When it comes to affiliate marketing, tons of questions might run through your mind. Is affiliate marketing still profitable? How much time needs to pass before you start earning a decent income through affiliate programs? All doubts are genuine, and you should clear them before stepping into this new genre.
Before you start affiliate marketing, the most crucial question is how much can you earn in Affiliate marketing in 2021? In this article, we will try to analyze and explain the answer to this not-so-direct question.
The affiliate marketing industry is growing day by day. According to a report published by Statista, affiliate marketing spending for just the U.S. is estimated to grow by 10.8% in 2022.
The industry is estimated to spend over 7.4 billion U.S. dollars on Affiliate marketing alone in 2021. So, there is a space for everyone to enter, grow, and earn in this market.
If you still doubt the success of affiliate marketing programs, here are a few super-affiliates sharing their success stories through their income reports.
Examples of Famous Super-affiliates to Get Inspired:
- The well-known author and affiliate marketer Pat Flynn grew his business from $8,000 to $100,000 per month in 5 years.
- Tom Dupuis, an affiliate marketer in Online Media Masters, grew his business from $20,000 to $150,000 in just two years.
- Doug Cunnington made around $70,000 from his affiliate website - NicheSiteProject.com.
As inspiring and motivating these earnings are, not everybody can achieve it in such a short time. Most people get disheartened and impatient when they don't earn as much as their hero, while others lose hope and give up. So, what's the realistic amount of money you can earn through affiliate marketing?
The number one affiliate marketing forum, STM, recently conducted a poll to ask people about their annual affiliate earning. Here are the results,
Your income can vary a lot regarding affiliate marketing, depending upon your category and niche. Few bloggers make millions every year, while plenty others struggle to earn even $20,000 a year.
Based on Their Monthly Income, We Can Divide Affiliates Into:
- Beginners - These affiliate marketers are new to the scene and are losing money initially.
- Low-level affiliates - These affiliate marketers have started to understand the industry and earn around $300 every day.
- Intermediate affiliates - These affiliate marketers have been around for over a year and earn between $300 to $3,000 every day.
- High-level affiliates - These affiliate marketers understand their category well and cracked a way to market a product. They are earning more than $3,000 every day.
- Super affiliates - These affiliate marketers, popularly termed as 'Gurus of Affiliate Marketing are usually your idols who earn around $10,000 every day.
When it comes to affiliate marketing, you need a good marketing strategy and require patience and persistence. You won't always earn a profit. There would be days when you lose money and some days where you make more than $300.
Income at affiliate marketing is not certain initially. Some marketers blow up in a month, while others may take up to a year to earn a steady income. It all boils down to choosing the correct category and niche and implementing your marketing strategy appropriately.
Affiliate Commissions in Different Niches, to Name a Few:
As we discussed before, your affiliate commissions and earnings would vary significantly with different categories. They may also depend upon which niche you choose in the category. Here we have discussed a few affiliate niches and how much commission you can expect under each niche.
1. Software Affiliate Programs
Software affiliate programs are amongst one of the most profitable niches. Software and web hosting providers come under this category. These services are evergreen and considerably expensive, resulting in a good affiliate commission. Some providers may even pay you up to 30% on every sale.
However, software affiliate programs are pretty competitive and have many prominent marketers already ruling the niche. It is a little difficult to compete with them and is more suitable for expert affiliate marketers.
2. Travel Affiliate Programs
Travel affiliate programs are another great affiliate marketing category. You usually earn your income through review sites, travel goods, airlines, travel agencies, and booking aggregators. Your commission varies on the niche you choose. For example -
- You can earn up to 3% commission on flight tickets of JetRadar, Kiwi, or Kayak flight affiliate programs.
- You can earn up to 12% commission on accommodation affiliate programs for websites like Booking.com, Agoda, and Hostelworld.
- You can earn up to 7% commission on tours and activity affiliate programs for websites like GetYourGuide, Klook, and Viator.
- You can earn up to 15% commission on car rental affiliate programs for websites such as RentalCars, AutoEurope, and DiscoverCars.
Even though the travel category has high competition, it is still lower than software affiliate programs. With patience and persistence, you would be able to compete in this category.
4. E-Commerce Affiliate Programs
When it comes to e-commerce platforms, having a dedicated audience is a huge benefit. The e-commerce giant, Amazon, offers a commission of up to 8.5% through their affiliate program.
Selling to 10-12 people a month won't earn you much. However, if you have a vast, dedicated audience, you can easily make up to $1,000 a month with just a few hours of work.
5. Dating Affiliate Programs
Dating affiliate programs are another popular and profitable affiliate marketing category. They pay high for leads and referrals. A few affiliate programs would pay you around $12 for every lead and $5 for every referral.
Dating affiliate programs usually have a loyalty bonus attached to them. It means that your commission rate would increase once you have crossed a certain number of sign-ups on the website.
5. Loans Affiliate Programs
Loan affiliate programs might cater to a small number of people, but their affiliate commissions are huge. Companies are viciously competing with each other for clients, and you can make a good profit by helping them. According to High Paying Affiliate Programs, you can earn anywhere from $1 to $5,000 on every sale as an affiliate marketer.
6. Fitness & Nutrition Affiliate Programs
The health category is an evergreen and ever-growing category that can make you a good affiliate profit. Every day new health, fitness, and nutrition products are introduced to the market. A few companies could pay you up to 40% commission on the sale of every supplement.
Even though this niche is quite competitive, you can still enter it and earn a good profit every day. This ever-growing market gives a chance to every affiliate marketer.
How Long Does It Take To Make a Steady Income?
Income from affiliate marketing can depend upon your marketing strategy, your category, and your skill. Some marketers can make a decent, steady income in the first six months, while others might take a few years to generate revenue.
You should take up affiliate marketing as a part-time job and slowly make it full-time. Creating quality content every week and optimizing it for organic SEO will drive traffic to your website and promote your affiliate products. You can also use social media applications and email marketing to promote your products.
Affiliate marketing requires patience and persistence in your work. You can organically grow your affiliate website and make a sound, steady income out of it with consistent effort.
Decide Who You Want to Be In Affiliate Marketing
When it comes to affiliate marketing, you can pick amongst a few roles. You can become an affiliate publisher and promote products or services from different brands. Here you will earn a percentage of commission every time you make a sale.
The second way is to create your affiliate network and build a fully-fledged digital advertising business.
Which method you should choose depends upon your skills and marketing strategy. The best way to determine is to learn more about both roles, analyze yourself, and decide.