Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It Now in 2021

It is common for people to wonder, Is affiliate marketing worth it? Or is affiliate marketing dead? These questions usually come before venturing into the industry or after being in it for a few months. Affiliate marketing is worth it if you have the necessary skills. However, affiliate marketing is not worth it for everyone because you need patience and perseverance to make a lot of content and build audiences. 

Most people go into affiliate marketing thinking that it is a get-rich-quick kind of business. It takes a lot of work to build an audience and steady traffic to your affiliate links. The good thing is that you can cash in on affiliate marketing for years once you establish yourself. 

Let's explore what makes affiliate marketing attractive and whether it is a lucrative income source. 

Is Affiliate Marketing Legit

Affiliate marketing is a legit industry, and it is currently worth billions of dollars. Businesses find that affiliate marketers drive a lot of traffic that converts into sales. Therefore, more businesses are willing to spend money to pay affiliate marketers for traffic and sales. 

There are many niches that affiliate marketers can choose from, including digital products, retail, online learning, health, and fitness, among others. You can choose a niche that you are familiar with to market to potential buyers. Moreover, there are affiliate networks that have thousands of affiliate programs that affiliates can promote. 

Overall, there is no shortage of affiliate programs to promote from both renowned brands and start-ups. Many businesses offer affiliate programs that affiliates can register directly on their website. It is up to you to find affiliate offers suitable for your content or target audience and promote them. 

If you don't believe that affiliate marketing is real, go to YouTube or Instagram and see how affiliates are raking in money from different platforms. So if you ask yourself, is affiliate marketing legit? It is definitely a legit way to make extra income through commission. Also, it is one of the businesses with low start-up costs and the potential to bring in a lot of cash per month. 

Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?

No. Affiliate marketing is alive and thriving because businesses are willing to give commissions for referrals. The number of affiliate programs in 2021 was higher than 10-years ago as more businesses use affiliate marketers to drive traffic. If you are not updated with the affiliate marketing industry, you need to know that affiliate marketing is here to stay.

To answer your question about whether or not affiliate marketing is dead? It is absolutely not. In fact, it is predicted that affiliate marketing will be a 12 billion dollar industry by the year 2022 and around 10% growth every year.

Is Affiliate Marketing Hard

Yes and no. Affiliate marketing is easy for professional and affiliate gurus. It is hard for affiliate marketers who are just starting the business. New affiliate marketers in 2021 go into a highly competitive market compared to new affiliate marketers in 2010. More people are venturing into affiliate marketing as a way to make extra income. 

However, affiliate marketing becomes easier as you learn the ropes of the trade and start generating income. You will find affiliate marketing enjoyable once you learn the best way to generate traffic and choose a niche that works. You can work for several hours a day and make money that sustains you.

Affiliate gurus understand how the industry works and have many affiliate offers that generate income. Some of the top affiliate marketers make $500 with one affiliate sale. It is common for experts to make $100 or $200 per day through SEO content. Others use PPCs to drive traffic to their content and make commissions from affiliate offers. 

The bottom line of the question is affiliate marketing hard? It gets easier the more content you keep making. Start small and increase your promotion efforts on the offers that bring the highest amount of income. Most affiliates start part-time and then quit day jobs to do affiliate marketing full time. 

How Much Can You Make With Affiliate Marketing

It is important to state that the amount of money you make through affiliate marketing is 100% dependent on your effort to market your affiliate links. With that said, affiliate marketers make $5k-$7K on average per month. Most affiliate marketers take about $70K per year from commissions on sales. 

New affiliates can take a long time before they start making any commissions. There is a learning curve since most new affiliates do not take a course to learn the basics. Therefore, be prepared to make zero commissions when you start. However, there is a small percentage that makes money immediately when they start affiliate marketing. 

A small percentage of affiliate marketers take $50K-$100K at home per month. The top affiliate marketers have been in the business for over 3-5 years, and they know all the tips for the business. One thing that sets apart the top affiliate marketers is that they create content for affiliate content every day or every other day. They are tenacious and consistent to ensure that they generate high amounts of traffic to their affiliate links. 

Despite all the information above, you can still make money with affiliate marketing from day one when you do everything right. Since the start-up cost isn't much, you can try affiliate marketing without investing a lot of money. 

What Do I Need to Start Affiliate Marketing 

Some several tools and skills can help you see results faster as an affiliate marketer. You don't have to wait for months before you start seeing money rolling into your account. Here are the skills and tools you need for an affiliate marketing career. 

Writing Skills: Affiliate marketing goes well when you place affiliate links inside relevant posts. You need writing skills because SEO content can drive more traffic to your links without additional costs. If you don't have writing skills, you need to learn how to write engaging content. 

A Blog or Website: Affiliate links can easily convert into sales on a website or blog content. It is a tried and true fact. Most individuals click on affiliate links in web content because it isn't a direct sale. Also, it is easier to promote blogs or websites with affiliate links through paid ads for more traffic. 

Steady Internet: Affiliate marketing is done online, and you need steady internet to do it daily. Nowadays, everyone has the internet, becoming a motivation for people to join affiliate marketing. 

Join an Affiliate Program or Network: You need products to promote to be an affiliate marketer. You can join several affiliate programs or join an affiliate network to access thousands of affiliate programs. Overall, it is your choice to figure out what works best for you. 

How to Select a Niche

Most affiliate experts recommend choosing a niche that you like and are familiar with to be successful. That is bad advice because what you like may not be what sells. The best way to select a niche is to try several niches and check the sales statistics to see the best performers. 

Choosing niches that perform the best on your blog or website is an indication that you can make money on those niches. It would be best to treat your affiliate marketing efforts as a business that should turn a profit. Therefore, go with niches that have high conversions even when they are not your favorite niches. Remember that the goal of affiliate marketing is to make extra money through commissions. 

Another remarkable piece of wisdom is to promote 1-2 niches to ensure that you lock your target audience. For example, you can promote makeup products alongside jewelry or fashion items. Choosing to promote many niches can make it hard to target a specific audience and generate significant traffic to your site or blog. 

Whichever niche you choose, ensure that it brings in commissions, and you can scale your income when you promote your links. Selecting a niche you like when it doesn't generate much income is a bad idea. 

What Is The Best Affiliate Program To Join

You can find affiliate programs or networks that will provide you with affiliate links to promote. A quick search on Google will show you the affiliate programs available in an industry or location. You can choose to promote either digital products, software, services, or tangible product. There are many affiliate programs you can join out there. The easiest way to find is by googling the “niche word” followed by “affiliate program.” For example, if you want to promote weight-loss products, you google “weight loss affiliate program.” It will have lists of affiliate programs that you can join there. Most marketers promote online business software or courses because it is easy to track sales and market their links. You can also promote any tangible products or services that you love or are passionate about. 

You can read my other blog about “Best Affiliate Program For Beginners” that I picked to my best knowledge. It tells you more detailed affiliate programs you can join according to the niche you choose. Here are some of the affiliate programs and networks you need to consider joining when starting affiliate marketing. 

1. Amazon Associates

Amazon has thousands of products that are on sale, and they do deliveries around the world. It is simple to market Amazon products anywhere in work as long as you do your targeting well. Their commissions are 2%, and they often change with a week's notices. Beginners can use Amazon as a learning platform on niches to promote and get a lot of traffic to affiliate links. 

It takes a short time to register on Amazon Associates, and you can start promoting products immediately after registration. You need to create engaging content to attract your target audience and make conversions. 

2. Fiverr Affiliate Program

The Fiverr affiliate program is among the best-paying programs for beginners. Fiverr brings together freelancers and customers. Fiverr will pay commission when you bring a paying customer to the platform or bring a freelancer who sells their service. Referrals can get a commission of up to $100, depending on the gigs purchased or freelancer service income.

Another way to make money on Fiverr is by promoting their online learning platform. The commissions will depend on the course that you promote. Fiverr doesn't have any registration requirements, and beginners can start making money immediately. It takes about 5-minutes to register for the Fiverr referral program. 

3. Commission Junction (CJ) 

CJ is an excellent affiliate network for beginners looking to make money. It has thousands of affiliate offers, and you can select the offers you want to promote. Some offers have a fixed commission per sale, while others are a percentage of the price. Affiliate marketers are referred to as Commission Junction publishers. 

It would help if you had a website or blog to register as a CJ publisher. You will also select the niches you target, and some offers will look at your monthly traffic before admission. Overall, it takes about 15 minutes to register to CJ and fill out your details. Their system is efficient in tracking conversions, so you don't need additional tracking software. 

4. ShareASale 

ShareASale is another affiliate network that beginners should consider joining to get access to affiliate offers. Most affiliate offers do not have many requirements, and beginners can get into affiliate programs fast. Start-ups are the major clients on ShareASale, and they are willing to spend a lot of money to create brand awareness or make sales. 

It takes about 5-minutes to register to the platform and gain access to the dashboard. You can find affiliate offers that you think will look good with your content. You can get consistent income from the platform since they have attractive offers.

What Is The Best Affiliate Marketing Course

Many affiliate marketing courses are out there, and beginners can benefit from taking a course before starting an affiliate marketing career. The most important thing to find an affiliate marketing course is to see if the course is up to date and teach you step by step behind your shoulder to follow click by click. Many badass affiliate marketing courses only teach you the theory or strategy in affiliate marketing. And they do not have a complete guide or click-by-click over-the-shoulder videos that teach you completely.

You can join this best affiliate marketing course, and you can create your free account for a limited time here. It will teach you to step by step and guide you to start your online affiliate marketing business. The course is easy to follow, and you will gain a lot of wisdom you can use to work smart as an affiliate marketer. You will learn how to position the products you promote in the best light to get potential buyers to click the links. You can also check my other blog about “The Best Affiliate Marketing Course” available online.

Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It in 2021

If you wonder, “Is affiliate marketing worth it in 2021?” the direct answer is yes. 

Affiliate marketing is still a lucrative industry in 2021, and it seems businesses still rely on affiliate marketing for traffic and sales. You can make extra income using affiliate marketing if you start today. Moreover, it seems that the affiliate marketing industry is here and will stay for a long time, so you may also give it a try. 

The thing about affiliate marketing is that you will never know if it is suitable for you until you give it a try. Most people give up after six months, but those who keep at it find what works and make money. Since the start-up cost is low, what do you have to lose when you try being an affiliate marketer?

Final Thought 

Affiliate marketing is a viable source of extra income, and you can even do it full-time. It is worth the effort to join affiliate marketing as long as you are willing to put in the work. You can take an affiliate marketing course to equip yourself with the necessary skills before doing affiliate marketing. Companies invest billions of dollars cumulatively to affiliate marketing and can earn part of the money. Even if you have a full-time job, affiliate marketing can give you extra cash to complement your income. 

Understand that affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It required your patient, dedication, and commitment. There are many different ways to make money online you can do. But affiliate marketing gives you freedom and passive income after your hard work. There are not so many online businesses out there that give you that kind of thing I mention. The question now is it is worth your time and effort to do affiliate marketing. That will be your choice to answer.

To understand more about affiliate marketing, you can read my other blog about How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing Without A Website. After you read that blog, then you can decide if affiliate marketing is for you or not. If you are ready to start your affiliate marketing online business or you want to scale your business in general, I recommend joining the One Funnel Away Challenge. It will teach you step by step and will answer any questions or obstacles you may have. Most importantly, it will help and guide you to build your online business successfully.

“Hard work pays off if you patient enough to see it through”