Affiliate marketing is constantly growing in popularity. With everyone working from home, alternatives to work like this form of marketing have reached all-time peaks. People are talking about it all over the internet. But in reality, is affiliate marketing worth it in 2022?
At first sight, it might seem like an incredible way to earn money online. But as we all should know, not everything is as it seems. Affiliate marketing isn’t as great as it is marketed, but it has its ups. How good is it? Is affiliate marketing worth it doing in 2022 and how to get started with it? Stay tuned to find out!
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Affiliate Marketing – Myths Vs. Reality
Affiliate marketing has gained an almost mythical status amongst online marketers. A lot of people think it is an easy and foolproof way to make a lot of money in no time. And for some it is. Affiliates who have been in the business for years have perfected the art of affiliate marketing. They know all the tricks and tips in the book, heck, they probably invented some of them! To make the real cash, you need to know is affiliate marketing worth it, and how to get there!
These pro affiliates, often called super-affiliates, made and are making millions with their campaigns. They usually use this wealth to promote their lifestyle. Flashy cars, expensive homes, and luxurious lifestyles. They love to show off and to be honest, they should. They made their money and they have the right to do with it whatever they want.
But all of this hype for the affiliate lifestyle has affected the publics’ opinion on affiliate marketing. Nowadays people think that every affiliate is making this kind of money. Newcomers come to the industry expecting insane paydays the first day they sign up. But that is very far from reality.
The industry itself is very competitive. There are thousands of affiliates fighting for attention, and most of them have been in the business for years. This leaves inexperienced newcomers at a huge disadvantage. These beginners need to learn how to compete in the industry and make their campaigns profitable, and that is much easier said than done.
Instead of making money, affiliates starting can even expect to lose some as they are learning the basics behind the industry. This brought start usually makes them question “Is affiliate marketing worth it?”. And this learning period can last for months. But after you know the basics, and have carved out a small niche for yourself, you will start to see some profit coming your way.
It is important to know that not everyone can become a successful affiliate. A lot of people will fail in their ambitions and lose a lot of money. But some people will earn a lot of money, and the difference between these two is persistence and expectation management.
If you expect millions and get peanuts you might get disheartened and quit. But those who set their expectations low and work hard and stay persistent have the chance to succeed and make a name for themselves. Making affiliate marketing worth it is hard, give it your best, and don’t give up!
What is Affiliate Marketing Like Today?
A lot has changed in the past decade or two of online marketing. Strategies that used to be golden before are now obsolete or straight up banned. Some of the old methods are completely illegal today, and affiliates that made millions before now can have extreme trouble if they attempt it today. This is true for most blackhat methods. These used to be a bit scammy and trick people into purchasing specific products. This is not something you can do easily today, and even if you could we wouldn’t recommend it.
Slowly but surely the industry evolved and changed a lot. Advances in tech and regulations are constantly changing the industry. This means that affiliates need to spend a lot of time to stay on top of their game every day. Tactics that worked a few weeks ago might already be old news in affiliate marketing.
Things like campaign tracking and reporting have become incredibly advanced. Nowadays you can track everything to the finest details and see exactly how your campaign performs. This leads to vast datasets that allow marketers to optimize their campaigns to incredible lengths.
Affiliate marketing is also much easier to get into. There are a lot of online resources and guides that can help you get started and increase your chances of success. All of this was not available even a few years ago, and affiliates back then had to figure out everything themselves. But affiliate marketing is still worth giving a try.
Utilize Affiliate Marketing
Making affiliate marketing worth it is all about utilizing everything you can to promote your campaigns.
To do this, you will need to do a couple of things beforehand. Make a strong connection with the product. Only promote products you believe in yourself.
Take things slow and learn from every mistake. Don’t rush into things. Do everything one step at a time. Consolidate forums and guides, or even ask other affiliates if you can. Learn from your mistakes, so that you don’t repeat them!
Always provide your audience with additional value. The more you give to them, the more they will feel obliged to give something back.
Work on your reputation. Try being fair and objective with every decision you make. It is much easier to convert your audience once they believe what you have to say. But getting there might take years.
If you are worried about always having a stable income and having a secure job, affiliate marketing might not be worth it for you. The industry is infamous for its ever-changing landscape, and if you want to be a part of it you will have to adapt to it.
What Types of Affiliates are There Nowadays?
All of these changes lead to a lot of different types that developed in the past few years. This leads to a diverse group of different marketing approaches that all have their ups and downs.
- Blogging and social media
Blogging is a great way to introduce and promote your affiliate product to your audience. No wonder that it is one of the most popular ways for affiliates to promote their products. Blogs can be for various niches and if done properly you should be able to get a lot of views from interested potential customers. The same goes for social media. People nowadays are influenced by big social media accounts and they often buy things that these accounts promote.
- Comparisons and reviews
Comparisons and reviews for products are some of the best methods to introduce your affiliate products to an audience. You can compare your product or service with other more popular ones. Show your audience what makes your product better and how it fares against the competition. Keep these reviews fair and objective as fake reviews can negatively impact your reputation as a reviewer.
- Courses and workshops
Courses and workshops are great ways to give something back to your community. With workshops and courses, you will be giving away valuable knowledge that your community should appreciate. Alongside giving away knowledge, you can try promoting your products and services as well.
- Communities and mastermind groups
This is similar to courses and workshops, but these kinds of groups are usually even more specific. Interacting with these niche groups can prove quite useful as advertising to them is usually much more effective due to you knowing what they like.
- Apps
Partnering with apps is a relatively new thing in the affiliate world. The concept is simple. You partner with an app and promote it through your channels. The app then promotes your product within it. As an example, a beauty app could promote specific brands that you own. The only important thing to note is to pick ads that target the same audience as your products do.
- Paid advertising
Paid advertising is the old and proven method to get to audiences. Affiliates usually use paid traffic through PPC and contextual ads, or social channels. This is of course only an option if their affiliate program allows it. There are a lot of restrictions for some affiliate programs, and this can be one of them!
- General Content
This includes all of the general content that is difficult to categorize into specific categories. It includes large organizations that own numerous websites and who get millions of clicks monthly or smaller affiliates that have unique ways of approaching the industry.
So, Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?
So knowing that affiliate marketing isn’t what it used to be, it’s time to answer the main question behind this article. Is affiliate marketing worth it? The short answer is yes!
The long answer is a bit more complicated. Affiliate marketing is worth only for those that are ready to invest some time into learning and optimizing their campaigns. Those who expect incredible success in a few days or weeks will be disappointed. Affiliate marketing is a very competitive industry that requires a lot of work to succeed in.
Around 50% of affiliates that start earning money in this industry make under $20,000 a year. Only 9% of affiliates make more than $50,000 yearly. A small percentage of that 9% can make millions, but getting there is hard. That’s why if you are serious, and you are willing to work hard –join iAmAffiliate premium forum where you can get 1 on 1 help from me with affiliate marketing, paid ads and many more industry challenges!
The best thing you can do is to start. Don’t give up no matter how hard it might seem. Keep always learning and don’t get discouraged by failures. Every affiliate has bad campaigns from time to time. But the good ones should outweigh the bad ones!
