Everything You Need to Know

to Succeed as an Affiliate
Marketer

Launch Your Online Business

in Just 7 Days
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Table of contents
Do you dream of making money from anywhere, at any
time? Affiliate marketing can make that fantasy a reality.
The affiliate marketing industry is estimated to be worth $12 billion —
clearly, this lucrative revenue stream is worth exploring.

If you’re looking to learn everything you need to know to succeed as

an affiliate marketer, then you’ve come to the right place.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this post:

 What affiliate marketing is and how it works

 The pros and cons of affiliate marketing
 How to get started as a beginner affiliate
 Some of the top mistakes to avoid

And more!

Let’s get started.

1. What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when an affiliate promotes a company’s products
or services in exchange for a commission.

It’s a performance-based opportunity that anyone from solopreneurs to

massive companies can get a healthy income from.
As an affiliate, you’ll earn a commission on all sales or referrals
made through your unique affiliate ID which you’ll automatically get
when you join an affiliate program.

The commission offered by the third party incentivizes affiliates to find

ways to promote a company’s products or services.

This in turn increases the company’s brand awareness, traffic, and

profits. It’s a win-win for both parties!
1.1. Affiliate program vs. affiliate network
An affiliate program is run by the merchants themselves, whereas
an affiliate network acts as a network that brings merchants and
affiliates together.
Examples of an affiliate network include Amazon’s affiliate
program, ClickBank, and ShareASale.

These networks make it easier for merchants to find influencers, and it

makes it just as easy for affiliates to find offers that they want to
promote.

Not sure which one will work best for you?

Let’s weigh up the pros and cons for both affiliate programs and
networks.
1.1.1. The pros

1.1.2. The cons

2. Does affiliate marketing work?
The average annual salary for affiliate marketing in the US is $66,029,
with the lower end of the range being $35k and the upper being $124k
per year.

It’s true that anybody can become a successful affiliate marketer, as

long as you’re determined and in it for the long haul.

As with anything, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it
— affiliate marketing is no different.

However, there are some factors that can influence your success,

these include:
  The quality of your content
 The niche you choose
 How often you post
 Your SEO strategy

We’ll delve into each of the above and more to ensure you’re on the path
to success — just remember that nothing great happens overnight.
2.1. How long does it take to get results with
affiliate marketing?
As with anything that provides a return, it takes time to nurture and
grow.

Let’s take a look at how some bloggers have increased their affiliate
income over the years.
2.1.1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
 Michelle’s blog Making Sense of Cents
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner started her personal finance and lifestyle
blog Making Sense of Cents 10 years ago.

Her income report from May 2012 shows that she made $672 from

sponsored blog posts, surveys, and selling textbooks.

One of her recent income reports shows that:

 In just one month she made $159,952 from her blog

  $57,946.42 of this was from affiliate marketing alone

Her blog regularly makes over $100,000 per month with the majority
of that handsome sum coming from affiliate marketing.
2.1.2. Adam Enfroy

Adam Enfroy’s website

Adam Enfroy started his blog in 2019, and in under 2 years, he earned
over $1 million — without spending a penny on advertising!

Adam’s first income report from May 2019 shows:

  Within 5 months his blog earned him $11,609
 $2,906 of this was from affiliate commissions

His monthly income went from $0 to $281,773 with most of his

affiliate commissions coming from recommending Software as a
Service (SaaS) products.

SaaS products (like systeme.io) usually offer commission rates as high

as 20-50%, plus there are recurring commissions.

Because your success as an affiliate marketer relies on a number of

factors (the strategies you use, your niche, etc.), it can be difficult to give
an exact timeframe of how quickly you’ll see results for your efforts.

However, considering that most affiliate platforms are free to join, you

have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Let’s get into the basics of how it all works.

3. How does it work?
These are the 3 parties involved in affiliate marketing:
 Source: NeilPatel.com

 The advertiser or merchant — This is the individual or business

that has an offer that needs to be marketed to customers
 The publisher (affiliate) — This is the marketer who helps
promote the company’s product or service for a set commission
 The consumer — This is the customer that purchases the offer

Here’s a simple 5 step breakdown of how it works:

1. When you join an affiliate program, you’ll receive a unique affiliate
link that’ll track the sales you’re responsible for
2. You’ll promote the third-party’s offer and provide your affiliate link
on your blog, social media posts, podcast, or website
3. When someone clicks the referral link, a small file called a “cookie”
gets stored on their device (more on this in a bit)
4. Now, let’s say that the lead who’s clicked on your affiliate link
decides to purchase the product or service that you’re promoting
5. The company tracks which affiliate is responsible for the
purchase, and you get the agreed-upon commission for the sale

3.1. How are affiliate marketers paid?

When it comes to the commission, this is usually percentage-
based, but some affiliate programs also offer a fixed amount per sale.

The commission rate also varies depending on the merchant, the niche,
and the offer.

Lucrative affiliate marketing programs, like systeme.io’s for

example, offer up to 50% commission on all sales made through your
affiliate ID!

Usually, commissions are made as a result of a sale, but some programs

reward their affiliates for acquiring leads, sign-ups, etc.

The marketing model used by the merchant determines what goal you
need to reach in order to receive your commission.

These are the 3 marketing models:

1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
2. Pay-Per-Lead (PPL)
3. Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)

Let’s do a quick outline explaining exactly what each of these are.

3.1.1. The Pay-Per-Click model
As a merchant, you can opt for paid advertising through the PPC model,
and it’ll help generate traffic to your website.

As an affiliate, you can place PPC ads on your blog or website and
receive a commission for any clicks that you receive on the ad(s).

As an affiliate, this means you earn a commission even if the lead

doesn’t make a purchase — you just need to get them interested
enough to click the ad.

This model can be profitable if you’re able to generate a fair amount of

traffic to your site, as most PPC programs are measured based on
impressions.
3.1.2. The Pay-Per-Lead model
As the name suggests, with this model you get paid for every lead that’s
converted.

Here your goal is to get the lead to take the desired action — whether
it’s to submit a form, sign-up for a trial, join an email list, or make a
purchase.

Getting a lead to act on your call to action (CTA) requires more effort

than simply generating traffic.
3.1.3. The Pay-Per-Sale model
This is the model that you’ll come across most often.

With this model, you’ll only earn a commission if a successful sale is

made — this requires more marketing effort on your end.

This can be tough, as the pricing of the offer and the level of trust that

you’ve built with your audience can impact how many sales you make.

Your audience might trust you enough to purchase an offer that’s worth a
few dollars, but not one that’ll cost them $1,000.

Fortunately, you get products (like systeme.io), that are so good that they
practically sell themselves.

But how do merchants know a sign-up, sale, or any other outcome

was as a result of your efforts?

The answer — cookies.

3.2. What are cookies?
A cookie put simply, is software that’s used for tracking.

Without cookies, it wouldn’t be possible to know which affiliate was

responsible for the traffic, leads, or sales.

Unfortunately, these cookies expire.

Why is this unfortunate?

The lifespan of the cookie determines how long it’ll track the user’s
online activity.

This means that if there’s a 30-day cookie life, your lead has to make a
purchase within this timeframe for you to make any commission on
the sale — after 30 days, the lead will no longer be trackable.

Affiliate programs vary in terms of the cookie duration, some aren’t

as lenient as others, so keep this in mind when choosing an affiliate
program.
4. Who are some of the most successful
affiliate marketers?
There’s nothing better than hearing success stories to get you inspired!

Let’s take a look at 3 super affiliates and some of their

recommendations to help you succeed.
4.1. Pat Flynn
 Pat Flynn
Pat Flynn earned $163.16 in his first month — today though, almost
80% of his income is from his affiliate marketing efforts.
With Pat having earned over $3 million in affiliate revenue, here’s
what his free ebook advises you do to increase your success as an
affiliate marketer:
1. Cultivate a relationship with your audience
2. Decide on the products you want to promote
3. Focus on illustrating your experience with the product
4. Show how the product has worked for you or others and how it’ll
provide the results your audience is looking for
5. Pitch or sell the product(s) to your audience

Pat’s advice has a strong focus on building trust with your audience —
without trust, you have little chance of converting them into customers.
4.2. Zac Johnson
 A quote by Zac Johnson on affiliate marketing
Zac Johnson has been in affiliate marketing for over 20 years, and he’s
built a business around affiliate offers and his own product launches.

In just the last couple of years, he’s generated over $5 million in sales
with his blog — earning over $100,000 every year in affiliate revenue
alone.

Zac advises that you:

 Avoid spreading yourself too thin — It wastes a lot of time (he

emphasizes that he only started building his own brand in 2007)
  Treat affiliate marketing as you would any other business — It
takes time and a lot of work to make it a success
 Have a thick skin and be prepared to put in endless hours of
work for no immediate return

4.3. Ana Skye

Ana Skye’s blog “The She Approach”

The She Approach is a blog created by Ana Skye that helps female
bloggers and entrepreneurs increase their traffic and make money online.

Although Ana started the blog in 2016, she only took it on full-time at
the beginning of 2020.

Her blog is fairly small with:

 Under 30,000 views per month

 Just over 10,000 newsletter subscribers

Considering the size of her blog, the earnings she’s made are astounding!

In her milestone income report that shows how she hit $100,000 from

blogging (since starting in 2016), she shows how 43% of it ($48,892)
was from affiliate commissions!

She makes the rest of her income from selling ebooks and courses.

Some of what led Ana’s blog to where it is today includes:

 Her transparency with her audience

 Her focus on producing quality over quantity
 Sourcing her income and traffic organically

Of course, success doesn’t come easy — these affiliate marketers have

invested years and years of consistent effort into their businesses.
But for every success story that you hear, there are hundreds of
failures that you don’t hear about.
5. Why do some affiliates fail?
The biggest reason why some affiliates fail is that they simply don’t
give it enough time, and they go in thinking that it’s a get-rich-quick
scheme.

Give your efforts time to blossom!

Let’s get into some of the other common mistakes that affiliate marketers
make to ensure that you get started on the right path.
5.1. 9 common mistakes you want to try and
avoid
 9 of the most common mistakes that affiliate marketers make
5.1.1. Not putting your audience first
As we’ve mentioned several times throughout this post, success as an
affiliate marketer rests on the relationships you build.
Your number 1 priority should be your audience.

Having them come second or not considering them at all is a recipe for
disaster.

The stronger the relationship between you and your audience, the

more you’ll earn. It’s a win-win.

These are the 2 main mistakes affiliates make in terms of their audience:
1. They focus on selling instead of helping

Focusing on selling won’t produce the results you’re looking for,

instead focus on helping your audience.
2. They think that customer service isn’t their responsibility

Although customer service isn’t your responsibility, establishing a

strong relationship with your audience is absolutely crucial.

You have to stay in touch with your audience and build trust in order
to get them to be confident in anything you recommend.

So be sure to respond to queries and comments that you receive on your

content, and work on building those relationships!
5.1.2. Picking the wrong niche
There are a number of common mistakes that happen when choosing a
niche, for example:
1. Avoid choosing a niche that you’re not interested in

Not being interested in the niche you choose will make promoting the
products difficult and boring.
2. Narrow down your niche as much as possible

A well-defined niche is important, as it’ll make building a solid

following much easier than if you had a much broader audience.
3. Don’t ignore the level of competition

The competition level in each niche is important, especially as a beginner

affiliate, because you might struggle to show authority in an
overcrowded space.
5.1.3. Promoting the wrong products
If the product you’re promoting offers no real value to your audience
then you’ll be wasting both your time and energy.

Ask yourself these simple questions:

 Does your audience have an interest in the products you’re

promoting?
 Does it solve a real problem or meet a true desire that they have?

Always be sincere and confident about the products you’re selling

— only ever promote products that you know will offer value to your
audience.
5.1.4. Only promoting products with once-off payments
Promoting products with recurring payments means that you’ll get
recurring commissions!

It’s easier to bag those monthly commissions if you’re not having to sell
once-off purchases where repeat customers aren’t guaranteed.

Recurring payment models are common with software, membership, and

hosting companies.

For example, systeme.io offers 50% lifetime commissions on all

subscription and course sales, so this means recurring commissions!

systeme.io’s pricing plans

Let’s say that you refer 100 people to our cheapest paid plan — the
Startup plan for $27/month, that’s $1,080/month in commissions!
5.1.5. Not knowing enough about the products you’re
promoting
This is a surefire way to lose your audience’s trust — if you’re not
authentic, they’ll pick up on it.
If you’re selling for the right reason (to help your audience), then you’ll
know the products you’re promoting inside and out.

Either only promote products that you’ve personally used, or ensure

that you do extensive research before you promote it to your audience.
5.1.6. Making content focused on the product’s features
When a customer buys a product, they’re not interested in the features it
has to offer, but the benefits that it’ll provide.

Features tell and benefits sell.

This is a common mistake that you can’t afford to make because this will
have an immense impact on the number of sales you make.

People buy benefits — focus your content on the benefits and you’ll see
an increase in your sales.
5.1.7. Producing poor-quality content
It’s true that content is king — poor quality content will do nothing but
kill your sales.

Focus on producing high-quality content that provides value to your

audience.
Producing high-quality content will also help you rank higher in the
search engine results pages (SERPs), which in turn will help bring in
more traffic to your site.

Underplaying the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) is a

big mistake!

Ensure SEO plays a big role in your marketing strategy.

5.1.8. Having a poor marketing strategy
Producing quality content but then failing to effectively market it will
also be nothing but wasted effort.

A strong email marketing strategy is a must-have for affiliate

marketers because it allows you to:

 Build relationships with your audience and nurture existing

customer relationships
 Build an email list of leads and repeat customers to promote your
offers to
 Keep your audience up to date with any news or special offers

And more!

With a platform like systeme.io, you can build and segment your email
list, run marketing campaigns, send newsletters, and more.
The best part is that you can do the above and send unlimited emails to
a list of 2,000 contacts for free with our Freemium plan!
5.1.9. Neglecting the importance of testing
Testing what does and doesn’t work is the only way that you’ll know
where you need to make improvements.

With most all-in-one tools like systeme.io, you can run A/B tests on your
CTAs, your headings, etc. to know what elements work best.

Keep experimenting with how you promote and see what your audience
responds best to.

Do images work? Perhaps not.

When do your emails get the most opens and click-throughs?

Test everything — test, test, test!

You’ll want to try to avoid making the above mistakes, but bear in mind
that failure is necessary for learning!

So don’t feel discouraged if you make mistakes along the way —

persevere through it, and implement what you’ve learned.
6. Should you do affiliate marketing?
As we’ve emphasized throughout, affiliate marketing can be incredibly
fulfilling, but it’s not magic — it requires time and constant effort.

Whether you should do affiliate marketing is up to you, but what have

you got to lose?

To help you weigh up whether or not affiliate marketing is worth it, let’s
look at some of the pros and cons.
6.1. Pros and cons of affiliate marketing
Here are the key pros and cons of affiliate marketing:
Pros

 You don’t need any experience to get started

 It’s a great passive income opportunity

 Affiliate programs are usually free to join

 It’s flexible — work where and when you want to

 Zero start-up costs (no spending on staff, customer service, stock,

etc.)

 You have freedom over building your online presence

 You choose which products or services you want to promote

  You can join more than one affiliate program

Cons
 Highly talented affiliate marketers pose as fierce competition

 Affiliate hijacking unfortunately isn’t unheard of

 You’ll have to put in the time and effort to get results

 You’ll have to follow the merchant’s rules and conditions

 Some companies may not stick to what was agreed upon

There are far more advantages than disadvantages to affiliate marketing.

But perhaps you’re considering dropshipping instead — let’s find out

if that’s a more viable option.
6.2. Affiliate marketing vs. dropshipping
Affiliate marketing and dropshipping both allow you to make money
by selling other people’s products, without having to worry about
stocking the products yourself.

Earlier in this post, we discussed how affiliate marketing works, here

are the simple steps of how dropshipping works:
1. You display the merchants’ products on your own store
2. The customer completes a transaction (at retail price)
3. You order it from the merchant (at wholesale price)
4. It gets shipped directly to the customer who thinks it’s coming from
you
5. You make a profit on the sale

Although affiliate marketing and dropshipping have some similarities,

there are some key differences that are worth noting:

Regardless of whether you decide on venturing into dropshipping or

affiliate marketing, both require consistent effort to grow the
business.
And both can be achieved with systeme.io!

You can create your website, your own affiliate program, become a drop
shipper, or sell your own products, and more (for free!).
6.3. Pros and cons of affiliate marketing for
businesses
As a small business owner, you likely won’t have the resources or the
marketing budget to get a dedicated marketing team or to explore other
means of advertising.

Thankfully, affiliate marketing is as beneficial to businesses as it is

for affiliates.

Here are some of the most noteworthy advantages and disadvantages of

businesses using affiliate marketing:
Pros

 A cost-effective way to increase traffic to your website and boost

your profits

 Tapping into your affiliate’s audience increases your brand

awareness

 Affiliate reviews act as social proof which can increase your sales

  It’s performance-based, so you only pay when results are achieved

 It’s cheaper than other means of advertising

Cons
 Fraud can happen, such as the famous case with eBay’s top two
affiliates

 Depending on the affiliate’s audience, you might get unqualified

leads

 The results can be inconsistent

 Some affiliates can destroy your brand’s reputation

Now that you know what to expect, let’s see how you’d get started.
6.3.1. Get started in 6 simple steps
You can set up a successful affiliate marketing program for your business
by following the steps below:

1. Determine your goals

 What do you want to achieve with the program?

  Set up measurable goals for the revenue you want affiliates to
bring in, the conversion rate of clicks to sales, etc.

2. Analyze how your competition runs their affiliate programs

 How have they structured their commissions?

 Do they do the recruiting, or do they use a network?
 What rules and restrictions are in place for the affiliates?

Be sure to do in-depth research here to get a better idea of what’s

common in your niche.

3. Identify your commission structure

 Consider your customer acquisition costs, average customer

lifetime value, and retention rate
 Perhaps think about offering bonuses to your top affiliates for
exceeding your predefined goals

4. Decide whether you’ll create your own program with the help of a
platform like systeme.io or whether you’ll use an existing affiliate
network

 With systeme.io, you have everything you need to launch and

manage your affiliate program all in one place
 For information on the top affiliate networks, click here

5. Get a tool like systeme.io that offers email marketing services

Not only will this allow you to keep in touch with your leads and
customers, but you’ll also be able to improve your affiliate program by:

 Keeping your affiliates up to date with any changes

 Inform them of any upcoming deals that they can promote
 Offer them tips or marketing materials to improve their sales

6. Find affiliates suitable for your niche

 Here you want to take into account the quality of their content,
their authenticity, and the size of their online presence

Let’s take a closer look at the steps you need to take to get started if
you’re an affiliate.
7. How to start making money as a
beginner affiliate
To get started as a beginner affiliate, you can follow these 4 steps:

Step 1 — Choose a niche

Step 2 — Choose an affiliate program or network
Step 3 — Create great content
Step 4 — Get clicks on your referral links
7.1. Step 1 — Choose a niche
Narrow down on a niche, and identify your target audience.
Research your audience thoroughly to understand how you can help
them achieve their goals and overcome their problems.

You’re not only looking for a profitable niche but one that you’ll be
interested in too, and remember to consider the level of competition.
7.2. Step 2 — Choose an affiliate program or
network
Do ample research on affiliate programs to ensure that they offer
products that are relevant to your audience.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 50 affiliate programs to help you decide

on one that’s best for you.

Once you’ve chosen an affiliate platform, you’re ready to choose your

products.

Whether they’re digital or physical doesn’t matter, they both work —

just ensure that you only promote products that are relevant to your
specific audience.

You also want to ensure that you have a good understanding of the
product — this will allow you to provide your audience with valuable
and unique insight into how this product can help them.
7.3. Step 3 — Create great content
High-quality content drives traffic, and traffic drives sales!

If you aim to provide value to your audience, you’ll ultimately produce

quality content.

When creating content you also want to ensure that you:

 Build trust by being authentic

 Focus on quality over quantity, and publish content regularly
 Update any old content
 Make SEO a big part of your content strategy

Here’s a guide on how to create high-quality content that’s optimized to

help you rank higher in the search results.

Your content can provide value in a number of ways, for example, you
could:

 Answer questions that your readers are asking

 Interview influencers in your niche
 Post about trending topics
 Do a walkthrough/unboxing video of the product
 Offer insightful reviews or product comparisons
 Create how-to guides
 Provide personal stories focused on your offer
  Host live webinars where you answer your audience’s questions
about the product

It’s worth noting again that your content should focus on the benefits,
not the features.

If you can’t effectively explain how the product will solve your lead’s
problem, then it’s unlikely that they’ll become customers.

There’s one more noteworthy tip and that’s that proof sells!

Be sure to show your audience the results that they can achieve with
the product, and be honest about the fact that you’re using affiliate links.
7.4. Step 4 — Get clicks on your affiliate links
To get clicks on your affiliate links, you need an effective marketing
strategy and a strong CTA.

You can promote your affiliate links and CTA’s on your:

 Emails
 Landing pages
 Podcast show notes
 Webinars
 Blog and social media posts
Email can’t be underestimated when it comes to your marketing strategy
— especially considering that you can get all the email marketing
tools that you need for free with systeme.io!

Not only does email allow you to nurture your relationships, but you
can promote your products directly or indirectly in your emails.

An indirect approach is great for beginners, as you guide them to where

your affiliate links are (on your blog, YouTube channel, webinars, etc.).

This way you get to build trust with your list before the referral link is
presented to them.

To further increase your chances of making the sale, you could consider

offering your leads a complimentary bonus.

For example, you could add a free ebook offering a how-to guide on how
they can achieve a certain result with the product.

With systeme.io, you can easily create an entire sales funnel to guide

your leads through the sales process, and you can use:

 Order bumps
 Upsells
 Downsells
  Coupon codes

These are great for increasing your chances of not only making more
affiliate sales but also boosting your average customer value!
8. Frequently asked questions
Do you still have some burning questions?

Below we’ve answered two of the most common questions that those
looking into affiliate marketing have.
8.1. Do I need a website to start?
Unlike dropshipping, you don’t need a website to start affiliate
marketing — you can leverage a number of other channels such as:

 Social media sites

 Your email list
 Your podcast

And others!

Using a website is highly recommended though, and you can get yours

up and running in a matter of minutes with systeme.io.

Not only can you do this for free, but our simple drag-and-drop editor
and templates make creating a website hassle-free, even if you’re a
newbie!
 systeme.io’s simple drag-and-drop editor
When it comes to promoting your affiliate links, it really comes down to
experimentation and creativity.

For example, you could add your affiliate links in an ebook and offer

this as a lead magnet on your website to build your email list!
A platform like Youtube is also fantastic for promoting your referral
links, even if you don’t have a large audience.

You can place your affiliate links in the description section, but be sure
to disclose that it’s an affiliation — this is a legal requirement.

Regardless of your approach, if you provide valuable, informative, and

authentic content, then you should have no trouble achieving success.

Get creative!
8.2. Do I need to spend money to become an
affiliate?
Generally, affiliate programs are free to join, so there are no startup
costs to worry about.

Plus, as an affiliate you don’t need to worry about any costs whatsoever
— the merchant deals with all the nitty-gritty stuff.

All you need to focus on is getting the desired results with your
marketing efforts.
9. How to measure your affiliate marketing
success
The best way to determine whether your affiliate marketing strategy is
working or not is to monitor important key performance
indicators (KPIs).

Let’s get into how you’ll track the success of your affiliate program as a
business or your affiliate marketing efforts as an affiliate.
9.1. KPI’s for businesses
As a business, you’ll need to keep track of the following important
metrics:
1. Your conversion rate — This is the number of clicks versus the
number of sales (the number of conversions divided by the number of
clicks)
2. Sales per affiliate — This metric will allow you to know who your
top affiliates are, who may need help, or who’s negatively impacting the
program
3. Revenue — Calculate your program’s overall revenue growth and
your incremental revenue (revenue you wouldn’t have generated without
an affiliate program)
4. Return on investment (ROI) — This is the revenue generated after
you’ve covered the costs of your program
5. Active affiliates — Divide the number of active affiliates by the total
number of affiliates
6. Customer lifetime value (CLV) — This is the revenue a customer
brings in, minus the initial cost of acquiring them
7. The average order value (AOV) — The higher the AOV, the higher
your ROI
8. Affiliate contribution margin — The revenue brought in by an
affiliate minus the cost of recruiting the affiliate
9. Leads and customers gained — What percentage of leads and
customers do your affiliates bring in over a given period of time?

Analyzing these metrics will help you notice any fluctuations — tools
such as systeme.io offer powerful analytics, and you can use Google
Analytics for free.
9.2. KPI’s for affiliates
As an affiliate, you’ll want to monitor the following key performance
indicators:
1. Traffic — Here you want to monitor how your traffic increases over
time because engagement is necessary for conversions

Google Analytics shows you the number of:

 Unique visitors (they’re only counted once)

 Session counts (the number of times someone comes to your
website)

2. The time spent on your site

You can find out how to calculate the estimated read time for your
posts here.
In Google Analytics, “Session Duration” shows you how people are
engaging with a specific post.

You can calculate how long people are staying on your site by comparing
the average read time to the average session duration.
3. Returning visitors — This tells you whether or not your content is
bringing people back for more

Here again, Google Analytics lets you monitor this metric using the
dashboard, under “New Sessions”.
4. Social sharing — Content that delivers value will encourage shares!

Use social share buttons with counters to get a clear idea of how your
audience is engaging with your content.
5. Social media analytics

Gain extra insights from social media platforms (such as seeing your
clicks, likes, shares, etc.).
6. Your SERP ranking

Search the keywords in Google, and see how well your content is
performing in the results pages.

Ranking high in the search engine results pages for your niche topic
makes it easy for potential customers to find your content.
If your post is on page 4, then you need to focus on optimizing your
content to rank higher.

Now, let’s take a look at one of the best affiliate programs out there —
systeme.io!
10. Systeme.io: The best affiliate program

systeme.io logo
Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing platform that offers an affordable
solution to all your business needs.

Plus we have an incredibly robust affiliate program that pays out more

than $100,000 in affiliate commissions each month.

To date, we’ve paid our affiliates well over $2,000,000!

With a platform like systeme.io, not only can you join our incredible
affiliate program, but you can also:

 Grow your email list

  Send email marketing campaigns
 Create a website or a blog

And so much more, for free!

Plus, if you’re looking to create your own affiliate program,

systeme.io lets you do this on our Freemium plan too.

Systeme.io offers unlimited earning potential when it comes to our

affiliate program, just take a look at some of the success stories below.
10.1. Successful systeme.io affiliates
Look at how two of our own marketers are winning in the market with
systeme.io!
10.1.1. Ross Minchev
So far, Ross Minchev has earned over $13,000 with systeme.io’s affiliate
program — and he’s earned over $1,469 in the last 30 days alone!
 Ross Minchev’s systeme.io affiliate earnings
10.1.2. Damien Menu
Damien Menu has made over €200,000 in commissions with
systeme.io’s affiliate program.

Damien went through a lot of personal investment to get there, and his
advice to help you succeed is to:

 Focus on one SaaS subscription

 Focus on adding value and creating a micro-community
 Capture qualified leads
  Focus on a strategy to sell systeme.io’s €7 offers
 Focus on recruiting people to the Startup plan instead of the Free
plan

How much money you can make with systeme.io’s affiliate program is
endless — better yet, your payout will grow the more the company
grows!
11. How does systeme.io’s affiliate
program work?

systeme.io’s affiliate program

With systeme.io, all you really have to do is bring in the leads, we’ll do
the rest, and you’ll walk away with 50% lifetime commissions on all
sales.

What does this mean?

If you send us a lead that only ends up buying months or even a year
later, you’ll still earn commission on the sale.

This is because all the leads that you bring in are marked in our database
with your affiliate ID.

Plus, we also offer second-tier commissions!

This means that if your referral refers us to other people who end up
making a purchase, you earn an additional 5% on these sales.

With systeme.io’s affiliate marketing program, you truly have nothing to

lose and so much to gain!

Get started for free today, and make your first affiliate sale!

If you’re running your own affiliate program, you’ll be able to:

 Track your affiliates easily

  Manage affiliate commissions and payouts all in the same place
 Integrate your email list, payment system, and membership sites
 Publish your offers on our marketplace for thousands to see
 Easily send your affiliates their links in just a few clicks
 Monitor your statistics on your affiliate dashboard

For more on how our affiliate program works, click here.

11.1. The benefits of joining systeme.io’s affiliate
marketing program
Whether you’re looking into affiliate marketing as an affiliate or as a
business, systeme.io’s program offers you a number of benefits!

Let’s get into them.

11.1.1. Powerful tracking
We offer powerful tracking tools to ensure that you’re credited for any
sales made as a result of your marketing efforts.

Unlike with standard cookies, our tracking ensures that even if your

referrals operate on different devices or use different email
addresses to make purchases using your link, you’ll still earn the
commissions.

You also don’t have to struggle to recruit affiliates and get it all set up
yourself if you decide to start your own affiliate program with
systeme.io.
This is because everyone on your list gets their own affiliate ID
automatically.

This means that they can start promoting your affiliate products without
much effort from your side.
11.1.2. Lifetime and recurring commissions
Systeme.io’s affiliate program gives you 50% lifetime commission on
all subscription or course sales generated through your affiliate ID.

If you refer someone to one of our affordable price plans, you’ll earn
a recurring commission for every month that your referral remains with
us.
11.1.3. Systeme.io practically sells itself
One of the greatest selling points is that systeme.io is far cheaper than
most of our competitors.

This alone is a strong driving force to help you rake in those

commissions!

Besides price, our software is also super easy to use which makes it

suitable for literally anybody, regardless of their level of coding or
design experience.
Plus, we offer startups everything they need to build and grow — for free
with our forever Free plan!
11.1.4. Reliable support
Not only is our support team actively involved in ensuring you receive
help, but we ensure that any customer-related issues are dealt with
promptly and professionally.

This benefits you as an affiliate, as it ensures that those you refer to us

are satisfied with the product.

Without trustworthy support, you risk losing your audience’s trust.

With an average response time of under 2 hours, we take support

very seriously!
11.1.5. Free tools
As we’ve discussed throughout this post, you can further ensure your
success as an affiliate marketer with certain tools.

You could pay for the separate tools that you’ll need, or you can choose
an affordable all-in-one solution like systeme.io.

Our Freemium plan gives you access to a number of powerful

tools to help you:

 Grow your audience

  Nurture your relationships
 Effectively market your offers

And so much more to help you bag those commissions!

Plus, with systeme.io, you can sell your own products and start your
own affiliate program.

Our marketplace is a great place to promote your affiliate products or to

find products you’d want to promote!
11.2. Systeme.io’s marketplace
 systeme.io’s marketplace
Our marketplace is designed to connect merchants and affiliates.
As an affiliate, the process is simple:
1. Browse through the offers, and choose one that you’d like to
promote

An offer’s page will illustrate information such as:

 The seller’s description of the offer

 Information about the seller
 Commission rate and the amount of commission earned
 The link to the sales and opt-in pages

Simply choose which offer you’d like to promote.

2. Once you’ve made your decision, click on “Promote Offer”:

A systeme.io marketplace offer

3. This will prompt a pop-up with your affiliate link — copy the link
and then you’re ready to start promoting the offer!
For more details on our marketplace, click here.
12. Conclusion
How much money you make as an affiliate depends on a number of
factors, but whether or not affiliate marketing works has a very simple
answer.

Yes! It does!

But affiliate marketing takes time — you need to be dedicated and

passionate to succeed.

You should be better equipped to start affiliate marketing right away.

With systeme.io’s affiliate program, you’ll make your first affiliate sale

in no time!
Good luck — here’s to your success!
Other posts about affiliate marketing:
- Build an Affiliate Sales Funnel in 6 Simple Steps
- How to Use Bonuses to Boost Your Affiliate Income
- 12 Ways Affiliate Marketing Can Transform Your Ecommerce
Business
- The 50 Best Affiliate Programs and How to Get Started
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