For a lot of people, the money they earn on their regular jobs is not enough. It’s a struggle that after spending eight hours or more of their day giving their all on their jobs, the salary still doesn’t make ends meet. Do you have the same difficulty?
To have extra cash without taking up much of your time every day, try to find ways to earn passive income. One of the best ways is affiliate marketing. If it’s something you’re interested in, here’s a guide on how you can start with it.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a way for bloggers, influencers, or ordinary people like you to earn money by promoting products or services. You earn commissions for every product bought because of your affiliate link. If the company makes money through your marketing, you earn money, too.
To start earning passive income using affiliate marketing, follow these steps:
1] Pick a Niche
This is the first step in starting affiliate marketing, and it is the most challenging part. Choosing a niche is crucial. It’s when you have to know yourself and evaluate your skills.
You have to do some research and read articles on a website or journal blog and see if something catches your interest. Some points that may arise while you’re deciding are:
- What’s your passion?
- Is there money on that niche?
- Can you easily create quality content of that niche?
- How many affiliate marketers are already on that niche?
- Are there affiliate programs available for you on that niche?
2] Make an In-Depth Research on Affiliate Programs
During the first step, you must have already encountered some affiliate programs on your chosen niche. Now, you have to do in-depth research and look for specifics. It’s going to take up a lot of time, but it’s worth it. This is the part where you choose what will make your income flow.
When searching for affiliate programs, consider these tips:
- Look for affiliate programs that other affiliate marketers on the same niche as you are using. It will help you narrow down which ones can be trusted and can generate income.
- Be clear on the commission you’ll get. Know precisely how much or what percentage you’ll earn.
- Choose products or services that you want to be associated with. Consider buying and trying the products or services first, so you know which ones are worthy of your promotion. It also helps when you have a real experience of the product because it’ll be easier for you to promote the product.
3] Create Your Marketing Platform
There are plenty of options where you can do affiliate marketing. You can choose any or all of these platforms:
- Website
Buying a domain is your first step. Then, you have to install plugins and configure your website’s settings. Choose a layout and make it as simple as possible without being boring.
You can use your website to post articles, blogs, photos, and even videos. It can be your all-in-one platform.
- YouTube Channel
Vlogs are extremely popular nowadays. You’ll find countless vloggers on YouTube; some create original content, while others have similar content. Even though there are many similar videos on YouTube, each of them still gains lots of views.
- Instagram Account
Instagram is a social media platform for sharing photos and short video clips. If you don’t prefer editing videos, then maybe you can have more luck in the photos.
Some affiliate marketers or influencers usually use more than one or all of these platforms. If you think you can handle all that responsibility, then go for it. However, since you’re new to the concept of affiliate marketing for passive income, one platform is a good start.
Remember, passive income doesn’t mean you never have to do any work. You still have to do some work, especially at the beginning when you have to set everything up. Then, you have to check your strategies from time to time to make sure everything is up to speed or you need to make updates.
4] Create Quality Content
Once you’ve made an account on your chosen platform, it’s time to fill it up with quality content. You can create blogs about product reviews, addressing people’s problems that the product you’re promoting can solve.
Create content that is informational and evergreen. Evergreen content is material that you don’t have to update or remove at different times of the year; they are relevant whole year round. You can also make seasonal content, which can help attract more clicks when a particular season arrives.
5] Build Your Followers
Having a reasonable amount of followers is vital. Your followers or audience are the people who will make the money for you. They are the ones who will buy the product or service you’re promoting. You have to build loyal followers that trust you and your content.
Social media is an excellent way to attract many followers. You can do giveaways or contests wherein people need to subscribe or follow you to be eligible for the competition. It’s an effective strategy to build a strong following in a short amount of time.
Follow these steps to start earning income. It may take a while because you have to build a wide following first, but eventually you’ll see a flow of income coming your way.
Put in the initial effort so you can turn affiliate marketing into passive income. You get to keep your regular job, and you have another way of earning extra money.
