What is Affiliate Marketing in 2023

1- What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a sales model in which a company pays a commission to an individual or other company — called an “affiliate” — to promote its products or services.

In other words, an affiliate acts as a representative or intermediary of the company with which he is associated, helping him to make sales in exchange for a reward.

The whole concept behind affiliate marketing is based on revenue sharing.

In this business model, where everyone is a winner, a company that has a product or service to offer offers a reward to promoters — affiliates — in order to give visibility to their offer and to advise it to others. 'other people.

In case the affiliates are successful in their marketing efforts, the company rewards them with a share of the profits.

Affiliates have the option of signing up for different affiliate programs, and as a result, earning commissions through each of them. This is what makes this type of marketing successful.

The affiliate can thus promote products and services from different companies, unlike a “classic” seller.

2- How does affiliate marketing work?

Affiliate marketing is based on a fairly simple mechanism to understand.

Initially, a company — or a platform specializing in affiliate marketing — that markets a product or service creates an affiliate program and determines a type and rate of commission for this same program.

A unique link is then provided to each affiliate so that they can monitor the number of sales made.

If someone clicks on this link on the affiliate's blog, website or social media, a cookie is stored on their device.

The purpose of this "affiliate cookie" is twofold: it first allows the company to associate the sale with the right affiliate, and it is also the means for the affiliate to be paid, even in the case in which the interested person who clicked on the link delays his purchase.

Here's why.

Surely you have already seen Youtubers who display affiliate links, for example for a VPN brand.

You have clicked on the link to see the offer and a cookie is stored on your computer. But in the end, you didn't complete the purchase at that exact moment, for some particular reason.

A few days later, you go to the website of this VPN brand and finally buy the product.

The affiliate will nevertheless receive his commission, thanks to the cookie duration policy of 2, 3 days, or more, guaranteed by the brand.

3- Why become an affiliate?

We will see in this part that affiliate marketing is a business model that offers several advantages, especially for affiliates.

Here are the main ones:

A simple and flexible model

This is the first thing to say when talking about this type of marketing: it's easy, and almost anyone can get into affiliate marketing, as long as they can convince future customers to buy the product or service.

You don't need to worry about product manufacturing, inventory management, or even customer support, by the very nature of affiliate marketing: your job is to connect a customer to a seller, period.

Under these conditions, nothing prevents you from choosing your working hours, diversifying your affiliate portfolio according to your desires and setting personal goals.

A model without economic risk

Most affiliate marketing programs are free, which means that as an affiliate, you don't have to invest in the operation.

So this means that you can start making money by promoting a product or service without any initial investment.

And as long as you choose the right marketing methods, like organic SEO and blogging, for example, you can get away with it cheaply.

The convenience of passive income

Affiliate marketing offers passive income potential, which will obviously vary depending on how you run your affiliate programs.

If, in the vast majority of "classic" jobs, you have to be at work to earn money, this principle does not apply to affiliate marketing. On the other hand, you have to invest a minimum of time to reap the benefits.

Moreover, it is up to you to select high-paying and beneficial affiliate programs, so that you receive a constant flow of income.

But again, you will have to spend time finding ways to drive traffic to the platform or website of the company you are affiliated with.

Earnings based on your performance

This is another fundamental element that differentiates affiliate marketing from a traditional job.

In the affiliate marketing system, your income depends solely on your performance.

To increase your revenue, you will need to be able to write engaging content and, most importantly, build trust with your audience.

It may take time, but over time and with effort, it's bound to be positive for your bank account.

Work from home

Finally, and this is an important factor today, affiliate marketing gives you the opportunity to work from home.

If you don't like wasting time commuting, spending a fortune on fuel, or the stress of on-site work, affiliate marketing ticks all the boxes.

The only thing you need is a stable, fast, and good quality internet connection.

Start Learning Email Marketing Stratergies Today