Here at Authority Hacker, we launched our first affiliate website back in 2013, so weâre used to people asking us: is affiliate marketing worth it?
To answer that question, we often say something along the lines of thisâŠ
Some people dream of becoming professional athletes or pop stars.
Some fantasize about space travel (Iâm looking at you, Bezos).
And some of us long for a life of passive income and tons of free time to do whatever we please.
Travel. Work from anywhere with an internet connection. See family and friends. Lie on the couch in our boxer shorts all day watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Whatever takes our fancy.
If that sounds like life for you, the affiliate marketing industry can absolutely make it happen.
But for every affiliate marketer living the dream, thereâs another â or, more likely, lots of others â who are barely scraping by.
Building a successful affiliate marketing business is tough.
And there are no guarantees.
This brings us neatly back to the question:
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It?
Affiliate marketing is worth it if you have a strategy to promote products or services that are relevant and valuable to your audience. Affiliate marketing can be a source of high passive income, as some successful affiliates make over $100,000 per month. However, it requires effort, patience, and consistency to succeed.
To be successful in affiliate marketing, it is important to choose a niche that you are genuinely interested in. Of course, you also want to choose a niche that offers plenty of scope for affiliate sales.
Because more sales (usually) means more money.
Our founders, Gael and Mark, speak extensively about how to find a profitable niche on the Authority Hacker Podcast, so be sure to check out their advice.
They definitely know what theyâre talking about.
Once you find a strong niche, you can start creating high-quality content to target keywords with high purchase intent.
Thatâs what we did with an authority site in the software niche that we sold for a mid-six-figure sum just 18 months after launching it.
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Itâs also what one of our Authority Hacker members, Shane Dutka, did when he sold his two-year-old home & garden niche blog for seven figures.
đ Explore our Expert Affiliate Marketing Tips to Skyrocket Your Success
And we have a bunch of other affiliate marketing success stories, too (like this one and this one).
So yes, as a top-level answer, you can definitely make affiliate marketing work for you.
But there are lots of other factors affecting the question: is affiliate marketing worth it?
1 Youâre An âExpertâ In Your Chosen Niche
The word âexpertâ is banded around all too easily these days, but thereâs no denying itâs easier to build an audience if you have some level of unique insight into your niche.
Maybe youâve read extensively about it. Maybe itâs been a lifelong hobby. Maybe you did it for a living.
Whatever the case, if you know more about your niche than the average person in the street, people are more likely to read your content and trust your recommendations.
Which means youâre more likely to become a successful affiliate marketer.
But donât worry:
Industry expertise isnât a prerequisite in affiliate marketing.
Weâve had plenty of success stories from niches we know very little about, so donât worry if youâre little more than an enthusiastic amateur.
2 You Have Personal Experience Using Your Affiliate Products
This one is more important.
You can definitely get by without being an industry expert.
But itâs hard for new affiliates to make it if they donât have hands-on experience of the products theyâre promoting.
That sort of practical knowledge is a massive benefit because:
- You know exactly how good the product is
- You can give your own original review rather than âborrowingâ other peopleâs opinions
- You sound more trustworthy and ethical
- You can record a video review of you using the product â thatâs important, because 55% of US adults watch product review videos to inform their buying decisions
- You can ask meaningful questions of the manufacturer or retailer to give your reviews greater detail and specificity
Sometimes, when you own products, youâll even be granted access to a private Facebook Group or forum where you can connect with hundreds of thousands of other users.
Itâs all about making your content more unique and useful.
3 You Already Have An (Engaged) Audience
Search engines are volatile.
One single update to Googleâs algorithm could halve your search traffic overnight.
The same goes for social media.
Organic reach has been falling for years, making it ever more difficult for affiliate marketers to reach their target audience.
Thatâs why it helps â a lot â if you already have access to an engaged audience of people who actively look out for your content.
That audience could come from:
- Email marketing. If you have a big email list, you can get guaranteed eyes on your content. (Check our 9-step guide on How to Build an Email List for Affiliate Marketing)
- Social media channels. Sure, organic reach isnât what it was, but if you have a ton of followers on your Instagram or YouTube channel who engage with your content, itâll almost certainly help you drive more affiliate sales.
- Search traffic. If you already have your own website bringing in a ton of traffic, youâre perfectly poised to make money from affiliate marketing.
Again, none of these things is a prerequisite for becoming a successful affiliate marketer.
Everyone has to start somewhere, so donât panic if you donât have any of those things.
But they definitely help.
4 You Own a Complementary Product
If you promote products that align with your own product, thatâs definitely a good thing.
The people who use your product would potentially benefit from those other products, so thereâs an obvious opportunity for cross-promotion here.
5 Your Niche Has a High EPC
Earnings per click (EPC) is a vital piece of data for any affiliate marketer.
It tells you how much youâll earn, on average, when someone clicks your affiliate link.
Itâs a pretty simple equation:
EPC = Commission from selling a product / Number of clicks on your referral link
Generally speaking, the higher the figure, the more budget you can afford to spend on promoting the product.
That brings into play digital marketing tactics like paid search and social media advertising.
But bear in mind: not every affiliate program allows you to use paid search, so be sure to check the Ts and Cs first.
When Is Affiliate Marketing Not Worth It?
We obviously like affiliate marketing.
Weâre affiliate marketers ourselves, and we also earn money by helping newcomers learn the ropes of the affiliate game.
But even we have to accept there are reasons why affiliate marketing might not be a smart choice, such as:
1 Youâre Expecting Overnight Success
Despite what some nefarious online courses might claim, affiliate marketing isnât a business model that lends itself to overnight success.
It can take months, or even years, of effort to build a stable income.
Just look at the data.
According to Ahrefs, just 0.3% of pages rank in the top 10 for a high-volume keyword in under a year.
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Even with mid-volume keywords â those with 5,000 â 20,000 searches a month â only one in five pages hit the front page of SERPs within a year.
Obviously, search isnât the only source of traffic.
But clearly, if it takes that long to build strong rankings, youâre not going to become a millionaire the moment you launch your first affiliate campaigns.
2 You Promote Poor-Quality Affiliate Products
It can be extremely attempting to recommend an affiliate product just because it pays a fat commission.
But I can promise you: it pays to take a long-term view.
If you promote products with awful reviews, itâll hurt your reputation.
You might win a few quick sales, but you risk alienating your audience in the process.
Thatâs why it always helps to have first-hand experience of an affiliate product before you start recommending it.
If you wouldnât pay for it yourself, donât try to convince other people to buy it, however attractive the commissions.
Also, bear in mind that if a product (or website) looks terrible but claims to offer incredible commissions, thereâs always a chance it could be an affiliate marketing scam.
Fortunately, there are many very good, totally legit affiliate programs out there, so thereâs no reason to resort to shilling low-quality products.
đ Check out our list with the best High Paying Affiliate Programs
3 You Only See the Affiliate Product As a Revenue Stream
This all comes back to my point about choosing a niche youâre actually interested in.
The reality is that affiliate offers change all the time.
Just look at the Amazon affiliate program, which slashed its commissions on affiliate sales in April 2020.
If you only choose to promote products because they offer big commissions, what are you going to do if those commission rates change?
Ditch your whole affiliate marketing business and start again?
Change is a fact of life for affiliates.
If youâre constantly jumping between affiliate offers looking for a quick buck, youâll never achieve a stable income stream.
And the best way to guarantee you wonât feel the need to keep chopping and changing is to hone in on a niche that you feel passionate about.
That way, even if your commissions take a short-term hit, youâve still got a revenue stream from doing something you love.
4 Your Chosen Vendor Doesnât Follow FTC Guidelines
Since 2009, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines have made it a legal requirement for all affiliate partners to use specific affiliate marketing disclosures and disclaimers.
Essentially, this requires us to clearly state that we make money when people buy the products weâre promoting.
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The same thing applies to vendors.
If theyâre not displaying the necessary disclosures, thatâs a big worry.
It means the affiliate platforms, or the FTC itself, might shut them down.
And if that happens, you can kiss goodbye to your commission payments.
Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing
Okay, so weâve talked through a bunch of use cases (and non-use cases) for affiliate marketing.
Now letâs dive deeper into the question: is affiliate marketing worth it? by looking at the pros and cons.
In no particular order, here they are:
Pro: You Can Build an Affiliate Marketing Business Without Launching a Product or Service
Some people are brilliant inventors.
They can spot a gap in the market and immediately figure out a way to monetize it.
Others are natural-born marketers.
They understand audiences, they create content, and they sell, sell, sell.
If you fall into that latter camp, you have the tools to thrive as an affiliate.
That means you can build a business without taking months or years to develop a product from the ground up.
Pro: No Need to Worry About Logistics
Deliveries.
Complaints.
Returns.
Selling products can be a real headache.
The logistical side of things can quickly become a full-time job in its own right.
But when youâre an affiliate, you donât need to sweat any of that stuff.
Itâs simply not your responsibility.
Pro: You Can Easily Monetize Your Existing Website
This oneâs pretty simple:
If you already have a website and want to start earning passive income, affiliate marketing can help you do that.
Sure, youâll have to create content and choose the right affiliate offers, but the barrier to entry is pretty low.
Pro: Startup Costs Are Low
Starting out in affiliate marketing is only as expensive as building a website.
You need to buy a domain name and pay for hosting.
You might want to pay for some email marketing software or put some ad budget behind a social media post or two.
And thatâs pretty much it!
Actually, you can even do affiliate marketing without a website (we just wouldnât recommend it).
Pro: Affiliate Marketing Is Extremely Convenient
Iâve already noted how you donât have to physically develop a product yourself.
Thatâs obviously very convenient.
But thatâs not the only good thing about the affiliate marketing business model.
Itâs also quick and easy to raid affiliate platforms and marketplaces to find a new affiliate partner or product that matches the interests of your audience.
Want to build a new revenue stream or branch out into a new market?
Simply search for a relevant affiliate product and create some content to promote it.
And One More Pro for Luck: Itâs Super Scalable
Itâs arguably easier to scale an affiliate marketing business than a âregularâ business that sells its own product.
With Google processing about 100,000 searches a second, thereâs a practically infinite number of keywords to chase after.
And once you start making money, you can recruit a content team to target more and more keywords.
You can start investing in paid channels.
You can build new campaigns to promote new products.
You can launch a bunch of new websites.
Thereâs really no limit to how much you can scale up.
Con: Youâre Effectively Building a Business for Someone Else
Unfortunately, itâs a reality of life that even the most successful affiliate marketer will always be making more money for someone else than theyâll be taking home themselves.
After all, the vendors you come across in affiliate marketplaces (probably) arenât stupid.
Theyâre not going to pay you more commission than they can afford.
Even if theyâre giving you a 50% cut of the sale, you can bet itâs because theyâre confident of generating a ton of extra revenue from the customers you refer.
Con: No Say In Product Development
When we speak to other affiliates, one of the most common frustrations we hear is a lack of control over what happens to the product.
You might come up with a genius strategy to promote a product or service on your YouTube channel or blog.
Then wham!
The vendor changes the price, discontinues a product, or removes a useful feature.
Just like that, you have to figure out your whole marketing strategy and business model again.
Con: You Could Be Competing Against Big Names
Affiliate marketing used to be a relatively niche pursuit.
But with lots of huge publishers struggling to find new revenue streams, itâs now extremely popular.
Just check out this affiliate disclosure from Forbes:
![đ€ Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It? Can You Make Money? (4) đ€ Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It? Can You Make Money? (4)](https://i0.wp.com/ahkr.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/forbes-affiliate-disclaimer-1024x561.jpg)
Thatâs a massive website with a DR of 94.
And theyâre far from the only ones.
Everyone from BuzzFeed to TechRadar to the New York Times is making money from affiliate marketing.
If you suddenly see one or more of those sites chasing the same keywords as you, itâs going to be tough to compete.
Con: Building Trust Is Hard
As soon as people find out youâre making passive income by promoting the products on your website, itâs hard to convince them you have their best interests at heart.
Thatâs pretty unfair.
After all, youâve taken the time to create all this high-quality content.
Why shouldnât you earn some money from it?
Fact is, every industry has its share of bad apples, and affiliate marketing is no different.
Those scammers mean all the rest of us have to work that bit harder to win trust from our audiences.
The Affiliate Marketing Industry in Numbers
By this point, Iâve covered pretty much everything you need to make up your mind about affiliate marketing.
But before I leave you to make a decision, check out these interesting affiliate marketing statistics:
- The global affiliate marketing industry is worth over$17 billion.
- The global affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow to a market size of$27.78B by 2027.
- 81% of brandsuse affiliate programs to boost brand awareness and drive sales.
- 94% of publications use affiliate marketing programs.
- Affiliate marketing is responsible for16%of all internet orders in the U.S.
- 31%of web publishers say affiliate marketing is a top revenue source.
đ Read more: How to Start Affiliate Marketing
Conclusion: Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It in 2024?
If you have a niche interest or passion, an ability to create amazing content and build an audience, and youâre prepared to work hard, you could find affiliate marketing extremely rewarding.
On the other hand, if youâve heard that becoming an affiliate is a license to print money, with minimal effort on your part, I can pretty much guarantee youâll be disappointed.
All I can say is that it definitely works for us â and weâve got the screenshots to prove it!
![đ€ Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It? Can You Make Money? (5) đ€ Is Affiliate Marketing Worth It? Can You Make Money? (5)](https://i0.wp.com/ahkr.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/affiliate-1024x621.png)
So whatâs the verdict?
Is affiliate marketing worth it for you?
If so, youâre in the right place, because we can help you build a high-performing affiliate website!
Just sign up for our free training and weâll show you how.
FAQs
Can you really make money with affiliate marketing?
Itâs absolutely possible to make real money through affiliate marketing, provided youâre prepared to put the work in.
While most affiliates arenât making millions of dollars, we know plenty who are earning a job replacement income, and lots more who use affiliate marketing as a side hustle to bring in some extra cash.
If youâre prepared to put the work in to find a great niche, build a website, and create great content, itâs absolutely feasible to build a stable income stream.
Is affiliate marketing still profitable in 2024?
By the end of 2022, affiliate marketing spend in the US alone is expected to surpass $8 billion â up from $5.4 billion in 2017. That sounds pretty profitable to us.
While affiliate marketing is definitely more competitive than it used to be, yes itâs still profitable, largely because the costs are comparatively low.
Affiliate marketers donât have to worry about creating a product, handling the logistics, or dealing with customer complaints. So once youâve created a revenue stream, itâs not too expensive to sustain it (or even grow it).
How long does it take to make money with affiliate marketing?
How long it takes to make money with affiliate marketing usually depends on the traffic source you are using. If you are using paid ads, it can take just a few days to start making money.
If however, you are trying to rank on Google to promote affiliate offers, it usually takes several months because the process of ranking on Google does take more time.
However, itâs much easier to be profitable when going for Google traffic because you donât pay for it so we recommend beginners go for the SEO route even if it takes more time because they are more likely to make a profit and be considered successful.