Making money from home online is exactly what I was searching for well over a year ago now. In my search for ways to make money from home online I certainly came across my fair few of scams. Thankfully I was so sceptical at every turn, that I narrowly avoided investing money in them. I have done some reviews on this website to help you to avoid them too.
There are no get rich schemes that work online... painful to know but it is true. Click To Tweet
I knew that many people were out there being their own boss and making money but the question was really how? Now it took me a while to work it all out. I spent too many hours searching through blogs and websites and many a time on Skype calls that sounded promising but only turned out to be ways to extract large amounts of money from me. One particular one was actually closed down by the FDA shortly after I said no and was blasted as an idiot for doing so. My instinct was right !
So what is the best way to make money from home online?
Thankfully I eventually found the answer to this question and it is through Affiliate Marketing and I discovered this through a fantastic platform called Wealthy Affiliate. I am not saying that this is the only way to make money online but it is certainly the best and most trusted way to make money online.
Obviously you need a computer and some online experience…. actually scratch that…. I started with only my smartphone and no online experience other than Facebook.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is where you join a companies affiliate program and then promote that product or company through your own affiliate link. When someone goes to their website or online shop through your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. It is as simple as that in essence but there are ways that can enable your links to be seen by more people and clicked on and therefore earning you commissions.
How Do I Make Money Through Affiliate Marketing ?
First you need to know that you can join as many affiliate marketing programs as you like. What you also need to know is that affiliate marketing programs will not always accept you as an affiliate. Now I don’t personally understand this because surely as a marketing strategy for any business, it must mean that the more people advertising you the better?
However some companies will only grant you an affiliate status if you have a website that has consistent traffic and a proven marketing strategy. Seems a little short minded to me but it is true. Many companies will share their affiliate links and affiliate payment strategy through large affiliate companies like Awin, Cj Affiliates and Shareasale. There are many more but you also need to know that companies also change the company they ensure their affiliate organisation to, as they grow.
There are also lots of products that run their own affiliate programs or use smaller affiliate organisations like Send Owl which mainly has ebooks and downloadable products. The list of products you can advertise is enormous and no matter what niche you choose you will be able to find loads of products. Amazon runs their own affiliate program and if you join them then you have any product they sell at your disposal to promote.
This means that you also have to keep track of and be organised with your affiliate links. It would be wise to start this off right from the start, unlike myself who did not ! It took so much time to add them to Google sheets which is where I now keep all of my relevant affiliate links. Easy to find and then copy and paste into your content.
Affiliate Marketing Advice
1. Whilst it is possible to have a successful affiliate marketing business without a website, it is a lot harder to achieve great results. Many of the social media platforms will block affiliate links but if you put a link to your website or blog post that contains the affiliate links then all will be well.
2. With point one in mind, you are best to start to build up your website or blog before applying to belong to the big companies. I originally made a mistake of joining Amazon too soon. Whilst I was accepted I needed at least 3 sales in the first 6 months and that didn’t happen so I had to re apply. The problem was that there were very few products that were relevant to my niche and my traffic was not big enough. Affiliate marketing is a numbers game and the more traffic you get the better chance you will have of people clicking your link.
3. Reviews of a product, service or company is by far the best way to get customers at the buying stage of the purchasing cycle. If you think about your own decisions to buy or not, then you will realise that this is true. You hear of a product and think it might solve an issue you have. This can be anything from a fishing tackle issue to a garden related problem to a perfect dress for a wedding and anything in between.
As I said before no niche large or small is off limits and there will always be an affiliate programme you can choose to promote and reviewing a product is the best way to get people to purchase through your link.
4. Even if you give a rather negative review you should always put in an affiliate link if you can. Some people will buy despite your rather negative review. Do not leave money on the table.
5. You do not need to purchase every thing that you review.
If you know through your keyword research that there are a lot of people searching for a certain product or service in your niche and you have little competition for that keyword then it is definitely worth doing a review even if you know it is absolutely rubbish. If you need help with Keyword research please read this post by clicking here.
You can research other people’s reviews and information online and put together a review that is all in your own words. Duplicate content and plagiarism is a no no and Google will punish you by not indexing your review. This means no organic traffic to your post.
6. If you give a negative review it is wise to find an alternative you can recommend and link the negative review to your review of the superior product. If you need help with affiliate links and internal links you can read my post here for a Step By Step guide.
Final Thoughts
There are so many scams online that tell you can make money from home online that it is hard to make a sensible and considered decision sometimes. My best advice is that if they want a lot of money upfront to get their secrets… it is a scam.
Even those that offer something for a small amount of money upfront can be a scam. Once you have some basic information ( A bit like I have given you here for free ) they will want more money for a bit more information and then more for some secret!
There is no secret to making money from home online but it will take effort and time. You will need to learn some stuff and the best way to learn, build your affiliate niche website and start earning through affiliate networking is through a company called Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy Affiliate lets you join for free, no credit card required and you get 20 free lessons and 2 free websites if you want them. The lessons are Step By Step guides to help you build your affiliate network marketing website… I was a total technophobe a year ago and now I could build any kind of website for any blogger, business or company.
There are no huge money upgrades that will creep up on you. The most you will pay is $49 a month or $29 if you go yearly. For that you get your hosting, keyword research and a tool called site content which ensures you are not creating duplicate content on your website.
If you are new to making money from home online or have just started then I recommend at least trying out wealthy affiliate… you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Then you can make your own decision if it’s for you or not.