Affiliate marketing is kind of like the referral system. If you have a website, you can post ads for companies as an affiliate marketer. When someone clicks on the ad you host and then buys the item, you get a commission. Affiliate marketing has become pretty complicated in recent years, but it’s still a simple model to understand. It all starts with the merchant or brand.
The merchant is the person selling an item, and merchants want to make revenue through sales. They will then make ad offers through a network, and this network is where the affiliate goes to pick ads to place on their site. The affiliate is the person with the online audience or website, in this case, that would be you. And some of your audience may eventually become customers for the merchant. If you have an audience, affiliate marketing is a simple way to monetize it. And that’s why it’s on our Side Hustle Master List.
Concept | |
category | Online Businesses |
Takeaways | Requires you to have your own website; based on commission. |
complexity lowhigh  | Capital Required lowhigh |
skill required lowhigh | time required lowhigh |
return potential lowhigh |
 | learn more |
Consider the audience
Affiliate marketing works best if you have traffic or an audience that views your channels. It can be a great choice for a social media influencer and is just one way you can monetize an online presence. As an affiliate marketer, you can choose the types of ads that your audience sees. This way, you can make sure they are seeing something that they’d actually be interested in. This is something to consider because it’s possible to alienate an audience by showing them too many ads that come out of left-field. Affiliate marketing revenue works in a variety of ways, but 80% of these programs use the pay-per-sale method. This method gives the affiliate a small commission with each sale. Affiliate marketing is a deep topic, so be sure to check out the links below for more information.