Top 8 Benefits of Affiliate Marketing: Can You Make a Living From It?

Are you new to affiliate marketing? Do you want to learn the benefits of affiliate marketing? 

Hands down, affiliate marketing is the MOST lucrative to make passive income online.

Most people often ask us “Is affiliate marketing worth it?”.

The simple answer is YES!

In fact, we’re generating full-time income from affiliate marketing. We already made a ton of money from various affiliate programs such as Bluehost, Semrush affiliate program, Jasper, etc.

Here’s one of the earning reports.

semrush earnings

So yes, affiliate marketing works like a charm.

If you’re wondering whether affiliate marketing is for you or not, this post is for you where you’ll discover;

  • The major advantages of affiliate marketing
  • The downsides of affiliate marketing
  • How to start your own affiliate marketing site and much more

Are you ready to find out the affiliate marketing benefits? Let’s jump into the details. 

benefits of affiliate marketing

1. Affiliate marketing is cost-effective

Selling affiliate products is one of the most cost-effective ways to monetize a website and earn passive income. 

It literally costs zero dollars to join an affiliate program, promote it and make money. At most, you need a website to educate your audience but it costs just around $2.99 a month with Hostinger.

Also, millions of people are spending money to purchase products from various categories.

According to Astute Analytica, the global market for affiliate marketing will grow to $39.8 billion by 2031, from over $20 billion in 2022.

global affiliate market size

The more people spend on purchasing products, the better scope you’ll have as an affiliate to promote great products and generate income. 

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to make some extra money, affiliate marketing is definitely worth considering. It’s easy to get started, and there’s HUGE potential to earn good money. 


2. The sky’s the limit to earnings

One of the best things about affiliate marketing is that there’s no limit on how much you can earn.

In case you’re curious, here’s a general breakdown of how different levels of affiliates earn in a month.

  • Entry-level affiliates make anywhere between $500 thousand to $1500 a month
  • Full-time affiliates make anywhere between $2000 to $20,000 a month (An example is Anil Agarwal from BloggersPassion who generates over $16K/mo)
  • Expert affiliate marketers earn between $30K to $100K and more in a month (Examples include Pat Flynn, Adam Enfroy, etc)

What’s the bottom line?

Your affiliate earnings MOSTLY depend on your niche, its profitability, the volume of traffic from Google, and how smartly you promote your products. 

Make sure you’re promoting products that are in demand and that offer high commissions. 


3. Earn recurring commissions

The best part about affiliate marketing is that there are a couple of affiliate programs that offer recurring commissions.

With recurring commissions, you earn a commission every time a customer makes a purchase, instead of just earning a one-time commission on their first purchase.

For example, Jasper AI (AI writing tool) offers a 30% recurring commission for life. 

jasper affiliate

That means if someone purchases Jasper through your affiliate link and whenever he pays for Jasper’s plans, you’ll get a commission (as long as they pay to Jasper AI, you’ll earn commission).

Isn’t that great? Because you only refer the customer to a product once, you’ll be making repeat commissions whenever he makes a payment.

Here are a few recurring affiliate programs in case you’re interested.

So if you’re looking for a SOLID way to boost your affiliate marketing earnings, consider finding an affiliate program that offers recurring commissions. It could be just what you need to take your affiliate earnings to the next level.


4. You don’t need to be an expert

Affiliate marketing is actually pretty simple. 

Essentially, it’s a way to earn a commission on sales made through your website. 

For example, let’s say you have a blog about running shoes. You could sign up to be an affiliate for a running shoe company (say Adidas), and then every time someone clicks on one of your links and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. 

The amount of commission you earn will vary depending on the company and the product.

The best part? You don’t need to become an expert in ANY thing as there are a ton of people who’re using affiliate marketing to make money.

You don’t have to become a fitness expert to promote running shoes as anyone who’s running a fitness blog can promote affiliate programs related to shoes.

But having prior marketing or selling experience definitely helps as you’ll find it easy to attract new customers and generate more sales for any program you want to promote.


5. Big returns in the long run

One of the major reasons most people (including bloggers and marketers) spend thousands of dollars on affiliate marketing is that it gives you huge returns.

Most people spend a ton of money on various aspects of affiliate marketing including;

  • Content creation
  • SEO
  • Offering special promos, discounts, and coupons
  • Running paid ads
  • Giveaways and contests, etc

All these things cost you a lot of money but they can help you build an audience, educate your audience about the products, and ultimately help you with more sales.

So if you’re someone who’s thinking about whether or not to spend money on content creation and SEO, don’t think twice as it’s a safe bet as long as you’re consistent. 

All in all, affiliate marketing has been proven to generate a HUGE ROI (Return on investment) than most other monetization strategies.


6. You don’t need an inventory

product inventory

As an affiliate marketer, one of the biggest advantages you have is that you don’t need to have any product inventory. That means you don’t need to worry about storing products or shipping them to customers. 

Instead, when a customer buys a product through your affiliate link, they are taken to the retailer’s website, where they complete the purchase. The product vendors will deliver the product (online or offline). In the end, you simply earn a commission on each sale. 

Also, you don’t have to worry about major things like manufacturing, shipping, or customer service. You can just focus on finding the RIGHT products that your audience will love and promoting them through your blog or social media channels. 

Best of all, the product developers and vendors provide you with all the promotional materials you’ll ever need to promote their products. 

Ultimately as an affiliate, you can focus only on promoting your affiliate links. The product creation, inventory, delivery, etc will all be taken care of by the product vendors. 

So if you’re looking for a lucrative monetization source that doesn’t require any inventory, then affiliate marketing could be an excellent option for you.


7. Offers flexibility

One of the biggest benefits of affiliate marketing is this: as an affiliate, you can work whenever you want, promote ANY kind of product you want, and earn how much ever you want.

In case you already don’t know, affiliate marketing is performance-based marketing in which a business pays its affiliates for each successful sale they generate.

Because affiliate marketing is based on sales commissions, it offers great flexibility in terms of when and how often you work. 

As an affiliate, you can choose to promote products that you are passionate about and you can literally work from anywhere in the world. You can also work as little or as often as you like, making it an ideal side hustle or full-time job.

So if you’re looking for a flexible way to make money online, affiliate marketing may be the perfect option for you.


8. A ton of products to promote

Last but not least: as an affiliate, you can literally promote thousands of products.

There are a wide range of affiliate networks where you can find products including;

  • Amazon Associates
  • Commission Junction
  • Impact
  • ShareASale
  • ClickBank and more
affiliate networks

The key to selecting the right products is to know what you’re passionate about, and what your target audience wants, and go for products that are already best-selling in the category.


Disadvantages Of Affiliate Marketing

Although there are a ton of advantages of affiliate marketing, there are a few disadvantages as well which we’ll discuss in this section.

1. Doesn’t give you a fixed income

Most people who’re planning to quit their jobs to jump into affiliate marketing should consider one thing: it doesn’t give a fixed monthly income.

Why? The reason is simple: affiliate marketing is a performance-based model, so there’s no guarantee on how many sales you can generate in a month.

Obviously, the commissions you make from affiliate marketing totally depend on the number of product sales. The more sales you generate, the more you can earn. It’s as simple as that.

So if you’re looking for a fixed income, affiliate marketing might not be the right business model or monetization source for you.


2. Huge competition (plus freaky Google updates)

One of the biggest disadvantages of affiliate marketing is that there’s a huge competition out there.

With so hundreds and thousands of affiliate marketers promoting the same products, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. 

You’ll need to be creative and use effective marketing techniques if you want to succeed as an affiliate marketer. Also, you’ll need to choose your products carefully. 

Additionally, Google frequently rolls out freaky algorithm updates.

The majority of the people lose a major chunk of their traffic when Google rolls out major updates.

Here’s how the traffic drop looks like if you’re hit by Google updates;

traffic drop

So there’s no guarantee that you’ll be getting first-page rankings and even if you do, it’s difficult to maintain those rankings. 


3. Takes too much time

Firstly, For those who are beginners in affiliate marketing, the key is to invest time in learning. You can do this through beginner-level courses or by reading affiliate marketing books.

Secondly, If you want to make a decent income from affiliate marketing, you need to build an audience. It can take time to build up a significant following, and there is no guarantee that you will ever see any real results. 

Also, if you do start to see some success, it is important to remember that the earnings are often relatively small (for most people). 

For these reasons, affiliate marketing is not for everyone. However, if you are willing to put in the work, affiliate marketing can be a great way to generate income. You need to consistently put in effort for at least one or two years to see decent income.


How to Create Your Own Affiliate Marketing Website on A Budget?

If you want to be a successful blogger, you need to have a platform where you can promote your affiliate products.

Here’s where a blog or website comes in handy. 

The best part? You don’t have to invest thousands of dollars to start a blog as you can get started with a budget as low as $2.69/month.

Hostinger is the web host we’re going to pick to create your affiliate marketing site.

Why Hostinger? Hostinger is probably the most popular web host in the world which is used by over 5 million sites and it is known for it’s affordability.

The complete process to install website on hostinger hosting is mentioned here.


FAQs

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the benefits of affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which you generate a commission on every successful sale you generate through affiliate referral links. 

What are the key benefits of Affiliate Marketing for a Business?

1. Cost-Effective Marketing: Affiliate marketing is budget-friendly, as you pay commissions only for actual sales or leads.
2. Wider Audience Reach: Affiliates expand your brand’s reach to new customer segments by promoting your products or services to their audiences.
3. SEO Benefits: Quality backlinks from affiliates can improve search engine rankings, driving more organic traffic.
4. Data-Driven Insights: Affiliate programs provide valuable data for refining marketing strategies.
5. Global Market Access: Affiliates enable international market access without extensive global marketing efforts.
6. Low Risk: Affiliate marketing carries minimal financial risk, as you pay only for results.
7. Increased Sales: Effective affiliate programs can significantly boost sales and revenue.
8. Time Efficiency: Affiliates handle promotions, allowing your team to focus on core business activities.

Why Affiliate Marketing is useful for Publishers?

Affiliate marketing is great for publishers because it lets them earn money by recommending products through special links. It’s easy to get started, and you don’t need to make your own product. You can make money when people buy the products you recommend. It’s a flexible way to work because you can choose the products you like and talk about them in your own way. Plus, you can make money from people all around the world. It’s like getting paid for sharing cool stuff you like with others.

How can one begin with affiliate marketing?

Begin affiliate marketing by choosing a profitable niche you’re passionate about. Sign up for affiliate programs, obtain unique affiliate links, and write valuable content containing these links. Share your content on your website, social media, and through email marketing to build an audience. Keep tabs on your affiliate performance, refine your strategies, and stick to program guidelines. As you gain experience, scale up your efforts to maximize your earnings.

Is affiliate marketing worth it?

Affiliate marketing is definitely worth it If you’re looking to build a long-term business, then affiliate marketing might be a better option. Just make sure to do your research and choose the right products to promote. Otherwise, you could end up wasting a lot of time and money.

How much money do you make from affiliate marketing?

The money you make from affiliate marketing depends on several things including your niche, the products you promote, your audience demographics, your promotion skills, etc.

That being said, there are many full-time bloggers who earn over $100,000/mo from affiliate marketing.

What is the importance of affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. By promoting products from other companies, affiliates can earn a commission on every sale they generate. With the right approach, affiliate marketing can be extremely lucrative.

Can I succeed in affiliate marketing?

If you want to be successful with affiliate marketing, you need to find your target audience’s needs, choose the right products to promote, and offer discounts to boost your sales. 

Related Resources:


Final Thoughts

Affiliate marketing is a SOLID way to earn money by selling other people’s products. The good news is affiliate marketing is growing and anyone can become an affiliate marketer.

The key to affiliate success is to find the right niche, promote helpful products and drive more search traffic.

So what do you think about the benefits of affiliate marketing? Did you find this post useful? Have any questions? Let us know in the comments. 

About Author
Anil Agarwal is the Founder of Bloggerspassion. He is a full-time blogger and SEO expert who has been helping people build profitable blogs for over a decade Now. He has been featured in Over 100 Publications including Forbes, The HuffPost, HubSpot, Shopify, Semrush, Kinsta, Bluehost, Hostinger and G2.com etc. Know more about Anil Agarwal from here.

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