Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?

Is affiliate marketing legit? That is a question that many people ask themselves before they decide to get involved in the industry. The answer, quite simply, is yes – affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money online. In this blog post, we will discuss what affiliate marketing is, how people can make money from it, and whether or not it is a viable option for them. We’ll also answer the question of whether or not affiliate marketing is a scam! So if you’re curious about this industry, read on for all the details.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as ‘the affiliate’), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to include a range of players, to include specialized third party vendors, super-affiliates, and niche marketers. At its heart, affiliate marketing is performance-based marketing.

Is Affiliate Marketing Legit? Yes, Here’s How To Make Money From It

There are two main ways to make money from affiliate marketing: through commissions on sales, and through CPA advertising. Let’s look at how you can make money from each one:

Commission On Sales

Commissions are the more common way, and they work by you earning a percentage of the sale price of any product or service that you refer customers to. For example, if you have a blog about gardening, and you recommend a particular brand of gardening tools, you would earn a commission on any sales of those tools that were generated from your blog.

The amount of commission varies by company from product to product and program to program, but usually commission rates are as low as 1% for many physical products, and as much as 70 – 100% of front-end sales for digital products, software products, and online services. Digital products is where many affiliate marketers make large sums of money. They sell a software program for $1000 and if the commission is 50% they make $500 selling someone else’s product.

CPA Advertising

CPA advertising is less common, but works in a similar way to traditional advertising. You are paid based on the number of clicks or impressions your affiliate links receive. CPA in marketing stands for cost per acquisition or action and is a type of conversion rate marketing. Cost per acquisition refers to the fee a company will pay for an advertisement that results in a sale.

For example, if you have a blog about gardening and you include an affiliate link to a gardening supplies website in one of your posts, you will be paid every time someone clicked on that link. The amount per click is usually very low, but can add up over time if you have a lot of traffic to your blog. Many times those clicks only pay you only $1, but some of the programs pay you $20 or more per click.

So, is affiliate marketing legit? Yes, it is! And it can be a great way to make money online, whether you’re a website owner looking to supplement your income, or a full-time blogger looking to build a business. Learn more about this industry by checking out our other blog posts about affiliate marketing.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Now let’s talk about how affiliate marketing works. Essentially, it’s a way for you to earn commissions by promoting products or services on your website. When someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission from the sale. The amount of commission you earn will vary depending on the program you’re signed up with. It can range from a few cents to a few hundred dollars.

Here’s a quick example: let’s say you have a blog about gardening and you sign up for an affiliate program with a gardening supplies company. You include a banner ad on your blog for the company’s products, and when someone clicks on the banner and makes a purchase, you earn a commission from the sale.

It’s important to note that affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme – it takes time, effort, and patience to build up a successful affiliate marketing business. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, it can be a great way to earn some extra income (or even a full-time income) from home.

Here are the steps to get started as an Affiliate Marketer:

First, you need to find a product or service that you want to promote. There are many different affiliate programs out there. You need to do some research to find one that’s a good fit for your website. Once you’ve found a program you’re interested in, sign up for their affiliate marketing program.

Next, you’ll need to create some content for your website. This can be in the form of blog posts, product reviews, or even just general information about the product or service you’re promoting. Make sure to include your affiliate link in your content so that people can click on it and be taken to the company’s website.

Finally, you’ll need to drive traffic to your website. This is done through SEO, social media, paid advertising, or a variety of other methods. Once you have people coming to your site, they’ll be able to click on your affiliate link. Once they click on your link and make a purchase you get paid your commission.

Best Affiliate Networks To Find Products To Promote or Sell

Is Affiliate Marketing Legit? As you will see below, there are many Affiliate Marketing networks who offer products to promote or sell. There are literally hundreds of thousands of different products you can promote and sell. It is excellent way to make some part-time money or create a lucrative full-time career.

Affiliate Marketing Networks

1. Clickbank: is one of the largest affiliate networks with over 16 million digital products. Clickbank is a great place to start if you’re new to affiliate marketing. They have a lot of training resources and helpful support.
2. JVZoo: is a popular affiliate network that focuses on information products. JVZoo has a wide variety of digital products that you can promote, including eBooks, software, and membership sites.
3. Amazon Associates: is the largest affiliate program with over a million physical products. Amazon is a great option if you’re already familiar with their website. It primarily sells physical products but also has a digital section where you can promote e-books, video courses, and more.
4. DigiStore24: is an affiliate network with over 24,000 digital products. It has become a bigger player in the last few years and is growing rapidly.
5. ShareASale: is an affiliate network with over 35,000 different brands, 12,000+ active merchants and numerous products. ShareASale offers a wide variety of products, including clothing, home goods, and more.
6. Commission Junction (CJ): is one of the oldest affiliate networks with over three thousand advertisers. CJ has a wide variety of products, including travel, home goods, and more.
7. Rakuten Marketing: is a large affiliate network that offers a wide variety of products, including clothing, home goods, and more.
8. PeerFly: is a Cost-Per-Action (CPA) network with over 2500 active advertisers. Here you can find CPA offers to promote, which typically involve filling out a form or taking a survey.
9. MaxBounty: is a CPA network with over 1500 active advertisers. Like PeerFly, you will find CPA offers to promote on this network.
10. FlexOffers: is an affiliate network with over 20,000 advertisers. FlexOffers has a wide variety of products, including travel, home goods, and more.

More Affiliate Marketing Programs

In addition to these Affiliate Networks, there are many larger companies that offer an affiliate program either directly or through another network that I did not list previously. You can usually find these affiliate program details by going to bottom of their website Home page and click on the link labeled, Affiliates, Partners or something similar.

Still wondering, Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?

Trust me when I say, affiliate marketing is legit! The affiliate marketing industry is a $12 Billion a year industry and growing rapidly. Many in the industry see it as the perfect work from home opportunity. You do this entirely online and does not require any inventory, employees, or overhead.

While there is a lot of money to be made in affiliate marketing, it is not a get-rich-quick scheme. You will need to put in time and effort to build up your website and create quality content. But if you’re willing to do that, affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn a passive income.

There are many affiliate marketers who are earning 6 and 7 figure annual incomes. So it is possible to make a lot of money with affiliate marketing. The key is to find the right products to promote and the right companies to work with. Once you do that, you’ll be on your way to making money with affiliate marketing!

I hope this article has helped answer the question, “Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?” If you have any other questions about affiliate marketing, you will find many more informative articles on this blog.