Boost Your Income Challenge – Day 11

Today we’re talking about affiliate marketing, and how you can make a passive income – that means that you can get paid whilst you’re sleeping! That’s got to be the dream, hasn’t it?!

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing simply means that you make money when people click through your unique link to a product and then go on to make a purchase. The amount of money you make varies a lot depending on who you’re advertising for. Some affiliates only pay a few pence per purchase, whereas others may pay hundreds of pounds. It’s obviously more beneficial to you to push the higher paying affiliates, but those small ones soon add up too, so don’t dismiss them.

How you can make money from affiliate marketing.

I mentioned affiliate marketing earlier in the course as one of the ways that bloggers make their money. When a blogger recommends a product to you, they may well get a kick back if you purchase that product.

But, you CAN make money from affiliate marketing even if you don’t have a blog!

Have you seen those Facebook deals & bargains groups with thousands upon thousands of members? They’re all making money whenever anybody clicks through one of their links and makes a purchase. There’s absolutely nothing to stop you doing the same. It’s not going to make you thousands of pounds overnight. BUT by being determined and posting regular offers that your members want to see, you’ll soon build up their trust and start earning that all important commission.

Social media is a great way to make money from affiliate marketing. As well as Facebook, you could also establish yourself on Twitter as a bargain hunter and regularly post offers their. YouTube is another place you could explore – maybe you could share products you use and stick affiliate links in the comments. Whatever gets your links out there and seen is great.

You can now also use Pinterest for affiliate links. This could actually prove really lucrative. Pinterest is made for people to click on attractive images. So, you could set up some images with a little text and link the pin to an affiliate link.

How to get started.

Affiliate marketing can feel like a minefield when you’re just starting out. But there are some simple things you can do to make things easier for yourself.

Join these affiliate agencies:

• Awin – affiliates such as Boots, Mamas & Papas, TopCashBack, Very.co.uk, Studio & hundreds more.
• CJ Publisher – affiliates such as Argos, 123Reg, CheapFlights, Disney Store & hundreds more.
• Max Bounty
• Amazon

The key really is to join as many affiliate programmes as you can whilst still making sure that their products are relevant to your readers. Don’t be put off if a program rejects you initially. I’ve had to work hard to get onto a couple of programmes that initially said no. Don’t give up.

I’d also really recommend taking a course in how to make money from affiliate marketing. I took this one and it’s made a huge difference to my affiliate income.

Let me know how you get on!