How to Make $21,000 Per Month with Affiliate Marketing
You’ll wish you started yesterday.
I didn’t make up a random amount for the sake of clickbait. I went straight to my profit and loss statement and looked at the monthly average of my affiliate streams. $21,012.38 per month is the monthly average.
I have some affiliate programs where I earn a few dollars and others where I earn thousands.
My fastest-growing affiliate offer today is in the AI writing space, and my biggest earner is in real estate software.
While I didn’t achieve this overnight, I’m confident affiliate marketing models can be duplicated.
While affiliate income can be passive after the traffic is earned, much work is required on the front end. There are no “typical” earnings. Some marketers never earn much in affiliate marketing, and others make 4,5,6 and 7 figures in a year.
And while there is no “standard” for how much affiliate marketers make, there are also no limits to how much you can make.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a way to earn a commission by promoting someone else’s product or service. When you find a product you like, you promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale. It’s a simple concept, but it can be profitable if done correctly.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work
Affiliate marketing works by connecting companies with potential customers. The company provides the affiliate with a unique link to their product or service, and the affiliate promotes the link in exchange for a commission on each sale they generate.
When a potential customer clicks on the affiliate’s link, they are taken to the company’s website, where they can purchase the product or service. If they make a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission.
Sometimes, the commission is a single payout, and other times the commission will be recurring, as in the case of a monthly subscription.
Why is Affiliate Marketing So Profitable?
Affiliate marketing is profitable because it’s a win-win situation for the affiliate and the company. The affiliate gets paid for bringing new customers to the company, and the company gets new customers without having to spend any money on advertising.
When an agent receives a referral from another agent, they usually pay a referral fee of 25%-30% of the commission earned.
Referral fees have been around for a long time and are common in other industries. For example, many law firms will pay a referral fee to another law firm for any new clients they bring in.
The same principle applies to affiliate marketing. The affiliate acts as a middleman, bringing new customers to the company for a commission.
Check out my beginner guide to Affiliate marketing
How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
Now that you know how affiliate marketing works, let’s look at how you can make $21,000 per month with this business model.
1. Find a profitable niche
The first step is to find a profitable niche. A niche is a group of people interested in a particular topic.
For example, a fitness niche is a group of people interested in health and fitness. The weight loss niche is a subset of the fitness niche and includes people interested in losing weight.
You can find niches by thinking of problems people are trying to solve.
Some examples of profitable niches include:
-Health and Fitness
-Weight loss
-Making money online
-Parenting
-Relationships
-Personal development
These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. My niches are real estate and items related to the web industry, such as software and websites. I dabbled in health and weight loss and focused on the Keto Diet, which was gaining traction.
I moved on from that niche as I felt it had medical connections, and since I wasn’t a dietitian or doctor, I didn’t want to be liable for health advice.
Once you’ve found a niche, the next step is to find products or services to promote.
2. Find products or services to promote
The next step is to find products or services to promote. This can be done by finding companies that sell products in your niche.
For example, if you’re in the weight loss niche, you could find companies that sell weight loss products or services.
Some companies have affiliate programs that allow you to promote their products and earn a commission on each sale. Others don’t have formal affiliate programs but will still allow you to promote their products for a commission.
The best way to find companies to work with is to search for “your niche affiliate program” or “your niche + products” on Google.
For example, if you’re in the weight loss niche, you could search for “weight loss affiliate programs” or “weight loss products.”
Affiliate Networks are another great way to find products and services to promote. These are websites that connect affiliates with companies.
Some popular affiliate networks include:
-Commission Junction
-Awin
3. Create content
Once you’ve found a few products or services to promote, the next step is to create content that will drive traffic to your affiliate links.
There are a few different ways to do this:
-Write articles and include your affiliate links in the article (always disclose)
-Create a YouTube video and include your affiliate links in the description
-Create a Facebook post and include your affiliate links in the ad
I drive traffic to my websites by ranking organically on Google through blogs. I make helpful Youtube videos and host webinars. I have a well-known brand within my industry and have an email list of around 12,000 subscribers.
4. Drive traffic to your offers
The final step is to drive traffic to your offers. This can be done through SEO, social media, or paid advertising. My top converting affiliate offers generally result from a helpful video, a list post, or a product review.
Here are a few traffic strategies that you can use to drive traffic to your offers:
-SEO: Optimize your website for Google and rank organically on the first page. This will take time, but it’s one of the most effective (and free) ways to get traffic.
-Social Media: Share your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. You can also run paid ads on these platforms to drive traffic to your website.
-Paid Advertising: Run ads on Google or social media platforms. This is a great way to get traffic quickly, but it will cost you money.
-Email Marketing: If you have an email list, you can send emails with your affiliate links. This is a great way to make sales if you have a large email list.
These are just a few traffic strategies to drive traffic to your offers. Experiment with different traffic sources and see what works best for you.
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-Lori Ballen
