Welcome to an exciting journey into the world of affiliate marketing, where we’ll uncover the secrets of how to make money with affiliate marketing!
With the affiliate marketing industry booming and projected to reach $27.78 billion by 2027, exploring this exciting opportunity has never been better.
So, if you’ve been searching for a way to turn your online presence into a lucrative income stream—making money while you sleep and earning passive income by promoting different products and services you are truly passionate about—this is the perfect place for you.
In this blog post, we will explore the fundamental principles of affiliate marketing and equip you with essential knowledge and strategies for success.
By the end, you will clearly understand how to make money with affiliate marketing and be well-prepared to embark on your journey toward financial freedom. Let’s dive in and discover the world of affiliate marketing together!
Steps to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria
We have provided an easy step-by-step process of making money with affiliate marketing, accompanied by detailed explanations for each step:
Step 1: Choose Your Niche and Product Category:
Start by choosing a niche that aligns with your interests and passions. Consider what topics you are knowledgeable about and enjoy discussing. This will make promoting products more enjoyable and authentic. Additionally, identify product categories that have high demand in the market.
You can focus on products that cater to the needs and preferences of consumers to increase the likelihood of successful promotions. For example, you could choose to talk about personal finance, DIY projects, cooking/food blogging, home and lifestyle, Motherhood/Parenting, general comedy, dance, travelling, tech/gadget review, beauty/hair/makeup like (SisiYemmie, Dimmaumeh, Ijeomakola.com, Cassiedaves, Damie’s Dairy e.t.c)
Step 2: Set Up Your Online Presence (Website, Blog, or Social Media):
Selecting the right platform is a crucial step in your affiliate marketing journey. Different platforms offer various opportunities and audience engagement methods. Consider the following options:
1. Niche Review Sites: Create websites that review products for a specific audience or compare products against their competitors. Regularly posting content related to reviews can attract an audience interested in your niche.
2. Digital Content Creation: Become a blogger, YouTuber, or social media influencer to produce niche content that resonates with your target audience. Introduce relevant products organically to increase the chances of earning affiliate commissions.
3. Courses, Events, Workshops: If you’re an educator, integrate affiliate partnership offers into your events or courses.
When deciding on a platform and method, ask yourself what platforms you use the most and which you understand best. You can pursue affiliate marketing on various platforms, such as a website, YouTube, social media (e.g., Instagram, TikTok), newsletter, or podcast.
Tip: Consider your target audience first when selecting your choice of platform. For instance, running a YouTube channel might be better if your target audience prefers video content, even if you prefer writing.
Step 3: Create Engaging and Informative Content:
Content is a major cornerstone of successful affiliate marketing. To maximise your earnings in affiliate marketing, focus on creating valuable content that resonates with your target audience. Deliver high-quality product reviews, tutorials, guides, and informative articles that provide solutions to your audience’s problems and answer their questions, building trust with your audience.
Consider purchasing and testing the products yourself. By using the products firsthand, you can provide honest and reliable insights that influence your readers’ purchasing decisions.
It is essential to avoid blindly curating products based solely on affiliate commission rates or popularity. Instead, genuinely solve your readers’ problems and recommend products that align with their needs and preferences. When your audience realises that you care about their interests, they are more likely to trust your recommendations, including your purchase through your affiliate links.
For example, websites like Moneyreverie.com and Naijatechguide.com showcase successful examples of affiliate marketing. Moneyreverie.com offers well-researched reviews of financial products, while Naijatechguide.com focuses on comprehensive guides and reviews of gadgets and electronics.
Step 4: Find and Register with the Right Affiliate Programs and Networks:
There are three essential types of affiliate programs to choose from. Firstly, high-paying, low-volume programs involve niche products with a smaller customer base. Secondly, low-paying, high-volume programs focus on products with mass appeal, attracting a larger audience. For example, Jumia offers generous commissions, such as 10%, depending on your level, and you earn commissions on the entire purchase value, not just the recommended product. Lastly, high-paying, high-volume programs include expensive products with widespread appeal, like credit cards. However, these programs may attract experienced affiliate marketers using advanced tactics.
In Nigeria, several popular affiliate programs offer a diverse range of products and services to promote, including the Jumia Affiliate Program, Konga Affiliate Program, PayPorte Affiliate Program, Wakanow Affiliate Program, VConnect Affiliate Program, WhoGoHost Affiliate Program, and DealDey Affiliate Program. These programs cater to different audiences, allowing you to tap into the local customer base.
Consider international affiliate programs that pay in dollars to supplement your earnings and expand your audience reach. The Grammarly Affiliate Program, AliExpress Affiliate Program, and Finddigitaltools Reseller Affiliate Program are examples of such programs that offer opportunities to promote products and services from around the world.
To find suitable affiliate programs, start with a Google search or use tools like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to analyse competing affiliate sites. By identifying potential programs, you can register as an affiliate and gain access to a wide array of products to promote. Feel free to contact companies that don’t have public affiliate programs to inquire about establishing an affiliate relationship.
Step 5: Select the best placement for Your Affiliate Links
Beyond having excellent content on your website or platform, there are several strategies you can implement to boost click-through rates and drive increased traffic to your affiliate partners through your affiliate links. Here are the strategies below:
A. Strategic Link Placement: Consider the placement of your affiliate links within your content. If all the links are placed at the bottom of the page, where people rarely scroll, the number of clicks will be limited.
On the other hand, if you make every other word a link in your introduction, it may come across as spammy. Find a balance in link placement that feels natural and unobtrusive while still attracting attention to your affiliate links. If you are using your social media platforms, you need to make it visible in your bio.
B. Relevance: Ensure that your affiliate links are contextualised within your content. For instance, if you are writing an article review on Tecno Camon 19, you should ensure the links are placed where needed, not just dumped anywhere in the article. A good place can be after you have reviewed the product instead of at the introduction.
C. Eye-catching Callouts: Use elements such as buttons, tables, or boxes to draw attention to your affiliate links. These visual callouts can attract readers’ attention and make your content more skimmable. An example of this strategy can be seen on websites like LindaIkeji Blog and momtherly.com, where they use visually appealing boxes with product links to highlight their top picks.
By implementing these tactics, you can maximise clicks on your affiliate links and enhance your chances of generating sales. Remember to continuously analyse and iterate on your strategies to optimise your results.
Step 6: Drive Traffic to Your Preferred Affiliate Marketing Platform
After selecting your preferred affiliate marketing platform, such as a blog, website, social media account, or YouTube channel, it is essential to focus on driving traffic to that platform. This will increase the likelihood of more people clicking on your affiliate links, ultimately leading to higher sales conversions.
Step 7: Track Your Performance
Track and analyse your traffic sources to identify the most effective methods for your specific platform and audience. ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links, or ClickMeter allow you to organise and track your affiliate links. They also provide insights into link performance and conversion rates, helping you gauge the effectiveness of your promotions.
Strategies and Tools To Drive Traffic to Your Affiliate Marketing Platform
Here are some effective methods and tools to drive traffic to your chosen platform:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): Optimise your platform for search engines by using relevant keywords, creating valuable content, optimising meta tags and descriptions, and building quality backlinks. This will help your platform rank higher in search engine results, attracting organic traffic. You can use keyword research and SEO tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to help you identify relevant keywords in your niche.
- Social Media Marketing: Leverage the power of social media platforms to promote your affiliate marketing platform. Share engaging content, interact with your audience, join relevant groups or communities, and utilise social media advertising to reach a wider audience. Leverage social media tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social to schedule and automate social media posts, saving time and ensuring consistent engagement with your followers. These tools also provide analytics to assess campaign performance and refine your strategies.
- Email Marketing: Build an email list of interested subscribers and regularly send them valuable content and promotions related to your affiliate products. Platforms like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or AWeber can assist you in building manage your email list, creating engaging campaigns, and automating email sequences. Also, use compelling calls-to-action and personalised messaging to drive traffic back to your platform.
- Paid Advertising: Consider investing in paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Instagram Ads. This allows you to target specific demographics and reach a larger audience interested in your niche.
- Guest Posting: Collaborate with other relevant websites or blogs in your niche and contribute guest posts. This exposes you to a new audience and directs traffic to your platform through author bios or contextual links within the guest posts.
By implementing a combination of these strategies and using these essential affiliate marketing tools, you can consistently drive targeted traffic to your preferred affiliate marketing platform and increase your chances of generating sales.
What is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where affiliates promote products or services other companies or individuals offer.
As an affiliate marketer, your major objective is to drive sales through your unique referral links. When someone makes a purchase using your referral link, you earn a commission, typically a percentage of the sale or a fixed amount. This arrangement creates a win-win situation for affiliates and businesses, as affiliates can earn passive income while businesses expand their reach through effective promotion.
Here’s a practical example of how affiliate marketing works: Money Reverie (Affiliate marketer) is a top personal finance and finance blog in Canada. It makes money through affiliate marketing by promoting specific financial services or products and earning commissions on any sales generated through its affiliate links.
You have probably come across this kind of image on different sites; in the image above, the affiliate partner is Zengo, which offers crypto wallet services. When someone clicks on the link, the affiliate company pays a commission to the affiliate marketer for referring the customer. By providing honest and in-depth reviews, they have built up a loyal audience and established trust with their visitors, increasing the likelihood of people clicking on their affiliate links and making a purchase.
This is just one example of how affiliate marketing can work in practice. Affiliate marketing has become essential to the e-commerce industry, benefiting merchants and affiliates by driving traffic and sales.
While affiliate marketing offers an accessible way to earn passive income, it’s essential to recognise that building substantial traffic and generating significant income often requires time and effort. Nevertheless, with dedication and strategic promotion, affiliate marketing can become lucrative, benefiting both affiliates and businesses.
Types of Affiliate Marketing
There are three main types of affiliate marketing strategies that marketers can use, each offering unique approaches to promoting products and earning commissions:
1. Unattached Affiliate Marketing: In this type, you promote products that are indirectly related to your own business or website. You earn a commission for simply referring customers to the merchant. This often involves creating content like product reviews, comparison articles, or dedicated websites that promote affiliate products., money reverie, and momtherly.
2. Related Affiliate Marketing: With this approach, you are expected to promote products directly related to your business or website. For Example, Lagoshousewife is a healthy food coach that teaches people how to eat and live healthily through nutrition. She also promotes cooking products and asks her audience to use the link in her bio for downloads.
3. Involved Affiliate Marketing: Going beyond mere promotion, involved affiliate marketing requires active participation in the sales process. You provide additional value by engaging with potential customers, offering personalised recommendations, conducting product demonstrations, and providing ongoing support and assistance.
An example is Forrest Auto Reviews, who gives reviews for cars on his youtube channel; he drives the car and shows them a video of the car. While involved affiliate marketing demands additional effort and time to establish credibility, the potential returns on investment are likely to be more significant.
It’s important to understand that these affiliate marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive, and many marketers combine different approaches to maximise their earnings. While terminologies may vary across sources, the underlying concepts generally remain consistent.
Common Terms Used By Affiliate Marketers
Affiliate marketing operates on a simple yet powerful system involving multiple vital components working harmoniously. Let’s delve into the fundamental aspects that drive this dynamic strategy:
- The Merchant: Also known as the brand, seller, creator, or vendor, the merchant is the entity that creates the product or service. This can range from individual entrepreneurs to large corporations.
- The Affiliate Marketer: Referred to as the publisher, an affiliate marketer’s role is to promote the merchant’s products and entice potential customers to purchase.
- The Consumer: The ultimate purchaser of the product or service. When a consumer buys a product through an affiliate’s referral link, the affiliate earns a particular commission.
- The Affiliate Network: This is an intermediary between the affiliate and the merchant, an affiliate network offers a database of products for affiliates to promote. When an affiliate joins an affiliate program, they receive a unique affiliate link that includes a tracking ID.
This link lets the merchant monitor if the fellow has successfully referred customers. With its Amazon Associates program, Amazon is a prime example of a leading affiliate network that allows affiliates to promote any item sold on their platform using custom affiliate links. - Affiliate Link: The affiliate’s role is to leverage this unique link to promote the merchant’s products or services to their audience. When a potential customer clicks on the affiliate’s link and makes a purchase, the affiliate’s tracking ID triggers, and they become eligible for a commission.
- Cookies: One of the remarkable aspects of affiliate marketing is using cookies. When someone decides to click on an affiliate link, a cookie is kept on their device, typically with an expiration date. This means that even if the customer doesn’t make an immediate purchase and returns to buy the product later, the affiliate will still receive a commission thanks to the cookie.
How Much Money Do Affiliate Marketers Make?
According to a survey from Influencer Marketing Hub, most affiliate marketers earn less than $10K per year. There is no limit to what affiliate marketers can make in a year, depending on the influence and commitment of the affiliate marketer.
We have affiliate marketers that are making a passive income of N1 million naira monthly, and celebrities like Skitmaker, Kie Kie, Broda Shaggy, and Marcaroni are estimated to make millions of naira monthly.
A major example in Nigeria is Mr Pascal Okafor, a renowned Nigerian blogger and the proud owner of naijatechguide.com. He has achieved exceptional results through involvement in the Konga.com affiliate program, the jumia.com affiliate program, and Amazon Prime deals.
In fact, in 2014, Konga.com announced Mr Paschal Okafor as the first affiliate to hit the million Naira mark in affiliate commissions. This outstanding achievement can be attributed to his longstanding promotion of products featured on Konga.com and his dedicated niche website, Naija Tech Guide.
It’s important to note that individuals like Mr Pascal Okafor have put in years of hard work and effort to build their brand and reach such remarkable levels of success. Starting as an affiliate marketer might not bring immediate big earnings, but it shouldn’t discourage you.
The success stories of individuals like Mr Okafor show that with hard work, time, and the right knowledge, you, too, have the potential to reach those levels. Managing your expectations and staying committed will be essential to all your achievements in the affiliate marketing realm.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I really make money with affiliate marketing?
Yes, you can make money with affiliate marketing. Many individuals and businesses have achieved significant income through successful affiliate marketing strategies. An example is Paschal Okafor, who made 1 million nairas from Konga in 2014 through affiliate marketing. However, it’s important to note that affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
- How do I start affiliate marketing with money?
Starting affiliate marketing typically doesn’t require a significant upfront investment. You can begin with minimal costs by creating a website or blog, which can be done using affordable hosting and domain services.
You can also invest in quality content, SEO tools, and email marketing platforms that can enhance your affiliate marketing efforts and lead to better results. As you generate income from affiliate marketing, you can reinvest in your business to scale and expand your affiliate ventures.
- How to Start Affiliate Marketing with No Money?
Starting affiliate marketing with no money is possible as affiliate marketing does not require funds to start. You can start by selecting an affiliate platform, promote your affiliate link via a blog (blogger, WordPress) or use social media platforms like Instagram or YouTube to promote your link.
- What are the Free Affiliate Programs in Nigeria?
In Nigeria, there are several free affiliate programs that provide opportunities to earn commissions without any upfront costs or fees. Some popular free affiliate programs in Nigeria include Jumia Affiliate Program, Konga Affiliate Program, PayPorte Affiliate Program, VConnect Affiliate Program, and WhoGoHost Affiliate Program.
These programs present a wide array of products and services that you can endorse, and for each successful sale or lead generated through your affiliate links, you can earn commissions.
- How Fast Can You Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?
You can make money very fast with affiliate marketing, but it varies based on several factors, including your niche, marketing efforts, and the quality of your content. Some affiliate marketers may see results within a few weeks or months, while others might take longer to gain traction.
- Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?
Yes, affiliate marketing can be worth it for many individuals and businesses. Promoting products and services to your audience offers a low-cost way to earn passive income.
- Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?
Yes, affiliate marketing is a legitimate business model used by numerous companies and individuals worldwide. It operates on a performance-based system, where affiliates earn commissions for driving sales or leading to the merchant’s website.