Affiliate Marketing 101: An Easy Introduction to Earning Money from Affiliate Links

Affiliate Marketing is the best way of earning money through your blog. If you’re planning to start a blog or make your current one your primary source of income, or even generate profit off of it on the side, learning how affiliate marketing works is a great way to earn that cash.

What Are Affiliate Links?

Simply put, affiliate links are URLs to websites that you place in your blog posts and content that direct to other websites. Apart from in-text links, affiliate links also come in the form of a widget, banner, or image that directs you to another website. In this way, bloggers generate traffic to their affiliate company’s sites as well as your own. Furthermore, what you benefit more than the profit from the affiliated links is trust from your partners and potential future clients.

How Much Do Bloggers Make On Affiliate Links?

While affiliate marketing can be a lucrative form of earning, like all businesses, it will take persistence, dedication, exciting content, a key demographic, and continuous interaction with your blog readers to reach a high-paying level. New bloggers interested in affiliate marketing, or bloggers who might decide to use their personal blogs to earn, generally start with no income. Heavy hitters such as Rae Hoffman (aka Sugarrae), Kirsty McCubbin, and John Chow may make up to 100k or more monthly.

What Kind Of Affiliate Programs Are Available For Bloggers?

When choosing the affiliate programs best suited for your blog, it’s best to examine your own blogs and platforms and ask yourself what you’re writing about. In his YouTube video, “Is Blogging Dead? Does it Really Have a Future?” Alex of Create and Go explains that “Blogging never died. It just changed.” Among the changes in modern-day blogging is “niche blogging.” That is, writing and blogging about one particular niche and revolving your topics only on that subject. The goal is to become the go-to person when it comes to “fashion,” “gaming,” “food,” or “accessory reviews.”

Once you start gaining traction with blog visits, viewership, and readership, it’s time to research companies of your own niche and check if they have affiliate links and marketing.

Affiliate Programs For Bloggers In Different Niches

1. Amazon Associates – in the blogging affiliates sphere, Amazon Associates is considered a rite of passage, and succeeding in one of the biggest companies in the world is undoubtedly an outstanding achievement. When you write content that mainly focuses on e-commerce, Amazon Associates is the best place to start. Commissions you could collect depends on the category rates, from a 10 % fixed commission Income rate on luxury objects for sale to 4% to 5 % on appliances, books, toys, etc.
2. GoDaddy – with more than 20 million customers, it doesn’t get any bigger than GoDaddy in the Web Hosting Developer arena. If your content is mainly about blogging and tech, GoDaddy provides a commission rate of 10% of the subtotal.
3. Skillshare – any person subscribed to their favorite YouTube influencers has probably run across them advertising Skillshare. This US-based online learning community provides just about every online course you can think of, from analytics to photography, video and music editing, graphic design, and web development. Give this company a shoutout, and they give a $10 (one-time referral fee) per sign-up.
4. TripAdvisor– as the company name suggests, you can almost always find this marketing affiliate opportunity advertised by your followed travel blogs. TravelAdvisor is the go-to site for tourist destination reviews, price comparisons, and reservations.
5. BodyBuilding.com – for the body buffs and fitness gurus, partnering with BodyBuilding.com is a natural choice. You can easily earn some side hustle with every referral you make for them.

Top 5 Tips For Affiliate Income As A Blogger

1. Failsafe – as a general rule, it’s best not to entirely abandon your bread and butter when venturing into new waters. Begin affiliate marketing as a side hustle without depending on it unless you gain traction.
2. Be the expert on your field – businesses grow and thrive when you know your stuff. If you’re sharing content about beauty, know the different trends. If you’re into fitness, make sure you read on the do’s and don’ts of exercise equipment and body types. If you’re a reviewer, also take into account your competition’s views while developing your own. Try not to branch out from your own niche. If so, dedicate a different blog or platform if you develop a passion for another field. The trust will follow – once your viewers and readers feel that you’re trying to be an expert on your passions, they will eventually stick by you.
3. Create a narrative – we all love a good story. It keeps things personal, gives relatability, and nothing builds customer interest other than a good story.
4. Research – growth involves risk, and risks are only possible when you have read and known a lot. And I mean a lot. Always be aware of the competition. Learn how to read the general mood of the industry in which you want to take part. And always ask yourself what-if scenarios as you slowly and surely promote yourself and your brand. And learn some skills along the (such as SEO).
5. Trust in yourself – but always remember that it is ultimately you and your appeal that is the heart and soul of your enterprise. And while listening to different perspectives and opinions and market research is essential, it was you, your viewers, and readers who chose to follow in the first place.

The Road To A Stable Income

If you’re planning on partnering with companies and inserting affiliate links on your content, the first step is to reassess what you want your blog to look like and what you want to get out of it. Expect that you might not get as much, at least in the beginning months. But with knowledge, social media scope, followership that trusts you, a steady income will also follow.