Affiliate Marketing: Make Money While You Sleep

The following content can be set up with a simple analogy of Little Barry and his lemonade stand.

Little Barry and his Lemonade Stand

Little Barry has set up a lemonade stand. He decorates the stand with eye-catching signs. He already has many customers due to his previous entrepreneurial endeavours (see here). However, Little Barry’s lemonade stand is different from what one might expect. 

He only offers customers small samples of the lemonade, and rather than encouraging eager customers to buy more cups, he directs them to a house across the road.

The recipe and supply of the lemonade available at Little Barry’s stand is sourced from this house, where his good friend Mr Green lives. Little Barry has been helping to promote Mr Green’s lemonade, in exchange for a small fee at the end of the day.

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‘Lemonade Boy’ by Manu: From Dribbble

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an advertising strategy in which companies pay a commission fee for you (the affiliate) to advertise their products. 

Although the concept has been longstanding, its implementation into digital marketing has transformed it into a highly lucrative opportunity to make money. 

Companies like to seek out YouTubers, bloggers, and social media influencers to advertise a product as much as possible using the wide extent of their audience. They promote products through videos, flashy website designs, tweets, etc. 

Companies usually introduce affiliate marketing programs that people can sign up for. The programs often provide tracking links or codes. A company can track how many impressions and clicks your promotion generated, and pay you for it. 

A famous example is Amazon’s affiliate marketing program. Affiliates can earn up to 10% commission on the sale, and Amazon fixes its baseline commission rate. You can learn more about it at Investopedia.

However, note that most companies pay commission for sales only, and clicks without purchases don’t guarantee a fee.

Image Belongs to Copyright Holder: From AppyPie

Benefits

  1. Flexibility– You can promote products online anywhere at any time. The products themselves can be from businesses around the world. You could be an affiliate promoting Chinese clothing, whilst living in a house in Bulgaria.
  2. Promote what you Believe In. A variety of products allows you to align your product with the interests of your audience. Affiliates put more effort into advertising what they believe in.
  3. Low Costs. Becoming an affiliate requires very little upfront investment. There is no need to handle inventory, manufacturing, or shipping costs. All efforts are focused on advertising and making sales.
  4. Make Money While You Sleep. Once you make the product known to your audience, you can generate income even when you aren’t actively working on it.

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Cover Image- Vecteezy