Within the affiliate marketing community, there is a widespread distrust regarding the number of individuals who have found success in the field. This distrust generally arises when one realizes that the only people profiting from affiliate marketing tend to be those who sell resources designed to assist novice affiliate marketers in entering the market.
When you consider the fact that numerous individuals are unwilling to share their knowledge and methods due to concerns of losing their expertise and revenue, it becomes clear why this occurs. Take a look at these motivating tales of successful affiliate marketing.
1. Darren Rowse
Australian blogger Darren Rowse initiated his blogging journey in 2002. His initial blog posts were related to topics such as spirituality, pop culture, daily life in Australia and other subjects that fascinated him. At present, he manages several websites like Problogger, Digital Photography School, and Problogger Podcast (iTunes).
Darren is primarily recognized for his flagship website ProBlogger, which offers guidance to fellow bloggers on how to enhance their blogs and increase their earnings. In addition to running the blog, he collaborated on “ProBlogger the Book.”
Darren commenced his affiliate profession by marketing Amazon books through his membership in Amazon’s Affiliate Program. He initially made mere hundreds of dollars annually for the initial 3 years. However, in 2006, he achieved an annual income of $20,000 and in 2011 he grossed well above $80,000 annually.
Darren’s achievement is noteworthy as he does not belong to the highest echelon of Amazon Affiliates. In fact, his situation is quite common among those who dedicate significant time and energy to delve into affiliate marketing. Undoubtedly, there exist a plethora of affiliates who have attained greater success.
Despite the various valid criticisms, Darren elaborates on why he decided to use Amazon for his affiliate marketing. Amazon’s commissions are low and many of its products are inexpensive, making it challenging to succeed in highly competitive niches or through volume-based strategies which take a while to establish. Nevertheless, Darren acknowledges that:
- Amazon is a highly trusted brand, much more than many other affiliate sellers.
- One referral link works for everything a user buys in that session, whether or not you referred them to that product. If you send someone a referral for a $2 book, and they decide to buy a $900 TV, you get the commission on the TV.
- Amazon is perhaps the easiest affiliate network of all to get started using. They provide a ton of tools, easy embeds in a half a dozen different ways, and even referral tagged shortlinks.
- Amazon sells, well, everything. There’s very little that Amazon doesn’t sell, and often those categories are just MLM schemes anyways.
Darren currently earns a substantial income as an affiliate marketer, reaching six figures.
2. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
Having accumulated a student loan debt of $38,000 due to her two undergraduate business degrees with honors and a master’s degree, Michelle founded a personal finance and lifestyle blog in around 2010/2011. The primary objective of the blog was to assist herself in managing her finances, and she states that the debt was a significant inspiration behind the decision.
Michelle has achieved great success with her blog, receiving coverage in prestigious publications like Forbes, Oprah’s magazine, Business Insider, Reader’s Digest, among others. As a result, she has become one of the most prosperous affiliate marketers, earning approximately $159,000 on a monthly basis.
The bulk of her earnings are generated by her Affiliate marketing course, bringing in approximately 100k monthly, alongside sponsored blog posts that earn her anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000. Additionally, she has developed a Course centered around monetizing sponsored posts and maintains a variety of affiliate links, such as those for Bluehost and multiple survey sites.
3. Pat Flynn
After losing his dream job as an architect due to a layoff in 2008, Pat ventured into building multiple lucrative online businesses. He has since provided beneficial advice to various companies and collaborated with charitable organizations, ultimately helping millions of people with their ventures.
The Smart Passive Income blog was initiated by him to offer support to enthusiastic online entrepreneurs with creative aspirations.
In his income report for 2008, it was revealed that he earned a profit of $7900 from his LEED exam guide, Green Exam Academy, which was launched in October of that year. However, in his recent income report, it was disclosed that his affiliate earnings for December 2017 exceeded $100,000, and his total earnings for the year through his online businesses amounted to $2,171,652.55.
The primary sources of Pat’s affiliate income are Best Year Ever, Bluehost, and ConvertKit. In addition to these, he generates revenue from sales of books and courses.
4. Tom Dupuis
Online Media Masters, a website focused on WordPress tutorials, speed optimization, and SEO, is owned by Tom. He began his affiliate journey in 2011 and was able to earn commissions worth $80,000 annually by 2017. Tom’s recent income report shows that his affiliate projects generated roughly $150,000 in 2020.
According to Tom, Cloudways generates approximately 90% of his affiliate income and is his primary source.
5. Matthew Woodward
In his personal blog at matthewwoodward.co.uk, Matthew provides guidance on boosting website traffic and sales through his expertise in areas such as link building, traffic generation, social media, and conversion rate optimization.
In 2005, Matthew launched his affiliate marketing journey by participating in a CPA offer that offered him various free products like electronics, iPods, gaming consoles, TV screens, etc for referring new customers. He claims that he received an overwhelming amount of free products each week, leading him to negotiate a commission rate with the network rather than accepting freebies. Ultimately, he agreed to receive £22 for each lead.
Matthew Woodward established matthewwoodward.co.uk in 2012 to disseminate his accumulated insights, research, and experience in SEO and digital marketing to others. He commenced issuing monthly income reports revealing his progression from scratch to $1,000,000 within approximately six years, once the blog had gained traction.
Matthew’s achievements as a blogger have led to him being invited to speak at various venues around the globe such as Las Vegas, New York, London, Barcelona, Bangkok, Bali, Romania, Costa Rica and many others. He has become a reputable CEO, successful entrepreneur, 7-figure affiliate marketer, and a sought-after international speaker.
6. David McSweeny
Having gained 15 years of experience in the marketing industry, David, an SEO specialist and marketer, imparts his personal methods and advice for establishing and developing a marketing website.
David’s blog, which he utilized as a case study, generated almost $4,000 monthly revenue within just six months of its launch. The speed of this achievement is a testament to David’s affiliate marketing expertise.
The main content of the article is his step-by-step guide and personal experience in developing his website. In the initial month, he focused on building and organizing the site, selecting a suitable product, and determining the approach to generate revenue.
It shows the tremendous effort he invested in research and creating content for his website. He conducted extensive reviews of his preferred item, crafting reviews that exceeded a length of 2,500 words. By the end of the first month, his website had attracted slightly more than 800 visitors and earned $115.
During the second month, he established a blog to supplement his website where he shared insights on content creation, linking strategies, and the art of link building. With the help of quality content and effective linking, he managed to amass a total of 2,200 visitors and generate sales of $391. During the succeeding month, he continued to enhance his blog, which led to a further increase in traffic and profits.
It is evident from all of this that administering a website requires significant effort. During the initial four months, he devoted 234 hours to generating content, exploring products, constructing the site, and securing links. When combined with the holiday period, this resulted in a significant increase in his affiliate site’s performance, which has remained consistent since.
In his study, David proves that employing ethical tactics can lead to rapid website growth, though it is somewhat dependent on timing and diligent niche selection. While his article does not delve extensively into the latter, more information about it can be found in a recent post we authored.
7. Chris Guthrie
Darren’s post in the first section has a lot of similarities with this one. This serves as evidence that Darren is not an anomalous case and is, as he claims, quite average. Chris earns over $45,000 yearly from his websites, and he could’ve made even more if he hadn’t sold one of his top-performing sites for a six-figure sum.
The recommendations from Chris are:
Select a suitable niche. Affiliate marketers have been reminded of this repeatedly, making it a familiar piece of advice. A sound niche is the cornerstone of effective affiliate marketing. Avoid trying to cover too much ground; you can broaden your focus later on.
Opt for content links over Amazon boxes, sidebars and tables as they tend to generate more clicks. However, it’s imperative to avoid deceptive practices like cloaking and redirecting to Amazon. Always ensure that the links lead to the intended destinations to avoid disappointing your readers.
Transform your product visuals into affiliate links that can be clicked. Given the high number of image clicks, directing them towards the product page would be advantageous. Conversely, several users don’t appreciate selecting an image link only to end up on an irrelevant page instead of the desired destination.
Include Amazon links often but be careful not to go overboard and get penalized by Google. Chris suggests adding 5-10 links in each post, however, his posts are usually long. Be mindful of your actions and gradually test the limits to determine the most effective threshold.
Producing authentic review articles can be highly effective in terms of conversion. It’s possible to outsource the writing of these reviews, as long as they are of good quality.
Ensure to include the holidays and make the most of the discounts available in your specialized area. Combined sales posts generate notably high conversion rates. A post on “Top Black Friday Deals for [Product]” holds immense worth, and I am confident you comprehend why.
To enhance variety and quantity, gradually broaden your market and vend a wider range of products. For instance, if you commence trading in faucets, you can delve into more plumbing goods, broader bathroom fixtures, diverse sorts of valves, or merge them all. However, avoid biting more than you can chew.
To increase your variable commission rates, start by promoting low-cost items at the beginning of the month and high-priced items later on. Amazon’s commission rates vary from 4% to 8% on a monthly basis, so it’s best to prioritize selling expensive products once your commission rates have increased for greater earning potential.
Create evergreen content as frequently as possible. Both product comparison tables and posts featuring recurring deals are excellent options for doing so. Ensure that you keep them current and, above all else, ensure that people are aware of their current status. If feasible, update them on a monthly basis, and always indicate the most recently modified date.
Accompany your monthly bestseller lists with an analysis and share it publicly. Although other affiliate marketers may be interested in seeing which strategies are effective, if you are executing successfully, they will be unable to surpass or replace you.
Ignore the Amazon AStore functionality completely; it’s not very useful.
Additional points or observations.
There is a plethora of online content creators who earn their livelihoods as affiliate marketers. They are evidence that, irrespective of one’s age, history, or prior expertise, it is possible to generate significant income from affiliate marketing provided you have the appropriate approach.
