This is of course without the need to invest in any stock, collect payments or fulfill any orders.
Neither do you you have to deal with any customer complaints.
You do not even need your own product as there are millions available online
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
From the marketers side, Affiliate marketing is when you promote another companies products and services, by reffering people people to a landing page or website.
With the ultimate goal being, that these visitors make a purchase via a link which is allocated to you.
Your main goal then would be to refer visitors to the vendor website by having them click on your affiliate link.
A proven way to to this is by inserting this link into an engaging piece of content and then driving traffic to this content. This could be through social media, google ads or youtube, where people engage with the content and hopefully click the link.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
- A merchant/vendor has a potentially very good product which he would like to sell or just increase sales.
- This could be a physical product, a piece of software service, or an online training course (could be anything)
- The merchant sets up an affiliate program using special software to manage all the potential affiliates.
- This allows affiliates to sign-up and login. It also generates a unique link to track all sales and referrals which credits the affiliate.
- All the necessary admin is done on this dashboard including the commission structure and payment method and dates.
- Next, you as a marketer sign up for the program and agree to the vendor terms and conditions.
- You are then given access to a member section where a unique link is allocated to you.
- This link you then paste in articles on your blog and website.
- You then need to promote the article where people are likely to see this link and then click on it.
- They will be taken to the merchant website or sales page where the selling part is done on your behalf.
- Should they then make a purchase through this link you will be credited and receive a commission payment.
- This is a pay per sale system, so if you don’t make any referrals then no money.
Can I make Money With Affiliate Marketing?
The short answer to that question is ‘maybe’
Depending on what your goals are, whether it’s earning a few extra hundred dollars per month just to help pay the bills.You might even have aspirations of running a full-time and thriving affiliate business.
Whatever your dreams may be, they are definately attainable provided you’ve got the drive and determination.
Answering these questions, should give you a clearer picture.
How badly do I want to make money with affiliate marketing?
Am I prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed?
When things don’t go my way, am I going to roll over and quit or am I going to keep on fighting.
If you answered in the affirmative, then there is a good chance that you are going to be profitable.
Every day, all over the world, millions of people go online to search for goods and services.
Many of them end up making a purchase.
Whether you like it or not people are going to buy stuff.
This is an enormous opportunity for you to take advantage of this never ending global trend.
All you need to do is place a product that people are already searching for in front of their eyes.
By doing this you’re giving yourself the opportunity to generate profits and create a passive income for yourself.
This without the need to keep on doing the work.
The reason that Affiliate Marketing is one of the easy to start business ideas is that you can leverage from an already established brand to generate profits.
Although the concept might be very simple, please be aware that there’s a certain process that first needs to be understood if you are to have any chance of building a long-term successful business.
Getting Started With Affiliate Marketing
Probably the most common way to get started is to join an affiliate network.
Here you will be able to select from a wide range of products that you can start marketing.
Fortunately, there is an abundance of affiliate networks around, promoting an almost unlimited range of items for almost every niche imaginable.
Here are just some of them.
- Clickbank
- JV Zoo
- ShareASale – Focussing on brand names
- Commission Junction
- Peerfly
Next, you just need to complete the sign up process with the affiliate network which gives you access to the merchant and product list.
Select the vendor and product that you wish to promote.
There is normally another sign up process with the vendor where you need to accept the terms and conditions.
You are then allocated a unique affiliate link that you can paste in your blog articles or other places.
It is not recommended that you just start pasting this link all over the internet as this will get you into trouble with the vendor as this tarnishes their image.
You are now good to go and start your campaign.
Before selecting a vendor or a range of products to sell, it is worth mentioning this.
Whatever you decide to start marketing should be congruent with your prefered niche.
Choosing something outside of your niche is likely to cause you a lot of frustration in the future.
Why? because before you can make consistent profit with affiliate marketing, you first need to deliver value to people.
This can be an a blog article, a training video or something similar that would be appreciated.
To do so, will require some work and research to do successfully.
If you not interested in something, there is but very little hope of your doing any type of research on the topic.
If you have no real interest in a niche but decide to sell a related product just for the financial reward then your chances of success are greatly reduced.
What Are The Best Products To Sell
It will be easy for me say that one type of product is better than the other as it is proven that this is relative to the person doing the marketing. Generally, digital products are recommended as they are immdediately downloadable and this is good for customer satisfaction. Examples of this include:
- Software programs
- Memberships
- Digital procucts
When selecting a vendor try to choose one that offers a cookie duration of 60 days or more.
The Advantages & Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing
The benefits of doing Affiliate Marketing far outweigh disadvantages.
This is blatantly obvious if you just look at the investment aspect.for one.
- Don’t need your own product
- Unlimited products
- Sell anywhere in the world
- No staff or premises needed
- Choose your working hours
- Automated
- Can be scaled
- Open for business 24/7
- Get paid while sleeping
- Work while traveling or on vacation
- Spend more time with family
Getting Started With Affiliate Marketing
The earning potential of doing affiliate marketing is limited only by your dreams, desires and skills.
Whether you choose to sell low priced goods that move quickly or high ticket items, makes little difference.
Either way, the chances of success are good when you follow the core fundamentals of online marketing. What is Affiliate marketing? How does it work? How do I become an Affiliate The Process As an affiliate, the only job you really have is to drive traffic to an offer and that is basically it. The first step is basically to find your ideal niche market.
What is it that you love doing or talking about.
What is it that you always spend your money on? What is the one thing that is constantly on your mind whether you wake up in the morning or before going to bed at night? Whatever you answer is, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to do much better marketing a product related to what you love doing. People like listening to experts no matter what field of expertise they’re in.
So you job is to become an expert, or at least have the desire to be one.
This will drive you on to do the necessary research which you can then curate and pass on to your audience.
Affiliate marketing works effectively for the merchant and the affiliate. To the first, he gains opportunities to advertise his products to a larger market, which increases his chances to earn. The more affiliate websites or hard-working affiliates he gets, the more sales he can expect. By getting affiliates to market his products and services, he is saving himself time, effort and money in looking for possible markets and customers. When a client clicks on the link in the affiliate website, purchases the product, recommends it to others who look for the same item or buys it again, the merchant multiplies his chances of earning. On the other hand, the affiliate marketer benefits from each customer who clicks on the link in his website and who actually purchases the product or avails of the service provided by the merchant. In most cases, the affiliate gets commision per sale, which can be fixed percentage or fixed amount.
You can add a personal touch to your site and give your visitors who are possible buyers an impression that you are an expert in your field. In this way, you gain their trust and eventually encourage them to buy the products you endorse. Next is to look for good paying merchants and products or services related to your interest and create now a website. In choosing the products, you must also consider its conversion rate
This occurs when someone clicks on a unique link that is given to you, this you then paste on your blog or in articles.
Next, you drive targeted traffic to this piece of content where visitors will hopefully read your content and then click on the affiliate link. The resulting sale is then credited to you for you which you are paid a commission that varies from one merchant to the next.
Many merchants seem to be paying between 20% and 50% there are however exceptions with some paying more and others less.
Commission payment dates also vary, with weekly and monthly being popular amongst vendors.
This is done on a pay per sale basis.
