How Much Money Can You Make In Affiliate Marketing 2024?
We looked to answer the question every affiliate asks: How Much Money Can You Make In Affiliate Marketing 2024? Affiliate marketing is one of the guaranteed ways to make money online. Statista, a company specialising in market and consumer data, claims that this industry will be valued at $8.2 billion in the United States in 2024. That’s huge, but just how much money can you actually make in affiliate marketing in 2024?
Different factors can help to increase your earnings when you get started. Some of the leading factors include the commission rates of the affiliate products and the potential sales volume of the type of affiliate program you are in – we’ll discuss more below.
Affiliate marketing is a juicy money-spinning sector, but don’t get started without discovering everything you need to know about making money in affiliate marketing in this article.
Affiliate Marketing Stats And Facts
A 2017 affiliate market survey by Viglink shows that 9% of publishers have generated over $50,000 revenue. In addition, about 65% of merchants claim that affiliate marketing helped generate 5% to 20% of their annual revenue. The survey also showed the connection between revenue and experience because, among merchants who had the highest revenue, 60% of them had participated in affiliate marketing for at least five years.
In 2020, businesses encountered significant challenges due to the lockdown, but the situation also gave rise to new opportunities for affiliate marketers and online retailers. When industries such as aviation, hospitality, and food services struggled, the lockdown made consumers seek solace online, thereby boosting e-commerce and affiliate marketing.
Awin, on Accenture’s research report, showed that 45% of shoppers were estimated to have made intentional purchases on the web in 2020.
Salesforce revealed that digital sales during the 2020 holidays were up to 36% and $270 billion around the globe. The United States alone recorded $60 billion in that year – a 29% rise from 2019.
Companies like Groupon leveraged affiliate marketing to grow their brands. Reports have it that it generated $2.2 billion annual revenue in 2019.
The most extensive affiliate networks on the internet have several thousands of merchants and over 100,000 active affiliate marketers.
Statista reports that merchants’ sales in 2020 through affiliate marketing are between 15% and 30%. Mediakix says that at least 80% of brands harness the power of affiliate marketing to generate leads. This figure is a significant increase from 5% – 20% as recorded in 2017.
According to Sales Comp, at least 48% of affiliate marketers earn annual revenue of $20,000, and 94% of these publishers use multiple affiliate marketing programs.
This data shows that affiliate marketing is very profitable, and your earning potential is unlimited. You do not have to commit every hour of the day to it. Once you have your marketing strategy in place, you can earn money consistently, even while sleeping. And if you are using your website, blog, or YouTube channel, you’ll need to have a steady flow of traffic to keep the cash flowing in.
It is lucrative as you’ll not incur extra costs on shipping. However, it is crucial to be aware of the fierce competition in this industry which has also resulted in many giving up on their dreams to make money online, especially since they couldn’t make sufficient income to cover the essential cost of running the business.
How Much Do Affiliate Marketers Earn?
Top affiliate marketers make up to 6 figures from affiliate sales. Pat Flyn earns over $100,000 per month, Tom (Onlinemediamasters) amasses an annual revenue of over $150,000, and Doug Cunnington earns over $70,000. Mark Ling, John Chow, Kristy McCubbin, Shawn Collins, and Rae Hoffman, to mention but a few, are notable affiliate marketers that have earned massively from their affiliate efforts.
Middle-class affiliate marketers make up to $10,000 and a little more. And as a beginner affiliate marketer, you’ll need to stay focused and be consistent in the industry to grow your earnings and cash out big.
How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing
When getting started in affiliate marketing, these tips are crucial for your consideration.
1. Pick the Most-Suitable Platform for Your Audience
As you delve into affiliate marketing, the first thing you must get right is the platform most suitable for your target audience. There are different platforms where your audiences are very likely hanging out. You can create a blog, a YouTube channel, or harness social media platforms to reach them.
As a blogger, you can write on a wide range of topics that interest your visitors. You can review products from your affiliate program or compare a product line to its competitors. It is essential to know that your blog must be regularly updated to keep your audience around and informed.
You must introduce specialized products that will help generate readers’ interest and increase the likelihood of a purchase happening while you receive commissions over it.
Answer these questions to help you pick the best platform for your affiliate marketing.
- Which platform are you more comfortable with, or which one do you primarily use currently?
- Which platform do you understand better, or can you learn quickly?
When you use the platform you are most familiar with for your affiliate marketing goals, you’ll find it easy to develop content that would engage your audience and convert better.
However, in all, endeavor to build your audience and be genuine.
2. Decide On A Niche
The niche you choose will determine the kind of audience you’ll receive. Consider what you are most enthusiastic about, especially if you’ll be the one creating content yourself. Your favorite niche will help you to continue sticking around even when the times seem unfavorable.
Your niche will also guide your decision on which affiliate program and product to introduce to your audience. And in the sight of your readers, you’ll be perceived as genuine and authoritative in the field.
However, because of the fierce competition in some niche areas, it is essential to find profitable untapped areas where you’ll still enjoy writing about and face less competition. A workable method is to niche down!
Target micro niches and gradually build authority in such areas. After some time, you can expand into other untapped areas and generate increased traffic and affiliate sales. Recommend products you believe your audience will enjoy, test them yourself if you can, and position your business for increased revenue.
3. Choosing A Profitable Affiliate Marketing Niche
Knowing the niche with the most potential can help you channel your plans and strategy in the right direction to produce good revenue. It is not enough to be interested in a topic, and you later find out after investing so much effort and time that there aren’t many opportunities for good sales in the niche.
Loving your niche is excellent, but if it doesn’t make you money, you’ll get frustrated, hit a block, and quit. But having an interest in the niche you are in will make everything easier for you.
A survey by Referralrock showed that specific niches work nicely for affiliate marketers than others. The top niches revealed by the survey include:
- Subscription services (61%),
- Health (61%),
- Technology (68%),
- Apparel (68%),
- Beauty (77%),
- E-commerce (80%).
AM Navigator reports that the fashion and retail affiliate niche tops the marketing industry with the highest percentage globally.
Please note that this list doesn’t indicate that you can’t still earn from other products or niche areas. But generally, it pays to work smarter by considering a niche that is already gaining momentum in the market.
4. Choose Your First Affiliate Program And Product
This section is virtually the most critical in determining how much money you can make in affiliate marketing. Whatever program or product you are going for should suit your kind of audience and meet your audience’s needs.
Ask yourself these questions before choosing an affiliate product:
- Is this relevant to my field of expertise?
- Will my audience find this helpful?
You can’t be a food blogger and be successful in promoting tech products on your online platforms. You must consider things such as recipes, cookware, aprons, gourmet ingredients, and everything related to your audience and the kind of food-related things that will meet their needs.
However, this does not mean that some of your visitors will not be interested in relationship books, health products, or tech gadgets, but you do not want to be perceived as a confused blogger.
5. Promote Your Affiliate Products
As a beginner affiliate marketer, you must be prepared for the initial work to get your business up and active. For instance, If you are doing a product review, ensure to have the product’s information firsthand.
Get personal with your audience: Share your personal experiences from trying the product with them. Be honest. The more sincere your audience perceives you, the more connected they are to you. Bear in mind that it takes more effort to convince your audience about expensive products than cheap ones.
Tips that will help in your promotion
i. Provide a tutorial for your offer. Ensure that the tutorial addresses the problem of your visitors or that of potential searchers. The tutorial should educate your audience more about the product and increase conversion.
ii. Talk to a product specialist. Connect with other professionals in the industry who have tried the product. It may also be the seller or manufacturer. The information they provide will enrich your product promotion.
iii. Find relevant keyphrases. When people go online to do searches, they often have related queries to a particular topic, which are inputted into the search boxes and used in finding answers to their problems. There are free online tools to help you curate relevant key phrases that you’ll use to create your blog posts. Free tools that can help in your keyphrase research include Answer The Public, Google Trend, Keyword Everywhere, and even Google site itself.
6. Promote Your Content Across Different Platforms
Once you create your content, don’t just let it sit in your blog or YouTube channel hoping someone will find it. Even if you already have a fair amount of traffic, still take a step further to share your affiliate posts across relevant social media platforms. You can create a Facebook business page, Facebook group, Twitter account, Instagram platforms, and so on to talk about your affiliate products or share blog content. Tools like Buffer, Social Warfare, and JetPack can make sharing easy for WordPress users.
7. Consider Adding A Bonus To The Promotion
You may want to consider including a free ebook as a bonus for anyone who makes a purchase. This strategy is beneficial in getting actual sales, especially if your potential customers can see the real value from the website.
8. Stick To The FTC Guideline
Being transparent includes making everything legal by adhering to The FTC guideline for publishers who include affiliate links in their online content. The guideline includes articulating to your audience that you may earn commissions from the products you introduce to them.
Tips To Help Maximize Your Affiliate Earnings As A Blogger
Becoming an affiliate marketer is easy, but making a significant income from the side hustle is entirely different. If you have decided to get started with affiliate marketing, consider these tips to increase your chances of success.
- When choosing an affiliate niche to promote, ensure a micro-niche to gain a higher possibility of being found on search engines.
- Incorporate affiliate links to products you have either used yourself or wouldn’t mind using.
- Do not be too pushy about making sales. Consider building a viable relationship with your audience, which may eventually and naturally lead to sales.
- Share a story about the product you are recommending to them. This method works significantly better than spamming your content with product links.
- Be transparent to your audience as much as possible. Do not try to fake your style, voice, or tone.
Best Affiliate Brands To Consider
Amazon is one of the world’s most reliable affiliate programs with millions of products across a wide range of niche areas. Their commission rates are, however, low compared to many popular affiliate networks. Commission rates range from 1% – 5%/ across all products.
ShareASale has been around for over 20 years and promotes over 2,500 CPA programs. There are countless products available on this platform that you’ll find suitable for your blog.
ClickBank is another notable affiliate brand that appears similar to ShareASale. The program hosts countless merchants and products. Every blogger and affiliate marketer will find something to promote on their platforms, from weight loss items to kitchen wares, household items, and so on.
CJ Affiliates works with over 3,500 brands. After signing up on the platform, you’ll still need to get approved by brands before you can promote their products. There are countless products on the platform, and you will very likely find a suitable one for your niche.
When you sign up for an affiliate marketing program, you will learn about commission requirements. In most cases, the goal is to get people to subscribe to a newsletter, download a free trial, schedule an appointment, or purchase something. The two main ways you might be paid for your efforts are as follows.
Sales Percentage. A percentage of the sale amount is paid to you whenever someone purchases a product or service using your affiliate link. Amounts vary depending on the industry, program, and price of products.
Flat Fee. Upon bringing a customer, you receive a fixed commission.
Depending on the product, there may be a different commission. Looking at some SaaS and software affiliate programs, commission fees range from $50 to over $100. The price could be lower for a physical product. For example, Amazon, one of the largest affiliate programs, offers commissions ranging from 1% to 10%. Depending on the niche, commission rates can range from 1-2% to 50%.
Many affiliates want to earn high commissions, but when you join a popular niche, it can be difficult. Hence, consider starting with low-cost, easier-to-sell products until you have studied such crowded niches.
Conclusion
How much money you can make in affiliate marketing in 2024 depends on the time, effort, and strategy you are willing to put in. It would also require little expenses, but it isn’t essential compared to owning a physical business. If you play your cards well, you will continue to reap the rewards for several months or years after. Here is another great step-by-step guide. It’s one of the most recommended methods of earning passive income.
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