With the post-pandemic high street slowdown, more and more new businesses are choosing to start online. Affiliate marketing is proving to be a more attractive online business model than ever, it’s now a multi-billion pound industry and continuing to grow. It’s also one of the lowest-risk methods of earning a living.
So how much can you make from affiliate marketing?
How to make money with affiliate marketing
So, what is affiliate marketing? In a nutshell, affiliate marketers make money by recommending products and getting a commission fee for every sale made. So far so straightforward. But while you won’t necessarily be risking much or any money if you become an affiliate marketer, it’s also not an easy option.
Success in affiliate marketing does not happen overnight. You need to be prepared to build a loyal and trusting audience and that takes consistency and time. The most successful platforms for affiliate marketers are blogs and YouTube, but Instagram and Podcasting can also work well for the right products. Be prepared to build your audience for at least 6 months before you start to make money and see a reasonable return from affiliate marketing.
A niche focus will always gain you a more loyal following, so don’t try to be everything to everyone. The best affiliate marketers are a ‘go-to’ place for niche audiences.
When you have built your niche audience, by delivering consistent, quality content, over a sustained period, how much money can you expect to earn as an affiliate marketer?
How much money can you make with affiliate marketing?
How much can you make from affiliate marketing for beginners? What about when you are established? There are a range of earning brackets according to your level. If you are a complete novice, you should expect to earn little or nothing until you are established.
Beginner level is when you start to see a steady return. Intermediate and advanced are when you build on that and extend your platforms and range.
Right at the top end, affiliate marketing guru Pat Flynn has documented the growth of his affiliate marketing business from earnings of $8,000 to $100,000 per month.
According to one survey of established affiliate marketers:
- Affiliate Apprentice – Losing money. You’re at the time investment stage.
- Beginner level– Up to $300 per day. You’re beginning to see a return and if you’re a one-person business you could be making a decent living at this stage.
- Intermediate level – up to $3,000 per day.
- High-Level Affiliate – over $3,000 per day. You’ll have a very popular site and may well be promoting very high-value products.
How much can you make from affiliate marketing per month? Simply multiply the figures above by 30. However, bear in mind that most of those figures are ‘up to’. They are at the top of the range and useful goals to aim for.
How fast can you make money with affiliate marketing?
If you are already producing quality online content, videos or podcasts, and you have a reasonable-sized audience, then by adding affiliate links or recommendations you can start to make money almost immediately.
But if you are starting from scratch your affiliate earning potential is dependent on your underlying content strategy. You will need to work consistently on your content vehicle for probably three to six months before you can expect to achieve a level of audience and loyalty that will translate into clicks.
What is the average an affiliate marketer makes?
According to Glassdoor the average salary an affiliate marketer makes is £38,040 per year. This is obviously related to salaried jobs rather than working for yourself, but it does give an indication of the average potential income.
How much do Amazon affiliates make?
Earning for Amazon Affiliates range from $100 to $20,000 according to information from Amazon. Earnings depend on the number of referrals you generate and also, crucially, the category and value of the products. For example, commission rates are 20% on Games and 6% on books.
Amazon recommends that you target high-value products and create content that has a high-intent title. Product comparisons and reviews work well as those are the kind of content that shoppers seek out when they’re ready to buy.
Know Your Market
Having a clear and good-value niche is essential for affiliate marketing success. You really need to understand your customers and market to make good money in this industry.
The list of programs considered as niches is vast. Some of the highest-value niches include software, travel, e-commerce, dating, fitness and nutrition, and loan affiliate programs. But of course, to become a ‘go to’ site or valued adviser you will need to either have deep knowledge or passion for the niche yourself or be prepared to invest in high-quality content from expert writers.
It also helps to find niches that are not crowded. Keep an eye on retail trends. If a new product is selling well its owners may want to find out all about it. For example, air fryers have been a growing trend in the last couple of years, and the number of searches for ‘air fryer recipes’ has risen alongside that. So if you set up a niche site for air fryer recipes you could include reviews of products with links through to affiliate sales.
Where to find affiliates
Start with your content. When you mention a product, try to find an appropriate affiliate link to connect to. If you search the name of the company with the word ‘affiliate’ it will often take you to information about their affiliate programme.
Most large companies are part of an affiliate network. Those are intermediary organisations that connect publishers like you with advertisers. Affiliate networks, like Awin.com and affdeals will give you clear statistics on the number of clicks and purchases users have made. Once you are accepted by an affiliate network you will be able to request to join a large number of appropriate affiliate programmes.
Amazon also offers its affiliate programme, Amazon Associates. With the vast range of products offered on the Amazon platform, their affiliate programme has been a mainstay for very many affiliate marketing sites. However, the Amazon affiliate commission rate recently dropped substantially, putting many affiliates into a precarious position. It’s a lesson to keep a sharp eye on commission rates, and to diversify and include affiliates from a range of companies in your portfolio.
How much does it cost to become an affiliate marketer?
It generally costs little or no money to become an affiliate marketer. You earn a slice of commission for sales links on your website or social media and you do not need to purchase any of the goods that you are referring to.
The main affiliate platforms that we’ve mentioned above don’t charge a fee to sign up, but they will generally want to assess your offering to make sure that it is of a reasonable level of quality and relevance. The financial costs that you could incur include website development and hosting, content creation, and of course the time that it takes you to build an audience
Wrap Up
This article has looked at how much money can you make with affiliate marketing. There are many stories of people who literally started with nothing and are earning up to £10,000 a day with persistence and consistency. If you are lucky enough to start with a good number of followers on your blog or social media then you may be able to move up through the earning brackets more quickly.
Affiliate marketing takes patience at first, yet it can be an easy way to make money if you understand your market and your target audience’s needs. As long as you don’t expect a miracle to happen overnight, there are plenty of opportunities to be had in affiliate marketing.
Now read our tips on how to make more money with affiliate marketing.