It’s not easy being a YouTuber these days — especially if you want to make YouTube your full-time career. Without the right strategy, it may seem almost impossible to reach audiences and potential followers. But thanks to programs and methods within the YouTube platform, it is becoming more practical to monetize your channel. One of the fastest-growing methods for earning money on YouTube is affiliate marketing. It’s changing the way products, brands and services are promoted online today.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing may sound like it will take months or years to master, but actually, it’s relatively simple. In business terms, affiliate marketing is merely a strategy allowing you to promote a company’s product or service with what’s called an affiliate link. In a broad sense, affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission for promoting products. However, on the YouTube platform, affiliate marketing lets your video become your visual marketing tool. The video content you create for YouTube inspires viewers to pay for products from third-party websites. When viewers buy, you earn a commission.

Using affiliate marketing as a YouTuber

As a YouTuber, YouTube affiliate marketing lets you add links that lead to promoted products on your videos. After joining an affiliate marketing program, you can post the link or code you’ve been assigned on your profile and video descriptions and earn a percentage every time someone uses that link. About 7.5% of all online purchases are made using affiliate links or codes, and that figure increases all the time. With each sale made from your link, you receive a commission.

Where to find affiliate marketing opportunities

If you’re new to affiliate marketing, Amazon is the most popular go-to company. Nearly two hundred million people around the world shop on Amazon each month. They offer users new to affiliate marketing the opportunity to find their niche market if they don’t have one. Some examples of those niche markets are beauty, tech and gaming. There’s a wide product selection for every niche market on Amazon and many familiar brands for potential buyers. However, commissions can vary by product.

If Amazon isn’t your thing, there are other opportunities you can explore offering affiliate networks, such as LinkShare.com.

The best affiliate marketing programs

Countless affiliate marketing programs represent a collection of niches. But your goal is to find a program that works for you and your audience. This should make your choice simple and easy when faced with the hundreds of affiliate programs you can select. Amazon Associates, Shopify and Trip Advisor are some of the most popular programs for beginners or smaller YouTubers. You could also choose e-commerce platforms for content creators like Sellify or Audible.

Allow affiliate marketing to flow naturally in your videos

The last thing you want to do when you host video content is sound impersonal or fake. You want your voice to resonate with a passion to engage your viewers and followers. So how do you promote an affiliate link without sounding fake?

Reviews provide a great way to express your opinion on the product, service or brand you are linking to. You can express yourself naturally with review videos, and they make it easy to integrate affiliate links so your viewers can purchase the product. You can also link to products you use personally. For instance, say your video is a tutorial on a specific craft technique. You could use affiliate links to guide viewers to the needed supplies.

The best way to develop affiliate marketing videos is to become an expert on your product.

The best way to develop affiliate marketing videos is to become an expert on your product. When you’re passionate, your videos will naturally become more engaging and fun to watch.

Many companies and brands have affiliate programs to get affiliate links. You can get them from almost anywhere. Some examples are giant retailers like Target and Best Buy. The key to affiliate marketing is not simply joining an affiliate marketing program and using your link or code to purchase something from the brand you promote. It’s knowing where to place your link for viewers and followers to click on it. Putting your link below your video in the description will ensure that the flow of the video is not interrupted by advertisements. Viewers can purchase the product and enjoy your video without being distracted, and you can earn your commission. 

How to get paid as an affiliate marketer

The thing to keep in mind when choosing an affiliate marketing program is that every brand has a different commission rate. The payout depends on how many products you sell in a month. Some brands only do 5%, and some do 50%. Remember, you’re selling other people’s stuff, so you have to know their conditions when it comes to commission. Affiliate marketing programs like Sellify have recurring revenue, allowing you to earn 25% for every payment the seller makes for the first 12 months. Trip Advisor offers marketers a 50% commission of the gross revenue generated when a user from your video clicks on a commerce link that sends them to a Tripadvisor partner site.

Commissions can also change between product types. Also, with some affiliate marketing programs, you can become either a host or guest affiliate. Usually, the larger your following, the more money you can make. Remember to do your research when choosing an affiliate program.

Final thoughts

Affiliate marketing on YouTube offers a wide range of opportunities and choices. It’s an exciting and rewarding way to make extra income through commission. You get the chance to sell and promote products and brands you love while building your reputation as an affiliate marketer. You can do it part-time or full-time or in your spare time. Now is the best time to explore the many incentives of joining in on the fun.  Â