In 21st everyone is trying to build a side hustle.
A side hustle that can give him some extra cash so that he can meet his financial goals, whatever they are.
If you are one of those people who is trying to build a stable side hustle then,
Congrats!
Thinking is the first step, and I wish you luck ahead.
Starting a side hustle can be tricky especially with a plethora of options available out there it is hard to choose one over the other.
One thing that the majority of beginners go for is affiliate marketing.
And I agree it is one of the easiest options for making money.
But is it worth it?
Is affiliate marketing worth it?
If you too have this question in mind then don’t worry because in this blog I will tell you in detail what affiliate marketing is, what are its pros and cons and is affiliate marketing worth it?
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Before actually diving into the depts of the topic let me first introduce you to affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a model which helps the vendors to promote and sell their products, you can sign up as an affiliate in many online stores like Amazon.
Then you can generate an affiliate link for any product present in that store.
After that you can put that link on your website and whenever anyone buys that product using your link you earn a pre-decided commission.
This was a general process of affiliate.
If you still have doubts then let me further clarify affiliate marketing using an example.
Process of Affiliate Marketing Using An Example
Let’s say you signed up as an affiliate for Amazon.
Now Amazon has a plethora of products in its inventory.
Now let us assume that you a have tech niche website, and you typed down an article “top 5 headsets for gaming”
Now you picked your top 5 gaming headsets and wrote in-depth about them on your website.
Now what you can do is,
- Search those products on Amazon
- Generate their affiliate link.
- And paste that link into your website as a hyperlink.
Now, whenever a reader will read your blog and will show interest in buying any of those 5 gamming headsets, he can click on your hyperlink.
He will be directed to the Amazon form where he can purchase that headset.
On successful purchase, you will earn a commission.
So this was how affiliate works.
Pros of Affiliate Marketing
Let me give you some pros and cons of affiliate marketing so that you can choose whether is it good for you or not.
Pros of affiliate marketing
Let us first start with the pros of affiliate marketing.
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You don’t have to keep an inventory
If you want to sell something you first need to manufacture it and store it.
But this is not the case with affiliate marketing.
In affiliate marketing, you sell products of other vendors and can earn a commission.
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Easy to start
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest things to start as a side hustle.
All you need is a website and that’s it, you can start earning the very next day.
Plus if you are a good writer and have an engaging audience you can earn a very good amount of money.
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No merchant fees
There are no hidden charges such as merchant fees in affiliate marketing.
You get to keep 100% of your commission.
This makes affiliate marketing a very seller-friendly option.
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No additional service
One very good feature or pros of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to provide any additional services.
Services like customer support, shipping, delivery, etc are all handled by the actual vendor. All you do is recommend the product by placing a hyperlink and boom! you are done.
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Supports all platforms
You don’t need a website for promoting affiliate products, you can do it on any platform.
You can place affiliate links on the description of your youtube channel videos, on the description of your Tiktok, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Hence, to get started with affiliate marketing all you will be needing is an engaging audience base and nay platform where you can showcase the product.
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Flexibility
In affiliate marketing, you don’t need to work from an office.
You can do affiliate marketing from the comfort of your couch. This saves your time plus earns you a good amount of money.
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Profitable
If I can say one thing about affiliate marketing it would be, that it is profitable.
The commission may look small, but it is just for one product, that affiliate link will be there forever and you can earn from that one link for your lifetime.
Isn’t it cool?
So these were some pros of affiliate marketing.
Cons of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is not all good.
There sure are many hiccups in affiliate marketing, but so are any other things.
In affiliate marketing, I don’t find the cons way too serious but yes they can be demotivating at times.
Let us take a look at the cons of affiliate marketing.
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Delayed payments
You will get your commission at the end of the month, and that is not a problem.
The problem is that the commission at times gets delayed.
This can be due to the backlog or dome financial issue from the side of the merchant.
To be honest, there is nothing you can do about it, and sometimes it becomes frustrating.
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People can remove links
The commission you get does not affect the price of the product, but this factor is unknown to many people.
Hence, they think that an affiliate link inflates the cost of production due to which they avoid using your link.
So these were some of the cons of affiliate marketing.
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?
Now the main question remains is affiliate marketing worth it?
And the answer to this is yes.
Affiliate marketing is completely worth it and the reason for this is, that till there are merchants that are providing commission in exchange for sales, there can be no stop to it.
But it does not mean that you can earn from affiliates however you wish.
This is a mistake that many beginners make, they sell everything and end up selling nothing.
So when is affiliate marketing worth it?
Let me give you some parameters that you should consider before starting affiliate marketing.
When is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?
There are some things that you need to keep in mind, and the majority of them are not related to money but are related to your audience and your niche, let me further elaborate on it.
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You should have a connection with your product
If you want to sell everything that the inventory Amazon has, then sadly your affiliate marketing business will fail.
If you want to sell a good amount of products through your affiliate then make sure that you have very good knowledge about that product.
Your website, Youtube channel, Facebook account, Instagram, or wherever you wish to sell your products should show that you know what you are recommending.
You won’t be buying medicine from a carpenter right?
If you sell everything you won’t have a target audience, hence, it is better to be a master of one thing than be a jack of all trades and master of nothing.
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You must have an engaging audience
Your audience must be engaging.
An engaging audience is a system for more sales. If your audience is engaging they will react to your call for action which in affiliate marketing can be that “buy now” or “check the price” button.
Plus an engaging audience shows that they agree or have some query about what you are saying which ultimately makes you look like an experienced person in a particular niche.
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You must match your product with your audience.
Let’s say your niche is home decor and now you are promoting a tech product, why would the ‘majority’ of your audience care about your tech recommendation?
Your audience was made on the foundation of home decor, all they need from you is new home decor ideas, products, etc, they don’t what your tech opinion.
So these were some things that you should keep in mind before starting an affiliate marketing business.
If one best thing that you can do is find your niche be brilliant at it and then promote products within that niche.
Dont’s of affiliate marketing
Here are some absolute don’ts about affiliate marketing.
And you should avoid them at all costs.
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Expecting immediate results.
If you are starting affiliate marketing with the thought of overnight success then you are wrong.
It will take time in gaining the trust of your audience before you can promote some products.
Hence, affiliate marketing will not give you instant results, if you are looking for immediate results then affiliate marketing is not for you.
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Trying to sell everything
This brings me back to the point of jack of all trades and master of nothing.
You have to select a defined niche, and further narrow it down within your niche if possible. But choosing to sell everting you get your eyes on will not get you anywhere.
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Look at it as a shortcut to wealth
Affiliate marketing is not a shortcut to wealth, there is nothing like an overnight success.
You will be earning a small percentage as a commission, hence, selling a few products will be of no use.
You have to sell more and more so that the small commission can accumulate and form a big amount, which definitely will not happen overnight.
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Going with the crowd
If you will be doing what everyone is doing then I am sorry to say that you will fail.
In affiliate marketing, you have to make your platform stand out so that people get attracted to your platform.
You need to do something special, maybe a giveaway, weekly fun newsletters, etc.
It can be anything but it has to be different.
Parting words
So this was all you need to know about affiliate marketing.
So is affiliate marketing worth it?
Yes but only if you do it right.
To sum up
- Niche down.
- Find an engaging audience.
- Do thighs differently.
- Give your audience what they want not what you want.
- Hustle!
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