How To Make Money As An Affiliate Marketer: Can You Hack It?

Over 15% of people doing affiliate marketing bring in over $50,000 annually in affiliate income. That $50,000+ is passive income—a steady stream of money that takes minimal effort.

In most cases, affiliate marketing is easier to earn passive income than other revenues, like property rentals. Affiliate marketing is relatively low maintenance and high reward, making it alluring to social media influencers, bloggers, and solopreneurs with active websites.

More than 80% of businesses have an affiliate marketing program and want to find the right people to promote them.

Could it be you?

Should You Become An Affiliate Marketer?

You can be an affiliate marketer if you’re a solopreneur, micro-SMB, contractor, gig worker, freelancer, blogger, influencer, etc. You’ll need a website or social media profile, content (e.g., videos, blog articles), an audience, and a business (aka, “the brand”) that will pay you to promote their business.

Here’s how it works: The affiliate marketer sticks a link of another business brand on their website, social media profile, blog, newsletter, etc. When a consumer clicks the link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission because they were responsible for promoting the other business’s product or service. Talk about making money in your sleep.

The high passive income isn’t the only reason people become affiliate marketers. Other benefits include increased flexibility and better work-life balance.

Some affiliate marketers take a gamble and quit their day jobs to pursue affiliate marketing full-time. Others keep the 9 to 5 and do affiliate marketing as a side hustle to generate additional revenue. The choice is yours.

How To Make Money As An Affiliate Marketer

Influencer Grace Lemire made $6,600 in one month from product advertising. Another influencer, Niccoya Thomas, received $56,000 in one month from brand partnerships.

How’d they do it? They had followers, captivating content, and brand partnerships.

Look at these three tips if you want to make the big affiliate bucks:

1. Build Your Following

The larger your audience, the more potential consumers you can reach. Influencers making thousands of dollars per month have hundreds of thousands—or millions—of followers.

2. Partner With Highly-Rated Brands

Whether you run a blog for new moms or vlog about your travels, partner with trustworthy brands you’re proud to promote.

Look for brands with products with high ratings and great success with their customers. By finding highly-rated brands, you can drive more transactions and know you’re recommending something good.

3. Look For High Commissions

Affiliate marketers typically get a percentage commission or a flat fee per sale.

Percentage commissions can range from 3-7%, which might be a small fee depending on the total sale amount. A 7% commission on a $200 sale is only $14; you’d need to make 72 sales to bring in over $1,000.

Look for brands that give you a flat $100+ per sale. For example, the Patriot Software Affiliate Program gives commissions of $150 for each new customer. If you made 72 sales at a $150 commission, you’d bring in $10,800!

It’s surprisingly easy to drive up your commissions when you partner with a beloved brand that pays high commissions.

The Future Of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry. As more workers leave their jobs to become solopreneurs, the more alluring the passive income of affiliate marketing becomes.

Forbes Councils Member David Gasparyan predicts that affiliate marketing is just getting started. Why? Because more influencers are finding huge success with affiliate partnerships.

The verdict is that affiliate marketing is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. If you want a piece of the action, start building your followers, find a partner who pays generous commissions, and start affiliate marketing today.