Affiliate marketing is a process in which publishers earn a commission by promoting a product or service created by another retailer or advertiser using an affiliate link. The affiliate partner is paid to deliver a specific result to the reseller or advertiser. Usually, the result is a sale. But some affiliate marketing programs may reward you for leads, free trial users, website clicks, or app downloads.

Most affiliate programs are usually free, so you don't have to worry about high startup costs. Done right, an effective affiliate marketing strategy can transform you from a side hustle to a lucrative online business idea earning you a healthy income.

How affiliate marketing works

Affiliate marketing involves recommending a product or service by sharing it on a blog, social media platform, podcast,t or website. The affiliate earns a commission every time someone purchases through the unique affiliate link associated with his referral.

For example:

You see an ad or link for Store Z on your website, blog, or social network.

A customer clicks on your unique affiliate link. The customer purchases the Z-Shop.

The affiliate link registers the transaction. The purchase is confirmed by the Z Store.

They pay you a monetary commission.

Commission rates for affiliate sales vary by company and offer. On the low end, you'll make about 5% of the sale, but with some adjustments, you can make up to 50%, usually when you promote a class or event. There are also affiliate marketing programs that offer a flat rate per sale rather than a percentage.

RELATED: How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Types of Affiliate Marketing

• Independent Affiliate Marketing

The first type of affiliate marketing is known as "independent" or when you have no authority in the niche of the product you are advertising. There is no connection between you and the customer. You often run pay-per-click advertising campaigns with your affiliate link and hope that people will click on it, buy the product and earn a commission.

Freelance affiliate marketing is attractive because you don't need to do any leg work. Affiliate marketing companies are built on reputation and trust with an online target audience. Some affiliate marketers don't have the time or desire to build these relationships, so this type of marketing is your best bet.

• Related Affiliate Marketing

Related affiliate marketing is the practice of promoting products and services that you don't use but that are related to your niche. In this case, an affiliate marketer has an audience, whether via blog, YouTube, TikTok, or another channel.

A related affiliate marketer also has influence, making you a trusted source to recommend products, even if you've never used them before. While related affiliate marketing can generate more affiliate income, it comes with the risk of promoting something you've never tried before. It could be the worst product or service ever and you wouldn't even know it.

One bad recommendation is enough to lose the trust of your audience. If you don't have trust and transparency, it will be difficult to build a sustainable affiliate marketing business.

RELATED: Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

Implied Affiliate Marketing

Implied affiliate marketing refers solely to the recommendation of products and services that the affiliate marketer has used and truly believes in.

In this type of marketing, an affiliate marketer uses their influence to promote products and services that followers might need, rather than paying for clicks on an ad. It takes longer to build this kind of credibility with an audience, but you need to build a sustainable business.

Pros and cons of affiliate marketing

Pros

• Affiliate marketing is easy to scale up.

Successful affiliate marketing offers the potential to significantly increase your earnings without hiring additional help. You can introduce new products to your current audience and create campaigns for additional products while your existing work continues to generate affiliate income in the background.

• Easy to perform.

Their side of the equation simply involves handling the digital marketing side of the building and selling a product. You don't have to worry about the more difficult tasks like development, support, or fulfillment of the offer.

• Low risk

Since there is no cost to join affiliate programs, you can start making money from an established affiliate product or service with no initial investment. Affiliate marketing can also generate relatively passive income through commissions, which is the perfect money-making scenario. While you may initially need to invest time in building traffic sources, your affiliate link can continue to generate a steady income.

Cons

• Requires patience.

Affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. You need time and patience to grow and gain influence through an audience.

Before you begin your journey into affiliate marketing, you should be aware that the venture involves low risks, making it easy to rapidly increase sales is relatively easy to perform. This is why most people use affiliate marketing as a side income. However, building yourself in the skill and business will be time-tasking and would require consistency.

RELATED: Black Friday Marketing Ideas -

SMARTSMSSOLUTIONS - HOW WE COME IN

Looking for ways to gain more customers? Ever heard of SMS Marketing? This is using SMS to promote your products. SmartSMSSolutions is a communication company specializing in running SMS campaigns for individuals and businesses.

Widening your customer base would also involve communicating with them through other means such as phone calls and online chats. To help you with this, we sell airtime and data at the cheapest rates, coupled with a lot of regular bonuses. You can receive yours right away.