Affiliate marketing has long existed in various forms, but the Internet has greatly enlarged the industry. The Internet has changed and democratized affiliate marketing – the skills you need are different from traditional affiliate marketing, but ultimately, it is easier to enter the field. If you are a beginner looking for a side-hustle, you might wonder, what is an affiliate marketing training course? Yes, these courses are worth it; you just have to choose wisely.
Affiliate Marketing Basics
Affiliate marketing is advertising on behalf of another company. The company pays you for the advertising, usually with an upfront agreement. Often affiliate marketers are individuals or companies that are in a field related to, or the same as, that of the paying company. Affiliate marketing is an effective way to establish a network of business relations and to make some supplemental income.
To a large extent, affiliate marketing basics are just business basics. If you have a business degree, such as an MBA, or if you have taken some business courses – online or otherwise – you are at an advantage. If you have not done any of these things, it is not that hard to gain an edge. There are many free or low-cost online courses in such relevant areas as business, marketing, and management. The great thing about these courses, is that they not only help the entrepreneur but they are also great resume pieces if you seek employment, too.
Being a good affiliate marketer requires developing an eye for consumer needs. Do you see a population that would like a product but never ends up hearing about it? What do certain groups of people really want? Advertising/marketing can be indirect – you can take the values and desires of a certain population and creatively apply these to the advertisement of a product.
Naturally, good aesthetics and sympathy with the consumer are both important, but it is also important to show yourself as an authority. You need to express experience or expertise that makes prospective customers trust your opinion.
Affiliate Marketing on the Internet
The Internet has created much more upward mobility for affiliate marketers – this is the case whether your affiliate marketing is entirely online or just has an online component. It is fairly quick and easy to start making a little income with online affiliate marketing programs. However, you probably will need to work harder, learn new skills, and be more innovative to really make a fortune.
Because so many people are entering the affiliate marketing field as beginners, there are programs that advertise themselves as “get-rich-quick” or “make-money-doing-nothing” opportunities. In reality, while internet affiliate marketing does allow the generation of passive income, you usually have to put in some work to get everything set up properly; furthermore, good affiliate marketers are constantly assessing the situation and making tweaks to optimize their online presence.
Online affiliate marketing is a subsector of digital marketing. As such, digital marketing skills/courses are almost always relevant: Search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and keyword research are universally relevant to the affiliate marketer. While some affiliate marketing programs do not require a website or blog, most people who continue in the field realize they need to develop one or both of these, so web-building is also a very relevant digital marketing skill. Social media marketing is also relevant.
Most online affiliate marketing programs have a pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-impression (PPI) system. PPC is what it sounds like; PPI is usually paid in units of 1000 views (impressions). In some instances, the click-through ratio (CTR) is taken into account. CTR is the fraction of viewers who act on the advertisement in some way over those who just look at the ad and move on. As you can probably see, web tracking is hugely important in digital marketing and online affiliate marketing.
There are some basic types of marketing that have grown as a result of digital marketing’s rise: niche, influencer, and content marketing. Niche marketing is the definition and targeting of a certain group of customers; niche marketing narrows the advertising pool and, ideally, an understanding of the niche directs the advertising approach. Influencer marketing is, in a way, similar: it involves selling the product to someone deemed to be an influencer to a certain population; this person then advertises the product to their followers. (The role of social media in this is fairly obvious.)
Lastly, content marketing is the provision of interesting, entertaining, or informative content to customers as a way to introduce advertisement. This is one of the more common approaches used by digital marketing bloggers – the blog or website draws the customer in with content that he/she wants to read.
What Courses Should Do for You
What is an affiliate marketing training course and who offers such a thing? Conveniently, many of the same companies that offer online affiliate marketing programs also offer affiliate marketing training courses. Check such online media and marketing giants as Facebook, Amazon, and Instagram for marketing courses relevant to their sites. Do not restrict yourself to what you know, however; do some research. Depending on your skill set and interests, you might decide to market for someone else.
A simple search pulls up lists of possible online courses. Some of them are free. There really is a lot of free content, which is a great way to get started. Usually, you do have to pay for more advanced courses and tutorials, but typically it is not a high fee. Many of the best-paid courses have an instructor who really acts as an adviser to the students; the instructor will communicate with you one-on-one and help you get started in your particular affiliate marketing business. Therefore, expect your online courses in this area to be almost like internships.
Choosing an online course might be daunting. There are so many options and so many different subsectors of online affiliate marketing. The best thing to do is really max out on free material. Then consider a social media platform or digital marketing-related skill (writing, researching, blogging, web development) that you either already have or that looks doable to you. Take a more advanced, possibly paid, course in that area.
Reflecting/Soul-Searching
Once you have used all of the free materials (and possibly some not-free, as needed), then you probably have a good idea of the digital marketing field, and wondering, “What is an affiliate marketing training course?” is probably a thing of the past. You might benefit greatly from keeping a journal to record any ideas you have learned or discovered.
It might be that you end up in a very different place from where you started, and that is okay. Alternatively, you might have found a totally different approach to achieve your original goal – in fact, this refinement of your agenda is ideal. Never give up on refining your goals and approaches, and never give up on learning new skills as needed.
The best/most financially successful digital marketers are those who arise as authorities in their marketing area. Is there any area that you know really well or skill you have that you cannot seem to make lucrative? Digital marketing might be your chance. Keep in mind that affiliate marketing can happen alongside other types of digital marketing, and you can affiliate market for multiple companies at once, as long as your content is both desirable to consumers and well-rated by search engines.
Proceeding/Advancing
As you refine and advance your affiliate marketing position, new issues might arise: If you have not done so already, you probably want to have a website. This means finding a web host and an appropriate domain name – fortunately, the same web services usually help you with both. The goal is to have a monetized website – a site that is worth something, such that you could sell it like a business.
You might be at the point where you would like to automate a lot of your customer transactions, such as emails and social media messages. Thankfully, there are easy-to-find and affordable web services that provide automated communications and web tracking data. You can use tracking data to assess what works and what does not.
While smaller affiliate programs are not that lucrative with Google’s advertisement system (AdSense, Analytics, and more), you might have advanced to the point that understanding this system is worth your while. If researching the Google Ad sites is overwhelming, start with an affiliate marketing course that addresses these topics.
Why Affiliate Marketing Courses Are Worth Your Time and Money
Affiliate marketing is the perfect way for the online freelancer to get started or earn supplemental income. Also, it can be part of an overall campaign to develop your brand and reputation. It is perfect for the person who feels stuck in a dead-end job, or frustrated by untapped potential: the Internet allows you to freely share your services, perspectives, and expertise. There is an opportunity for everyone – if you do not succeed at first, go back and reflect; see if there is anything you can change for the better.