If you’ve ever thought about diversifying your revenue with affiliate marketing, today’s episode is the deep dive you’ve been looking for. From understanding the ins and outs of being an affiliate to exploring the different pay structures, you’ll learn how to get started and get paid! Listen in for three tips to finding success in affiliate marketing for content creators.
Listen to part one of this series in episode 74.
Called to Both is brought to you by Joy Michelle, mom of two and multi-passionate entrepreneur who’s on a mission to help others find balance between the worlds of motherhood and business. Called to Both is the podcast for women who have big business ambitions and also want to be intentional and present moms. At Called to Both, we truly don’t believe you have to choose between these two worlds tugging at your heart You can be Called to Both.
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Today’s episode is brought to you by my Affiliate Marketing Jumpstart Guide. I’ve developed an affiliate marketing strategy that has brought me freedom in my business and I’m sharing this strategy in my free guide!
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when you get paid a commission any time you sell someone else’s product by linking to it. Typically there is a code or trackable link. Every commission and program is different but generally, it’s a percentage of the cost of the item.
While many associate affiliate marketing with influencers, you don’t have to claim that title. I use affiliate marketing because I like the idea of making money passively. After making over $100k from affiliate marketing alone over the last 3 years, I think it’s silly to make content regularly without affiliate links.
Even if you’re not making elaborate podcast episodes or Youtube videos, your existing content and social media strategy can be making you money with affiliate marketing. Imagine if your most popular blog post also had a way for you to make money without having to book them as a client. That’s affiliate marketing.
Types of brands you can be an affiliate for:
- Softwares
- Clothes
- Home items
- Your tools or gear you use
- Books you like
- Courses you have taken
- Your favorite amazon items
- Services* depending on the arrangement
Amazon Associate vs. Amazon Influencer
One of the most popular questions I get about affiliate marketing is in regards to Amazon. What’s the difference between an Amazon influencer and Amazon associate for generating affiliate income in your business?
Amazon associates is made for bloggers and content creators who have evergreen content (must have website with recent content). The benefits include that it’s beginner friendly, you can link to individual products, and it’s easy to get into. The disadvantage is that you must make 3 sales in the first 180 days.
Amazon influencer is for social media influencers so to join you have to submit 1-2 social accounts. This is the storefront looking thing you see on social media where you can divide items into lists and link to your whole storefront. The advantage is that you can create an actual store and link similar products together. The disadvantages are that it’s harder to get into and it’s harder to link to one thing. Regarding the sales policy, you have to make a sale within 6 months.
Which do I recommend? Both.
They serve different purposes and have different abilities and rules around linking too. Of course the Amazon storefront only allows you to have a store or list that you link to, and the associate account makes it so you can link to an individual item. Both are really valuable!
Getting Paid as an Affiliate
Every program is different, but as an affiliate you may get paid a commission, a recurring payout, or through a payout . Amazon typically pays out 1-10% in commission while many programs and softwares will pay out 10-30%.
So what does a recurring payout look like? Recurring affiliate payout means as long as the person you referred stays a client, you keep making a commission. You don’t have to keep promoting or doing anything, but you continue to make money—which is what makes recurring payments my favorite. Two of my favorite brands that offer recurring payouts include Kajabi and Riverside
3 Tips for Success in Affiliate Marketing
If you’re ready to jump into affiliate marketing, here are three tips for success:
1. Keep your links organized somewhere easy to find. I use notion:
2. Create short links for your most used affiliates (you can use Pretty Links to do this).
3. Go back through your past content and website pages and add your affiliate links on before thinking of new ways to use them.
Disclosing Affiliates
One final thought about affiliates is that it is important for you to disclose any type of affiliate marketing that you’re doing when you share about a product. According to FTC Compliance, if you are based in the US (or have a significant US audience), you must comply with the Federal Trade Commission guidelines. The FTC requires affiliate marketers to disclose their relationship with advertisers clearly. Make sure to familiarize yourself with these guidelines to avoid potential penalties:
- Clearly inform your audience that you are using affiliate links. It should be evident to your readers or viewers that some of the links on your platform may generate income for you if they make a purchase through those links.
- Consider using labels or indicators like “Affiliate link,” “Advertisement,” “Sponsored,” or “Support this site” near the affiliate links to make it clear to your audience.
This goes for any brand partnership as well. You can see that I include this verbiage on the bottom of my blog posts!
Ready to add more revenue streams? Make sure you grab my Affiliate Marketing Jumpstart Guide and subscribe to this podcast to catch the rest of this series!
If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating on the podcast and want to connect with others who are called to both, make sure you come join us in the Called to Both Facebook Group!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Episode 74: Growing Beyond Services: Building Diverse Revenue Streams
Affiliate Marketing Jumpstart Guide
Connect with Joy:
Instagram: instagram.com/joyymichelle
Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UC-Ou6jRKxcjMrVMxWxLO_fQ
Facebook: facebook.com/joymichellephotography
Coach with Joy: joymichelle.co/coaching
If you decide to use any of the links above and buy through them, I’ll receive a small commission back. All of those affiliate income commissions really add up over time and help generate revenue to help support this podcast.
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