Are you a newcomer to the mobile affiliate marketing industry? If so, this article is perfect for you! Upon finishing this read, you’ll be equipped to join the group of individuals who understand how to capitalize on the appropriate opportunities and generate substantial profits.
No one is shocked by the rapid growth of the mobile market, which currently boasts over 2 billion smartphone users worldwide. This enormous figure reflects a shift in the game from desktop to mobile, presenting new possibilities for the world’s top brands to tap into untapped customer markets in even the farthest corners of the globe.
Mobile Affiliate Marketing
To put it briefly, mobile affiliate marketing belongs to the category of performance-based marketing.
Mobile affiliate marketing involves compensating one or several affiliates for each individual user/customer who is acquired through a mobile device, commonly an Android phone or iOS device.
There are four key players in this particular industry.
- The advertiser: they may represent a brand, a specific service or they can simply own different kinds of offers
- The network: it aggregates the offers that affiliates will then check and select. It also takes care of payments
- The publisher or affiliate: they use offers to monetize traffic
- The user: a person who’s subscribing to offers or any other action connected with the offer
As the market has expanded, there has been a rise in the emergence of secondary entities such as advertising agencies and third-party vendors.
Mobile Affiliate Marketing
1. Real Affiliate Life Isn’t About What You’ve Read Online
Online studies are strictly intended for educational purposes and do not depict the challenging truth of life in mobile affiliate marketing. The stories of a small number of individuals who have experienced enormous financial gain in this field are the only ones commonly heard.
On the other hand, successful stories are always told while the tales of the many men who have lost a portion of their savings due to unsuccessful betting attempts in this industry are disregarded. In essence, people are not interested in hearing about failure.
Secondly, it’s crucial to note that actual market circumstances may differ from those that resulted in the particular scenario you’ve examined. Thirdly, there doesn’t exist any reference material that can precisely instruct you on how to secure your path to wealth.
If such a guide was real, we’d all be crazy millionaires! This ecosystem is dynamic and ever-changing. This means that you’ll lose track of what happened a month ago! Always keep yourself updated and try to learn about mistakes others have made while not being afraid to make some of your own.
Test, Optimize and Test!
Einstein once said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
To sum it up:
When something is not working, try experimenting with a new approach. It is also beneficial to stay in touch with your network’s account manager and request them to furnish you with comprehensive information about the latest trends.
Ensure that you obtain the necessary information to determine where to invest your money.
2. Not All Traffic Sources are Legit
To become a skilled player, it is crucial to use reliable platforms. With numerous traffic sources available for purchase, it can be challenging to determine the most suitable ones to utilize.
To ensure that you choose the appropriate traffic source, it is recommended to first examine the ad networks with valid traffic and positive feedback. Take some time to review various ad network assessments. It is imperative to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the traffic source you are considering before making a decision to fully understand what you are dealing with.
Without proper consideration of your decisions, you may find yourself excluded or prohibited from participating in the mobile affiliate marketing community.
3. Traffic Prices Vary Like Crazy
The increasing amount of mobile devices does not necessarily lead to a decrease in the cost of traffic. When purchasing traffic from ad exchanges or systems, it is important to keep in mind that some regions, like Europe, usually require a higher cost and may result in a lower conversion rate compared to other regions.
It is important to consider competition, as high demand usually results in increased prices. Therefore, it is necessary to remain vigilant and seize every opportunity to discover affordable treasures.
Examine these particular procedures and elements with greater depth. Ensure that you are aware of the location of that remarkable source of gold!
4. Schedule Everything and Optimize your Working Time
It is important to match your availability and work style to the segments you have chosen. Some segments may be more demanding and require regular attention, while others may require patience to accumulate sufficient data over a few days.
It’s important to allocate some of your time towards staying informed and up-to-date. It’s crucial to consistently stay on top of any changes in the market since what’s effective now may not be in the future. You should consider this research as an investment.
Set aside a period to acquire knowledge and experiment with novel activities. Although you may believe that there’s no reason to alter methods that are effective, there is always an opportunity for advancement!
5. Get the Bid Right
To ensure the best prices for mobile traffic, it’s recommended to analyze competitors and develop a personalized bidding plan. It’s possible that other affiliates also aim to benefit from the same traffic source you have chosen.
When promoting an offer through purchased traffic, it is crucial to strike a balance between performance and affordability. It is wise to prioritize profitability of bids rather than merely going for the highest bid.
You have the option of selecting various bidding models. Ultimately, the decision comes down to examining which one is best suited for your needs.
- CPM (cost-per-mile): cost per 1000 impressions. You set the maximum you wanna pay per 1000 impressions of your ads. A great advantage of this model is that you can optimize your banners/pops in order to increase your CTR (Click-Through Rate)
- CPC (cost-per-click): by using this model, you’ll be paying for each click on your ad. This is a more stable model than CPM. It’s more suitable for single offers than rotators
The Pros Of Mobile Affiliate Marketing
There’s plenty of room to maneuvre
Affiliate marketing through your phone is a fiercely competitive industry.
Despite the market being incredibly vast and containing numerous niches that can be approached in various ways, there is still considerable room for maneuvering in the market.
The market is continuously growing
We have previously established that mobile traffic is growing at a much higher rate than desktop traffic. Currently, the smartphone industry is valued at 355 billion and all data from both developed and developing countries suggests that the market will continue to expand for a significant amount of time.
There is an immense opportunity for targeting
A competent marketer understands that targeted offers yield better results. Location-based advanced targeting opportunities are available to mobile affiliate marketers. Geofencing is a highly effective method to offer location-specific deals to customers in real time.
A geofence surrounds every location of Whole Foods, a supermarket chain in the US, to provide custom offers to identified customers as soon as they come close to the stores.
Whole Foods has cleverly implemented geofencing around their rivals’ outlets, leveraging geo-conquesting to encourage the rival’s customers to prefer a nearby Whole Foods store for their shopping needs.
The Challenges Of Mobile Affiliate Marketing
Design challenges
Regrettably, numerous websites remain poorly optimized for mobile usage. A subpar user experience can have detrimental effects on conversion rates. As such, it’s essential to ensure that your site is fully responsive prior to embarking on any mobile-based affiliate marketing endeavors.
Lack of tools
Many of the top marketing tools have been created for desktop users, resulting in certain tools not being easily adaptable for small screens. This can be a source of frustration, especially when you’ve become accustomed to using a particular tool.
It is expected that the mobile market will keep growing in the near future, leading to a potential change.
The small screen can negatively affect click-through rates
Due to the significant size gap between a laptop or desktop screen and a mobile screen, the number of visible search results or ads on smartphones is restricted for users. That’s why it’s crucial to optimize your website and offers thoroughly for both mobile and tablet use.
Due to this, ads positioned lower on the search results page will receive fewer clicks, or “taps,” on mobile devices.
Tips To Help You Take Advantage Of Mobile Affiliate Marketing
Looking to achieve success in the mobile affiliate marketing industry? Check out these essential tips for mastering it:
1. Find a large traffic source
To benefit from mobile affiliate marketing, you must steer a considerable volume of traffic or leads towards an offer. As only a minor portion of your audience is expected to accept the offer, it is advisable to reach out to as many people as possible.
2. Experiment with different offers
Don’t hesitate to experiment with different offer strategies when starting out because there are various effective approaches. The aim is to discover the appropriate offer that benefits both you and your target audience.
Numerous categories of deals are available for selection. Here are some of the primary ones:
- Subscription – People are encouraged to subscribe to any type of service. This could be anything from food and drink deliveries to SaaS.
- App installs – The affiliate is paid when a new user installs a promoted app.
- Pay per call – The affiliate is paid when someone calls an advertised number. In some cases this will pay more depending on the length of the call.
- Pay per sale – The affiliate gets paid when someone makes a purchase using a specific reference (usually a discount code).
- Lead-based – This is usually paid out upon completion of an online form.
3. Take advantage of in-app traffic
If you have the opportunity, it’s essential to utilize in-app traffic on mobile devices, as it’s the most significant source of traffic.
Targeting a specific audience is easier with smartphone users because they provide more information compared to desktop users, with location being the main factor. The effectiveness of this approach can be amplified by combining it with geolocation.
4. Join an affiliate network
No matter which role you play in affiliate marketing, partnering with an affiliate network provider can be advantageous. These entities act as intermediaries and connect businesses with prospective affiliates. You can initiate your affiliate marketing endeavors with just a few clicks on your mobile device.
It can be extremely advantageous for influencers to utilize affiliate networks that possess an abundance of direct advertisers and prominent corporate clients, as this can lead to significant time savings and enhanced payouts.
Influencers may also reap other advantages by utilizing an affiliate network.
- Fast payouts.
- Less risk (of not being paid).
- Access to Analytics.
- Access to a large pool of offers.
- Access to offers in a variety of countries.
- Access to optimization tools.
- More likely to get to hard-to-reach advertisers.
