The global lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has somehow reduced the course of business or work activities. This has grossly affected the finances or incomes of individuals across the globe. However, those who work online, including affiliate marketers, have a lot of advantages they could maximize.
Also, because agriculture and eCommerce are of great importance in ensuring food security during this period, Afrimash online training on the basics of affiliate marketing is with the goal of ensuring people maximize the opportunity of earning while they stay safe at home.
Our facilitator for the training, Akinbobola Akinwemoye, is an Afrimash Affiliate who has earned thousands on our platform and other international platforms. He took us through his wealth of knowledge and experience on how to earn money online through affiliate marketing.
So, whether you are new to earning on Nigeria’s No.1 online platforms for farmers, or want to add to your knowledge and improve on your strategies as an affiliate marketer for other eCommerce platforms, this training extract is for you.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
It is important to note that affiliate marketing is NOT a get rich quick scheme or programme. It is definitely for those who are (or will be) patient, relentless and hardworking. So, if you want to make millions quickly, I will say you have gotten it all wrong. However, if you are patient, you may earn better than what you earn as salaries.
Affiliate marketing is simply an opportunity to earn money by promoting products and services created by someone else. This means you get paid for promoting a product or service you didn’t create. It is a real opportunity that’s been taken advantage of by millions of people. Unfortunately, not everyone succeeds, but the ones that do succeed enjoy thousands of naira paid into their accounts every single month, week or sometimes every day.
For instance, Afrimash has a product affiliate programme. As an affiliate marketer of a product on Afrimash, I will be paid a particular percentage (called a commission) for every product bought through my link or code. If a farmer visits Afrimash through my affiliate link to buy 2 cartons of broiler day-old chicks, Afrimash will pay me about 3% of the sales.
So, anyone that does Affiliate Marketing is referred to as an Affiliate Marketer.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
When it comes to determining the benefits of Affiliate Marketing, it is important to analyze your abilities, creativity and strengths. Every person is different and unique, which also means that affiliate marketing will benefit each person differently.
There are, however, a few benefits that every person can share when it comes to affiliate marketing. These are;
- You can work for yourself. That is, you work at whatever time that is convenient for you. There is no boss that monitors you, and the money you make is for you alone.
- With the freedom to decide which products you want to promote/market, you owe no one any apology for not promoting their product.
- You decide how much you want to make. This is determined by the efforts you put into the marketing techniques or strategies you use.
- You have the opportunity to widen your knowledge and improve your marketing skills.
- It increases your source of income as well as boost your income.
How to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing
The truth is affiliate marketing is just like any other business and should be treated as one. There is no magic pill or abracadabra you can use to flood your bank account with big money.
In order to be a true success when it comes to affiliate marketing, you need to develop a new set of responsibilities and you need to be able to constantly put effort into your business without expecting immediate results. You need to have patience and be persistent.
No matter how hard it seems, and no matter how many challenges you have to face – do not give up!
To succeed as an Affiliate Marketer;
- Stay motivated and always put your very best into your affiliate marketing business. Once you’ve built up a successful online business promoting affiliate products and services, all of the hard work you’ve put into your business will definitely pay off.
- You are free to use other affiliate marketers as inspiration, but do not copy them. Try to use your own creativities with your strategy. This can sometimes be just what you need to skyrocket your affiliate marketing business. Although it’s not really recommended to copy from others, you can still use the proven methods that are being used by other affiliate marketers. Methods such as keyword research, niche selection and site promotion all have many different ways to accomplish the final goal. This means, you simply need to find a strategy that works for you and then keep at it.
- Always be eager to learn from your prospects or audience. Keep in mind that you are promoting products, and your goal is to get people to buy from your link. Once you get to know them, it will be easier to promote products to them.
Affiliate Programmes
There are numerous affiliate networks or programmes across the globe. In Nigeria, organizations like Afrimash, Jumia, Konga etc, have affiliate programmes. International Affiliate Programmes include Amazon, CJ, Aliexpress, Alibaba and many others.
All these affiliate programmes pay per sale. That is, they pay you a certain commission for every sale you send to them.
However, other affiliate programs such as universities, finance companies, insurance companies etc, pay per lead.
What You need to Start Affiliate Marketing
- Intelligence
- Creativity
- Writing skills
- Mobile phone and/or computer (laptop preferred)
- Research skills
- Reviewing skills
- Persistence
- Patience
How to Promote a Product or Service
There are several ways to promote a product as an affiliate marketer:
- Blogging and writing product reviews
- Social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.
- Word of mouth
- Handbills and postal
However, the most effective of these is Blogging and Writing Product Reviews
Blogging
This requires having a website where you can add valuable content and reviews about the products you want to promote. Before you can use this method, you definitely need to have a computer and access to the internet and of course, an active website or blog.
This is quite easy and doesn’t require you to spend much. Get emails of people you know or you can get online, pitch a product to them and convince them to buy. Kindly know that the conversion rate of this method is always low as email providers such as Gmail might send your email to the Spam box of the recipients.
Social Media
You can make use of your social media account to promote products. Of course, if you have a large number of followers, this is an opportunity to make money off them. Ensure you design awesome creatives and pictures and share with your audience.
Also, talk to people using the product you want to promote and give them your affiliate link for them to buy through the link. Design flyers and handbills and distribute to people. Don’t forget to add your affiliate link or code.
You can also join forums that have large members. Add relevant comments and add your affiliate links. If you have money to spend, you can also utilize paid traffic sources such as Facebook ads, Google ads, Instagram ads etc.
How Do You Choose the Products to Market?
This is always the most difficult part of affiliate marketing. However, the key is to always focus on a particular niche. For example, focus on promoting agricultural products if you choose the agric/farming niche. Doing this will allow you to understand your audience and be able to get the attention of the audience or similar demographics.
Also, when choosing a niche or product, ensure that it has a lot of audience or users. This will also help you to have continuous sales.
Above all, always promote products that you have interests in. Products that you understand or that you are using or have used before.
As stated earlier, the money won’t come the day you start, but If you are persistent, creative and hardworking enough, you will definitely see your efforts pay off.
Question
Question: “How do we get banners for items in Afrimash. or is it just a unique banner to the whole item for sale?” – Deji Owoeye
Response: Afrimash have some creatives such as banners for affiliate marketers but I will recommend that you design yours. You can make use of canva.com to design any banner of your taste without having any graphic design skills.
Question: “So what products are there to promote under Afrimash” – BPC
Response: You can promote based on the product in the season for Afrimash, what people really need at a particular period of the month/year and you can get a hint from what we push on our platforms like our Facebook page.
You can also check new arrivals, a category on the website that shows the new products that have just been added to the website.
Question: “How can one join affiliate Marketing?” – Olori
Response: You can register for Afrimash Affiliate programme here.
Question: “How many products are available for affiliate marketing on Afrimash and various commission?” – GD
Response: The products are grouped based on categories, and here are the commissions for each category:
| Product Category | Affiliate Commission |
| eBooks (electronic/downloadable books) | 10% |
| Feed e.g Layers Mash | 05% |
| Health and Beauty e.g Coconut oil | 4% |
| Day Oid Chicks (Layers, Broilers, Cockerel) | 1.0% |
| Day Old Turkey (Local and Foreign) | 1.5% |
| Snails (i.e Live Breeder Snails) | 2% |
| Fish (Table and Ornamental Fishes) | 1% |
| Medicine (Antibiotics, Vitamins) | 4% |
| Veterinary e.g Blowpipes | 4% |
| Agricultural equipment (Chicken cages, Nipples etc | 3% |
Finally, remember that as easy as it seems to make money from home through affiliate marketing, you need to be patient to achieve your desire result.
We do hope you found this article helpful?
