Affiliate marketing requires very little initial investment, and has long been a popular web business.In recent years, it has also attracted attention as a side job. However, even if you actually want to start affiliate marketing, many people don’t know where to start. Also, I think there are many people who are worried about whether they can really make money even if they start affiliate marketing.
Therefore, in this article, we will introduce an overview of affiliate marketing, three ways to earn money, and the reasons why it is so popular. We will also explain the steps to actually start affiliate marketing, so please refer to it.
What is an affiliate?
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based advertising. A system in which when you introduce services provided by other companies or individuals on the website or SNS that you operate, and a service is applied for through the service you operate, you receive a certain amount of compensation. It has become.
For example, let’s say you publish an article about “career change agents” on your website. If a user applies to a job change agent introduced there, they will receive a performance fee of around 5,000 to 10,000 yen.
In fact, some people earn more than 1 million yen per month as affiliates, so it has continued to attract attention as one of the popular web businesses for a long time.
How affiliates work
The affiliate marketing system is very simple. The system is such that when you introduce products and services of individuals or companies on the web service you operate, and when someone applies for the product through the web service you operate, you receive a reward.
Also, when you start affiliate marketing, you basically register with an ASP (affiliate service provider) that handles all affiliate advertising. ASP handles a wide variety of products and services. By registering with ASP, you can obtain the right to introduce products of other companies and individuals.
As a result, a URL called an “affiliate link” exclusively for you will be issued, and when a product is applied for via that URL, you will receive a certain amount of compensation. Therefore, when starting affiliate marketing, be sure to deepen your understanding of the overview of ASP.
Advertiser
Advertiser refers to a company or individual who places affiliate advertisements. We request ASP to place advertisements to promote our products and services. When a product or service is purchased from an advertisement posted, a pre-arranged amount of compensation will be paid to the affiliate.
ASP
ASP is a company that mediates between advertisers and affiliates, and manages both advertisers and affiliates. The ASP plays the role of connecting so-called advertisers and affiliates, and also solves problems.
In addition, the payment of remuneration is not directly paid by the advertiser to the affiliates, but the system is such that all remuneration is deposited by the ASP and then paid by the ASP to each affiliate.
Affiliate (blog operator, blogger)
Affiliates are companies and individuals who actually carry out promotional activities using affiliate advertisements placed by advertisers. Affiliate advertisements are mainly posted on blogs, e-mail newsletters, SNS, etc. that you run and aim to earn rewards.
User (reader)
Users are so-called readers, and refer to the targets of promotional activities of advertisers and affiliates. If a product or service is purchased by a user, both the advertiser and the affiliate will receive compensation.
Affiliate example
Specific examples of affiliate marketing include:
| Affiliate site operation example | |
| Movie related affiliate | My hobby is watching movies, so I write articles that review movies and recommend them. |
| Interior related affiliate | I have more knowledge about interior design than anyone else, so I will explain stylish interior design techniques. |
| Branded product related affiliates | I spend more than most people on branded products, so I write articles that convey the appeal of branded products. |
3 ways to make money as an affiliate
When it comes to affiliate marketing, there are multiple ways to make money. Representative ones are as follows.
I will explain each in turn.
impression type
Impression-based affiliate marketing is an affiliate marketing system that allows you to earn money based on the number of times banner ads are displayed on your website. The higher the number of page views, the easier it is to earn money, and it is sometimes expressed as a metric called “CPM”, which shows how much profit is generated per 1,000 impressions.
click type
As the name suggests, click-based affiliate marketing is where you get paid for each click. The cost per click varies depending on the project, but it ranges widely from around 30 yen to over 1,000 yen. Regarding click type, as with impression type, the more page views a website receives, the more likely it is to earn rewards.
Performance-based reward type
Performance-based affiliate marketing is a type of affiliate marketing in which you receive a commission when someone signs up for a service you introduce or when a product is purchased. This is probably the most common form of affiliate marketing. The pay-for-performance model is extremely difficult because you cannot receive compensation until results are achieved.
However, because it is more difficult, the rewards tend to be higher compared to click-type methods, and in some cases, rewards of more than 30,000 yen are earned for one application. Therefore, most individuals who earn a lot of money through affiliate marketing do so through pay-per-performance advertising.
Affiliate type
Just as there are multiple ways to earn money through affiliate marketing, there are also multiple types. There are three representative ones:
Let’s look at each in turn.
SEO Affiliate
SEO
affiliate marketing is a method of increasing the SEO ranking of published articles, gaining access to them, and gathering potential customers. SEO is called “Search Engine Optimization” and mainly deals with Google.
For example, let’s say you’ve launched a website that deals with the job change genre. In this case, first rank high in searches for keywords such as “career change agent free.”
Then, users who are looking for a free job change agent will gather on your website, so by introducing your free job change agent service there, users will apply.
SEO affiliate marketing takes time to get to the top of search results, but once you get to the top of search results, the advantage is that you can receive a steady stream of accesses for a certain period of time.
PCC Affiliate
PPC affiliate marketing is a method of collecting potential customers by posting pay-per-click advertisements such as listing advertisements. First, you create a single page called an LP (landing page), place advertisements on that LP, and collect users.
It is a pay-per-click system, and each click can cost anywhere from 30 yen to more than 1,000 yen. Therefore, if an application that exceeds the advertising cost occurs through the LP, that amount becomes a profit for the operator. This method is recommended for intermediate users and above, as it requires advertising knowledge and a certain budget.
Perasite
Perasite is a method of preparing only one page and collecting potential customers via SEO on that page. Therefore, you can think of it as a one-page version of SEO affiliate marketing. Usually, SEO affiliates prepare around 50 to 100 articles and optimize the entire website for SEO. However, Perasite is a method to attract customers and increase sales on one page.
Since it is necessary to attract customers on one page, the number of characters is inevitably very large, and the keywords to select are also very difficult. However, the advantage is that it requires less effort compared to SEO affiliate marketing.
3 reasons why affiliate marketing is popular
As mentioned in this article, affiliate marketing is and has always been a very popular web business. There are three reasons why affiliate marketing is so popular:
Initial investment is low
When starting an affiliate business, the initial investments required are mainly “domain fee” and “server fee.” In total, these costs range from a few thousand yen to several tens of thousands of yen per year, so even if they fail, you won’t suffer a fatal loss.
Income is through the roof
There is no upper limit to affiliate income, as it is often said that there is no ceiling. Basically, you only earn income when you sell products or services. This is one of the reasons why affiliate marketing is so popular.
You can also work on it as a side job
Affiliate work can be done from home, so you can find free time and steadily progress with your work. You can easily work on it as a side job because you can work on it without having to commit to it full-time. For these reasons, affiliate marketing has become a very popular web business.
How to start affiliate marketing (site/blog)
So far, we have provided an overview of affiliate marketing. From here, I will explain how to proceed with affiliate marketing (how to start).
- Prepare a domain and server and install WordPress
- Perform initial settings for WordPress
- Select the genre to send
- actually write the article
- Set up an affiliate link
Let’s look at each in turn.
Prepare a domain and server and install WordPress
First, let’s prepare a domain and server. You can prepare a domain for around 100 yen to 1,000 yen per year, and a server for around 10,000 yen per year if you rent a server. Also, if you rent a server, you can install a system called WordPress on it that allows you to create a website. WordPress is completely free to use, so there are no running costs.
Perform initial settings for WordPress
When setting up WordPress, there are three main things you should do.
- SSL conversion (https conversion)
- arrange the design
- Decide on a site name
SSL means encrypting website information to strengthen security to protect personal information, etc. Next, since the design of WordPress is simple after just installing it, use a free template design called a WordPress theme to arrange the design.
Finally, decide on a site name. Regarding the site name, it is preferable to choose one that matches the “genre” introduced below. For example, if you are running a career change blog, you might want to write a blog that is a complete guide to changing jobs.
actually write the article
Once you have decided on a genre, it’s time to actually write the article. When writing an article, it is important to choose the keywords that users will search for. For example, if you are writing an article targeting the keyword “flowers recommended for first-timers,” you would write the article for users who want to grow flowers for the first time but don’t know what kind of flowers to grow.
If the keywords and article content are mismatched, it will be difficult to rank high in SEO. Therefore, first choose a keyword that you feel comfortable writing about, and then optimize your content for that keyword.
Set up an affiliate link
After writing an article, set up an affiliate link for the service you are introducing. Please note that it is not necessary to include affiliate links in all articles. This is because if you place it in every article, it will feel like a forced sale, and as a result, you won’t be able to sell any products from any article.
Be sure to place affiliate links in the parts of your website that offer services that users are likely to want, at a time when they want them.
How to start affiliate marketing (SNS)
When starting affiliate marketing using SNS, be sure to check the following.
Check the SNS terms of use
Usually, most SNS have regulations and restrictions on the display of affiliate advertisements, and these are detailed and presented in the terms of use. If you violate these Terms of Use, you may be subject to penalties such as account suspension, so be sure to read them carefully before starting affiliate marketing.
Check the ASP Terms of Use
On the other hand, there are also terms of use set by ASP. Each ASP company may have individual terms and conditions regarding posting on SNS, and if you violate these terms, you may be subject to penalties such as account suspension or forfeiture of rewards. Especially after the implementation of stealth marketing regulations, it has become even stricter, so you need to be careful.
Open a SNS account
Check the terms of use of both SNS and ASP, and open an SNS account once you have confirmed that there are no problems with the operation of affiliate advertising.
Key points for affiliate monetization
To efficiently monetize your affiliate marketing, follow the points below.
Write in a field that you are familiar with
Affiliate advertisements are mainly posted on blogs, etc., so it will be easier to achieve results if you select a field that you are familiar with or a genre that you are good at. If you write articles on your own blog and post affiliate ads on articles that rank high on search engines, users will be more likely to click on your ads.
Write information that is useful to readers
This is so-called content marketing, and users will be more likely to visit a website that contains information that is useful to their readers. Advertisements posted on such websites are more likely to be accepted by users and lead to the purchase of products and services.
Continue writing articles and increase the number of articles
By continuing to write articles and increasing the number of articles, your SEO effect will increase. At the same time, it will lead to an increase in the number of inflow routes for users, and an increase in traffic and access can be expected. By increasing the number of articles and increasing the volume of your website, you can make your website recognized by search engines as a complete website.
Decide on content based on search keywords
You cannot expect access to articles unless you write them using the keywords that users searched for. There are many keywords that are not searched by users, so writing articles using those keywords is likely to be a waste of effort. In order to avoid writing such useless articles, it is necessary to decide the content of the article by referring to the search keywords.
Understand SEO and take measures
In order to achieve high rankings in search engines for the articles you write, you need to understand SEO and take measures. Even if you write what you want to write in the article, you will not get SEO effects, so you need to write the article in a way that can be expected to have SEO effects.
Combine with SNS
You can expect a synergistic effect by combining SNS and a website. Even articles that cannot be ranked high on search engines can attract users by posting them on SNS. Additionally, there is a possibility that the article will be spread and become a “buzz,” so SNS and websites can be said to be a very compatible combination.
Things to be careful about with affiliate advertising
The handling of affiliate advertising has become even more severe due to the stealth marketing (steal marketing) regulations under the Unjustifiable Representations Act that came into effect on October 1, 2023. For this reason, you need to pay close attention to the following points when dealing with affiliate advertising.
Isn’t it against the law?
There are various cases that can be considered as violations of the law. Particularly important for affiliates is the expression and handling of the text. For example, in addition to exaggerated expressions and misrepresentations that may violate the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Act and the Premiums and Representations Act, there are also copyright laws that violate the plagiarism and plagiarism of other people’s writings. Affiliates must be especially careful about the expression and handling of such sentences.
Is side work prohibited (if you are a company employee)?
Some companies prohibit side jobs. Particularly if you are a full-time employee, this may be a violation of work regulations, and in some cases you may be subject to disciplinary action. It is a good idea to gracefully give up on affiliate marketing without thinking, “I hope the company doesn’t find out.”
A final tax return is required as it is subject to taxation.
Affiliate income is classified as miscellaneous income, so if you earn more than 200,000 yen per year, you will need to file a tax return. If you earn affiliate income while working as a full-time employee, you will need to record both your salary income and miscellaneous income on your tax return.
summary
In this article, we have explained about affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing requires little initial investment and can be done as a side job. In addition, there are various methods such as SEO affiliate, PPC affiliate, and Perasite, so the advantage is that you can work on the method that suits you.
Why not start by preparing a domain and server and installing WordPress?