Why Is Affiliate Marketing Booming in the 21st Century?

Affiliate marketing is considered one of the simplest business models.

But it is not easy to make money with affiliate marketing as it used to be back in 2017 or 2018.
Nevertheless, it requires almost no budget and one can start making consistent income online within a year.

That’s why affiliate marketing is still a great simple business model for beginners.

When it comes to earning potential, it depends on the niche. However, it is safe to state that affiliate marketing is booming in the 21st Century.

Why is it so?

There are several aspects and we are going to break down the most significant ones.
You might not agree with every point and therefore, please leave a comment at the very bottom of the post.

Jump to:

• What is Affiliate Marketing?
• Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Businesses
• Advantages of Affiliate Marketing for Affiliates
• Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Success
• Conclusion
• FAQs

So, Why Is Affiliate Marketing Booming in the 21st Century?

Well, obviously the number one reason is the number of people that are connected to the internet.
You realize that these days, the majority of people have a cell phone with a connection to the internet.

The affiliate marketing industry is vast.
According to Statista, there is 5 billion internet user as of April 2022 (and 4.65 billion Social media users).

And the number won’t drop in the next few years.
In fact, it might even rise.

In fact here is another statistic:
” According to Statista, affiliate marketing spending in the U.S. alone reached $8.2 BILLION in 2022, more than triple what it was 10 years ago.”

Clearly, this is the largest market in the world and even if a small portion is interested in your niche, the potential to become financially independent is huge.

On the other hand, not all these people are potential customers of any affiliate marketing program. But quite a big percentage, don’t you agree?

Now let’s focus on affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

I am sure you are familiar with the term affiliate marketing.

It is a model where you sell other’s people products and you earn a commission when they make a purchase.
In other words (and it is my preferred explanation), an affiliate marketer connects potential customers and merchants.

A transparent and honest affiliate marketer is a person that provides genuine, and valuable information and wants to educate his or her reader i.e. the potential customer.

It is in every affiliate marketer’s interest to reveal all the information about the specific products or services. That includes pros and cons.

A Brief History of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has its roots in the late 1980s when a company called PC Flowers & Gifts offered a commission to other websites for referring customers to their site.
This practice gained popularity in the 1990s with the emergence of the Internet and the growth of e-commerce.

In 1994, Amazon launched its own affiliate program (called amazon associate), which allowed other websites to earn a commission by promoting Amazon’s products on their sites.
This paved the way for other companies to follow suit and start their own affiliate programs.

The early 2000s saw the rise of blogs, blog posts, and social media, which further accelerated the growth of affiliate marketing.

Today, affiliate marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry with thousands of merchants and affiliates participating in various programs.

Growth of affiliate marketing in the 21st Century

Affiliate marketing has grown in the 21st century due to:

• The rise of e-commerce
• Consumers’ trust in recommendations from individuals
• Increased use of mobile devices
• Influence of social media platforms

These factors have made affiliate marketing an effective way for businesses to reach a wider audience and for affiliates to earn commissions by promoting products to their followers.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, affiliate marketing is expected to remain a significant player in online commerce.

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Businesses

Affiliate marketing offers several advantages for businesses, which include:

Cost-effective

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model where businesses only pay affiliates a commission when a sale is made.
This makes it a cost-effective way to market products as businesses do not have to invest in traditional advertising or pay affiliates upfront.

Increased brand exposure

Businesses can expand their brand exposure to a wider audience by partnering with affiliates.

Affiliates typically have their own online following, which can help businesses reach potential customers who may not have been aware of their brand previously.
This collaboration can be beneficial for both parties, as businesses gain more visibility and affiliates earn a commission for promoting products to their followers.

Access to new markets

Affiliate marketing allows businesses to expand their reach to new markets without having to invest in marketing strategies or open new physical locations.

Better targeting of the audience

Another benefit is to have a specific niche or audience they cater to. By partnering with affiliates, businesses can reach a targeted audience that is more likely to be interested in their products.

Increased credibility

When an affiliate promotes a product, it adds credibility to the product in the eyes of the audience. This can lead to more sales and a positive reputation for the business.

Here is my personal take regarding the advantages of affiliate marketing.

I have been working as an SEO analyst in a company that sells software.

It is great to have your own product, but it takes a lot of effort and resources to run such a company.
As an owner, you would need to have:

• software developers
• accountants
• marketing department
• technical support
• customer support
• office
• and a lot of other stuff

And as an affiliate marketer, you build a website, create content and try to rank well in search engines.
After picking the niche that suits you the best, join an affiliate program or affiliate network.
One of the most famous affiliate networks is the Amazon Associate Program, mentioned above.

To mention a few more:

• Rakuten Marketing
• ClickBank
• eBay Partner Network (EPN)
• JVZoo

I have tried (directly or indirectly) several business models and running an affiliate website is by far the simplest one. Let me be clear thought I am not saying that it is easy, but compared to any other models, it is a very simple marketing strategy:

• Write content, for the target audience
• Attract visitors to find and consume your content
• When a purchase is made, you get an affiliate commission

No, storage room and no customer service – for everything is a responsible merchant.

You don’t even deal with suppliers.
Just make sure to find the proper niche, that you have a genuine interest in and you are basically all set.

It is a great source of passive income.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing for Affiliates

Affiliate marketing also offers several advantages for affiliates.
Let’s break down the main benefits from the affiliate marketer’s point of view.

Low Barrier to Entry

As mentioned above, you don’t need to deal with products and suppliers; you don’t need to take care of the customers either.

And best of all – you don’t need thousands of dollars to start this business model.

Just compare it with a different business model, like a restaurant or a pub

What might require an initial couple of hundred is an investment in education.
Because proper training might speed things up.

With step-by-step training on how to properly optimize your website, you can get visitors to your website within 5 to 8 weeks.
With Youtube, it is quite similar.
(Concerning Youtube, don’t expect thousands of views until you have about 35 videos uploaded).

Passive income

Affiliate marketing allows affiliates to earn a commission on sales without having to create or maintain a product. This means that affiliates can earn a passive income stream by promoting products they believe in.

High earning potential

You can earn a high commission rate on sales, which can result in significant earnings. Of course, assuming that you are able to promote products successfully.

Access to a wide range of products

Affiliate marketing provides affiliates access to a vast range of products and services to promote.

You can choose those products that align with your interests and target audience, diversifying their income streams and reducing their dependence on a single product or niche.
This access also enables affiliates to pivot quickly in times of change or uncertainty.

Affiliate programs also offer resources and support to help affiliates promote their products effectively, including:

• marketing materials,
• training (eg. Wealthy affiliate educational platform)
• and affiliate managers.

This way, affiliates can maximize their earning potential and build a successful business.

A Proper Training?

This might be tricky and it took me a few years until I found what I was looking for.

And I have tried a lot of courses, and websites, even spent money … but in the beginning, I was only struggling.
I remember the frustration of going through the websites, and sales pages that were scammy or misleading… did not lead me anywhere.

Fortunately, I am very skeptical so I was able to spot the scam quite fast. That’s why I did not waste a lot of money.

So, do your proper research and when searching for an educational platform keep in mind the following:

• It must have either a free trial
• or money-back guarantee

2nd of all, do not and I repeat do not trust claims like:

• with this push-button system, you start to generate hundreds of dollars per day

There is no such a thing as loophole or shortcut.

Sure there are some platforms/websites (Called GPT sites) that can make easy money. But it is a few bucks per day. So it is not sustainable .. and worst of all, it is not scalable.

Minimal resources to get started

To run a business whether online or offline one must have an office, printer, telephone, car, and other equipment, and I am talking only about small things.

With affiliate marketing?

You don’t need anything fancy to run an affiliate marketing business.

Just have a laptop (or desktop) internet connection (reliable if possible) and you are ready to go.

If you are more into videos, buy a cheap camera with a mic and maybe cheap software for recording and editing.
Heck, you can start even with your mobile phone.

Or short videos i.e. Youtube shorts?
As of this publishing, Youtube pushes Youtube shorts videos more than any other videos. So make sure to record a short up to 1-minute video about anything that is interesting in your niche.

Post it and that’s it.

Do this each day for about 6 weeks and you should have 50 videos I am sure a lot of them will exceed 1,000 views. That is actually great traffic and you can even make some commission.

How?

Become an Amazon Associate, grab something related to your niche (videos), and write some description with the affiliate link in it.

But again you don’t need to record any videos.

Create a simple blog – these days it is extremely easy.
And if you know how to write an email and how to attach an image, you can easily learn how to create articles like this.

There are a few tricks and methods of how to properly optimize the article, but with the right instructions, you can have a sustainable income within a year.

Well, I admit, in reality, it requires effort and time, but once you know what to do it is actually pretty easy.

Location free & Flexible working hours

Affiliates can work from anywhere with an internet connection, and they can choose which products they want to promote. This flexibility allows them to build their own business and work on their own terms.

For many people, it is a huge benefit to work from any place in the world.

You are not obliged to stay in one place or office.
It has a sense of freedom and a lot of people working 9-5 search for location freedom and time freedom.

Also, you can work whenever you feel productive.
Whether in the night or early morning .. feel like having a power nap?

Go for it.
You are your own boss.

Scalable Business Model

Once you have a person writing for you, you can either focus on a new business model or just keep on working on your existing website and you get twice as much content as before.

The higher revenue from affiliate marketing you make the more copywriters you can hire.

More Than One Source of Income

Affiliate marketing is just one source of income.
Once you know how to drive traffic, there are a few things you can do with the traffic.

I mean, once you get some traffic and you make a commission you can use that traffic for an additional source of income.

What I have in mind and would like to share with you is the annoying ads, that you see on websites or Youtube videos.

But did you know that at a certain point, you can make even more from showing ads than from affiliate marketing?

Now always and it depends on many factors.

The bottom line is that in the long run, it is very likely to make 4 digits just from the ads.
On top of that, with the income from affiliate marketing, you are on the way to more than middle-class employees in the Western world.

Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Success

Let me show you some strategies that you as an affiliate can employ to increase the chances of success in affiliate marketing.

Choose the right niche

I am sure you have heard about choosing the right niche, the one that works for you.

It is essential to select a niche that they are passionate about and that has the potential for high profitability. If you are not sure can recommend checking the list of the best niches for affiliate marketing.

Build a strong online presence

Affiliates should focus on building a strong online presence through social media, email marketing, and content creation.

So this can help you to establish an authority in your chosen niche and attract a loyal audience.

Promote products effectively

Focus on promoting products effectively, using strategies such as product reviews, email marketing, and social media promotion to reach their audience.

Leverage search engine optimization (SEO)

Optimize your content for search engines to attract organic traffic and increase their visibility.
Let me rephrase it a bit.

The content should be optimized for people, not just search engines.
It should be written in a clear and readable way that is enjoyable for the audience.

When content is optimized for people, it tends to naturally include the relevant keywords and phrases that search engines are looking for. This means that the content can still perform well in search engine rankings while providing value to the audience.

What is the role of affiliate marketing in the 21st century?

In the 21st century, affiliate marketing plays a vital role in digital marketing strategies. It’s all about businesses teaming up with affiliates to promote their products and make some money together.

The main goal of affiliate marketing is to get more customers and boost sales. Businesses find affiliate partners who have cool websites, blogs, or social media accounts and ask them to spread the word. These partners earn a commission for every sale they help make.

Affiliate marketing is great because it helps businesses reach new audiences and target specific groups of people. Plus, it’s cost-effective because businesses only pay when they get results. It’s a win-win situation!

Another cool thing about affiliate marketing is that it builds trust. Affiliates often share their personal experiences or give honest reviews about the products they promote. This kind of authenticity goes a long way in convincing people to buy.

Affiliate marketing also encourages collaboration and community. It brings businesses and affiliates together, creating a network of awesome people supporting each other.

So, in a nutshell, affiliate marketing in the 21st century is all about businesses and affiliates teaming up to get more customers, boost sales, and build trust. It’s an essential part of the digital marketing world, giving businesses an effective and efficient way to reach their target audience and make some money along the way.

Conclusion

Have you started any business yet?

Do you find affiliate marketing a great way to become financially independent?

By now you understand that affiliate marketing is a great business model, available for anyone. There are many free courses, Youtube videos, and websites about how to start.

However, it is not easy as it was in 2017, but with proper education, it is still possible to start making full-time income within a year or two. The future of affiliate marketing looks bright, so take advantage now, and invest in education.

There are also a lot of courses and platforms that teach how to start an online business. I am sure you have seen some of them.

In case you have questions, let me know in the comment section below.

I truly believe that this is the best business model.
I have tried many of them.

You might say, well the best would be to sell your own product.
Yes and No,
It requires a lot of marketing efforts, time, and knowledge, and the low barrier is not so low as with affiliate marketing when it comes to the budget/funds.

But feel free to share your opinion in the comment section below
I will be happy to provide you with feedback, within 24 hours

Thank You For Reading;
Mike.

FAQs

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where affiliates promote a business’s products or services and earn a commission on each sale made through their unique affiliate link.

How do I become an affiliate marketer?

To become an affiliate marketer, you can sign up for affiliate programs in your niche or industry and start promoting their products or services through your website, social media, email list, or other channels.

How much money can I make with affiliate marketing?

The amount of money you can make with affiliate marketing depends on several factors, including the commission rate, the price of the product, and the size and engagement of your audience.
However, with the right strategies and dedication, affiliate marketing has the potential to be a lucrative source of income.

Why affiliate marketing is the future?

Affiliate marketing benefits both businesses and affiliates.
It allows businesses to reach more customers through affiliates, and affiliates can earn passive income by promoting products they believe in.

This makes it a promising future for e-commerce and online shopping.

Why is affiliate marketing popular?

Affiliate marketing is popular due to its low-risk, cost-effective approach for businesses to expand their customer base and increase sales.

Affiliates can work from anywhere, promoting a range of products across various niches.
Transparent and measurable performance tracking makes it easier for both parties to evaluate the success of their campaigns.