Introduction to Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria

When listing the top online business ideas and affiliate marketing is not mentioned then your list is incomplete, Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting a brand’s  products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. this is how you earn your money in affiliate marketing.

As an affiliate marketer, you become an independent promoter of a chosen product or range of products from a selected niche, on behalf of the vendors. Being an affiliate publisher means having absolute freedom to build your online presence.

It’s your independent call on when or where your job gets done, how you reach your customers and optimize the whole marketing process. Sounds good? I bet it does.

Affiliate marketing is apparently the easiest online business model to start earning passive income online. It’s low-cost, high-profit industry. On the other hand, it also might happen to be a tough one. All the challenges are on you and performance relies on your determination, approach and the affiliate strategy you choose to follow.

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How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

When you join an Affiliate program and choose the products that you want to sell, sellers provide you with a unique affiliate code that you can use to refer traffic to the target site. Most affiliate programs will offer ready made text links, banners and other forms of creative copies whereby you only have to copy the code and place it on your website to start referring traffic. When interested visitors click on these links from your site they get redirected to the product site and if they purchase a product or subscribe to a service you as the referrer make a commission.

The sellers can track your performance through your affiliate ID and the affiliate softwares (eg. WP Affiliate Platform) that they use. You also have complete, real time access to all sales and commissions stats.

You don’t need to sell products all the time to make a commission. Different affiliate programs can use different payment terms such as:

• Pay per Sale: In this program a merchant pays you a percentage of the sale price when the purchase is completed.
• Pay per Click: In this program you get paid based on the number of visitors you redirect to the Merchant’s website from your affiliate site, whether or not a sale is made.
• Pay per Lead: You get paid once the referred visitors provide their contact information on the target site by filling out a simple contact form.

also read Steps to Manage Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria

before you step into affiliate marketing you first need to understand the pros and cons of how affiliate marketing works, tyou need to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing and below is all you need to know.

The pros of affiliate marketing in Nigeria

• You don’t need to have a specific website or blog to start affiliate marketing as these are old marketing strategies you can adapt.
• a personal products is not even needed to start your own affiliate marketing.
• affiliate marketing is a low-cost business idea as you no need to invest anything on your own.
• Affiliate marketing provides you the option of secondary source of income. It can be your extra earning with a side project.
• affiliate marketing also gives you the opportunity to be a freelancer as you no need to follow any company’s regulation as per monthly or weekly reports. Thereby you have complete independence on your own.
• You can also join some free affiliate marketing programs to get started with affiliate marketing.
• An affiliate marketer can maintain both his business and can have the affiliate marketing income to maintain his financial position.
• There is no experience required in affiliate marketing. If you’re a novice still you can perform the work along the way. No expertise or marketing skills are needed in this.
•  Marketing on the internet is cheap and you don’t have to worry about the production cost as the product is already developed by the seller. You don’t need a physical business location or hire employees either.
•  Affiliate marketing gives you the opportunity to reach people all over the world easily.
• You don’t need to pay anything to join affiliate programs.
• You don’t need to worry about storage, packing or shipment of the product. They are all taken care of by the seller.
•  You don’t need to provide any customer support or deal with consumer complaints as the Seller does that for you.
•  A regular job can give you a fixed income as long as you continue to work. Depending on your marketing skill Affiliate marketing can create a steady flow of income even when you are not in front of your computer.
•  If you make enough money then you don’t have to worry about going to work at the same time every day or getting stuck in traffic. You can work in the comfort of your own home.

also read Clickbank review: all you need to know about Clickbank affiliate network

The cons of affiliate marketing in Nigeria

• You can’t have full control over affiliate marketing programs because you don’t own them. You’re completely dependent on your merchant’s rule.
• There is limited growth potential in affiliate marketing. You rely on a new stream of visitors each and every day with no path to grow what you do.
• When you join affiliate marketing you generally can’t control your competition. It’s a fact that anyone can join and be successful.
• Although affiliate marketing is all about getting commission or revenue yet there is no guarantee of getting revenue.
• There are chances of a false advertisement on the affiliate’s website which can destroy the reputation of the owner. More affiliates are getting in this kind of phishing scheme.
• Affiliate marketing can be little disadvantageous for merchants as they can suffer from commissions costs. More cash outflow can be generated by having too many affiliates.

also read Make Money Online Selling Longrich Products in Nigeria 2023

How to Grow your Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria

you can read my article on 6 successful ways to start an affiliate marketing business with less income in 2023 , to use affiliate marketing to grow your brand there are certain strategies you need to adapt to get your business growing.

Below are some of the strategies you can engage in to grow your affiliate marketing in Nigeria

• Hand pick your partners

As a retailer, you can pick who you choose to work with. Affiliates apply to come onboard your affiliate program, providing you with the opportunity to assess their suitability and hand pick those who can be the best ambassadors for your brand and products in affiliate marketing in nigeria.

• Targeted traffic

All traffic is not created equal. If you sell spa products, for example, you don’t want to waste your advertising budget attracting people who are looking for car products. By working with affiliates who understand your industry and are already active in it, you will receive targeted sales from a warmed up audience. This makes it easier to maintain the relationship with your new customer going forward in affiliate marketing in nigeria

• Pay for performance and sales

With traditional pay-per-click advertising, you are charged per click or lead sent your way. These leads then need to be converted into a paying customer, and there is no guarantee at this stage that will happen. In its simplest form, with affiliate marketing you only pay out when a sale is made, while also offering flexibility to pay publishers for influencing sales. If the affiliate marketing partner has an ineffective campaign, it won’t affect your budget. Whereas a poor PPC campaign that sends you low quality leads will still need to be paid for, even if you make no sales. This ensures your marketing is cost effective.

• Low risk

Paying for performance rather than for clicks ensures affiliate markeitng is a low risk form of marketing. You won’t be using your marketing budget to create leads that need nurturing. Instead, you will create direct customers who you can then build relationships with and upsell to, at the right time in the buyer’s cycle.

• Limited start-up costs

Starting an affiliate program requires some investment of time and finance, but is minimal compared to buying advertising and employing a team of staff. Working with a reputable affiliate network platform like Awin also takes the stress and time out of setting up the program, as they will guide you through the setup, carry out the background work and provide the tools and resources you need.

• Grow brand awareness

Consumers like to buy from retailers they are familiar with, and will often spend more with a merchant they trust than go for a cheaper deal with an unknown label. Affiliate marketing allows small and large companies to grow their brand awareness by increasing exposure to new audiences who may not have previously heard of them. By working with a select group of affiliates, you can not only get your products exposed to new and different audiences, but you can create an awareness that could have the potential to extend beyond a single-product promotion.

• Increase SEO

SEO continues to be a subject close to most online retailers’ hearts. Affiliate marketing can go a long way to aiding your SEO, through numerous backlinks to your site via your affiliate blogs, social pages and websites. This is particularly effective if working with higher-ranked partners whose audience then share and tweet details about your product or brand.

• Detailed statistics and data

Working with a trusted affiliate network to manage your affiliate marketing allows you access to a detailed dashboard and sales reports. Through this you can monitor your data and tweak based on your statistics. You can use the dashboard to effectively strategize and make marketing decisions elsewhere in your business, by tracking how your affiliates are performing.

• Time saving on marketing

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of your business, yet it can be a lengthy process. If you don’t have an extensive team to manage this for you, it can take you away from the process of business development and more. Putting marketing in the hands of affiliates frees up some of your time, allowing you to focus on other things.

• Creates valuable partnerships

When you work with affiliates, you are broadening your connections. This allows you to reach out to industry leaders and build relationships with influencers. If you are prepared to give them some time to build trust, they will repay it tenfold by giving exposure to your products and brand.

• A different income stream

when you are about to start Affiliate marketing in Nigeria, Never rely on one form of marketing. If anything happens to affect that revenue stream, your business could collapse within days. By using affiliate marketing alongside other forms of marketing, you are providing an extra level of protection for your business against issues outside of your control. Affiliates employ a vast array of advertising techniques, such as email, Facebook advertising, pay-per-click, guest blogging, influencer marketing and product comparisons, to ensure all avenues are covered.

• Scale your business

If you are just starting up, or you are a small business thinking about expanding, affiliate marketing allows to scale your business at your speed and with minimum cost. You can test out new products and marketplaces through your affiliates and build your business at a rate you can control. In fact, 99% of people start their businesses using affiliate marketing.

Consumers trust their brand ambassadors

As it is reported 92% of consumers trust the recommendations of people, companies or influencers they know, working directly with affiliate marketers who then promote your products to their established audience offers more opportunities for quicker and more direct sales.

• Access foreign markets

If your brand and products can be marketed worldwide, affiliate marketing is a cost-effective and efficient way to tap into that global marketplace. With professional affiliates based internationally, they can use their local knowledge to market your products strategically. It is also a low-risk way to find out whether your brand will be successful in other countries. Affiliates can also team up with global affiliate networks to provide exposure for products and services to a truly international market.

• Costs established upfront

Unlike some forms of pay-per-click advertising, when you are never quite sure how much each lead will cost you depending on the environment, you set your costs upfront. For each product you decide a commission rate, ensuring you know exactly how much each sale will cost you before it is made.

• You are in control of incentives

Establishing costs upfront allows you to be in control of your incentives. You can also offer rewards and incentives as you see fit, to motivate your affiliates to stay loyal to your brand and sell more.

• Leveraging different skill sets

Being able to access such a large pool of affiliates increases the skillset available. This in turn raises the chances of further sales of your products, as each seller uses their own skills to attract a different audience.

also read How to make money as an affiliate Marketer with or without a website on Propellerads Network

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a logical and flexible sales model and you can generate a passive income from it,  However, it is not an easy, get-rich-quick model of income. Earning an income through affiliate marketing requires: Research into products, web traffic patterns, and follower interests.Now that you know more about almost all of the goldmines and ditches about  Affiliate Marketing, it’s left for you to go back and take actions.