Is Affiliate Marketing Dead In 2023?
The answer is a big fat no.
But, you might be wondering how is that possible since you keep hearing that numerous affiliate marketers have been experiencing a revenue decline or even, going out of business due to the recent Google updates, resulting in their articles not ranking as high as they used to or Amazon’s drop in commission rates.
Let me explain.
It is not dead, it has just changed in shape.
Just ask any YouTuber running a 6 figure YouTube channel.
Those believing that affiliate marketing is dead are probably, not keeping up with the evolution of affiliate marketing.
In this article, I’ll answer the following:
- Is affiliate marketing dead?
- Is affiliate marketing really worth it?
- Can you get rich quick with affiliate marketing?
Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? Let’s Go!
Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? Crunching Numbers
For starters, let’s have a look at the latest statistics.
According to Statista, the affiliate marketing industry has been experiencing a 10% annual growth each year since 2015.
Do you see any years of slow downs in the graph?
I certainly, don’t!
Let’s dive into more marketers/advertisers specific statistics:
- 79% of marketers engage with their audience using affiliate marketing
- 40% of online marketers consider affiliate marketing as an essential skill
- 15% of digital media revenue stems from affiliate marketing
- 81% of brands run affiliate programs with 15%-30% of their revenue linked to them
Any Dead Affiliate Marketing Methods?
In this section, I’ll dig into affiliate marketing methods that are dead or might, mistakenly, seem dead.
So, is affiliate marketing dead?
Nope. My answer is still the same.
Amazon Affiliate Marketing
Amazon recently, changed its commission structure and dropped its commission rates significantly.
At the time of writing this article, Amazon commission rates range between 0%-10%.
Rates do keep changing so check the latest ones with this link.
Many feel that Amazon affiliate marketing is dead because of the drop in rates.
I strongly disagree.
You could still generate significant revenue with Amazon affiliate marketing as long as you focus on promoting products with a minimum of 4% commission.
Check out my article “20 Easy Ways To Boost Amazon Affiliate Earnings.
Alternatively, most vendors run their own affiliate programs that you can join.
Affiliate Marketing Based On Spamming Comments
This type of affiliate marketing is dead for sure.
I mean, we all still receive spammy marketing emails or see spammy comments under our blog articles or YouTube videos. However, we are able to filter them out and completely ignore them.
Spammy comments no longer work so if you were considering it as a quick fix, you are better of focusing on creating high quality content that is SEO optimized.
The tool I currently, use to SEO optimize my content is RankMath.
Create your free RankMath account with this link.
Doing Affiliate Marketing The Right Way
Are you still wondering “Is affiliate marketing dead?”.
At this point, you probably understand why affiliate marketing is not dead.
But, what strategies do successful affiliate marketers use?
Build Strong Relationships With Your Audience
It is important to understand who your audience is.
- What are the demographics of your audience?
- Where do they hang out?
- What problems are they facing that are relevant to your niche?
- How can you help them solve their problems?
These are questions to which you need to have very specific answers as guess work won’t get you far.
Once you gain a deep understanding of your audience, you need to start building a strong relationship with them.
Apart from creating high quality content in a timely manner, you can also engage with them by offering them something to download for free in exchange for their email.
Once they are on your email list, you can keep engaging with them by sending them information about your new content or useful tips and money saving deals like these.
It is highly unlikely they will buy the first time they interact with you as it takes time to build trust.
By using email marketing, you ensure there are several touch point between you and your audience building that much needed trust.
Keep providing them with value and when the time is right, ask for that sale.
You can learn about this concept in Gary Vaynerchuck’s book Crushing It!
Check the price of this book on Amazon!
Play The Long Game
Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme.
The aim is to play the long game and earn sustainable, passive income.
Don’t expect to become successful overnight.
Keep working hard without getting discouraged.
Success might come even two years down the line.
It’s the long game you need to focus on.
Select The Right Products To Promote
If you are a beginner in affiliate marketing, a minimum of 4% commission rate should be your rule of thumb on marketplaces like Amazon.
As you become more experienced, you can start promoting products of vendors running their own affiliate programs. You could be earning 30%-50% commission and even benefit from bonuses like earning more if you achieve a pre-specified sales target, doing an online course for free or getting a gadget to review for free.
There are a number of factors to consider to make the right choice.
Here are some examples:
- Commission rates
- Cookie duration
- Payment threshold
- Payment method
High ticket products are also desirable as you need to generate fewer sales to earn big money but it is harder to achieve such sales so I recommend them more for experienced affiliate marketers.
Subscription based products are also a fantastic option as you will be getting paid over and over again unless the user cancels their subscription.
Is It Easy To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing?
It is easy to get started indeed provided you are willing to put in the hard work and don’t expect to get rich quick.
You start by creating high quality content ranging from info articles, reviews, tutorials, comparisons to videos and podcasts.
Such content gets created based on keywords with a high search volume but low competition and is always problem solving.
Next, you can use your social media channels, email marketing and paid ads to promote it and create a buzz around it.
If your content starts ranking high in Google results or goes viral on social media, you could start earning passive income on an ongoing basis.
People are actively searching for solutions to their problems so why not use the right keywords to get them to find the solution you are offering to them.
Is Affiliate Marketing Really Worth It?
If you are willing to put in the hard work that is required and are patient, it is worth it.
You need to learn the tools and tactics to build, run and grow an affiliate site the smart way.
Simply working countless hours doesn’t cut it. You will end up giving up pre-maturely.
Once your affiliate site has matured, you can flip it for 30-40x its monthly net profit via site brokers.
If you want to learn how to build and grow an affiliate site from scratch the right way and turn it into a highly profitable online business, I recommend the following online courses:
- The Affiliate Lab By Matt Diggity for Niche Sites (get your $200 discount with this link)
- The Authority Site System by Authority Hacker for Authority Sites (get your $398 discount with this link)
Will Affiliate Marketing Growth Ever Come To An End?
“Is affiliate marketing dead?” is the question that people will probably keep asking for years to come.
I don’t see this coming in the near future and there are a number of reasons backing my logic behind this.
Affiliate marketing is a much smaller expense for vendors compared to that for advertising.
Moreover, work at home opportunities have been increasing in popularity and people are becoming more accustomed to the hybrid work model as well.
It has low barriers to entry as the initial investment to get started is minimal while the opportunity to earn big time is huge.
What is more, consumers are shifting from in person shopping to online shopping and this can only positively affect the affiliate marketing industry.
Last but not least, online buyers actively seek to make their purchases using affiliate links as they know that they will probably benefit from discounts, bonuses or other attractive deals that wouldn’t be able to access using regular links.
What Next?
Hope you enjoyed this article on “Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?”.
Affiliate marketing is far from dead and keeps growing year after year.
It would be a shame to miss out on such an attractive opportunity.
Have you decided that you want to join the ride but don’t know what to do next?
The Authority Hacker team will provide you with an overview of their entire system on how to build, run and grow a highly profitable authority site starting from scratch.
This is the course I took to build this site so I speak from experience.
| Image | Network/Program | Score | Join |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Cloudways Affiliate Program Affiliate marketing | 9.8 | Join SiteLearn More |
 | EBay Partner Attribution Program Affiliate marketing | 9.2 | Join SiteRead Review |
 | Target Affiliate Program Affiliate marketing | 9 | Join SiteRead Review |
 | Walmart Affiliate Program Affiliate marketing | 9 | Join SiteRead Review |
 | MaxBounty Affiliate Network Affiliate marketing | 8 | Join SiteRead Review |
 | Pepperjam Affiliate Network Affiliate marketing | 7.7 | Join SiteRead Review |
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