When you are considering setting up an online business, you may be asking yourself “what is an affiliate marketing business?”
In this article we will answer this question for you and talk about how you should go about setting up your affiliate marketing business.
What Is An Affiliate Marketing Business?
The answer to “what is an affiliate marketing business” is quite simple. In fact, simply put, it is a way of making money online while working from home. (Or anywhere else that has internet access). As we have explained in other articles, affiliate marketers get paid by companies for customer referrals. A commission payment is only made when a referred customer purchases a product from the company.
What Do I Need For An Affiliate Marketing Business?
There are a number of things you will need to set up your affiliate marketing business.
A computer (laptop or desk top) and access to the internet. Laptop is preferable so that you can work anywhere.
A website and content management system so that you can write articles about products.
Affiliate relationship(s) with companies.
A training program to help you understand everything about Affiliate Marketing.
So, as you can see, there will be very little outgoing expenditure for you to get started.
One thing you need to know up front is that affiliate marketing is NOT a “get-rich-quick” scheme.
It will ultimately generate a long-term passive income for you.
So, you must be diligent in your learning and set-up phase to lay the foundation for future success.
The Advantages
Nearly all affiliate programs are free to join, so your only costs will be related to your equipment, website and training.
You will never have to carry an inventory of products. Shipping and delivery are handled by the companies with which you are affiliated.
So long as you have internet access, you can work from anywhere. If you have your own hotspot, you can even work on the beach!
You can create multiple income streams through one or several affiliate programs.
The Disadvantages
Building a business takes time. Affiliate marketing is no exception. Therefore, you should be prepared to invest some significant time to build your business.
Always choose affiliate programs of respected companies. You need your online followers to trust you. So, a bad referral could destroy your reputation as an affiliate marketer.
There are many competitors in the affiliate marketing space. You should, therefore, choose wisely and avoid the products everyone else is promoting.
Your blog followers are not necessarily your customers. When they make a purchase, they become the customer of the supplier. This is another reason to choose wisely. A happy customer will continue to follow your advice.
What Is An Affiliate Marketing Business? The Training
If you really want to get started in this business, you will definitely need to invest in some training.
We know an awesome place where you can learn everything you need to know.
The training at Wealthy Affiliate is focused on niche-based affiliate marketing.
What is a niche? You may well ask.
A niche is a small segment of a particular market.
For example, maybe you’re a foodie who loves baking.
Baking is a very broad topic.
So, perhaps you love baking cupcakes.
Your niche could be “Cupcakes”. Within it you could write many blog posts about ingredients, equipment, decoration, etc.
There are lots of grocery affiliate programs you could join to promote ingredients, decorations, etc . Amazon has an affiliate program that would cover appliances and equipment.
There are many others as well. So you can see how easy it is to choose your niche.
Niche Training.
While helping you choose your niche, Wealthy Affiliate training will also guide you to building your website within seconds.
The WordPress content management system (CMS) is used. It is flexible and user-friendly so you will have no difficulty in preparing your content.
The training comprises the Online Entrepreneur Certification which contains 35 lessons.
All lessons contain tasks for you to complete to make sure you know what you are doing. Also, these guide you to the next steps in the process.
The training is step-by-step, highly comprehensive and educational.
As you work through it, you will become proficient in writing blog posts (articles) about your chosen niche.
You will gain a thorough knowledge of the affiliate marketing sector.
In addition, there are live, interactive webinar training sessions on specific topics. As well as this, a whole range of recorded webinars and text trainings are available for you to study at your own pace.
Promoting Wealthy Affiliate.
The Affiliate Bootcamp training course is available to all members who wish to promote the Wealthy Affiliate platform. It comprises 37 lessons, also a step-by-step training for a greater understanding of affiliate marketing.
It, too, is comprehensive and guides the student through a maze of issues.
Topics covered include, understanding keywords, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and even more.
By joining Wealthy Affiliate, you will truly understand the question, “what is an affiliate marketing business”?
Paying-It-Forward.
All the online comprehensive training at Wealthy Affiliate is complemented by a huge online community of entrepreneurs.
A newcomer to the program can ask for and receive help and guidance from this awesome community.
Everyone who joins is happy to pay-it-forward once they become more experienced and can help others.
This is an outstanding benefit to have and ensures that nobody is left to struggle through alone.
Getting Started With A Free Trial.
I think I have properly outlined how you can get started with an affiliate marketing business.
Now to give you another incentive.
Wealthy Affiliate actually has a Starter Membership that is absolutely FREE!
Even better is that you can try out the whole platform for seven days with your Free Starter Membership.
The objective is for you to assess whether you really want to do this. You can set up your website and start blogging and it costs you nothing.
After the first seven days, you need to decide if this is the path you wish to follow and upgrade to a paid membership.
Premium Membership is $49 per month and Premium Plus Membership is $99 per month. All the training you will ever need will bge available to you, including the WA Pay-It-Forward Community.
Only One Question Remains. . .
Do you want to get started with your affiliate marketing business right now?
You’ll never know unless you try.
Affiliate marketing can be a great way of earning money online from home.
As we mentioned, it will take a little while to build your business. But, then, passive income will be yours to spend.
Imagine your new life working from home. Your time is your own and you can choose your work hours.
Wake up in the morning in time with your Circadian Rhythms rather than the alarm clock!
Spend more time with the family. Take the kids to the beach.
