You must have seen people posting pictures on Instagram of them posing with their brand new cars, stating they were able to buy them through affiliate marketing, and suggesting that you can too. It has been time and again told that people can make six figures, purchase luxury cars and mansions, and whatnot. But nobody tells you how much of that is actually true.
Let’s make this very clear at the very beginning that unless you are an influencer with an organic, active audience of around thousands of people, you CAN NOT make six figures through affiliate marketing.
Truth sounds like a bummer, doesn’t it?
But does that mean everyone who claims to be earning is lying about their income?
Probably not. It is not impossible to make money through affiliate marketing, it is just so difficult that it is almost next to impossible, if that makes sense.
Let’s get into why affiliate marketing does not work and what you need to do to make it work organically.
Why Affiliate Marketing Does Not Work?
One of the major reasons why affiliate marketing does not work for people like you and me is that we don’t have a huge audience. Let’s be honest for a second here. If you were to send a link to your acquaintances and ask them to make a purchase, how many people do you think would make that purchase for you? Tell me your count crossed a hundred, and I will consider you a celebrity.
Most of us can count the number, on one hand. Now how do you think you will be able to make income when you don’t have an audience to rely on?
It is not easy money. You are not going to get rich overnight, in fact, it may take months or even years for you to start making a decent income.
Does that mean I can make money?
Haha! well, you can. But not exactly how these affiliate marketers tell you. Let’s see how people are earning money first and then discuss how you can make money in an organic, effective way.
How Do People Earn From Affiliate Marketing?
Now that we have mentioned why affiliate marketing does not work, let’s see why people claim they were able to make money.
So, I am going to completely rule out the possibility of people lying about their income just to get you into affiliate marketing.
Is that a possible possibility though? Yes, LOL of course. Most of the people in affiliate marketing are in fact fed the same lies and they are left with no option but to get other people to sign up for the same. (This does not apply to affiliate programs of eCommerce stores like Amazon and Nykaa).
Coming back to how people are able to earn money through affiliate marketing. Most of the people who are able to make a decent income have a network. Now, the network is not necessarily your Instagram followers. People with fewer Instagram followers can also earn money provided they have an audience on other platforms.
They are manipulative. They will make it sound so easy, intriguing, effective, and promising that you will consider signing up as a marketer. You might think it’s not that easy, well people still sign up for Oriflame and Amway membership programs, why do you think they do that? Because they are introduced to the unlimited benefits of the membership program. Imagine people paying to become a member. Manipulation is real. And we all are Joey trying to be intelligent (I hope you got this reference).
Read more: 7 Ways To Make Money While You Sleep
How Can You Make Money Through Affiliate Marketing?
There it is, the question you all had in mind and the answer that you are probably looking for.
Yes, you can make money through affiliate marketing. But no, it is not as easy or simple as it is told and you must have assumed.
Here are a few tips that can help you earn a decent income through affiliate marketing.
- The first and the most important tip is to not rely on affiliate marketing as your primary income when you are just starting out.
- Start your side hustle. A side hustle that will not only help you make money but even establish yourself as a brand. A side hustle that will help you build an audience. You can start your own YouTube channel, create your website and start writing blogs, or grow your Instagram account and presence.
- As a side hustle, this will not be your primary source of income either. But this stream of income can help you make affiliate marketing another source of income. The more sources of income, the more money you make.
Instead of purchasing memberships and programs, invest that money into learning how to start and grow your side hustle and business so that you can make money through affiliate marketing without paying anyone anything.
Parting Words
Our feelings toward affiliate marketing are not really good. And the reason behind that is the way people have been endorsing it as an income stream that is definitely going to work. Your chances of earning through affiliate marketing as a beginner with no audience are less than your fifth video on YouTube going viral. However, one cannot deny the fact that it can, in the long run, serve as a stream of passive income. But, in the long, long run.
Having a side hustle that can help you grow your audience can help you a lot in making money so that is something we believe you should primarily be focusing on.
