How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? & How to Become a Thought Leader/Influencer to Sell More Affiliate Products

If you’ve been selling affiliate products for a while now, then you probably think you have a fairly good handle on how the process works. It’s all quite simple: you get given a link, you promote a product using said link, and you then get commission on all the sales that come from that URL.

But do you know how this all works? Do you know how the product creators know the link came from you? And do you know how to protect your links? Let’s take a closer look at the nuts and bolts.

Cookies and Referrers

What’s actually happening when someone clicks on an affiliate link, is that a cookie is being left on their computer. This then means that when they go to buy the product, they can be identified as having been sent by you.

This is why some affiliate schemes can still pay out even if someone clicks on your link, goes away, and then comes back later to buy the product.

Whether or not that will happen for you though will all depend on how long the cookie lasts – most have an ‘expiry date’. Likewise, it’s worth bearing in mind that someone could click on a second affiliate and then get a new cookie from another marketer. Whether or not this replaces your cookie will depend on the system being used: whether it’s ‘first click’, ‘last click’ or ‘lifetime referrer’.

Meanwhile, some potential buyers might try and sidestep your affiliate link all together and go directly to the website to buy the product. This is called ‘link bypassing’ and it’s the reason that smart affiliates will use another strategy called ‘link cloaking’ in order to protect their earnings. This essentially means using a referral to disguise the link, though there are numerous ways you can achieve this. Something to think about!

Legal Aspects

Many people never question how things like affiliate links work, but by understanding the basics, it’s possible to make sure that you do everything right and maximize your earnings. Likewise, you should also think about the legal aspects of affiliate marketing. For example, the fact that you are using cookies means that you need to show a disclaimer in order to comply with EU laws. Likewise, it is law in the US that you must announce that you are earning a commission. You can do this easily with a plugin showing a small message at the bottom of the page, and likewise there are plugins to help you become automatically compliant with EU GDPR laws.

How to Become a Thought Leader/Influencer to Sell More Affiliate Products

Selling affiliate products is a business model that appeals very much to people who want to start earning money as easily and quickly as possible. That’s because affiliate marketing allows you to begin earning money immediately: you don’t need to build a product, or to spend a lot of money allowing someone else to build it. This also means that you don’t need to take any risks.

But herein also lies the problem. Because affiliate marketing naturally appeals to those looking for quick fixes, it means that very often, they will attempt to take the fastest route to the point where they start making money. The problem? The fastest route is not always the best. And by taking “shortcuts,” you can actually risk missing the highest earnings.

The Two Options

There are two ways you can earn money from affiliate products. One is to rush to find a product, then quickly create a sales page (a single web page that is dedicated to selling that item), and then send people to that page through advertising.

The other method is to spend time building up an audience first. To build an audience that trusts you and listens to what you have to say, which you can then market a product to. This way, you are flipping the formula on the head: gaining an audience then finding a product to match, rather than the other way around.

Let me tell you this: the latter option is by far the superior strategy. Why? Because when you build an audience that trusts you, and that wants to hear from you, you have a direct route to an audience that is qualified and perfectly targeted. This can be the difference between launching to 500 orders on day one, versus working hard to gain a slow trickle.

When someone trusts you, they will trust your recommendation. And when you already have an audience of thousands, it’s FAR easier to get the word out.

How to Get There

So how do you get to this point? It’s a challenge that many marketers struggle with, but the key is to play the long game. That means spending time delivering amazing value and high quality content, and using this in order to slowly build up momentum. You must have something new to say in your niche, and you must choose a topic that you are passionate about. That will resonate with your audience, and as a result, they will hang on your every word.