Learning the correct way on how to market affiliate links can help you build a passive income stream while promoting products you love!
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when you are a member of an affiliate program and you share links while encouraging others to purchase those products. Every time someone purchases through your unique link id you receive a commission.
Commissions are very different depending on which program you are marketing through. Some offer a flat rate amount, while others offer a percentage of the customer’s total purchase amount.
How Do You Get Paid From Affiliate Marketing?
Every affiliate marketing program has a portal where you can see how many clicks have occurred, completed purchases that have been made, along with other reporting metrics.
Once you sign up and are approved to begin marketing, there’s an area where you can input your tax and bank account information.
Most programs work with Paypal as well and some still offer to mail paper checks. We recommend some sort of digital payment.
Depending on the program’s stipulations, you may be paid on a monthly basis, when you account reaches a certain threshold, or when you decide to retrieve the funds.
Are There Rules for Affiliate Marketing?
Yes and you want to be sure you are well versed. For starters, affiliate marketing is governed by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) which always has the consumer’s best interest. For the full FTC Guide, you can download it here.
In terms of marketing online, before you promote a product or service, you must disclose to the public that you may be compensated in some way if they click on an affiliate link. When writing blog posts, this disclosure needs to be placed above the fold and before any affiliate link.
Even if you have a full disclosure as a separate page, you can link to that but there needs to be a statement listed as well.
When promoting on social media platforms, you can use an affiliate disclosure statement or you can simply post #ad or #sponsored.
If you are running banner ads on your website, those do not need a disclosure statement because the general public is aware of that type of advertising. However, you will need a privacy policy page, where you can explain how a user’s data is tracked and add a cookie policy.
The FTC Guidelines apply to all affiliate marketing programs, however each individual program may have their own terms and conditions that you should be aware of.
Easy Affiliate Marketing Programs To Apply To
One of the most popular affiliate marketing programs that businesses apply to is the Amazon Associate’s Program. Generally everyone is accepted,, but you must make at least 3 sales within your first 180 days of opening your account. These cannot be to friends and family. Amazon is smart so don’t try that trick.
In terms of the Amazon program, they require a different affiliate statement and it must be written word for word. Be sure to read through their policies before promoting any products or services.
Share A Sale is considered a third party affiliate marketing program. Everyone gets accepted into Share A Sale, but you must apply to each individual vendor. For example, if you wanted to promote items from a certain store, you have to fill out an application for that company inside of Share A Sale. All of your earnings will go into one account, versus an account for each merchant.
CJ Affiliates has the same structure as Share A Sale, but has different merchants that you can apply to.
How Do You Know If A Company Has An Affiliate Program?
Most businesses do, or at least larger ones. Simply search the company’s name + affiliate program. You can see if they offer their program through a third party, or if they host it themselves.
Ways To Market Affiliate Links
Here are the most common ways to market affiliate links. As always check the terms of service to ensure you are in compliance.
- Social Media
- Blog Posts
- Email Campaigns
- Your own affiliate program
- Reviews
- Tutorials
- Banner Ads
- Resource Page on your website
Affiliate Marketing Tips
When it comes to promoting affiliate links through blog posts, be intentional with your keyword research. Notice terms like “best”, “cheapest”, and “most reliable”. Those terms mean that your audience is already shopping around.
Never promote a product or service that you are unsure about or do not use. This causes distrust in your audience if it’s not what they expect. Learn more about what makes a great affiliate marketing program.
Always place your disclosure statement before the affiliate link and in a place where your audience doesn’t have to search hard to find it.
Use your email list to help with your affiliate marketing strategy. Just so you know you can NEVER put Amazon links directly into an email.
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