Affiliate marketing online can be one of the most lucrative sources of passive income available today. With the growth of the internet, your potential market is approximately 3 billion plus users per day. Imagine how much money you could make if you could grab the attention of only a fraction of that daily user market, and recommend to them a preferred product or service?
There is a right and a wrong way to do this, however. The hardest part, is finding the process that is sincere and really works, not just another so called “expert” claiming he has the next best kept secret. There is no secret, just a simple process and the results speak for themselves.
Here I'm going to show you how affiliate marketing online works, and teach you the only process that actually makes money…even while you sleep! Don't take my word for it, just look at the numbers and decide for yourself.
What Is Affiliate Marketing Online?
Before we get to the meat of the process, we need to start with the milk first. What is affiliate marketing? It's not a type of MLM business, it's not some type of scam strategy to make money, forget all of that. You probably didn't know that the biggest companies in the world make a huge portion of their income from affiliate marketing!
Neil Patel, a well-known online marketer and entrepreneur defines affiliate marketing as follows:
“Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people's (or company's) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.”
Couldn't have said it any better myself. By building an online audience, providing helpful and useful content related to a very detailed and specific niche, and then promoting helpful products and services to that audience, opens up the door to a plethora of business ideas that anyone can start.
Examples of well-known affiliate marketing websites
Almost any website you visit will probably have some form of an affiliate marketing link embedded within it. Not every website has these affiliate links, or wants to. But those websites looking to build an online business, most likely include links to partner companies to which they get paid a commission on each sale made.
To help give you a better idea of some affiliate marketing experts, I've included a list of well-known websites and blogs that use affiliate marketing to generate a profit:
SmartPassiveIncome.com by Pat Flynn
Smart Passive Income is a blog centered around best tips and tricks to creating passive income through email marketing, podcasting, blogs, and affiliate marketing.
Similar to Pat Flynn's passive income website, The Penny Hoarder is well-known for money making tips and tricks, along with best practices and easy ways to make an extra buck in almost any market.
This website focuses mainly on trending technology gadgets, gear and products. Through creating in depth reviews to products in multiple categories, they generate traffic and make commissions on each referral to each product they discuss.
The niche market for this website is geared towards baby products and new moms. They provide in depth product reviews, tips and tricks for baby toys, and aid new moms in learning the tricks of the trade.
These are just a few of the millions of affiliate marketing websites. If there is an audience for the topic of your website, then you can make money through affiliate marketing within that niche topic. And the money that can be made is virtually limitless.
How to start an affiliate marketing online business
You get what affiliate marketing is, how it works and some examples of great websites to follow. You will find that every successful affiliate marketing online business essentially follows the exact same process. This is the only process that actually works, regardless of what anyone else or so called “expert” says. How do I know? The proof is in the results of those that follow (which I'll show you later on).
Affiliate Marketing Online Process: 4 Steps
Follow these 4 steps, rinse and repeat, and before you know it you'll be pulling in big bucks like the websites we mentioned above.
Step 1 – Choose a topic of interest (aka niche)
Step 2 – Build a website
Step 3 – Attract visitors to your website
Step 4 – Refer your visitors to helpful and trusted resources
Want to know where I learned this process? This affiliate marketing resource teaches the 4 steps in greater detail, and has proven it works with over 1,000,000 online businesses.
Yup. Not too technical I know, but it works! There are a few things to keep in mind before deciding whether you think this is for you or not. First off, this process and the results are totally dependent upon the input you put in. The more sweat you put in up front, the quicker the path to profits will be.
My first website didn't make a single dime for at least 6 months (maybe longer). But as I stuck to the process, my audience grew, my online presence grew, my brand grew, and as a result so did my income. If I had more time available to put in some more sweat equity, I would have seen the results much quicker.
So before you begin, I advise you that you keep in mind this is AT LEAST a 12-month commitment if you want to reap the rewards of your hard work. Yeah you will begin to make money sooner if you work hard, but in order for that income to stay consistent and grow, you need to be in it for the long run.
Lastly, keep in mind the unlimited potential of a well-established affiliate marketing website. Refer back to SmartPassiveIncome.com by Pat Flynn to see his monthly income reports. He is making well over $100,000+ per month (no biggie). Read his story, and you will find he started out as a regular online entrepreneur like you and I, and after years of consistent effort he found himself being featured on major news headlines and magazines.
Whether you want to make that kind of money, or just add an extra $1,000 per month to your household income is entirely up to you.
Affiliate Marketing Success Stories: Results of the 4 step process
Yeah, you are still probably thinking that those websites making $100,000+ per month are few and far between. And I agree with you. If it were easy to build a website that makes more in a month than most people make in a year, then everyone would be doing it!
While those making 6 figures per month may be a difficult task to achieve, it IS NOT unheard of for an average affiliate marketer to build their website to make just $2,000 per month, or $5,000 per month, or even $10,000 per month. The chances of that being you is totally dependent on following the 4 step process. The only deciding factor is sticking to the process, and success is inevitable.
Here are some success stories of those who follow this 4 step process to give you proof that it works:
One entrepreneur who follows this process posted on the affiliate marketing platform the following screenshot of his earnings:
How did he do it? He followed the process taught in the Internets top affiliate marketing platform.
Another member of the same affiliate marketing training platform is seeing how the benefits of $50 or $90 per day can really add up over time. They posted their success screenshot:
How did they do it? They follow the only affiliate marketing process that works. The great part is, those small daily profits are only going to grow over time and consistency following the process.
The success stories are endless, but so are the failure stories. The difference is in the dedication to the process laid out, and in being patient and diligent in building their business. Because in time, the results will come.
What you need to get started
Now that you know the process, you're probably asking yourself how to get started, and what do you need to get started? Well, to start off, keep in mind that this takes no previous experience, and no coding experience is required. Whether you're an online expert, or a brand new online entrepreneur learning the ropes, it doesn't matter. You'll see that later on. For now, here's what you need to get started.
Needed tools to build your website
There are a few things needed to build a website. The easiest way to explain this is to compare it to a cell phone company. Just like a cell phone, you need a company to store, service and protect your cell phone data. For your website, this is called a web hosting company, or a website host.
Going back to the cell phone comparison, you also need a cell phone number for people to call you at, otherwise, you're non existent. The website equivalent to a cell phone number is your domain name. This is the URL or website address you type in the internet browser to land on your desired web page. An example of this is www.Amazon.com (I'm sure you are all familiar with that website).
You also need a website theme, or layout of your website content. This would be similar to choosing between android and iPhone when using the cell phone comparison. Each have different layouts that cater to different people. While cell phones mainly have the two above options, a website theme can be a choice of hundreds of thousands of options. It is basically just the website design you choose, and can be altered as your website grows.
Since most of us aren't experts in coding, or are starting with zero experience in building websites, lastly we need a place that allows us to build our website without needing to know coding language. This is referred to as a website builder, or website building platform. These work just like a drag and drop function that allows you to write and create content, web pages and write blog posts.
As you can see there are a few tools needed to get your website going. While some companies offer multiple of the above needed resources as a bundle, most don't offer them all together, resulting in having to create multiple user names and passwords to power and manage your website.
That's why I personally recommend these guys to build your website. They are one of the few who offer the entire package along with expert advice and help to building your affiliate marketing online business.
You need affiliate products and affiliate links for those products
There are essentially two options when it comes to finding these affiliate links. You can obtain affiliate links individually from each company that you wish to promote. You will find that almost every company out there offers an affiliate program. All you have to do is go to Google and search “[your topic/product] affiliate programs” and you will have thousands of options.
Another way to find out where to get affiliate links is to simply go to the company website you wish to promote, and search their website for their affiliate program (usually the link to their affiliate program is somewhere near the bottom of the website page in the footer area).
The second option to get affiliate links for products is using an affiliate marketing company that acts as the middle man between the blog or website, and the company offering the program. These middle man companies are sometimes referred to umbrella affiliate companies.
They are a one stop shop that allows you to get affiliate links from thousands of companies, all in one place. Not only that, but when sales are made, you get paid from all the companies in one place.
The second option is the preferred option, and will make your life a lot easier. I recommend using a well-known company like Flex Offers for your umbrella affiliate marketing company. Mind you there are multiple options to choose from as your business expands.
You will also find that some companies do not offer their affiliate program through an umbrella company. The only option with them is to set up an affiliate account with each company individually.
Where to get started with affiliate marketing online
That may seem like a lot of tools needed to build your affiliate marketing online business. Don't let that scare you, it's really not as hard or complicated as it may seem.
The options to start building your affiliate marketing business are nearly unlimited, and can take a lot of time in and of itself determining where to start.
There is, however a well trusted and respected online business platform that provides you with everything you need all in one place to build your online business. That's why they are my top recommendation for anyone who wants to start an online business in affiliate marketing.
What they have done is integrated with the biggest website builder, the best trainings, and top-notch web hosting platform and integrated it all into one. You get full access to build your website with WordPress (the internets largest website building platform) as well as access to thousands of the WordPress website themes.
Along with all the tools and resources provided in one location, they have built the industry leading training and education program for affiliate marketers and bloggers. With years and years of expert experience, they will walk you through step by step how to get your affiliate marketing business started, and how to grow it into a thriving online business.
In fact, their platform is so unique that they have helped over 1,000,000+ online businesses discover this 4 step process in detail, leading them to wild success and increased income potential. Every one of the success stories I described above are results from entrepreneurs who trust the worlds top affiliate marketing platform, because it works.
