By Yulia Arellano, Affiliate Manager
Welcome to the world of affiliate marketing! As a beginner, you may have heard about the potential of affiliate marketing to generate passive income, but you may not know where to start. That’s where affiliate platforms come in. These platforms connect publishers, or affiliates, with brands that want to promote their products or services. By joining an affiliate platform, you can access a wide range of affiliate programs and start earning commissions by promoting products you believe in. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know as a beginner in affiliate marketing, and present our best tips and tricks to get you started in the right direction.
What is affiliation?
Affiliation is a simple and effective marketing model for monetizing a digital business. Introduced at the end of the 90s by Amazon, it is based on the principle of bringing in business, by bringing together advertisers (or affiliators, generally brands and e-commerce sites) who wish to promote their products and/or services, and partners (or affiliates) who will relay their offers to their audiences, in exchange for a commission on sales or actions generated. Affiliates generally use tracked links to connect potential customers with advertisers, and are rewarded when these customers complete a specific purchase or action.
What is the role of affiliation platforms?
Affiliation platforms act as intermediaries between advertisers and affiliates, providing the technology for creating these tracked links, tracking the actions taken by the affiliate’s audience, and processing the financial transactions corresponding to affiliate remuneration. They manage the technical and administrative aspects of affiliate programs for both parties, and also facilitate communication between them.
Advertisers use affiliate marketing platforms to distribute their affiliate programs to affiliates. Affiliates can search for available offers, sign up for programs, promote products and track their commissions.
For affiliates, an affiliate platform is important, as it offers them the opportunity to earn money by promoting the products or services of different merchants. Affiliate platforms generally provide tools and resources to help affiliates promote products effectively, such as unique affiliate links, banner ads and product images, tracking reports and regular payments. Affiliate platforms also offer affiliates the opportunity to choose from a variety of products and programs to align their interests with their target audience.
What are the affiliate remuneration models?
There are various affiliate compensation models, the most popular of which is CPA. Here’s an explanation of each.
- Cost-per-action (CPA) payment model: the affiliate receives a commission for each specific action (e.g. registration or purchase) he generates, regardless of the amount of the sale.
- Cost-per-click (CPC) payment model: the affiliate receives a commission for each click on a banner ad he generates.
- Pay-per-lead (PPL) model: the affiliate receives a commission for each lead generated.
- Cost-per-thousand (CPM) payment model: the affiliate receives a commission for every thousand displays of a banner ad it generates.
These templates can be combined or modified to meet the specific needs of a company or affiliate.
Who can become an affiliate?
Affiliates can be website owners, bloggers, influencers and content creators on social networks (e.g. TikTok Shop or Pinterest), owners of e-mail lists, owners of YouTube channels, owners of podcasts, and so on. Affiliates can be individuals or companies. So any person or organization that generates digital traffic can become an affiliate of an affiliate platform. Note that each affiliate platform has its own requirements and eligibility criteria for affiliates, so check with the platform before signing up.
How do I get started in affiliation?
Here are the main steps to getting started as an affiliate:
- Find an affiliation platform or advertisers offering products or services that match your niche or audience. There are platforms that specialize in a particular field, and there are generalist platforms. For example, Effinity, which we’ll be focusing on later in the article.
- Create a publisher account. This may involve filling out a registration form and providing contact information and details about your site, blog or social networks.
- Identify products, services or brands to promote. From your publisher account, you’ll find a list of programs that match your niche and audience, and that offer an attractive commission.
- Apply to program(s). As we’ve already mentioned, you’ll have access to a wide variety of merchants to choose from. Once you’ve applied to a program, you’ll need to wait to be validated on it. Why is this? Because brands like to work with publishers who are in tune with their niche. So, for example, if you have a website that’s all about sports, you’ll most likely be rejected from a beauty brand’s program.
- Create affiliate links for selected products or services. Most affiliate platforms will provide you with tools to create your own tracked links.
- Promote products or services using affiliate links. You can use a variety of methods, such as social networks, blogs, websites, newsletters and so on. The most important thing is to create quality content.
- Track performance and commissions. Most affiliate platforms or advertisers will provide you with tools to track conversions, sales and commissions generated.
It’s important to note that success in affiliation depends on many factors, such as the choice of products to promote, the quality of the promotion, and congruence with your audience. It’s therefore important to keep abreast of market trends and to continue improving your strategy.
6 tips for affiliate success
Find products or services that appeal to your audience : It’s important to promote products or services that interest your audience, to increase the chances of conversions and commissions.
Use effective marketing techniques: It’s necessary to use effective marketing techniques to promote products or services, such as social networks, blogs, websites, newsletters, etc.
Track performance and commissions: Track the performance of your affiliate campaigns and the commissions generated so you know which campaigns are working best and can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Work closely with advertisers: To understand their products or services, marketing strategies and objectives, this will enable you to better promote their products and optimize your results.
Be creative and innovative: Stand out from the competition by being creative and innovative in your marketing techniques and coming up with original ideas to promote products or services.
Keep learning and stay informed: Keep up to date with the latest affiliate trends and strategies to stay competitive.
Effinity, a historic affiliation platform since 2000
Founded in 2000, our platform, Effinity, is one of the oldest on the market. We are an affiliate marketing platform that enables advertisers to recruit affiliates, also known as publishers, to promote their products or services in exchange for a commission on sales.
Affiliates can use tracking links to connect potential customers with advertisers, and are rewarded when these customers make a purchase. Effinity also offers tools for advertisers to track the performance of their affiliate campaigns, as well as tools for affiliates to track their commissions and create tracking links.
Our platform covers a wide range of business sectors, giving publishers the opportunity to market their products and services to a broad audience.
Top tools available on the Effinity platform
Commission tracking tools: to track commissions generated by sales, clicks and conversions.
Link building tools: to create tracking links for affiliate campaigns and integrate them on affiliates’ websites and blogs.
Campaign management tools: to select which affiliate campaigns to promote and track the performance of selected campaigns.
The Effinity platform offers a variety of programs from over 300 merchants, enabling content creators of all sizes to combine affiliate programs across multiple verticals. To mention just a few: fashion, beauty, home decor, automotive, childcare, sports, etc.
To register, simply go to this link and fill in the form. It’s totally free, and our team will be there to support you, whether you’re a beginner or an expert in affiliate marketing.
