Affiliate Marketing – what is it and should I be doing it?

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.

 Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income

In the last post, I half stumbled on to affiliate marketing as the focus for my upcoming work. The result I am hoping for is the means to generate more financial freedom. If this result could lead to a passive income then I would class that as a victory of the highest order.

This post is intended to just be a 100km/h whistle-stop tour through all things affiliate marketing. My aim is to share some of the key words, phrases and concepts that I have picked up to date.

I expect this post to be more ‘living’ than the rest. By this, I mean that I will add to this post as I learn more in relation to affiliate marketing. I do not claim to possess anything more than a very basic understanding of the concepts at present. I know that this will change as I take steps towards fulfilling that financial freedom.

Key ingredients in the affiliate marketing recipe

There are fundamentally three key ingredients to the concept of affiliate marketing:

• The product/product creator
• The consumer
• The marketer

Let’s take a look at the constituent parts to delve a little deeper.

The product/product creator

The first part of this triumvirate of passive income is the actual product itself. This is the thing. The item. The product. The service. Whatever. This is what you are ultimately going to sell.

While this is undoubtedly the most simple component it also, in many ways that will become obvious, the most complex. It is deceptively difficult to articulate what this may be because it could be absolutely anything; website builders, books, freelance services…the list is endless.

To try and grasp the enormity of this area take a browse back through your search history and do a text search for the word “affiliate” or related synonyms. This was the point at which I truly started believing that affiliate marketing was a viable option – so many of the paid services that I used ran a partnership program where affiliate marketers could earn money via referrals.

So, simply put, the product is the ‘thing’!

The consumer

This is THE most pivotal section. Without the consumer there are no sales and with no sales there are no profits.

What is interesting though is that even though this is arguably the most important aspect of affiliate marketing it can be entirely transparent. In truth, most consumers will be blissfully unaware of the presence of an affiliate partnership. I know that I defintely was.

With that said, it is accepted that while the process may be transparent it should still remain the central focus.

The marketer

Finally, the third musketeer – the marketer. This is you. Or, more directly in this instance, me.

The affiliate marketer is the glue that binds the consumer and the product. Like a digital rainbow they will direct interested parties (the consumers) to the pot of gold (the product).

Making the affiliate marketing cake

Now that we have all the key ingredients, what are the instructions?

This where flair, pizazz and style really come to the fore. The truth is there is no magical formula. Or at least there shouldn’t be. Sure there are foundational routes to follow but if you tread the path that others have lead you will only ever be in their shadow.

Looking at the key ingredients will show you that the key steps are relatively simple. Move high concentrations of consumers to area of lowly concentrated product across an income-producing affiliate membrane (rocking out some high school science for y’all)!

Start making your cake

Therefore, it stands to reason that we have to find that lowly concentrated product. Now I have mentioned previously that affiliate partnership programs are everywhere. Go out there and find one. Find one you love. Find one that you are going to be happy selling to your Grandma. Once you do you have the first step of the recipe nailed. Throw it in the bowl and get ready to start mixing.

Find those sweet consumers

You now need to start sweetening the cake mixture with consumers who are willing to part with their hard earned cash. Easier said than done.

Generally, there are two accepted means of accruing consumers:

1. Free traffic
2. Paid traffic

It really boils down to that. Free (or organic) traffic tends to be slow yielding but highly targeted. While paid traffic is rapid but can be scatter-like. Which do you go for?

The truth is you really need both. An understanding of free and paid traffic models will give you the overarching knowledge to succeed in affiliate marketing (or at least that is what the gurus tell us – more on this in the future).

Time for the affiliate marketing oven

We now have the key ingredients mixed and ready to go in the cash oven. Bring to temperature, cook to perfection and then deliver to the adoring crowds…

Ok, I am overplaying the cake analogy here but hopefully you get my point. The role I have to play as affiliate marketer is to bring all these items together, in unity, to create a profitable outcome.

What is next?

Now that we are all speaking the same language, I think it is time to start putting some of these learnings into practice. In the next article I am going to go through some of the tools I have sourced, their pricing and how I am going to use them in my pursuit of affiliate marketing nirvana.