We will see in this very complete article what affiliation is and the basics to understand how it works. We will then show you in detail, step by step, how to earn money with affiliation. How do I find products and services to promote? What strategy to adopt? How to choose where to promote them? How much can we earn? We will explain everything to you.
Affiliation, what is it?
To put it simply, affiliation is the act of promoting products and services of a company / brand (called an “advertiser”). The affiliate is therefore the person who promotes it. The latter therefore receives a commission each time a sale is made through him.
The role of the affiliate is therefore to bring as much traffic as possible to the sites of the products/services he is promoting. But above all, its objective is to target and reach its audience in a relevant way (ie distribute its affiliate links in the right place and to the right people). He is in a way a business contributor. The remuneration of an affiliate can be done in several ways:
- Pay-per-sale or CPA (the most used)
- Payment by lead or CPL (registration, filling out a form, requesting a quote, making an appointment, etc.)
- Pay per click or CPC (or double click)
The commission rate also depends on the type of product. There are two main categories: physical products and digital products . Generally commissions are much higher for digital products than for physical products. This is because the costs are different. Indeed the costs for digital products are lower since it is created only once.
The only thing you have to do is bring visitors to advertisers’ sites . You therefore do not manage product design, sales or customers.
Physical or digital products: how to make money with affiliation?
The way to promote affiliate products is approached very differently depending on whether it is physical products or info products. Indeed, these are two processes that have nothing to do with each other. Commission rates, how to promote it, sales page, traffic sources are not the same. What is the most advantageous? How to choose ? We will detail here the main differences to take into account.
Affiliate sale of physical products:
Physical products, as the name suggests, are everyday products that you can actually touch. Their commission rate varies between 3% and 10% in general. It was the giant Amazon that first launched the concept by launching its affiliate program in 1996. As the commissions are relatively low, you inevitably have to play on the volume to hope to be able to earn comfortable income.
It’s up to you whether you prefer to sell more expensive products that are likely to sell less, or less expensive products that potentially sell more easily. For example if you want to sell smartphones over €800 with 7% commissions but with a low conversion rate. Or sell $20 smartphone cases with 3% commissions but with higher sales volume potential.
To conclude, we can say that the sale of physical products is more suitable for high traffic . Indeed, the conversion and commission rates are lower. When you think physical products, think volume.
This type of affiliation is therefore more appropriate for niche sites with a high number of visitors. And if you don’t have a site with high traffic yet, don’t panic. We will see a little below how to explode your traffic from almost nothing.
Affiliate selling of digital products:
Digital products are so-called “digital” products, or “product info”. It can be training, software, subscription, etc. The commission rates vary between 50% and 70% , that is to say that you can therefore even earn more than the creator of the product . himself! As we saw earlier, this is explained by the fact that given the fact that they are digital products, the costs intended for its commercialization are relatively low. Indeed, once the product is created, it can be sold endlessly and at a lower cost. It is therefore a real opportunity to earn money quickly with affiliation.
You guessed it, the approach to prospects and the marketing strategy is different compared to selling physical products.
Digital products are therefore particularly suitable for blogs, or even Youtube with a more targeted and worked audience. Indeed, for this kind of products you will have to work more on the content of your sales pages. The idea is to give confidence to your audience, test and / or give your opinion on the product, present its functionalities, explain how to use it and what it is for, and demonstrate why you recommend this product.
What are the best affiliate platforms/programs?
There are a multitude of platforms and programs (not to be confused) online dedicated to selling affiliate products. Here is a selection of the best of them:
For physical products:
Amazon Partners
The No. 1 in affiliation and e-commerce in general, with an almost unlimited product catalog. It is essential and known to all. You benefit from its solid reputation and its very efficient commercial service. Commission rates range from 3% to 10% depending on product categories.
Awin
Created in 2017, Awin is today the platform most used by brands and companies that use affiliation. We are talking about Castorama, Pandora, Lacoste, Boursorama Banque, Etsy, etc… You can find products and services of all kinds there: fashion, cooking, decoration, electronics, travel, private sales, etc…
CJ Affiliates
It is also one of the largest affiliate platforms on the market and it also brings together a multitude of major brands. The strong point of CJ Affiliate is that it provides powerful tools to help us promote its products. For example, there is the “Widget Creator”, which allows you to create different widgets to adapt the display of products on your site. There is also the “Deep Link Generator”, which gives you the possibility of installing a button which, when you are on a brand’s site, automatically detects whether it uses affiliation with CJ Affiliates, and many more…
Affiliation
This affiliate platform was created in 2000 (20 years already!) by the Effinity group. Here too, various tools are available to help you promote products. You have the choice between more than 700 different advertisers to choose the products that best suit your audience. All sectors are present: home, fashion, sport, cosmetics, electronics, etc.
Tradedoubler
Swedish affiliate platform created in 1999. With more than 2000 advertisers, and close to 200,000 publishers, it is also one of the leaders in the field of affiliate marketing in Europe. You can find all kinds of product categories from major brands, and you are really accompanied from A to Z.
Casaneo
With already more than 3000 affiliates to its credit, Casaneo is an affiliate platform specializing in products for the home and fashion sector. The commission rates are quite high: between 5% and 12% depending on the products and the advertisers.
For digital products:
1TPE
It is the leader in the sale of information products in affiliation on the French market. The big advantage is that all the products are in French, which is undoubtedly more comfortable for you as well as for your visitors. Registration is quick and free, and the platform is easy to use. Most of the products are training and the commission rate is usually 50% minimum.
jvzoo
This platform is also specialized in digital products and mainly concerns software. The vast majority of products are in English, but don’t panic. All you have to do is create a promotion page where you explain how to use the product, for example, or make a video demo, a pdf guide, etc. In addition, a good part of your visitors potentially speak English. There are software that the customer only pays for once and has access to indefinitely. You earn a percentage on each sale. There are other software that work by subscription. This potentially allows you to earn recurring commissions every month or every year depending on the plan chosen by the client.
ClickBank
It is also one of the main affiliate marketing marketplaces specializing in product info, born in the US in 1998. Among the thousands of products available, you can find software, training, e-books, audio books. , etc… The platform offers a wide range of resources to help you set up your affiliate strategy and promote products. The interface is very intuitive and easy to learn.
IO system
This one is different since it is not an affiliate platform, but an all-in-one tool created by Frenchman Aurélien Amacker. It allows you to create and manage an online business by bringing together all the necessary features. It offers its own affiliate program which is very interesting. All you have to do is sign up and bring visitors to their site via an affiliate link. You earn 40% on each sale that will be made through your link.
However, not all product information is systematically on affiliate platforms. In this case, I invite you to go look for yourself on the sites of the products that interest you to see if they offer an affiliate program. You can also attempt to contact the company directly to ask them.
Where to promote my affiliate links?
On a blog (more suitable for product information)
This is probably the most effective way , but many people manage to achieve very good results in many other ways. No need to worry if you don’t have a blog though, there are alternatives to that.
Promoting affiliate links on your blog is one of the best ways to earn money quickly with affiliation. By growing and nurturing your content blog, you will shape your credibility and your community. Your visitors will have more confidence in you and you will be able to convert them much more easily. In addition, quite a few advertisers require your site’s URL to be able to apply for their programs. Finally, promoting affiliate products on your blog / site is a way to build passive income over the long term.
Once you have chosen a specific and profitable niche, train yourself and become an “expert” on the subject. Create quality content for your readers. Providing rich content is the key to referencing your site in the first search results and therefore bringing traffic to it. But above all, it is what will considerably contribute to converting your visitors into buyers.
To promote your products, you can write a “review” article , or a “practical guide” or “tutorial” article. You can also write an article on a particular subject, and thus recommend a product that could meet a need related to this subject. Example: you have a blog about rock climbing. You decide to write an article dealing with the necessary equipment during a climbing hike in a natural environment. It would therefore be relevant to take the opportunity to recommend climbing equipment products.
On a niche site (more suitable for physical products)
A niche site is not very different from a blog and is also a very good way to earn money quickly with the affiliation. Only there it is a question of presenting products only. The niche should therefore be relatively small. For example, you have chosen the dog harness kennel. You will therefore direct all your content and your SEO strategy around this niche.
The idea is therefore to work thoroughly on your keywords and your SEO so that when an Internet user types ” ” in his search bar, he comes across your article and will potentially go through your link if he has found what he was looking for. .
You can write different page formats, where you give for example your opinion on the product. You can also write a page where you compare or list several products related to a theme of your niche. For example, to stay on the example of dog harnesses, you can write an “article” with the subject “the top 10 unbreakable harnesses”. Or “what harness for your dog’s comfort?” », etc… you get the idea.
Finally, you can create categories and insert products into them, reworking the sales pages so that they are well referenced. This is in line with what we discussed above, in relation to the fact that it is necessary to better play on the volume for the sale in affiliation of physical products.
The bulk of the work will be to bring significant traffic to your site. No worries, we discuss the subject further down in this article.
On Youtube
Youtube is also a very interesting channel to earn money quickly with affiliation. Indeed, you will be able to present the product, argue, make a video demonstration, etc… and this is a real advantage. However, this is not the most difficult part: indeed, the most tedious will be to develop the audience of your Youtube channel, and we will explain how to do it.
Here too you will have to find a specific profitable niche, that is to say that this niche must attract the interest of a certain group of people and must be able to allow you to put forward products / services in relation to your audience. . For example, if you choose to go into the “. Better that it is a subject for which you have a real interest, you will be all the more motivated and invested
On Youtube as on a blog, think above all qualitative ! The key to your success is mainly based on the added value that you will bring to the people who watch your videos. The big advantage on Youtube is that you have the choice between a wide range of different formats: tutorials, presentations, demonstrations, FAQs, guides, tests, interviews, and many more… The types of videos are also multiple: you can film yourself, take a screenshot of your screen, record your voice and illustrate with royalty-free images or videos, make an animated video, or even a “whiteboard” style video giving the impression that a hand draws in real time with software like Doodle Maker , etc.
And if you don’t feel like showing your face or recording your voice, no worries. I invite you to consult our article where we explain to you how to make money with Youtube without showing yourself .
With Goodle Ads advertising
This option can be very lucrative but it should be handled with care. Indeed, it is imperative to master the KPIs (key performance indicators) of your campaigns.
The little secret to making money from your ads is to test, re-test, and test again, until you find your point of optimal profitability. If you find the right recipe, you can absolutely start earning money quickly with affiliation.
On social networks
Whether you have a site and / or a Youtube channel or neither, know that it is quite possible to earn money quickly with affiliation using social networks . We still recommend that you create your blog in parallel, but you can already start with social networks in the meantime. But it’s about doing it skillfully and in the right way.
We advise you to start to focus on only one social network (the most relevant to your niche), so as not to spread yourself too thin. This way you will be able to focus your efforts on it and feed it abundantly at first.
First of all, you will have to concretely define the people likely to be interested in your page and therefore in your offers. Once your target is clearly defined, you will have to understand how and where to get them. Ask yourself the question: on which networks is my target most present? Where can I pick them up on this network(s)? How to approach them? What message to send them?
In the case of affiliation, Facebook , Instagram , Pinterest and Quora are to be preferred .
On Facebook , the best is to have a rich and complete page with relevant keywords. Also, integrate as many groups as possible related to your niche. It is then a question of approaching the members of these groups subtly. The idea is not to appear to want them to subscribe to your page or buy the product at all costs, but rather to provide advice. In the case where you have a site / blog, the objective is to redirect traffic to this one. You can also try to contact members of these groups directly via instant messaging and invite them to subscribe to your page and/or use your affiliate link.
On Instagram , it’s also the audience that will make the difference. No audience = no sales. To acquire your first followers , you can use the follow/unfollow method by targeting people who like your competitors’ posts. Only this is rather tedious and implies a lower quality audience. However, it will make you more credible in the eyes of future followers. Also remember to find out about Instagram’s rules so as not to exceed certain limits. You can also try the ” shoutout ” which consists of mentioning third-party accounts to gain visibility. It is also very important to use hashtagsrelevant to your niche, choosing keywords that they are likely to search for.
Once you have a substantial audience, you can also use ad exchanges. You promote a third-party account that does the same for you. Finally, consider posting images + stories on a recurring basis, and often commenting on your competitors’ posts.
On Pinterest , it’s a little different since it’s the visibility of your pins that will be decisive. Indeed, you can quite collect a large number of visitors on your pins, while having few subscribers. Of course the goal is to grow your engaged audience, but you can still get high traffic, and quickly. You can of course take advantage of this network to redirect your visitors to your site or your store if you have one. But you can also directly monetize your Pinterest account without having any site. To learn more, I invite you to consult my article where I explain how to make money with Pinterest .
Quora
On Quora , the strategy to adopt is also different from other social networks. It is from my point of view a social network under the side on which it is perfectly possible to create a real source of passive income. Quora is a Q&A site.. Anyone can ask any question there, and the community answers it directly. The principle is as follows: all you have to do is target the questions that interest you and answer them by providing added value to the person who asked the question. You can therefore take the opportunity to place your affiliate link by recommending a product that could respond to its problem. The big + of Quora is that these pages are very well referenced on Google. In addition, the community is very active there and you benefit from great visibility among visitors.
You can also use paid traffic to redirect to your page or website if you have one.
How to promote affiliate products?
Once you’ve figured out where you’re going to promote your affiliate links , all you have to do is get your visitors to click on them and make a purchase. You guessed it, it’s not enough to place your link in the wild and hope the sales happen. Nor is it about recommending dozens of products that you have never tested and on which you do not contribute any content.
You really need to bring added value to visitors so that they have confidence in you and therefore in what you say. If you explain in detail to your audience what you sincerely think of this product, the features it has, its pluses and minuses, the benefits it can bring, etc. Your visitors will see that they are dealing with an experienced person. Faced with an objective opinion, they will be more inclined to be confident, and therefore to make a purchase.
It can also happen that for various reasons (including the fact that you cannot buy it) you have not been able to test the product you want to promote. This is not ideal, but in this case you can do a real job of researching this product, and try to provide as much quality content as possible. Be transparent and objective . If you haven’t tested the product but have thoroughly inquired about it, say so. If a product is great but has one or more drawbacks, say so too. Only then will you be able to earn money quickly with affiliation.
How do I bring qualified traffic to my site / blog / social networks?
We finally get there, the sinews of war in the world of affiliation!
You can have the most beautiful website or blog, if you don’t have traffic it won’t bring you anything. It is therefore your ability to bring qualified traffic to your site / blog / RS that will determine your success in affiliation.
Obviously, the method is somewhat different depending on whether you are looking to bring traffic to your site or to your social networks. The ideal is of course to have both a site and profiles on the different networks and to link them (which in itself contributes to improving their mutual referencing).
On a blog / niche site:
To bring qualified and substantial traffic to your site, you will have to go through the SEO box . SEO is the optimization of natural referencing. That is, your ranking in search engines in relation to the keywords that users search for. There are plenty of online resources on the subject. You can train easily and very quickly. This requires the proper use and placement of keywords, but also netlinking, alternative text for images, etc. It may take some time for your page to be well referenced. But if you have optimized your SEO well, you will be able to earn money quickly with affiliation. PS: Feel free to use Google Search Console to find the best keywords .
Being active on social media will also greatly help bring traffic to your site. Identify the networks your target audience is on and create professional-looking profiles. Distribute publications, stories, etc. to redirect Internet users to your articles or your different pages. Publish content regularly , adapting to current trends.
Also, and I can’t say this enough, create quality content . Even if one might think that content is only used to convert your visitors, it also plays a major role in bringing traffic to your site. Google robots will analyze your content and determine what your article is about. This will help assign you a specific rank in their search results.
Finally think about analyzing your data, it is very important! Use a tool like Google Analytics and learn to understand the behavior of your visitors and your traffic regularly to adapt your strategy and your SEO if necessary.
On social networks:
Social networks are also a very effective way to start earning money quickly with affiliation. If you have a blog or a site, the best is mainly to redirect visitors from your social networks to it. However, if you don’t have one, you will have to concentrate your efforts on one or more social networks to successfully promote your affiliate links. PS: remember to always analyze your statistics to continually improve your strategy.
Here is how to bring the maximum traffic to your networks:
On Facebook :
- Subscribe to other profiles and invite them to follow your page by explaining what it could bring them
- Publish content regularly (once a week or every 15 days is enough)
- Optimize your publications (use the right keywords, an airy text, a beautiful image, a well-placed link, etc.)
- Maintain and update your page and profile
- Make your subscribers interact (by asking them their opinion for example, or by ending your post with a question)
- Create a group and/or join groups
- Sponsor some publications
On Instagram:
- Follow / unfollow (respecting Instagram restrictions)
- Publish regularly , just like Facebook (posts and stories)
- Make IGTV (possibility to insert a link in the description of the video)
- Add links and Call to Action in your profile description
- Create original stories and use its various features (polls, countdowns, FAQs, etc.)
- Feature stories , and organize them in a relevant way
- Publish opinions , recommendations, performances, experiences, etc…
- Invest in advertising or influencers
On Youtube :
- Join the Youtube Creator Academy (plenty of resources are at your disposal to train you).
- be yourself
- Publish quality content
- Take care of your profile (banner, description, profile photo, etc.)
- Work on the thumbnail of your videos
- Use catchy titles that arouse curiosity
- Create playlists , to categorize and help your visitors find your videos
- Add calls to action (subscribe, like, links in the description…)
- Promote your channel on other social networks or via other youtubers
On Pinterest:
- Switch to a professional account to have access to statistics and take care of your SEO (keywords, links, etc.)
- Follow / unfollow (while respecting Pinterest restrictions)
- Take care of your profile
- Post regularly (it’s no longer a secret!)
- Aim to stick to a ratio where you pin 80% third-party Pins and 20% your own Pins
- Choose the right keywords for your Pin and Board descriptions
- Have at least twenty paintings on your theme
- Categorize and sort your tables and sub-tables in a logical and relevant way
- Create and join collaborative boards
- Research and continually inspire yourself with the keywords that your target audience is looking for
If you want to know more, we recommend our article where we explain how to make money with Pinterest.
On Quora:
- Answer as many questions as possible
- Write answers with a lot of information and real added value
- Use the right keywords
Some tips to earn money quickly with affiliation:
Train yourself
Of course you can do it on your own, using all the resources you can find on the internet. You might even make a few sales and build up a small following little by little. Only you will take a long time to get there. You’re going to have to experience it all on your own and work your way through on your own. What could be better than being inspired and trained by a person who has real results to achieve the same goals?
If you want to start earning money quickly with affiliation , and in a sustainable way, I recommend the Challenge Pécunia de EcomFrenchouch to start taking action today, and get your first results. The training is complete and gives you all the theoretical and technical information necessary to succeed.
Here are some examples of the sums that Roman was able to earn quickly (in one year) on different affiliate platforms:
If you want to achieve the same kind of result quickly, I really invite you to participate in the challenge . Do not hesitate to share your results with us to inspire and motivate the troops!
PS: this is an affiliate link that I promote because I have tested it myself and know that it is reliable and that I can afford to recommend it. So I earn a commission if a sale is made from my link!
Recommend quality products
It is your responsibility that the product you promote is of high quality. Your credibility is at stake. It could significantly damage your reputation if you recommend a poor product. To identify if a product is of quality, it is best to test it of course. You can also take a look at the number of sales that affiliates have made with the latter, but also the reimbursement rate, or the opinions, etc…
Be sincere and genuine
This will only be beneficial for your image and your reputation. Try to be yourself and be as honest as possible, even if it can seem intimidating when you’re just starting out. Try to use touches of humor, to be dynamic , benevolent , as you would be with a loved one. Your visitors will see it, and will then gradually develop a solid trust.
Set goals
To successfully earn money quickly with affiliation as with everything in life, to achieve your goal, you will have to set goals. It is essential to obtain results, and quickly. Setting a goal is having a plan of action. Having an action plan means having tasks to accomplish over a certain period of time. You can write them in a notebook or on your smartphone, setting yourself deadlines. Define categories, see sub-categories of specific tasks, and in each of them specific actions to be carried out. Empower and organize yourself to respect your action plan to the letter, and on time. Of course, your goals should be realistic and achievable ..