What’s the secret to making money with affiliates? And if you are a business how do you use affiliates to grow and sell more products? This post will cover both sides–how to make more money as an affiliate and, if you are a business, how to hire affiliates to sell your products. This one is jam-packed with some need-to-know info, so let’s jump right in! Here’s how to become an affiliate all-star.

 

 

While it is super easy to become an affiliate and even be one, it is NOT easy to make money as an affiliate. You have to look at the affiliate business model and see what it takes to get there. Depending on that, it may or may not be a good fit for you. 

If your entire business model is making money from affiliates, you have to get really good at creating consistent valuable content and growing a following. It’s not until you have a strong following that you start to make a decent amount of money from affiliate marketing. 

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be an affiliate marketer. What I am saying is that you can make a TON of money as one, but you have to do it right. I can help you get there by creating a strategy that will take you right to the top in sales. But first, here’s how to become an affiliate all-star.

 

 

How to Become an Affiliate All-Star

If you are an influencer and want to make some extra income, affiliate marketing is a great place to go. The best way to start is to look at your content and the products you’re already using that your audience would love. Make a list of them and then check to see if the seller of those products has an affiliate for them.

If the products can be found on Amazon then there is an affiliate for it. If they cannot be found on Amazon then you can go to the site where you purchase the product and see if they have an affiliate program. 

One of my affiliates is ManyChat and it has been an amazing affiliate to work with because it is something that I highly recommend anyway. ManyChat is my top marketing tool and I am serving my audience so much by telling them about it. Since that is true for me it makes a lot of sense to work with ManyChat as an affiliate. 

Think about the products you use a lot and like to share on social media (in posts, stories, etc.) and check to see if they have an affiliate program you can start using. Think about what products your audience would love, which ones make sense to recommend in your niche, and which ones would benefit your audience if you told them about them. 

 

 

Affiliate Marketing Strategy Tips for Influencers

If you are or want to be an influencer where you are using your influence to sell products, then you need to figure out a way to gain a big following. (I can help!) A big, growing audience and converting them to your content is a must-have if you want to just solely make money with affiliates. 

The easiest way to do this is to pick a niche, create content that supports that niche, and then recommend products that complement the niche. If you’re serious about making money this way then you have to commit to making really good content that your audience wants to watch and engage with. 

It’s one thing to make really good content, but it doesn’t do any good if your audience is not interested in it. You have to learn about the ideal person in your niche and create content that speaks to them, relates to them, and makes them feel heard. That’s when people will start to interact with you and when they do, you’ll learn more about them so you can keep creating content that they want. 

When you’re showcasing your affiliate products, you’re not just showing up and recommending them. You need to show how the product works, how you use it, how it fits into your everyday life, and how it could make their lives easier or better. 

Some ways to do this are:

• An unboxing
• Tutorial
• Giving real-life examples of how it helped you
• A before and after

There are so many ways you can sell a product. Just make sure whenever you sell it, you sell it with a connection and a story. If you’re just showing up and talking about the product with no personal connection, people will not be interested in the product. 

 

 

How to Hire an Affiliate All-Star

If you want to add an affiliate program to your business this could be such a huge part of how you make money. Just know it is a journey and you’ll have to make tweaks and changes along the way. 

You want to create an affiliate program that motivates creatives to participate. That means the affiliate commission has to be high enough for the creatives to care to do it. To help you know how high of a commission you should set up for your products, think about the amount of money you would spend on ads. This commission rate should come from your marketing budget and should be a good enough rate that encourage affiliates to participate in your program. 

 

Affiliate Program Tip #1: Make it easy for your affiliates to see progress.

There are a lot of affiliate programs you can sign up for that track your affiliate conversions. I recommend you sign up for one because you want a place where your affiliates can sign in and see their dashboard, payouts, analytics, etc. It will be super motivating for people to be a part of your program if they can see how much money they’re making and their progress along the way.

 

Affiliate Program Tip #2: Communicate on a regular basis with your affiliates.

Never worry about sending too many emails that include links, coupon codes, etc. to your affiliates. You are not bugging them, you are actually making it so much easier for them! When you send emails with that info for your affiliates, it makes it so they can copy that link and paste it into their posts. You are shortening the process for them and they will be so appreciative.

Think about whatever you can do to make it as easy as possible for your affiliates to post about your products. Sending them an email with the link, coupon code, and a reason to post about your product will make it so they can go post about it right then.  

 

Affiliate Program Tip #3: Create reasons to share.

You want to create reasons for your affiliates to share the product. These reasons could be special events, coupon codes, competitions, etc. Make it fun for your affiliates and think of ways you can reward them for sharing your products. 

Your affiliates should be a part of your product launches and know what’s coming beforehand. When they are aware of your timeline they can align it with their content calendars. You want to include them in these events and processes because it’ll help them feel appreciated and part of your team. When they feel valued they will feel more motivated to share your products with their audiences. 

Beginner Bonus Tip: If you’re still in the creation phase of your affiliate program, Flagship is a great place to start. It’s a new business where you can publish your product on their site to help get your products in front of more affiliates. I recommend checking it out! 

 

 

How to Become an Affiliate All-Star

And that is how to become an affiliate all-star. We need to be serious about affiliate marketing because there is serious money to be made! If you want to research a bit more about affiliate marketing, check out my posts HERE and HERE. Otherwise, make sure to follow me on Instagram @iammichellegifford so you can keep getting the best tips and strategies for growing your brand online!