- Affiliate marketing is an old concept updated for the internet.
- Everybody has done affiliate marketing in their lives.
- An affiliate is the person between the buyer and the seller.
- Someone who gives information or advice about a purchase.
- When you advise your friend about a purchase to a friend you were being a free affiliate.
- The cost to the buyer, of an item is the same, with or without an affiliate involved.
Affiliate Marketing is a confusing topic. Many people are uncertain about what is involved and if it is for them. Many people just want to have Affiliate Marketing Explained in Plain English. It is nothing to be afraid of and nothing that you have not already done before.
Is Affiliate Marketing for me?
The short answer is Affiliate Marketing is for everybody. Why do you ask? Simply because anybody can become an affiliate marketer.
As an affiliate marketer, you direct customers to sellers. You do not sell products, you just provide information so customers can make a decision on a product that they are already looking for.
Can I do this?
The majority of people have already done affiliate marketing, but they did not recognize it as such, nor did they get paid for doing it.
What do You mean, I have already done affiliate marketing?
I am not a salesman/saleslady. I cannot sell things.
Relax you don’t have to sell anything.
When your friend asks you where you got that perfume or cologne; when your neighbour asks where you found the carpenter, or plumber, etc. Any answers that you gave to these, and more questions were transactions that could have been done by an affiliate marketer for a small fee.
You provided information on a product or service. An affiliate marketer simply receives a commission for providing that information.
Today people research their purchases on the internet, before buying. They go to websites and read a review or a how-to article, and at the end of the article, there is a recommendation for a product that will do what they need.
If they choose to click the link in the article the writer of the article may receive a small commission.
Not every link will generate a commission for the writer. A commission is only generated when the writer has set up an affiliate link.
Note: affiliate links do not cost the purchaser any extra money.
The price is the same if an affiliate is involved or not.
How can the price be the same if an affiliate is involved or not?
The selling price is fixed by the seller. A sales site will offer an affiliate program to get more exposure for their products to more people. Sales sites then pay a small fee that to the affiliate.
Affiliate marketers write articles about products and generate interest for the seller.
The system works, because without the affiliate marketer, the seller would not have the customer that came from the affiliate website. Without the seller, the affiliate marketer would not have products to promote.
That is what the affiliate marketer does, they promote products and services online.
They bring buyers and sellers together.
This idea is as old as the hills – ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
Correct, this has been going on forever. People have been bringing buyers and sellers together for millennia.
Today the internet has allowed the practice to be brought online and for the affiliate marketer to bring the buyer and the seller together without ever meeting either one.
Without even leaving their living room, coffee shop, or beach where they are working.
It is an interesting concept and one that as you now realize you have already participated in.
The question is do you want to get paid for doing it?
Make no mistake, somebody will bring the buyer and the seller together – why not you?
The door-to-door salesman was one of the earliest affiliate marketers.
They brought products to buyers for a small fee.
If you went to a strange town and asked the hotel bellman where the best restaurant was, you might tip them for the information. They have just been an affiliate marketer for that restaurant. Maybe they got a referral fee?
The buyer
The buyer is already looking for a lawnmower, electric drill, plumber, electrician, or a new pair of pants, or a dress, or a coffee pot. They are already searching for information about the product online.
Somebody will provide the information to them. The buyer will read the information, and they may buy what is recommended, or they will do more research. But they are going to buy because they are already looking.
The secret is to provide information that the buyer is looking for in such a way, that you are convincing them to buy, but you are not selling something to them.
Nobody likes to be sold something, but everybody likes to purchase something.
The Seller
Sales sites already have products, and they are looking for buyers for their products. But their business is production, not selling door to door. Today, almost nobody sells door-to-door, all sales happen online or in stores.
Amazon is the door-to-door salesman of the modern era. Amazon provides products to consumers, and they take a small fee for doing it. Then, they deliver to your door.
Amazon has an affiliate program for every product they sell. When an affiliate marketing website directs traffic to Amazon and a purchase is made within 24 hours, Amazon will pay a small commission.
SO, I can be an affiliate marketer for anything?
In theory yes, but in practice not right away.
No, you cannot sell every product, you must choose a niche (something you like and or know details about) and focus on providing information about that niche and products that are for sale within the niche.
You must provide your buyer with information that will convince them to buy from the seller through your link. That seller can be Amazon, or the manufacturer, or another location that provides the product.
But you cannot sell everything to everybody. The internet is vast, and many people are offering similar information and trying to put buyers together with sellers. To succeed your information must catch the buyers’ eye and make them happy to follow your advice.
Conclusion
You have already been an affiliate marketer when you helped your friend with a recommendation for their telephone or their earphones or their bicycle. It was a personal recommendation, and you were happy to do it.
If you did the same thing online, you could get a commission as an affiliate.
Affiliate marketing in one form or another has been around for a long time. Online it is just the latest version of putting a buyer and a seller together.
So, you see affiliate marketing is all around us and the internet is simply the latest version. It is not a new thing, and it is not going away anytime soon.