Have you heard of affiliate marketing? It’s often recommended as an option for passive income and can benefit multiple parties.
However, you may wonder if affiliate marketing is legitimate and what it entails.
In this guide, you’ll learn more about affiliate marketing and how to make these links work for you.
The Basics of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an aspect of online marketing that many companies use. The brand or business uses third-party publishers to bring traffic to its website – usually to a specific product or service page.
Because the person posting the links and generating traffic is an “affiliate” of the site, this marketing strategy is “affiliate” instead of “internal.”
Affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial relationship for the brand and the affiliate, as the affiliate will get a commission for adding and promoting the link.
For example, a company that sells flat top grills may ask an influencer to include a link to one of their top-selling grills. Then, when that particular link brings in a purchase, the person who shared the link would get an agreed-upon percentage.
Pros and Cons of Business Marketing for Brands
Because affiliate marketing involves a brand and a publisher, we’ll examine the process, benefits, and drawbacks for both the brands and publishers.
For the companies or brands selling their products and services, affiliate marketing can be quite successful. This marketing method is pretty low-cost. The advertising effort falls more on the publisher, and the brand only needs to pay for traffic that leads to sales.
However, there are some downsides to affiliate marketing. Mainly, this strategy is vulnerable to fraud. Affiliates may get fake information to fill out registration forms.
Unfortunately, some affiliates don’t act with business ethics, so it’s vital for businesses to prepare for this and set strict terms and conditions for their links. Choosing reliable or trustworthy publishers can also reduce the risk of fraud.
However, even a good strategy isn’t foolproof. Brands must determine if the low advertising costs are worth the risk.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Affiliate Marketing for Publishers
The other side of affiliate marketing is the publisher. While brands must determine if affiliate marketing makes sense in their marketing approach and budget, potential publishers must also decide if they want to partner with the business.
Publishers benefit through getting a commission or percentage of conversions. However, the potential downside is that some affiliate links don’t garner many conversions, especially if the terms stipulate that only sales conversions count.
The publisher also takes on the marketing burden. They are the ones who spend time and effort placing the link and trying to get users to purchase.
So, while publishers with an existing audience may have more success, affiliate marketing isn’t guaranteed money.
So, is Affiliate Marketing Worth it?
As with many marketing elements, the answer is that “it depends.” Affiliate marketing accounts for around 15% of all online marketing sales. However, it does take some effort and planning.
For businesses, affiliate marketing is a cheap way to find new consumers, but it does have some risks. For publishers, affiliate marketing can generate extra funds, but it takes some work.
With this information, you can determine if affiliate marketing makes sense for you as a brand or publisher. Remember, it may take time to hone your strategy, so you may not see success from affiliate marketing immediately.