How To Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing In 2024 And Earn 2x More Affiliate Commissions

In the 1980s, 90s, and heck, in the early 2000s...

If you talked to an experienced salesperson or read the best marketing books at the time, you'll quickly realize that marketing meant that you had to travel door-to-door to find new customers. 

The best salesperson talked to more people that made the buying decision.

That means you had to know the right people. And For the right people to know you, you had to make the right connections. And when you did, you started making sales.

You knew you were on top of your game.

Other salespeople looked up to you. It was your dream job.

• But those are the old ways of marketing.

When is the last time you opened the door, and lo and behold, someone was standing there, starting to make a sales pitch? These days, because the salesman's pitch seems to run deep in your family, you've noticed that there is a different way of marketing. 

If you try to figure it by yourself, sooner or later, you'll find it to be pretty complicated. 

Of course, you can try and err and make a few mistakes here and there. However, you will also waste time, probably lose some money, and if you're married, you'll have some explaining to do.

• With the Internet,

For most people like you and me, 

It will take time, know-how, and many tweakings and optimizations to refine and find the best digital marketing strategies to win over customers and make more new sales.

Let's say that one day you are browsing online, and you notice an advertising ad asking you to enroll in an online course teaching you about affiliate marketing.

You hesitate because you've seen so much BS, but reluctantly, you click on the ad, watch the video, and then decide to enroll in the affiliate marketing course.

• You start watching the video tutorials and take notes.

You quickly realize that this course is different. You learn new ways of marketing. You start to see affiliate marketing from a different angle and perspective.

You complete the training program and start to implement your newly acquired skill.

You start by selecting a profitable niche. You then find the best affiliate programs to promote. And because you're a go-getter, you quickly create your landing pages, format your ads, and start running your advertising campaign.

Slow, but sure, you repeat and rinse the process. You earn more affiliate sales. 

In a few days, weeks, or months depending on how the affiliate program you joined works and how often it pays you, you get a check deposited in your bank or mailed to your address for commissions earned from those sales.

Over time, as more people see your ads and use your affiliate links to buy the products or services, you earn more commissions, and the cents and dollars start to add up. 

So you continue refining your affiliate marketing channels.

• And before you know it... 

Sounds simple enough, right? What's the big deal? 

Well, as you might have guessed, there can be a heck of a lot more to it than that.

After all, it is one thing to earn a little extra coffee money here and there. However, turning your affiliate side gig income into a reliable source of full-time, independent, and passive income stream is a different thing altogether.

The first step requires careful consideration. It's a good idea to select a specific niche that excites you.  

However, the niche that you choose should have the potential to generate income. This is especially true for aspiring affiliate marketers because you have vested interests in achieving your financial goals.

Once you find a profitable niche, you would spend your time promoting products for which you would earn a percentage of the sale. The more sales you make, the more commissions you earn.

The real question is, with all the potential niches available, 

Most affiliate marketers start here because this is the most logical and arguably the easiest of all the steps for new affiliates to get started with affiliate marketing in today's turnkey digital world! 

Unfortunately, it's also the only step that most affiliate marketers get to do because most people end up quitting when the going gets tough after completing this step.

I know that sounds corny, but stories abound of ordinary people who've worked hard to build an audience on some of the most popular networks, only to end up losing it all.

•  For that reason, as an insurance policy, make sure to start a blog or build a website.

Within the last 10 years, blogs have transformed from personal hobbies to profitable businesses. It isn't unusual for popular blogs to generate a six-figure revenue per month.

While it's true that blogs have limitless earning potential, success isn't guaranteed. 

• 1. Time commitment

When it comes to building a profitable blog, there is no such thing as an overnight success. You'll have to commit countless hours to create content, implement marketing campaigns, and building your blog community.

• 2. High-quality blog design

You don't have to hire an expensive website developer to build your blog site. However, it's a good idea to buy and install an attractive blogging theme that is user-friendly.

• 3. Effective promotion strategies

After you set up your blog, you'll have to promote it to attract readers. 

Paid promotion sources include ads on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and other social media sites. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, there are free ways to promote your blog. 

At this step, you want to start identifying the types of affiliate marketing offers you want to be associated with, represent, write reviews about, run marketing campaigns, and sell to your audience.

The golden rule here is only to recommend and promote affiliate offers that you've bought, used, satisfied with, and with a straight eye will be happy to suggest it to your best friends and family.

If you are ashamed to share the offer with your family and friends, then don't promote the offer to strangers. Trust me; you'll sleep better at night. And during the day, you'll be happy, satisfied, and a better human being.

For example, let's say you've started a travel blog, and that's the affiliate niche you have selected.

• To find affiliate programs related to travel bloggers, you can start by doing a quick Google search for the phrase "travel affiliate programs," and you could see results like this: 

You can then continue brainstorming for a list of other affiliate products to market to traveling. That includes car rentals, air tickets, travel destinations, best hotel booking sites, energy drinks and snacks, training workouts for travelers, and more.

That is not to say that an audience comprised primarily of traveling enthusiasts would not be open or even eager to buy non-traveling related products through your affiliate links as well. 

A good reason to join one of the best affiliate networks listed below is that they can at least partially automate the process of discovering other affiliate marketing programs that are ideal for your niche.

• Here is a list of 5 of the most well-known and popular affiliate networks you can join:

1. ClickBank,
2. ShareASale,
3. Affiliate Window (now AWin),
4. Commission Junction (now CJ Affiliate),
5. LinkShare (now Ratuken Marketing that includes Walmart Affiliates).

There are many more. Each one represents a bank, or group, of merchants. There are networks for software, networks for big-box retailers, networks for digital products, etc.

Each affiliate marketing program manages its publishers and affiliates a little differently. The most important factors to consider when choosing one or more affiliate marketing programs to work with include but are not limited to the following:

• Cookie duration (how long your affiliate link will stay valid for a user),
• Minimum payout amount and frequency,
• Average commission rate per participating merchant,
• Product types (online, brick and mortar),
• Ease of use (website dashboard, navigation, etc.).

Remember how, in the beginning, we said that the word affiliate means "to connect?"

Step seven on your journey is to build a personal brand that connects and serves. People are much more likely to buy from other people than from nameless, faceless websites.

• Building your brand and hub might sound daunting. But it doesn't have to be.

Here are a few "getting to know you" questions that will help you tell a story:

Who are you? What are you all about? Why have you decided to get started with blogging or podcasting or whatever you are now doing? What are your values, and how does what you are doing now support those values?

Let's return for a moment to our original evergreen definition from the introduction. The word affiliate means "to connect." And the word marketing means "to promote and sell." 

Therefore, naturally you want to share your story in a way that will later allow you to:

1. Organically (i.e., naturally), connect with your audience,
2. And only then promote and sell affiliate products or services

You have always loved cycling. You learned to ride a bike almost as soon as you learned to walk. You got so good at it and started to participate in the cycling event. You even met your soulmate at a cycling event. You and your partner love cycling with a passion.

• Now, here is your point of connection.

Given your cycling experience and adventures, you and your partner want to share what you've learned. Other people are likely to read your words and trust you because you know so much about cycling. 

Now you can use that newfound connection to recommend and sell cycling-related and non-cycling-related products and services you are using to your audience of potential customers. 

Digital marketing isn't a set-and-forget event.

It's a continuously and rapidly evolving process that requires commitment and consistency. 

Successful marketers are the ones that are constantly improving their marketing, lead generation, and conversion rates skills and knowledge. The key to success in digital marketing is to keep testing to improve on the ongoing success and failure.

Another way to improve marketing and conversion rates is to survey, poll, and quiz your audience.

• Quiz, poll, and Survey your audience frequently.

You'll be surprised at how your audience is willing to tell you what is it that is essential for them.

You can use Survey Monkey or another survey, poll, and quiz tool to ask your audience what they care about, what they are curious about, and what products or services they would like you to review or try out for them. 

Seeking guidance from your audience will give you a rich source of evergreen niche segmented ideas you can tap into again and again to grow your online marketing business over time!

Let me conclude these 10 steps by revisiting what I already stated in the introduction section above and reminding you that I used to work the night shift in a gas station. 

Every night at about 3 a.m, the newspaperman will stop by and drop the newspaper for the day. There were other newspapers on the rack, the one I liked was USA Today. 

That was way back in 2005.

And every morning, as soon as the newspaperman left, I could grab the USA Today newspaper. I could skim through the breaking news, but the section I wanted to get to most was the business news about money and finance.

One day, I was skimming through the business section, hoping to find something, when I saw an ad about starting a website that caught my attention.

I took the website address, and when I got home, I logged in to the internet and pulled the website. After that, I read the content and kept going back to it. 

At the time, I was going to college full time and working full-time hours, split between 3 part-time jobs. So, I kept putting off the idea of starting the website for the next 3 years; eventually, in 2008, I launched my first website.

• In 2009, I got my first affiliate check from Bluehost, SBI, and Google Adsense.

Over the years, I have made meaningful progress and seen some success. But, unfortunately, I have also committed a lot of unforgettable affiliate marketing mistakes. 

There are some days when I have wanted to quit affiliate marketing for life, like for real. So many times, but somehow I kept coming back and pushing forward, one step at a time.

• Take one step by step at a time to implement a plan.

One step at a time is all you require to succeed in your affiliate marketing channels and efforts. No matter what happens, don't quit. Don't you ever give up on yourself that easily!

Instead, regroup, reassess, and take another, one more step of faith, one step at a time.