Such programs effectively help companies increase sales and save money on advertising by paying only for direct results achieved by their partners. But what’s in it for the partners themselves? How much do affiliate marketers make? In this article, we will find out what they earn and how they can increase their profits.
Where Do Profits Come From?
Affiliates function as independent contractors. Their goal is to attract traffic to their employer’s website and drive sales. Each sale that is a direct result of their work earns them a commission. Special links help track sales that were made by customers who followed them.
As you see, it all comes to how effective partner program participants can work. The more sales they drive — the more they earn. The terms and payment models of different programs vary from company to company. Some offer a percentage of goods value, while others give a fixed rate for a certain amount of sales.
Stats and Numbers
You may have heard rumors that partner networks used to bring real money years ago, while now the possibility to profit from them became questionable. Let’s go over some of the latest statistics and find out if it’s true.
In 2021, affiliate marketing spending showed the same stable growth as in the past five years and reached $6.8 billion. The same goes for the corresponding search term frequency. This indicates that partner programs are still a thing and will be in demand in the near future.
When it comes to income, 48% of the programs’ participants earn about $20,000 a year, and only 3% make more than $150,000. Also, only one-third of the respondents said they are willing to invest in PPC to get extra exposure for ads they make and earn more money. Based on this data and the fact that most of them promote up to ten products and only 8% market over 300 goods items, we can assume that majority of people view it as an additional income source and only a pinch pursue it as a career. A company or a private entrepreneur may participate in a partner program and place ads on their website to have a source of passive income, and influencers might get involved in a partnership to secure certain regular profits. Dedicating all your time to it, on the other hand, requires a special approach and investments.
Who Are the Highest-paid Affiliates?
Top players in this field are said to earn more than $100,000 a month. They are professional advertisers and SEO specialists with several optimized websites or macro-influencers who have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
One of the prominent names in affiliate marketing is Pat Flynn. Pat successfully monetized his blog where he discussed business marketing, and after 5 years of working on it, it started bringing him $50,000 a month in 2013. Nowadays, Pat still gets over 80% of his income from partnership marketing and is considered a guru in this field. He has written several marketing books and has a popular podcast.
Ways to Increase Affiliate Earnings
When you promote something on behalf of your resource or yourself, it’s important to show that you are sincere and build trust with the audience. Over so many years of aggressive marketing, people have become proficient at sensing empty words and fake excitement. Here are some tips that will help you earn more through valuable content:
- Advertise products and services that match your audience’s interests.
- Always present them through your personal experience and show proof that you tried them yourself.
- Apply storytelling techniques to catch the audience’s attention.
- Rather than trying to convince everybody, focus on the segment closest to the product’s area.