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Affiliate Marketing – What YOU need to know
In my previous post I mentioned that I’m pursuing three different paths towards reaching my goal of Creating My Dream Life Through Online Marketing.
One of them is being an affiliate marketer.
What is that, how does it work and how do you make money from it?
In short, affiliate marketing is when a person or business promotes another company’s products. This is done using affiliate links with a unique tracking ID. The links lead to product or promotional pages on the company’s website.
If someone clicks the link and then makes a purchase on the company’s website, you as an affiliate marketer will get paid a commission. The commission varies a lot between companies. The company will know that you were the referrer because of the unique tracking ID in the affiliate link.
So how do customers find your affiliate links? And why do they click them and buy?
There are many different ways you can put your links in front of the people who would be interested in them.
A few years ago, when I was an affiliate marketer for luggage and other travel gear, I mostly relied upon SEO to generate traffic (=people) to my affiliate website. It worked well, and it’s definitely a traffic method that is still viable.
However, this time I’ve chosen to learn another method. Why?
Mostly because I want to be – me.
What do I mean by that?
I want to know I make a difference. I want to help people who like me want to find a way to earn a living (or just some extra money) online.
I want to be honest, transparent, and as helpful as I can be.
This blog is a big part of that.
I want to share content and promote offers I know have the potential to help people. I write “have the potential” because no matter how valuable the content is or how great the offers are, it’s still all up to you what you make of it. I can’t control that.
But this means I have to learn a whole array of new things. I’m happy with that, I like learning new things.
And on top of that, the affiliate marketing industry has changed A LOT since I last was in it. A LOT.
The latest expression of that is how email platforms like Gmail and Yahoo are changing their email deliverability rules. Gone are the days when you could purchase a list of email addresses and happily send them a bunch of emails promoting your affiliate offers.
From now on this way of doing email affiliate marketing will get you shot down pretty fast.
You must have an engaged and responsive email list. The people on it must WANT to be there. I believe this is all good for the affiliate marketing industry, and it goes hand in hand with what I want to do.
But I don’t know how to build such an email list.
But I want to learn!
For this purpose I have chosen to join a partner program created by affiliate marketer and course creator Dean Holland. He teaches a proven method (proven by what he has achieved himself!) to build a successful affiliate marketing business. He constantly over-delivers with his content and coaching.
He’s always updated and relevant, and truly stays on top of what works now and what no longer works.
If you’re curious about what he offers you can watch this webinar.
I want to keep my posts short, but there is one more thing I want to say:
Affiliate marketing is often depicted as a way to get rich quick.
This makes me kind of sad, because it makes people start out with all the wrong expectations. When they don’t see results as fast as they expected to, they give up and lose trust in themselves and the business model in the process.
Affiliate marketing is a FANTASTIC business model, but you have to learn it, work it, and be utterly consistent and persistent. It will not make you rich quick, but it can make you rich forever.
All for now folks!
To our success,
Katrin
Thanks for your clear and concise way of communicating this, Katrin. You’ve taken some mystical concepts and brought great clarity. Way to go! I look forward to seeing how this along with your other pursuits brings you into your dream life!
Thanks Michael, I do try to simplify my writing. I haven’t been good at that in the past, so it’s great to hear that you noticed it 🙂
So far I enjoy my different pursuits, but if I feel it’s a bit too much I’ll drop something. Not sure which one though seeing I really enjoy it all!
Hi Katrin…fabulous post! Great clarity and value. You explain really well what Affiliate Marketing is, how it has evolved, how it is today..and why. Important for anyone looking to become an Affiliate Marketer because I agree it is a fantastic business model. Wishing you great success! I look forward to visiting again to see your growth, have a wonderful week 😀
https://karenelissabeth.com/making-good-progress/
Thanks Karen! I’ve seen the change for the almost 10 years I’ve been involved in affiliate marketing, and it’s not at all what it was from the beginning. I do believe it’s evoilved to something much better, and I enjoy learning.
Katrin, very clear and easy to understand post. Your commitment to being open and honest in your Journey is very much appreciated. The value that you can provide your readers by being yourself and not pretending to be someone that you are not, will be the key to your success! Keep moving forward!
Thanks David, I appreciate you saying that. I’ve finally come to the conclusion it’s no fun and no point in pretending to be something I’m not!
Hi Melissa,
Amazing job describing and breaking down what affiliate marketing is and it’s great that you are so passionate about it! All the best moving ahead. Look forward to your next posts.
Denny
Hi Melissa,
I love that you are in this to truly help people. I think that is what will set you apart from so many who are just trying to make commissions; when you truly believe in what you are sharing, it shows! I love how you included the webinar. Thank you so much for the valuable information!
Thanks for your informative post Melissa. Having been in the affiliate marketing world for, I think you said 11 years, what do you find to be the best or worst changes you’ve seen during that time?
Great post! I really appreciated how you explained affiliate marketing in a concise yet precise manner. Affiliate marketing is undoubtedly one of the best ways to earn a decent income online, but it’s not a piece of cake. As you rightly mentioned, it requires learning, hard work, consistency, and persistence. It may not make you rich overnight, but it has the potential to provide long-lasting financial benefits. Best of luck!
This post is an interesting take from someone who’s been in the trenches with Affiliate Marketing. I appreciate your perspective. I’m sure you’ve seen quite the evolution in the industry. That could be an interesting deep dive!
Hi Katrin,
I like you post. Its great to read something that’s easy to understand , specially for someone who is recently starting affiliate marketing. Your examples that i like were the affiliate link, how they work, and the purpose of why your creating this blog, which is to provide value to people who read it.
We need more posts like yours, specially for people who are recently starting doing this type of business.
Thank you
The trouble with the get-rich-quick approach to Affiliate Marketing is that it appears so attractive, who would not want to spend one hour a day for 30 days and earn 10k a month? The other problem is that it simply does not work for 99.9% of those that waste their time and money trying.
Thanks for the post
Katrin, thank you for this post it’s very well laid out in terms of the journey you’ve gone on. Of what you used to do and what you do now. You’re absolutely right about affiliate marketing being the right model but it can’t be sold as it get rich quick scheme which unfortunately many people do. And as you say that gives four expectations and then write from the outset. You are then chasing money and are constantly disappointed. With what we’ve learnt with Dean we have to be patient and like he says don’t chase money, Let money chase you. I wish you all the success and thanks for this really good post. I look forward to the next one. Thanks , Atif
Hi Katrin,
I appreciate your clarity when writing about your journey with affiliate marketing. Many scams exploit affiliate marketing as a get-rich-quick business. I am glad for your insights of your past to help all of us move forward in our business journey.
All the best!
Milissa Neirotti
Katrin, You made some great points for those that are just starting out and helped them understand that there is no shortcuts to riches. See you at the top.
Great post Kartin,
As they say, first you Learn, then you remove the L.
In the internet world, everything changes quickly, so learning from someone’s experience is the best way to succeed. And the journey, not the destination, that matters. Learning from an experienced mentor saves a lot of time, especially when you did affiliate marketing in the past, this will skyrocket your achievements. I like your determination to learn, a good sign. I am with you.
All the best.
Tom
Love the learn then earn!
THanks, Katrin
Thak you for breaking down affiliate marketing in a very easy and concise way! Your explanation is a great way to start to really appreciate what an online business can offer. Best wishes on your journey!
Katrin,
I love the fact that you make it clear that a person’s success is up to them. No matter how good a product or coaching is, if they do not do the work, they will not see the results! And, that it is not get rich quick, but get rich forever!
Best of luck!
Kelli
Katrin,
You did a great job in describing affiliate marketing and how it works. I also commend you for taking another direction and using that to be true to yourself and your goals. It’s not easy to change paths but I am confident that it will serve you well. But more importantly is will server you clients well.
Thanks and have a great day.
CJ
Hi Katrin, wonderful, clear explanation of affiliate marketing! You gave a concise explanation that was easy to understand and backed it with your experience. With that gave value to the course you have chosen to broaden your knowledge and personalize your connection to your audience creating more trust in you. Very nicely done!
It’s nice to hear from people that have done this sort of thing for awhile. Being new at this I think you have alot of insight to share that will be very helpful as this post was. I look forward to your next post.
Katrin,
I really enjoyed the clear explanation of what an affiliate marketer is. It seems like many folks aren’t familiar with affiliate marketing, so it’s awesome to shed some light on it. Oh, and I caught wind of the new email rules too! Got an email mentioning changes in the rules for platforms like Gmail and Yahoo, especially regarding email deliverability. It’s a lot to keep up with, right? Excited to follow your journey!
Sherri
Hi Katrin,I appreciate you and your help with others to learn more and more about how they achieve there goals in lives with a safe and easy to do, so great effort from you to assist me.Thank you