Looking for a way to make some extra coin without putting in hours and hours of work? Well, one great way is through affiliate marketing!
Affiliate marketing lets you earn a sales commission by promoting products or services. The process goes like this: you find a product your audience would love, you share it with them, they buy it through your link, and you get paid. Easy right? If done correctly, it is!
When selecting an affiliate program, it's essential to do prep work and research to ensure longevity and a positive outcome. This post will discuss six things to consider when choosing an affiliate product for passive income. Keep reading to learn more!
6 Steps For Choosing An Affiliate Product
1. Find a product you fully support and that matches your brand vision
You want to promote products that you genuinely love. If you promote a product just for the money and not because you think it will add value to your followers, they will notice, and your commission rate will reflect it. Save yourself a headache, and make sure you like the products you are promoting. Trust us; it sets the tone for the success of your efforts.
You also want to choose products that align with your brand vision. For example, if an influencer's brand centers around the importance of only purchasing ethically made clothing, accepting a brand deal from Shein (or any other fast fashion company) would put their authenticity in question. Your brand is your legacy, so don't select a product that jeopardizes it.
So, choose products you can fully back up on both a personal and a brand level.
2. Check out the competition
There will always be other creators selling the same products as you; that's to be expected. But be smart, and do your research during the selection process. If an affiliate program is over-saturated, your job will be much harder.
You also need to see how well the competition is doing monetarily. Most affiliate programs have metrics describing how well a product sells, so this shouldn't be too difficult. If the dollar value is low, it may not be worth your time and effort.
Ideally, you want products that sell well with minimal competition to maximize profit!
3. Sit down and seriously think about how you will sell
Even a fantastic product is nearly impossible to sell without a plan. So make sure you go into any affiliate partnership with a solid one.
Are you promoting on your blog? YouTube? Instagram? A combination of platforms?
Will you have to continually upload content to promote your partnership, or can it be a one-and-done situation? If you are actively promoting, how much time can you spend before it's not worth it anymore?
It's better to decide all this before you even begin to consider initiating the partnership! Decide the why, how and how often behind your promotion strategy.
4. Look at the payout
We touched on this one briefly, but it's important, so here it is again.
Think realistically about the payout you will receive from this partnership and if it's worth the time it takes to set up a promotion. How much would you be making per sale? How many sales do you estimate you would make monthly?
Remember, commission percentages greatly range from program to program, so select a product that will make your efforts worthwhile. You don't want to be busting your butt for zero profit.
5. Does the product have staying power?
Some products become irrelevant over time or quickly lose their initial value. You don't want to put a bunch of time and effort into an affiliate program if you have to drop it in a couple of months.
This one is impossible to predict with full accuracy, but try and select products you can profit from years down the line. Working smarter, not harder, is the goal.
6. Evaluate your results
Once you do pick a product to promote, analyze the results. What seems to be working, and what clearly needs to be changed? Are you making an appropriate amount of sales for the effort you are putting in? Use this data to your advantage and adjust accordingly.
This one is big. There's literally no reason to promote something that doesn't sell. So make sure to do your due diligence regarding result checking.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make a somewhat passive income. We say "somewhat passive" because you will still have to put in at least minimal effort for promotion, depending on your social platform.
As you start in affiliate marketing, make sure you choose products that you fully support that will be worth your time and effort and don't require you to reinvent the wheel every six months.
So jump on in there! Start looking for good products to promote and get started in the exciting world of affiliate marketing. With a little trial and error, you will be on your way to making some serious profits.
