Is affiliate marketing a thing of the past?

The answer is a big resounding NO!

Just ask any random young gamer on YouTube who makes six figures from his channel.

Anyone who tells you that the affiliate marketing business is dead doesn’t know what they’re talking about in today’s world of affiliate marketing.

Change does not always imply death.

In this article, we’ll answer the following questions:

• Is affiliate marketing dead?
• Is affiliate marketing worth it for most affiliates?
• Can affiliate marketing make easy money?

Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? The Numbers.

Let’s have a look at some of the most recent statistics before we get into my thoughts on whether or not affiliate marketing is dead:

The affiliate marketing industry accounts for 15% of the money generated by digital media advertising.

Affiliate networks account for 15% to 30% of all revenues generated by advertising.

Affiliate programs are used by 81 percent of brands.

Affiliate marketing is considered a necessary skill by 40% of online marketers.

Affiliate marketing is used by 79 percent of businesses to engage their existing clients.

Dead methods of affiliate marketing?

That isn’t to say that the answer “Is affiliate marketing dead?” isn’t straightforward. There are two sorts of affiliate marketing that are dead. They are as follows:

Amazon Affiliate Marketing

Based on Amazon’s recent modifications to their commission structure, I believe Amazon affiliate marketing is dead (and I never promoted stuff on Amazon anyway because the commissions were so low, to begin with).

So, if you’ve been pushing Amazon, what can you do?

Many of the products you can promote on Amazon have their affiliate programs, and you’ll normally earn far more commissions this way. So, instead of your current items, switch to those.

Spammy Affiliate Marketing

Spammy affiliate marketing is dead, as it should be. This is what I’m talking about:

• Spamming links in groups
• Spamming comments on YouTube channels 
• Making pointless websites with no value and twisting content to distribute all over the internet

Affiliate marketing got a terrible image in the past because of those who conducted it this way, but today, affiliate marketing is simply content marketing, and it’s prospering.

How To Actually Do Affiliate Marketing in 2020

While affiliate marketing is dead in the two areas mentioned above, it is simply a change to more valuable and credible marketing for all other types of affiliate marketing. Today’s successful affiliate marketers employ the following tactics…

Know Your Audience

In today’s world, affiliate marketing is all about knowing your audience. The more you understand about them, the more likely you are to succeed.

That means understanding the following:

• What they like
• What they don’t like
• Where they hang out online
• What issues do they have in regards to your niche
• What is missing from the solutions that are available for those problems

You can only guess what your audience wants if you don’t know these things, and the outcomes will be erratic. On the other hand, if you can figure out what makes your target audience tick, you’ll find that they adore you and the answers you provide.

Build Relationships

It’s rather simple to create a relationship with your audience after you thoroughly understand who they are.

In exchange for joining your email list, give them something to download for free. Then, please stay in contact with them, ensuring that you are always providing value based on what you know about them.

Don’t Get Shiny Object Syndrome

Affiliate marketers are often entrepreneurs, and if there’s one thing all entrepreneurs have in common, it’s a case of shiny object syndrome. Successful affiliate marketer, on the other hand, stays focused!

If you are constantly promoting the next new affiliate program, you never be a super affiliate.

Please find a few high-paying affiliate programs and make them your bread and butter instead.

It’s all your content. Every every one of your emails. For the rest of your life.

Everything.

Remember, Affiliate Marketing is a Long Game

Affiliate marketing’s ultimate goal is to generate passive revenue, which does not happen quickly.

You must accept the concept of delayed pleasure. Therefore, to reap the benefits months later, you must put in the affiliate marketing efforts upfront, even if you don’t see immediate results.

That’s exactly how things work.

You’ll keep switching gears if you become discouraged because you’re not making a lot of money right away, and that’s the kiss of death in affiliate marketing.

Focus on the Right Products

If you’re an affiliate marketer wondering, “Is affiliate marketing dead?” you’re probably not promoting the products that will make it worthwhile.

The “correct products” for each niche and audience are varied, however, there are two categories of products that we can all agree are the best:

1. High-Ticket Products — When an affiliate sale pays $100, you may make a lot fewer sales while earning a lot more money with a lot less effort.
2. Recurring Programs – The ultimate passive revenue technique is affiliate programs for subscriptions that pay month after month.

If you concentrate on these two categories of affiliate items, you’ll see that affiliate marketing is far from dead.

Create Killer Bonuses

Adding incentives to sweeten the bargain is the way to go if you genuinely want to deliver value to your clients and ensure they buy from your link rather than someone else’s.

When you give a bonus to customers who buy through your link, they practically beg you to let them buy from you. Then your life becomes a whole lot easier.

Don’t make your bonuses too complicated by combining all of your digital products into one big bonus. It’s not about the number of items. It’s all about providing them something enticing because it will be so beneficial to them.

I always teach that there are 4 different types of bonuses that people drool over:

Software – Chrome extensions, WordPress plugins, and iPhone and Android apps are all inexpensive and simple to make. Simply use Upwork to hire someone! You can also get white branded software to distribute.

Training – They will desire to learn something that will make their life easier.

Time – Personal mentorship gives the most benefit in terms of time. Because you only have so much time, you won’t be able to incorporate this in all of your offerings, but it will clinch a lot of sales for high-profit chances.

Templates – Templates are extremely significant since they save individuals time.

Is Affiliate Marketing Easy?

Basic Affiliate marketing programs nowadays necessitates more effort and value than it formerly did. Thus it’s all about content marketing (digital real estate). This is how it works:

1. We use buyer keywords and create content around them (reviews, tutorials, comparisons, etc.). Blogs, videos, podcasts, and any other technique you want can be used to create content. The solutions are our affiliate items.
2. We advertise on Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook Groups, solo advertisements, and email marketing, among other places.
3. If we do everything well, that content will continue to generate passive money for us.

Because the people who see your material are already interested in what you’re promoting, creating content based on buyer keywords increases your chances of making affiliate income and sales.

Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?

Let me start by asking you a question:

Would you want to work for ten years and then retire? Affiliate marketing is capable of accomplishing this.

Those who devote themselves to affiliate marketing and persist with it will reap the benefits.

I worked many hours as an affiliate marketer in my first year and made very little money. Why? I wasn’t following the advice in this post since I wasn’t paying attention.

I was able to work a lot less while earning a six-figure income in my second year after learning these affiliate marketing techniques.

The difficulty is that most individuals never get there because they give up before figuring out how to make it work.

It’s well worth it when you treat affiliate marketing as a genuine business and do it correctly.

When you follow a few key methods, the questions “Is affiliate marketing dead?” and “Is affiliate marketing worth it?” can both be answered with a resounding “YES.”

• High-ticket affiliate programs should be promoted.
• Encourage people to join recurring affiliate programs.
• Make a genuinely passive income

Let’s take a closer look at each of these…

Promote High Ticket Affiliate Programs

High-ticket affiliate marketing is well worth the investment because it produces results much more quickly.

You can make $500-$1000 on a single sale, so there’s no need to chase your tail trying to make as many sales as possible.

It’s not easy to pick a high-ticket affiliate marketing scheme, but here are some of my recommendations:

Choose Digital Products 

Because digital products are downloadable, earning 30 percent -50 percent commissions, and often even 75 percent -100 percent commissions.

On the other hand, physical things always yield smaller commissions because they take money and materials to manufacture.

Promote Companies with a Range of Prices

The following are characteristics of the best affiliate programs:

• A product that you can market for free or at a very minimal cost.
• A funnel that includes several low-cost products ($97 or less).
• (about $49) an upsell or down-sell product
• A high-priced item ($1000 and higher)

A company with everything in place already has its marketing figured out, so all you have to do now is get your recommendations in the door.

Then, even though you simply got them in the door with a free product, they’ll market to your recommendations for you, and you’ll still make commissions on the higher purchases.

Based on their conversions, companies like these might even be able to tell you how many leads you’ll need to bring in to get to a high ticket commission.

Promote Recurring Affiliate Programs

You should also seek recurring affiliate programs in addition to high ticket programs. These services are well worth it since after you make a sale, you will continue to profit on that transaction month after month.

What could be more appealing than that?

It’s a gold mine when you locate a recurring affiliate program in your niche because it generates true passive revenue, which leads me to the following point…

Create Real Passive Income

There are a lot of people who are lying to you.

The majority of people who advise others how to create passive income aren’t doing it themselves. Instead, they put in many more hours than they claim. Following are a few examples:

• E-Commerce – People often talk about dropshipping or selling physical things as ways to make passive money, but neither of these options can ever be considered passive. Even if you pay someone to do it for you, you’ll still have to manage them.
• Agencies – While I teach this strategy, I make it apparent that while you can employ individuals to execute the work, there is still a lot of background work to be done.
• Facebook Ads – Because you must watch them, the ads will nearly never be passive. You cease making money the moment your advertising stop working.
• Instagram – Instagram isn’t a passive platform since you have to work and produce content continuously, or you won’t make any money, and your posts will vanish in a day or two.

So, how do you generate genuine passive income?

Affiliate marketing + content marketing + search engines are the formula.

Affiliate marketing is one of the few sectors where you may work from home.

You can even go on vacation for a year and still make money if you combine it with passive revenue traffic sources. Yes, certain things will change and fade away, but you will continue to profit.

The content you generate is similar to digital real estate in that it can last indefinitely.

• YouTube – Videos on YouTube can rank for years.
• Pinterest – Content on Pinterest can rank for years as well.
• Search Engines – YouTube, Google, Quora, Pinterest, Bing, Yahoo, Podcasts – are passive income traffic sources.

Plus, you can do much better if you promote the recurring affiliate programs and high-priced affiliate programs I often talk about.

Will We Ever See the Death of Affiliate Marketing?

“Is affiliate marketing dead?” people often question. I tell them that I don’t believe affiliate marketing will ever die, and there are several reasons for this:

1. Economic Sense – Why wouldn’t brands want a bunch of affiliate marketers pushing their stuff? Affiliate marketing costs a lot less than advertising, so why wouldn’t they want a bunch of affiliate marketers promoting their stuff?
2. Work-From-Home Opportunities – People increasingly want to work from home, and affiliate marketing is one of the most straightforward ways to do so.
3. Low investment – It’s difficult to think of another industry that offers tremendous earning potential for little or no money.
4. Online Shopping is Growing – People are increasingly shopping online, and this trend will only continue.
5. It Provides a Win-Win-Win Situation – Savvy internet shoppers seek out affiliate marketers because they know they’ll either get a great bargain or extra bonuses if they use their link. This means that the client, the vendor, and the affiliate marketer all benefit.

There’s no denying that affiliate marketing continues to be a fantastic potential for internet entrepreneurs. What should your next move be, though?

You’ll discover how I turned affiliate marketing into a full-time job. Then, I’ll show you around my place of business and give you the lowdown.