You may have heard of affiliate marketing, and perhaps someone has told you that affiliate marketing is a scam, or you might be skeptical about its legitimacy. You don’t need to worry at all—I can confidently assure you that affiliate marketing is legitimate.
Affiliate marketing is a thriving industry. In 2016, the value of affiliate marketing reached $13 billion, and by 2023, this figure soared to $17 billion. According to market projections, the value of affiliate marketing is expected to reach $40 billion by 2030. If you’re looking to make money online or become a freelancer, choosing to enter the affiliate marketing industry is definitely a wise decision.
In this article, I will discuss several topics you might be interested in. I will provide you with a realistic review of affiliate marketing, explain what affiliate marketing is, how to evaluate the legitimacy of affiliate marketing programs, how to spot common affiliate marketing scams, and how to start making money through affiliate marketing as a beginner.
Contents
What Is Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a common method in digital marketing where you can earn commissions by promoting a company’s products. After applying to a company’s affiliate program, you’ll receive a unique referral link. When someone makes a purchase through your link, the company will pay you a commission based on the sale, typically as a percentage.
For example, the image above shows Nike’s affiliate program (which partners with CJ Affiliate). Nike offers affiliates a 1% commission on each sale, meaning that for every $100 worth of products you help sell, Nike will pay you $1 in commission.
In affiliate marketing, aside from earning commissions from product sales, some advertisers also offer programs that pay commissions based on lead generation. Common industries that use this model include insurance, loans, home improvement, and automotive. Advertisers may pay anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars per lead, depending on the industry.
The amount of commission you earn in affiliate marketing depends on the advertiser’s industry and their affiliate program. Physical products usually offer lower commissions, often less than 10%.
However, digital products like software and online services tend to have much higher commission rates, sometimes reaching 70% to 100% of the sale. This is understandable, as physical products have associated costs, while digital products, such as online courses, eBooks, and software, have little to no production costs and can be sold indefinitely once developed.
There are many strategies in affiliate marketing, with two of the most common being creating niche websites and writing product reviews.
Since most people search for products on Google before making a purchase, writing product reviews that appear in Google search results is an effective method for affiliate marketing websites. This strategy is crucial for affiliate marketing efforts, as it helps connect potential buyers with the products you’re recommending.
I started in affiliate marketing ten years ago, and to date, I’ve created over ten niche websites in industries like gardening, fitness, insurance, and loans. These niche sites now generate over $100,000 in income per month.
The website you’re currently viewing is one I recently created a few months ago. My goal is to share all of my online earning experiences with you, so you can join me in the affiliate marketing industry.
I want to help you become a full-time freelancer like me, allowing you to travel anywhere in the world while your niche websites generate income for you 24/7, all while only needing to work one day a week.
Is Affiliate Marketing Legit
Affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money online. This isn’t just my personal opinion; it’s a reality in the digital marketing world, where countless people earn over $100,000 a year through affiliate marketing. Some even make $1 million or more annually.
On LinkedIn, there’s a survey post that lists four ways to make money: affiliate marketing, ads and sponsorships, selling products, and selling services. Among these, affiliate marketing received 37% of the votes, making it the most popular method.
You can find numerous examples of people making substantial income through affiliate marketing on any social media platform.
For instance, if you open YouTube and search for any product keyword, such as “Nike Air Force” or “Adidas shoes,” you’ll see many people creating product showcase videos with affiliate links in the video description. When someone makes a purchase through these links, the video creator earns a commission from the advertiser’s affiliate program.
While affiliate marketing is legal and many people make money from it online, it doesn’t mean you’ll get rich overnight.
If you want to succeed in affiliate marketing by creating a niche website, you need to understand that it requires a significant amount of time to write articles or product reviews and to achieve keyword rankings and search traffic from Google. This is not something that can be accomplished quickly—it requires consistent effort over time.
Most Common Affiliate Marketing Scams
Affiliate marketing itself is not a scam; it is a completely legitimate industry. However, like any other industry, it is not immune to fraudulent activities.
Here are some common affiliate marketing scams:
Paid Membership for Affiliate Programs
Some individuals may tell you that you need to pay to join their affiliate program. You should steer clear of these.
Legitimate affiliate marketing programs are free to join. Merchants or affiliate platforms do not charge you a cent. However, joining their affiliate programs usually requires approval. If you don’t have a website, social media accounts, or any means of generating traffic, they may not accept you as an affiliate member.
Low-Quality or Fraudulent Products
There are countless products in affiliate marketing, with varying levels of quality. If you recommend low-quality or fraudulent products to your audience, your reputation could be damaged.
When selecting an affiliate program, it’s important to thoroughly research the brand or company to ensure they are reliable and that their products are trustworthy.
I usually evaluate a lot of data before choosing an affiliate program, such as brand reputation, product conversion rates, 7-day EPC (Earnings Per Click) data, and whether the advertiser pays commissions promptly.
Some less reputable companies typically offer low commissions, delay payments, and provide poor support to affiliates. Some may even engage in affiliate marketing fraud.
Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
Earning significant income in affiliate marketing requires consistent content creation. However, many scammers will use ads to tell you that you can easily make big money without any experience or time investment, which is simply not true.
These scams often target new affiliate marketers and may result in fake clicks or stolen personal data for the scammers’ gain.
Transaction Fraud
Scammers may use stolen credit cards or payment information to make transactions on affiliate partners’ websites.
This harms affiliates, the customers whose data was stolen, and the affiliate program companies. Companies must pay commissions for sales made through affiliate links and handle fees when fraud is reported by affiliates.
How to Start Affiliate Marketing For Beginners
If you believe affiliate marketing is legitimate and a good way to make money online, you might be wondering how to start as a beginner and earn money. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Choose Your Niche
Selecting your niche is one of the most crucial steps in affiliate marketing. An ideal niche has four characteristics:
- High commissions
- High traffic
- Low competition
- Topics you’re interested in
Among these, your interest in the topic is the most important, followed by low competition. As a beginner, if you choose a highly competitive market, it will be difficult to attract traffic away from established competitors.
Additionally, if you’re not passionate about the topic, it will be hard to stay motivated and consistently create content. You may give up before you even start making money with affiliate marketing.
2. Determine Your Promotion Platform
Once you’ve chosen your niche, you need to decide which platform you’ll use for your affiliate marketing efforts.
If you’re good at creating videos, platforms like YouTube or TikTok might be ideal for you. If you excel at creating text and image content, Pinterest or Facebook could be your go-to platforms. Regardless of the platform, as long as you consistently create and publish content, you can attract traffic.
While you can conduct affiliate marketing on any platform, I strongly recommend creating a website and focusing on search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines can bring you passive traffic 24/7, even while you’re sleeping, which is a fantastic way to make money.
3. Find Affiliate Programs
There are countless affiliate programs to choose from, generally available in two ways:
Direct Application: You can apply directly to become an affiliate on the merchant’s website, get a unique affiliate link, promote the product, and earn commissions.
Third-Party Networks: Some merchants work with third-party affiliate networks. You need to apply to these networks, and then you can apply for the merchant’s affiliate program. Some of the easiest programs to join are Amazon Associates and large retail programs like Target.
You can find numerous affiliate programs on platforms like CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, and Awin.
In a given niche, you may find many affiliate programs to promote. I typically choose programs from well-known brands with high commissions and recent strong sales, as these usually have higher conversion rates and pay commissions promptly.
Remember, just because a company offers a high commission doesn’t mean you should join their program. Many companies may offer high commissions, but their products may not sell well, and the conversion rates may be low, making it difficult to earn money.
4. Create High-Quality Content
When creating content, consider why your audience would purchase a product through your affiliate link.
You need to put yourself in the user’s shoes and help them make the right purchasing decision. This requires a deep understanding of the product you’re promoting and giving strong reasons for your recommendation. Your goal is to build trust and convince users that choosing your recommended product is the right decision.
5. Use Business Tools to Increase Efficiency
Using business tools and software can make your affiliate marketing efforts more manageable. These tools can help you automate tasks, track your performance, and manage your links more efficiently, saving you time and effort.
Following these steps will allow you to build a successful affiliate marketing business for long-term success and growth.
6. Utilize More Marketing Channels and Promotion Strategies
There are many ways to do affiliate marketing beyond just creating a niche website. Once you have a website, you can use various methods to promote it and drive traffic, such as email marketing, social media marketing, and paid advertising.
You should identify your target audience and choose additional marketing channels and promotion strategies based on their characteristics.
For example, if you’ve chosen a website focused on teaching people how to make or save money online, I believe that in addition to ranking well in search engines, Pinterest can be a significant source of traffic. You can transform your website content into Pinterest-friendly formats and use pins to drive more traffic to your site.
Many of my niche websites primarily gain traffic from Pinterest. If you’re interested in driving traffic from Pinterest, you might want to check out my book, Pinterest Traffic Masterclass. By following the methods outlined in this eBook, you can quickly gain a large amount of traffic from Pinterest.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is a legitimate and effective way to make money online, making it an excellent choice for freelancers or those looking to start a side hustle.
Affiliate marketing can become a highly rewarding business. Once your affiliate income surpasses your full-time job salary, you can quit and become a full-time freelancer. I achieved this goal ten years ago, but it’s not too late to start now. In fact, the market value of affiliate marketing continues to grow each year.
Start now by creating a niche blog, and I believe that within three years, you could be earning over $10,000 a month from affiliate marketing, allowing you to travel anywhere in the world while effortlessly generating income.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?
Yes, affiliate marketing is completely legitimate.
Millions of people worldwide earn substantial income through affiliate marketing every year, and countless brands use affiliate marketing to promote their products and services. Many of these brands are globally recognized.
How Long Does It Take to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?
You can start making money from affiliate marketing relatively quickly. The moment you publish your first blog post or upload your first YouTube video, you have the potential to earn commissions as soon as someone views your content and purchases through your affiliate link.
However, if you’re aiming to earn $200 or more per day through affiliate marketing, it will require effort, investment, and learning. Success in affiliate marketing is not an overnight achievement.
If you need money quickly and want to make fast cash, affiliate marketing might not be the best option for you. However, I can provide some methods on how to make $200 a day online quickly, which you might find useful.
How Much Can You Earn with Affiliate Marketing?
The income you can generate from affiliate marketing can range from $100 a day to $10,000 a day. Your earnings depend on several factors:
- The niche you choose and the commission rates offered by affiliate programs.
- The amount and quality of traffic your website can generate.
- The conversion rate of the products you promote.
By selecting a good product, a well-known brand, and a decent commission rate, the more traffic you generate and the higher its quality, the more you will earn. I know many affiliates who make over $100,000 a month from affiliate marketing.
If you’re ready to find a great niche, build a website, and create high-quality content, you can establish a steady and reliable income source.
