How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

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Are you struggling with marketing your WordPress-based website? Are you looking for a workable solution to promote your products and services?

Well then have you thought about adopting affiliate marketing? You might have heard the term, but do you know how does it work and why is it so popular among businesses?

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing facilitates businesses to advertise and market their services and products with the help of an entity known as ‘affiliates.’ These affiliates are third parties who belong to the online space and promote your brand in return for a fixed commission, which depends upon your sales output.

Theoretically, anyone can be an affiliate. However, businesses usually pick individuals who are owners of reliable and authentic websites that rank high on search engines . Likewise, regular bloggers from an industry niche and popular influencers also have quite a strong demand as affiliates. For example, many influencers use Instagram to market beauty products as affiliates for fashion brands.

These affiliates can increase sales through positive reviews, linking blogs, and using banner ads. Sometimes, you plan a digital marketing strategy with your affiliate, while at times the affiliate has a pre-defined approach to advertise your products.

For instance, you have a business which provides security for WordPress-based websites. Since the past few months have seen a rise in cyber-attacks (especially ransomware and crypto jacking attacks), such a service is a necessity. To promote your service, you can acquire the assistance of renowned WP professionals who can link your services in their blogs or social media posts. Now, when a potential client interacts with their content and clicks on your link, culminating into a successful sale, then some portion of this sale would then go to the affiliate for helping you with the sale.

What Makes Affiliate Marketing So Useful?

In case you are unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, now is the perfect time to begin. Before the start of 2018, more than 80% of the brands were found to be benefiting from affiliate marketing. Similarly, the term “affiliate marketing” has received immense traffic in the online space.

What’s more exciting is the fact that affiliate marketing has become much more affordable than it was before. Its pricing has reduced to about 60% in comparison to the traditional marketing methods. Despite its low cost, it turned out to be a winner by generating three times more leads than the traditional marketing techniques. Likewise, customers are flocking to affiliate marketing as they almost saw a 50% rise for new clients. Additionally, you should think about using affiliates for the following reasons.

  • Earlier in online marketing, irrelevant ads used to bombard the digital activities of users. As a result, users began complaining and thus came the ad blockers. Ad blockers eliminated ads which meant that the connection between companies and their target audience was abruptly cut-off. However, affiliate marketing has addressed this issue by the seamless integration of advertisements in online ads. As a result, customers receive relevant ads and have started to interact with these ads positively.
  • Once you have completely figured out your affiliate market program, all the actual hard work will then be delegated to the affiliates. Therefore, you do not have to spend much time on marketing. Commissions encourage affiliates to keep improving their efforts. However, it is necessary to sharply observe and administrate your affiliate network and continue adjusting your strategies according to the changing trends.
  • By investing minimal time and hard work, affiliate marketing has already become one of the most effective solutions for acquiring new audiences.

How to Begin Affiliate Marketing for Your WP Site?

Have you made up your mind on affiliate marketing? Here are a few guidelines which can help you use affiliates for your WP website.

1. Pick an Affiliate Manager

Firstly, you will require a specialized tool for incorporating affiliate marketing on your website. Bear in mind that it is not necessary that all business websites can benefit from the same type of affiliate manager.

One of the most popular plugins for affiliate manager is the Affiliate Royale. It is an easy-to-use and straight-forward tool, which displays information about the number of clicks per each affiliate, the entire numbers, and other necessary marketing information. One of its USP is the presence of offline support for sales tracking.

2. Pick an Affiliate Manager

After picking a plugin as an affiliate manager, you can then configure your program. For instance, if you choose Affiliate Royale, then you have an “Affiliate Dashboard.” It contains a table for the dates, total sales, commissions, and payment for the affiliate. Likewise, you can see different charts and graphical representations by using the “Stats,” while you can provide the links and banners for your website through a tab for “Links & Banners.”

3. Tempt Affiliates

After choosing and configuring your plugin, now is the time to engage in affiliate searching. One of the strategies to find one is to get in touch with an affiliate network. These networks are an intermediary and establish a link between you and an affiliate. However, to attract affiliates, you would have to offer an excellent package. Consider the following factors.

  • Copy Quality – Perhaps, one of the most dependable strategies to entice an affiliate is to construct a powerful copy. Write the details of your conversion rates, explain the advantages and strengths of your products and services adequately, and do mention the ‘hotness’ of your niche.
  • Commission – Ultimately for many affiliates, it all boils down to the commission package. If you are just ready to start, then for a start, providing higher commission may not be a bad idea. Well-known affiliates will take from 50% to 75% commissions on your sales. This may seem a lot, but their efforts translate positively for businesses.
  • Transparency – It is essential that you are crystal-clear about your products and services from the start so that no misunderstandings or conflicts can emerge in future with an affiliate.
  • Support – Do not make your affiliate toil alone. Provide the affiliates with advertisements, keywords, and other necessary resources so they can market your products better.

Social media and WP affiliate forums are also wise options for attracting affiliates.

​Final Thoughts

​Affiliate marketing is an up and running industry. Using your hard-earned money to invest in affiliate marketing is a wise option, which can help you outpace your rivals with increased traffic, conversions, and exposure. Luckily, in the WordPress ecosystem, the various tools for affiliate marketing would only make your task easier. If you have any more questions about affiliate marketing, then feel free to contact us.

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