7 Affiliate Marketing Strategies for a Small (Online) Home-Based Business.

Did you know that the biggest chunk of revenue recorded or generated by most of the small online businesses out there, are from affiliate marketing? Well, I know you might have heard of it, or maybe not. If your answer is affirmative, then maybe you also now probably wonder and haphazardly ask yourself this: "why doesn't my small online business benefit me financially from such web-based income generation streams?"

Now, if you are an affiliate marketer already; linked to one or a number of many partner marketing networks/organizations and programs that exist in this kind of business model or environment out there today, then - bravo..!!! You are heading the right way. That's one great step and move forward, to take your venture into the next level to reap its latent fortunes from it, fully. But if not, then I think I am not going to dilly-dally about such a question.

My straight answer to that, - what might be bothering your mind much about Affiliate Marketing - is that; if you are not attached to or not in any of the affiliate programs or never ever even thought to give it a try, then definitely you can't gain by making money from it - whether actively or passively.

Again, I want to honesty offer you a free advice here.

That is, if you are green to what affiliate marketing is or maybe you find yourself interested in it for the first time, (to help you increase your business' marketing strategies, ideas, finances or even just to learn something new about it) then keep reading. I will let you know a little bit or more.

NB: Disclosure, "this post contains affiliate materials, contents, banners and/or links; and if you click on any of them we will earn commissions from your actions/activities. But note that revenue earning is not the main aim of this post in any way whatsoever. Opinions expressed here are our own and DOES NOT imply or represent those of any third-party and their associates in this website".

Now, let's get started, but first things first.





I want to commence by letting you know that I am going to clarify and also demystify one or two important things that I feel you need to know - today. In this topic I will discuss it, and by the end of this post you will learn something in terms of the following.

• Which are the - Key affiliate marketing pillars.
• How affiliate marketing works.
• Affiliate marketing strategies (how to boost your small business and make money online).

The Key Affiliate Marketing Pillars.

In this kind of business model, there are several players around the whole affiliate marketing wheel that makes it spin. But I want to say this; even though there are a number of systems and people involved in it, there are some 4 main affiliate pillars which supports the whole affiliate marketing structure.

So, for that case, and in this post, I will talk about them, i.e.;

Pillar 1: The Merchant.
Pillar 2: Affiliate Marketer (Affiliate).
Pillar 3: The Affiliate Network.
Pillar 4: The End-User (customer/client).

Pillar 1: The Merchant.

Also known as the advertiser. The Merchant is an individual or organization/manufacturer/institution or any other legal entity - whether artificial or natural person by law; that produces a product and/or service for profit. In that aspect, specifically as a process, this is the first stage and starting point in the Affiliate Marketing's entire arrangement model.

What I mean by this is that he owns the products/services that you as the affiliate seeks to promote, because without him making that product, then there will be nothing that brings the entire marketing system together.

I would say that is what makes him the first stage.

They (merchants) enable the other key parties who are also involved in this type of business model (i.e., the affiliate, the network & the customers) to come together and seal a deal in terms of fulfilling a profitable transaction/sale/purchase of his final product(s) for a commission - which is the common denominator here, that binds them all.

Pillar 2: The Affiliate Marketer (Affiliate/Publisher).

He is a blogger, a website or an organization that promotes the merchant's product/service(s) on his blog or website for a commission. Also known as publisher, just like you and me. So, if you market, promote, review for sale, your principal's (Merchant) products for a commission in such an agreement then you are called an 'affiliate' in that whole process or deal.

As simple and as straight forward as that.

Pillar 3: The Affiliate Network.

In common terms it is an enabling environment (in other words its a meeting ground/point of convergence for everyone that the entire trade concerns. It gives or provides all parties involved an avenue for meeting their business' goals. Here, in the network, you are provided with a link in form of either an image, text, video or a combination of them, that you use to place in your site to market products/services via a number of ways - promotional strategies/methods; and one of them is through a coupon (voucher) deal or discount offer approach.

In that, when a visitor clicks to buy a product on a discount offer ( e.g. at an offer of 50% off normal price from your site/blog and gets directed to the merchant's sales page, and eventually that customer makes an actual purchase through that unique link in your blog/website) then you, as the affiliate, gets rewarded by payment of certain amount or percentage of the profit earned from that sales deal.

Pillar 4: The end-user (customer/client).

Basically, this is the final person, I would say.

In other words the consumer, is any person who purchases/buys the product or service that is reviewed and promoted by the affiliate via a network(s) for his/her own consumption. He is very important in this business model, because he makes the purchase and seals the deal to enable the arrangement to be deemed complete.

So without him there is NO deal yet, that will have been fulfilled.

OK, now, let's move on to explain a bit how the whole affiliate marketing process works, which by the way, I have just touched on a little bit about it above, but only if you were keen enough to grasp at least something for your knowledge.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Works?

Answer: It's very easy.

Look..! Affiliate Marketing is simply all about marketing, promoting and eventually the selling of a merchant's product/service through employing and implementing several campaign strategies of your choice, like; doing product reviews, e-mail marketing, competitor rating or price comparison articles etc. And for you to achieve that, you can do it via special links that are provided to you - the affiliate - by the merchant/advertiser.

Where you attach those special link codes to the products that you promote to be able to attract and lead your site audience/users/visitors to the advertiser's landing or sales page(s). In an effort to convince, influence and persuade them (i.e., the potential merchant's clients/customers) to buy a product, for a share of the revenue or profit that comes from that business deal as your reward in terms of commission.

So, in short - you perform, you earn - that is how your earnings journey rolls. But I am not done yet - just keep on reading.

Affiliate Transaction Process.

As I have just stated above, we have around 4 main parties i.e. the Merchant, an Affiliate Marketer, the Network (in other words called the intermediary or go-between or sales platform - I would say). But the most important player here, that I must acknowledge is the end-user; who is - in other words - also commonly known as the customer/client. This is because without him there is no deal, no complete transaction circle; since there is no one to make a purchase.

Therefore he is the main point of sale.

So, this process starts where the merchant, also known as the product manufacturer/creator places his/her product/service(s) for sale in a form of advertising, through an Affiliate Marketing Network like the ClickBank, Amazon Associates, CJ Affiliate by Conversant (changed name from Commission Junction) or just any other network of his choice, to display his products for sale.

Those Networks acts as sales platforms, and they are also known as Marketplaces.

The Affiliate Marketer (Affiliate) will then look or shop around to find and compare different merchants' product(s)/brand to review. If the product suits him depending on his niche or business theme then he will market, run, or basically promote it on his blog/small online business website on an affiliate program/network on a partnership basis (i.e. merchant-affiliate relationship), for a commission.

Generally the affiliate will pick and review a product to try to convince his site visitors/audience to buy it. Then if that customer makes a purchase, he (affiliate) will be paid a commission based on the network's terms of service and the merchant's offer price. So, the fruits of your efforts, as an affiliate in all that, is a reward in terms of revenue or in other words a commission.

What you earn or get paid also depends on a number of factors, like;

• the type of niche product(s) that you choose to market/advertise through your affiliate home based business. Note, that some products from some industries will earn you more commission than others, (e.g. tech apps have higher percentage than toys etc.,).
• the affiliate network/company/partner's terms of service.

Product Tracking and Commission Management.

Affiliate marketing is normally run/managed by the network involved in that program. For example, if ShareASale - (which is one of the most popular affiliate networks in the market), offers to the market then it means it will also handle its affiliate program, and all the payments of the commissions earn by publishers will be paid by them.

Alternatively, for effective tracking of customers behavior and purchase progress from publishers, like you and me, then that task is outsourced by affiliate networks, to third party organisations called Outsourced Program Managers (OPM), like Acceleration Partners. Which happens almost in all network programs. The OPMs will now pay commissions to the affiliate(s) directly through an automated system to settle what belongs to you, the affiliate.

NB: So, you get paid depending on what value that you bring to the network's program in terms of;
leading the traffic flow improvement;

• sales lead conversion or
• even convincing your site visitors to perform a task (like inviting them to subscribe for newsletters).

So, those are some of the actions or activities from your audience that aims to eventually lead to the purchase or sale of a merchants products/services.

Marketing Ideas and Strategies for a Small Business.

I think I have highlighted a little bit about what I feel the major affiliate pillars are and how it works. But I seriously feel I can't just let you finish reading this article without you learning more about strategies of affiliate marketing for your business success - that's the main focus of this  article.

I know you have worked hard and tirelessly as a publisher to ensure that your business feature prominently in your market space - and earn from it; but despite all that, your efforts still flounders many times. I also understand the fact that it takes a toll on you, and you sometimes feel like you want to give up. But I want to advice you not to give up so soon. Try the following strategies/ideas to stay on board and be successful in your affiliate marketing journey.

So, you should start with the following.

1). Produce quality content.

As the old adage in SEO industry/niche goes - "Content is king ".

So, for you to attract merchants for your application approvals or visitors to your site for more traffic, and keep the spirit of that magic phrase above alive, you need to create quality contents that results in delivery of great user-experience (UX). Users are more attracted to blogs that brings value and gives them reason to stay engaged on your site.

And that value means more visitors in terms of traffic, which might translate to profits depending on the affiliate network/program terms and niche-targeted products that you choose to promote on your site.

2). Learn from competitors.

You have always coveted your competitor, right? I know that is one key thing that we - you and me - have to agree on, especially those (competitors) who - as a norm - feature on the SERPs top 10.

So, I would advice you to also learn from what they do to make them stay on top;

• If it's great SEO best practices is what they stick to, then try to emulate them, i.e. - if you can't beat them.
• If it's the best niche tutorials they provide - that makes them beat the rest, (including yourself) then try to outdo them by doing things out of the box/differently.

For example, focus on;

• E-mail marketing (you can use platforms like MailChimp to create a list of target audience in your promotional efforts whom you can reach through that strategy).
• Social media sharing (but build on your social media strength and presence first to use this approach effectively and fully).
• Tailor your posts to cater for your blog's community/forums/group audience.
• You can also even produce a video tutorials/guide of how to use a technical product like a video-camera, aerial photography-drone etc., (to target photo-journalists, event organizers among other users).

Try the above as strategies to reach and meet your clients’ needs and/or consumption demands to beat competition. You never know.

If you employ such ideas of doing your marketing, that way, it might trigger a viral post - through support of your own customers' word of mouth/post share - that can even surprise the industry leaders in your niche.

3). Choose Niche-Market Products.

What this means, is that, if you are a blogger in the WordPress niche for instance, and that's where you target your audience, then select products that leans towards WordPress e.g you may promote WordPress plugins, WordPress themes etc. If you are blogging about Google's Blogger - tips, then also find affiliate programs that will meet, address the customers' needs, but most importantly choose products that are relevant to them (clients).





Think about creating Blogger tutorials about HTML/CSS coding for instance, and select affiliate products that are related to your target audience about it.

4). Give Product-Test a Priority.

Avoid misleading your audience; promote what you have tested yourself. Your audience or customers put all their trust in you.

Read, and take for instance, the following;

Scenario: Sorry to use it as an example to explain a point here to you, but don't be scared.

Now, let's say you got recruited, then went and legally signed up a binding agreement - for a hair gel test, then got booked in for a product test. For instance you are taken in for the company XYZ's hair-dye, hair-food or any hair treatment product-test.

Then on the agreement document/form with that company, you allow them to do a new hair-product's test on your hair to gauge if it's ready, fit for human use/consumption (based on its chemical composition) and can be launched into the market for sale. And, that in-case of any damage whatsoever to you, maybe in terms of skin reaction and/or burns, there will be no further liability against the product manufacturer (i.e. it might be the merchant in this case) up-to a certain limit.

But all you gain out of all that hair product-test is an incentive of a limit of up-to $100 only, a one-off payment.

Now, in-case by bad lack, you actually get some negative reactions in terms of medically irreparable side effects/damages.

• How would you feel?
• What would you do?
• How do you go about it? Do you still go ahead and sue company XYZ for damages incurred by you or what next?

So, those are some of the tough questions that you might need to be clarified or addressed on the side of your affiliate program/merchant, and then you channel them down to demystify likewise to your affiliate marketing audience; in terms of ensuing that you promote (a product) that you have experience with, regardless of the niche market you target.

NB: Therefore, there is nothing more frustrating and awful than a fluid product packaged and promoted as of high quality item, to mislead your audience. But in reality it doesn't provide any value at all to your clients/customers. In other words, promote a product that you know yourself; and you have used or tested, to be able to advice someone else about its benefits.

5). Have a Fallback Strategy (Plan B).

In affiliate marketing things can be tough sometimes - it’s a double edged sword (cuts both sides) i.e. you perform you win, if you don't then you are out.

What do I mean by plan B?

It is simple, that in this type of partnership we have several programs and products for affiliates to choose from. And one idea or promotion approach that works for one might not do well for the other. Some programs too may have terms and conditions that may not be favorable for you as an affiliate. Like supply and demand, a customer may decide to source his product/service(s) from a number of suppliers. If one does not go well with him then he can switch or replace them (suppliers) towards his own benefits.

Merchants/affiliate programs/products are so many for you to have as many fallback plans as you want. Don't be restricted with what doesn't work for you.

Always have a game plan B.

6). Analyze your Marketplace/Programs first.

Always go ahead to ensure you know the basics of trading in your specific affiliate programs; but if you can, go even deeper to understand the fine-prints i.e.;

• Specific niche products that you target. What’s the payment plan etc., before you get approved by that market? You might be duped if you are not keen to even learn to know what the terms of service and use covers were not fit for you and your customers in the first place.

7). Product, consistency.

Don't be a jack-of-all-trades. Your strategy here will be to identify what fits well with the service that you provide. Pick only one specific product/service, or just a few of them if you feel you want to diversify - maybe choose only about 3 niche products/services.

Tip: Now after that, don't forget to spread your key choice product/service(s) to a number of trusted affiliate marketing networks like the ones that I have mentioned under the affiliate transaction process above. That way you spread the risk of low revenue or return due to non-performing promotion portfolios. So, go for what you can relate with to fit in well with your audience, industry/niche and has potential for better ROI.

Consider the pay-per-click rates, coupon discounts etc.

Why It's recommended for your Online Home Business.

Your small business may have just started its online operations, less than a year or so; and web presence and revenue generation for growth is more of an uphill task, and so it’s something that you want to factor in to succeed. You wouldn't like to see it straggle much, and because of that you decide now to look for ways to uplift it. Then don't forget to extend your reach out of affiliate marketing.

This is recommended for you because;

• It provides you - the small business owner/merchant - with an opportunity to work together with a huge list of publishers/affiliates to choose from.
• It gives you a chance, as an affiliate, a platform partner with advertisers/merchants to promote them for a commission through your website.
• Your credibility and niche authority gets a boost, depending on your marketing efforts and web presence.
• Both your organic and paid traffic campaigns improve, since you do marketing promotions to help other businesses via your blog/website. So you also benefit from it.

In return you gain through advertiser-link clicks, that translates to leads to your principal merchants' landing (sales) pages for leads conversion and revenue generation in terms of commissions, rewards, coupon discounts etc., earned for your business.

This is an entire mutual relationship.

Conclusion:

If you are a small business owner and you have read this post to its conclusion, then I hope you have learned a thing or two from it today. I think it's your turn to embrace this kind of partnership to realize your venture's revenue growth opportunities in affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing, its networks, marketplaces, the affiliates themselves and merchants; make up a reliability web that each party now depends on one another. So, my last word for you is that if you want to go far then walk with the rest. Consider the above strategies for your success.

I hope this post helped clarify, guide and/or addressed your questions.

If, so then don't forget to spread it as far as you can by sharing it via the social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn) buttons below. I am done, but kindly don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Just leave me a comment through the form below or if you have any strategy, idea, suggestion; that you feel I forgot to add or mention in this post, but they are crucial, then please go ahead and also let me know.

Now, I leave it up to you to give it a try. But most importantly I want to appreciate your time very much.

Thank you.