This is going to be a long post, so if you don’t like reading I'm sorry...
There are really 3 main strategies you can use to make money with affiliate marketing, but each had has different requirements & marketing strategies, so I’m going to explain each strategy and its requirements so you can pick the technique that is right for you.
The first style is probably the most popular style and it is called unattached affiliate marketing.
With this style there is no connection between you and the customer throughout the whole process, all you’re doing is using ads to put an affiliate link in front of a targeted audience in hopes that they’ll buy the offer.
This style is super popular because it doesn’t require you to have any sort of presence or authority in your niche, unlike the other two styles of affiliate marketing. It can take a long time and a lot of work to build up a big following, and a good reputation in your niche and quite honestly a lot of people just aren’t patient enough, or don’t have the time, so this is their only option.
Out of the three strategies this one is the most short term and the most risky because you are spending money upfront in hopes of getting a sale, but once you get good at it the strategy can bring in huge amounts of sales extremely quickly, which is why a lot of people are drawn to it.
Fair warning though, this isn’t as easy to get good at as a lot of people like to make it seem. There is a steep learning curve, And if you have no previous experience with advertising you’ll probably end up spending more money than you make with this strategy.
That being said, if you want to use this strategy you’ll need to learn how to run profitable ad campaigns, you will need some sort of funnel or landing page builder because Facebook doesn’t allow you to directly advertise affiliate links, and you’ll need some sort of email marketing software so that you can increase your conversion rates.
All these costs will start to add up quickly, so if you don’t have much money to spend you should consider using of these next two options.
The second form of affiliate marketing is called related affiliate marketing.
With this style your goal is to build a connection with your target audience using YouTube videos, blogs, or Facebook groups, and you promote affiliate offers related to your niche but that you don’t actually use.
Now just because you find an offer that is related to your niche, doesn’t mean that you should just promote it without doing any research. You want to make sure the offer actually has value, and will be profitable for you.
If you use this strategy, and you just start promoting every affiliate offer out there in your niche you’ll see horrible results, because even if you do make a sale that person will lose all trust in you when They find out that you promoted a crappy offer to them, which means you’ll never make a sale from them again, and it will just make your brand look bad.
I’ve noticed that this strategy is super popular in the YouTube community, especially in the top 10 style channels, and gadget channels, so if this is the style you’re interested in you can start building a channel like that if you don’t already have a plan. These channels show you something that they think is cool, but that they don’t own, and they promote it in the description of their YouTube videos.
Generally speaking I think this type of affiliate marketing is easier than unattached affiliate marketing, but it does take longer to have success with. If you want to give this strategy a try you’re going to need to create content for a YouTube channel, or a blog, you’re going to need a lot of patience, and you’re going to want to learn how to get traffic to your content using SEO, and other free traffic strategies.
The last style of affiliate marketing is involved affiliate marketing.
With this style of affiliate marketing you only promote offers that you have used, and you personally recommend it to your audience.
This is my favorite strategy because instead of using your money to get people to buy affiliate offers, you are using your reputation, and authority to get people to buy, so the more helpful you are the more sales you make.
Using this strategy will set you up for long-term success, because you aren’t dependent on advertising. If you start using a new affiliate product or offer in your niche, you’ll have a audience to promote that offer to, and as long as you keep promoting good offers and keep helping them you’ll continue having success.
I could make an argument that this should be the only style of affiliate marketing because it brings the affiliate marketer the most long-term success, it gives the most value to the customer, and overall it’s just the best experience for everyone.
However I know it’s not realistic to expect everyone to use the same strategy of affiliate marketing, so just know that I think this is the best style because it is the most helpful and it will bring you the most profits in the long term.
If you want to use this strategy you are going to need to own the affiliate offers you plan on promoting, and you’re going to need build a YouTube Channel or blog that has a loyal following.
As I have already made very clear, I prefer to use involved affiliate marketing, but that doesn’t mean the other styles aren’t just as effective. Choose whichever style plays into your strengths or is the most appealing to you, and stick with that strategy until you become a master at it.
There are really 3 main strategies you can use to make money with affiliate marketing, but each had has different requirements & marketing strategies, so I’m going to explain each strategy and its requirements so you can pick the technique that is right for you.
The first style is probably the most popular style and it is called unattached affiliate marketing.
With this style there is no connection between you and the customer throughout the whole process, all you’re doing is using ads to put an affiliate link in front of a targeted audience in hopes that they’ll buy the offer.
This style is super popular because it doesn’t require you to have any sort of presence or authority in your niche, unlike the other two styles of affiliate marketing. It can take a long time and a lot of work to build up a big following, and a good reputation in your niche and quite honestly a lot of people just aren’t patient enough, or don’t have the time, so this is their only option.
Out of the three strategies this one is the most short term and the most risky because you are spending money upfront in hopes of getting a sale, but once you get good at it the strategy can bring in huge amounts of sales extremely quickly, which is why a lot of people are drawn to it.
Fair warning though, this isn’t as easy to get good at as a lot of people like to make it seem. There is a steep learning curve, And if you have no previous experience with advertising you’ll probably end up spending more money than you make with this strategy.
That being said, if you want to use this strategy you’ll need to learn how to run profitable ad campaigns, you will need some sort of funnel or landing page builder because Facebook doesn’t allow you to directly advertise affiliate links, and you’ll need some sort of email marketing software so that you can increase your conversion rates.
All these costs will start to add up quickly, so if you don’t have much money to spend you should consider using of these next two options.
The second form of affiliate marketing is called related affiliate marketing.
With this style your goal is to build a connection with your target audience using YouTube videos, blogs, or Facebook groups, and you promote affiliate offers related to your niche but that you don’t actually use.
Now just because you find an offer that is related to your niche, doesn’t mean that you should just promote it without doing any research. You want to make sure the offer actually has value, and will be profitable for you.
If you use this strategy, and you just start promoting every affiliate offer out there in your niche you’ll see horrible results, because even if you do make a sale that person will lose all trust in you when They find out that you promoted a crappy offer to them, which means you’ll never make a sale from them again, and it will just make your brand look bad.
I’ve noticed that this strategy is super popular in the YouTube community, especially in the top 10 style channels, and gadget channels, so if this is the style you’re interested in you can start building a channel like that if you don’t already have a plan. These channels show you something that they think is cool, but that they don’t own, and they promote it in the description of their YouTube videos.
Generally speaking I think this type of affiliate marketing is easier than unattached affiliate marketing, but it does take longer to have success with. If you want to give this strategy a try you’re going to need to create content for a YouTube channel, or a blog, you’re going to need a lot of patience, and you’re going to want to learn how to get traffic to your content using SEO, and other free traffic strategies.
The last style of affiliate marketing is involved affiliate marketing.
With this style of affiliate marketing you only promote offers that you have used, and you personally recommend it to your audience.
This is my favorite strategy because instead of using your money to get people to buy affiliate offers, you are using your reputation, and authority to get people to buy, so the more helpful you are the more sales you make.
Using this strategy will set you up for long-term success, because you aren’t dependent on advertising. If you start using a new affiliate product or offer in your niche, you’ll have a audience to promote that offer to, and as long as you keep promoting good offers and keep helping them you’ll continue having success.
I could make an argument that this should be the only style of affiliate marketing because it brings the affiliate marketer the most long-term success, it gives the most value to the customer, and overall it’s just the best experience for everyone.
However I know it’s not realistic to expect everyone to use the same strategy of affiliate marketing, so just know that I think this is the best style because it is the most helpful and it will bring you the most profits in the long term.
If you want to use this strategy you are going to need to own the affiliate offers you plan on promoting, and you’re going to need build a YouTube Channel or blog that has a loyal following.
As I have already made very clear, I prefer to use involved affiliate marketing, but that doesn’t mean the other styles aren’t just as effective. Choose whichever style plays into your strengths or is the most appealing to you, and stick with that strategy until you become a master at it.
