If you're new to online business or just starting out as an affiliate marketer, you might be wondering about what kind of financial rewards you could expect if you choose this line of work. Will I ever earn enough money doing this? How much money will I make?
There's no one right answer to these questions because each person is different and has unique circumstances that influence their earning potential. The truth is there isn't even a definitive answer regarding the average amount of income any given affiliate makes on his/her first few months (or years) of making sales.
We know that some affiliate programs pay better than others, but we also have seen many different affiliate earnings reports over the years. So let us try to give you some context around what kinds of numbers we've been seeing so far.
The statistics show that 90% of new affiliate marketers don't see more than $100 - 200 dollars worth of commissions during their first 30 days. That means only 10% of people who start out as affiliates actually become successful at it. This statistic was derived by analyzing the data collected by ClickBank back when they were running their "Top 100 Earners" program.
This number seems pretty high! But remember, the top earners didn't always start off like that either. They had to build up traffic and create content before they started getting paid. It takes time. And a good chunk of those folks would eventually fail too.
So while that sounds discouraging, the fact remains that it doesn't take long for anyone to get into the game. If you want to learn more about how to succeed as an affiliate marketer, read my guide to becoming an internet entrepreneur. You'll find information on finding profitable products to promote and how to set yourself apart from your competitors.
In addition to learning how to generate traffic to your site, you should focus on creating quality content that gets shared on social media and other places where readers will stumble upon it. Once you've done all that, then you can begin promoting your own offers on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
Once you've mastered that process, you may very well be able to turn your passion for something into a full-time job -- especially if you use the methods outlined above to build a substantial audience.
But let's not forget why we're talking about all of this today. To understand what the real opportunities for success are, we need to look at the big picture.
According to Clickbank's stats, the median commission rate for new affiliates is 3%. That works out to about $3 per conversion. In comparison, Amazon pays 5%-7% depending on which product category you're selling.
Refersion claims its median affiliate revenue is between 8% and 12%, which comes out to somewhere between $8-$12 per order. When you factor in that you'll probably spend anywhere from $500 to $1,000 building your website, plus another couple thousand hosting costs every year, you can figure that the total cost of entry is likely closer to $5,000. Even if you manage to land 1,000 paying customers, that's still $50,000 in revenue. Not bad!
And keep in mind that these figures are averages. Some affiliates report higher numbers than others, but the median is typically what we hear about. So think of it as being slightly less than the mean.
That said, you shouldn't necessarily base your expectations on anything you read elsewhere. For example, there are plenty of articles telling you to stay away from any affiliate program offering less than 2% commission rates. These are often referred to as "penny stock" opportunities, because they tend to offer low payout percentages.
Don't fall prey to this advice though, because the reality is that some companies pay that little simply because they haven't yet built up a large customer list. As mentioned earlier, it takes time to develop a strong following.
You should also consider whether the company is reputable. Many scams exist within the world of affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, most people never discover them until after they've invested thousands of dollars. Don't risk losing everything you worked hard for! Instead, research the company thoroughly and ask lots of questions.
As you already know, there really is no single correct answer here. Every person's situation is unique, so there's no way for us to tell you definitively how much someone else made. However, the best thing you can do is follow the steps listed above to ensure that you're providing value to your visitors and that you're building a solid foundation for future success. Then, sit back and enjoy watching your bank account grow.
When asked this question, almost everyone answers "$10,000." Or some variation of that. Yet according to a recent study by Pew Research Center, the median annual income across all US households is now $52,054. And that includes both men and women working full-time jobs.
Even if you assume that half of those households are headed by sole breadwinners who make $20,000 annually, that leaves nearly 50 million Americans living below the poverty level. This is obviously not sustainable.
Fortunately, there's a solution...and it starts with affiliate marketing. Because instead of having to sell your stuff directly to consumers, you can allow interested buyers to purchase it themselves using a link provided by you. By doing so, you effectively double your profits while helping countless individuals avoid falling victim to poverty.
It's true that affiliate marketing isn't going to make you rich overnight, but neither did flipping burgers for minimum wage. There are certainly risks involved, however, and you must be prepared to put in the effort needed to succeed.
What if you end up spending hours writing blog posts, creating videos and designing landing pages, only to realize that nobody cares about whatever niche topic you chose? Does that sound familiar?
These are common pitfalls experienced by beginners, but fortunately there are strategies available for avoiding them. One approach involves choosing a highly competitive niche. Another option is to pick a subject area that interests you personally and devote significant amounts of time to developing valuable resources about it. Once you've established your authority in a particular field, you'll soon attract a loyal fan base eager to buy your offerings.
Ultimately, the key to maximizing your chances of success lies in two things. First, you must decide exactly what type of affiliate marketing model is right for you. Second, you must invest your time wisely.
A great place to start is reading my article on how to become an internet millionaire. I outline ten specific strategies for turning your passions into cash flow.
If you've been thinking about starting to earn some extra income by selling other people's products on your website or blog, then I think we both know that there is no shortage of information online about what type of product you should be promoting and where you should promote it. There is also plenty of advice out there about which programs to use to help promote those products. But one question that isn't usually answered very well is "how much will an affiliate make?"
There are many different ways to measure success when it comes to earning money using affiliate links. Some people measure their earnings based on the amount they spend on advertising (usually via Google AdWords) while others base their metrics off of sales made and commissions earned. If you're looking at this article because you want to find out how much money you could potentially make as an affiliate marketer, here are two things you need to understand before diving into these numbers. The first thing that you have to realize is that you won't just start making $10K a month overnight if you decide to get started today. It takes time to build up traffic, establish yourself as an authority in your niche, and learn how to sell effectively. You'll probably see results within 6-12 months after getting going but don't expect any quick cash flow unless you happen to stumble upon a massive viral campaign like back in 2012.
The second point to keep in mind is that each industry has its own unique rules and regulations so even though you may hear stories about someone who makes $50,000 every single day doing affiliate marketing, that doesn't mean that anyone else can duplicate that model. In fact, it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever achieve such high profits without being extremely diligent about building relationships with their customers over time. They would also have to master several different types of marketing strategies including search engine optimization, social media promotion, email list creation, etc. And since not everyone wants to go down that road, we thought it might be helpful to provide some general estimates so that you can put together a realistic plan for achieving financial freedom by working with affiliate networks. So let's jump right in!
You can easily calculate the approximate monthly revenue generated by selling another company's product or service. For example, let's say that you were hired to write content for a company called XYZ Corporation. As part of your compensation package, they agreed to pay you 25% commission on anything that you sold via your site. Let's assume that you signed up for a program via ClickBank that offered 20 free downloads of software per week. This means that you'd receive 2 x 25% = 50 cents per download. Then you set up a link on your site to send visitors directly to the clickbank page offering the software. To estimate your total potential earnings, multiply the number of clicks you received during that period ($2/week X 52 weeks = $104) times your percentage rate ($0.5). That gives us $52 dollars per month. While this certainly wouldn't cover the cost of hosting or domain registration fees, it would give you enough funds to live comfortably for the next few years. Of course, as with everything related to internet marketing, nothing is guaranteed. Successful companies always experience growth spurts and periods of decline.
Another way to look at this problem is to ask yourself whether you would rather make $100 a month or $1,000 a month. Obviously, you would prefer to take home more than less but the real issue is finding something you enjoy doing that pays really well. Once you figure out exactly what kind of work you're good at, you can begin to focus on developing skills that allow you to earn money doing that activity.
When it comes to figuring out how much successful affiliate marketers actually make in a given month, it depends on a lot of factors. How much did they spend on ads? Did they invest heavily in SEO efforts? Were they able to leverage existing customer bases that already had trust built up with them? These questions aren't easy to answer but fortunately there are tools available to help you track your progress. One tool worth mentioning is Shareasale.com. Just enter your name and email address below and you'll receive instant access to complete reports showing exactly how much revenue you brought in over the past 90 days. Another option is TrackUpTools.com which offers similar services with a slightly higher price tag.
Before jumping headlong into affiliate marketing, you should definitely consider the costs involved. A simple web host alone can run anywhere between $15-$30 a year depending on how much bandwidth you consume. Domain registrars charge anywhere from $7-$20 per year plus additional setup fees. Email accounts typically require somewhere around $25 annually. Depending on how much you're willing to spend up front, you can end up paying upwards of $250 per year just to operate a basic business presence. Now add in ongoing expenses like office supplies, taxes, insurance, employee benefits, equipment repairs, travel, training materials, and new technology...the sky truly is the limit when it comes to the expenses that come along with running an ecommerce store.
In order to determine how much money you can realistically hope to bring in a month, you need to analyze your current budget and identify areas where you can cut corners. Do you really need to hire employees? Can you handle your own accounting instead of outsourcing it? Are you comfortable spending hundreds of dollars on expensive seminars? Will you be okay if you lose half your inventory once a quarter? By asking yourself these kinds of questions and identifying solutions, you'll soon discover how much money you can generate for yourself.
According to statistics published by ShareASale, the typical lifetime value of an active customer is approximately $4.60. Based on this statistic, the average affiliate marketer earns roughly $8,400 per year assuming that they only retain 1% of their audience. However, this number varies widely depending on your skill level, competition, ad spend strategy, etc. On top of that, the average affiliate marketer only manages to convert 3% of their leads into actual purchases. So if you wanted to maximize your chances of becoming financially independent, you'd better aim much lower than that.
Again, it takes time and effort to become successful with affiliate marketing so don't expect to hit the ground running immediately. Even if you're lucky enough to score a huge viral campaign, it still takes a long time to build up a sizable following. Unless you're launching a brand new product line with thousands of followers waiting to buy whatever you offer, you'll almost certainly see steady increases in earnings throughout the next couple years.
Once you reach a certain threshold, the sky becomes the limit when it comes to the size of your bank account. When you combine your annual salary with the amount of profit you're bringing in through affiliate markets, you quickly discover that you can support multiple families living comfortably without having to resort to welfare checks. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a myth. Many popular myths surrounding internet marketing fall apart under close scrutiny. People tend to believe the hype until reality hits hard. Take my word for it - there is no magical formula that guarantees instant riches. Instead, you have to develop a system that allows you to consistently improve your ROI (Return on Investment). It sounds pretty daunting but if you follow the steps outlined above, you shouldn't have too much trouble reaching financial independence.
Most people who start an online business want to know what they're going to get out of starting their own venture. How much will I be making once my website goes live and starts earning me revenue? Will I have enough time left over to go on holiday or take up that new hobby I've always wanted to try?
But one thing many internet entrepreneurs overlook is the amount of money they'll actually earn on average as an affiliate marketer. Most people just assume that if they sign-up for Clickbank, then they'll automatically see some sort of massive income within days - but this isn't necessarily true.
So what's the reality behind affiliate marketing? And how much does anyone else make when they first begin? Let's find out...
It depends on your niche! The best way to determine whether you should become an affiliate is by looking at the products themselves. If there aren't any high quality products available, don't even bother trying to promote them. You won't be able to stand out amongst other affiliates because no one would care about your offer.
The only exceptions here are niche markets where there are tons of low-quality offers being sold (like weight loss supplements). In these cases, you may well still be able to generate decent commissions if you're very careful with your promotion of those products.
In general though, you need to look at the competition in each industry before deciding if it's worth promoting something. For example, let's say you were interested in selling fitness equipment like treadmills or exercise bikes. There could easily be hundreds of thousands of websites offering similar products right now, so you'd struggle to stand out unless you had a unique sales pitch.
On the flip side, if you sell digital ebooks related to health & wellness, you might be able to carve out a nice little niche by focusing on a specific topic and targeting keywords such as "exercise", "fitness" and "weightloss". This means you wouldn't have to compete against everyone else on the web - instead, you'd only have to fight off competitors using the same keyword phrases.
If you're not sure which type of product you should be promoting, you can use tools like Google Trends to help give you an idea of what kind of potential demand exists for your particular niche.
The truth is that the majority of successful affiliate marketers never make more than $100/month. Many fail miserably after spending months working hard on building traffic and generating leads for their sites - sometimes they simply end up giving up altogether.
The main reason why this happens is because most beginners think that once they land a few big clients who pay them monthly recurring payments, everything will magically fall into place. They figure that once they hit their target of around $1,000/mo, they'll suddenly be able to quit their day job and spend full-time creating content for their site.
This doesn't happen overnight, but it takes more effort than most people expect. It requires consistent work every single week, plus lots of research and testing. Just getting started alone costs loads of cash, so you need to come prepared to put in hours upon hours without expecting anything back.
Don't worry though - once you reach the point of profitability, things change drastically. Once you've proven yourself to others, you'll naturally attract the attention of top brands willing to partner with you. These companies will provide you with great opportunities to promote their wares alongside yours, meaning you can make serious amounts of money while having fun along the way.
One example of this was the case of Jon Morrow. He made his first $2,500 from affiliate marketing in 2010 - and since then he has been consistently raking in six figures a year. That's enough for him to live comfortably on - and he hasn't stopped yet either.
There's no easy formula for determining exactly how much you'll make when you launch your own website. But we can give you some rough guidelines based on statistics gathered by various experts.
For example, according to a study conducted by Neil Patel, the average affiliate makes between $5 and $20 per visitor. If we apply this rule to a typical blog post, it works out to anywhere between $3 and $24 depending on its popularity and how often visitors return to read it again later.
Of course, there are certain factors involved that influence this number somewhat. A popular article featuring a hot topic might receive upwards of 1,000 views whereas a post on a less interesting subject could barely muster 100. Also, many blogs rely heavily on social media shares for extra exposure, thus increasing clicks significantly.
Another factor to consider when calculating earnings is the cost of running ads across multiple platforms. While Facebook Ads remain the cheapest option, YouTube video adverts tend to be slightly cheaper too. However, both types of advertising have different rates depending on the ad format.
When comparing results for paid search campaigns versus organic SEO, you'll usually notice that PPC tends to bring higher clickthroughs than the latter method. So if you choose to run paid ads, you'll also likely incur lower operating expenses overall.
As far as the actual rate you get charged by third party networks goes, it varies greatly depending on the company you decide to join. Some charge flat fees per lead while others let you keep 80% of the profit. Others still allow you to set your own prices.
Some networks require you to buy inventory upfront, whilst others will only charge you whenever someone buys something from your link.
You also need to remember that most affiliate programs reward you for referring customers rather than signing up directly yourself. Therefore, if you manage to convince someone to purchase a product through your links, chances are you'll only get credited with half of that commission.
Yes! Of course you can. As long as you stick to the basics and follow the advice above, you should eventually be able to build a solid passive income stream from home. Whether you plan on becoming a millionaire overnight or just a regular guy making ends meet, you definitely shouldn't ignore affiliate marketing completely.
Even if you find it difficult to succeed initially, you should continue honing your skills until you feel comfortable enough to turn your passion project into a profitable business. After that, you can scale up to bigger projects and start reaping the rewards sooner.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.