YouTube affiliate marketing is a smart way to start your journey with your YouTube channel. You can promote, sell products or services from other companies and earn a commission on every sale. This can be a great way to generate revenue from your channel and build a loyal following.
To start off, you'll need to find corporations that offer affiliate programs relevant to your target audience. Once you've found a few good options, you can start promoting their products or services on your channel. Ensure you provide significant worth to your viewers by creating helpful videos that showcase the products or services in a positive light.
Why start with Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an optimal way to earn money from your YouTube channel. You can promote multiple products in your video and get a deserved commission from each sale. But which are the advantages of affiliate marketing on YouTube?
Your revenue starts on day 1
If you want to monetize your YouTube channel, you may wonder whether affiliate marketing or Google Adsense is the better option. Both can be effective ways to monetize your channel, but some key differences exist.
With affiliate marketing, you can start earning commissions from day one. This is because you earn commission on sales of the products or services you promote. With Google Adsense, on the other hand, you won't start making a lot of money until you've built up a significant number of views.
You can utilize your website better
Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your YouTube channel. You can also use it to drive traffic to your website. You can make money from your YouTube channel and your website by utilizing affiliate marketing.
There are many benefits to affiliate marketing. For one, it is a great way to build an audience. You can attract new viewers and followers by promoting other people's products on your channel.
Additionally, affiliate marketing can help you grow your brand and reach.
Make money with low traffic
If you're looking for a way to make money from your YouTube channel, affiliate marketing may be the perfect solution. You don't need millions of views with affiliate marketing programs to earn a commission. Even if you have a few thousand views, you can still make good money with the correct positioning.
Many different affiliate programs are available, so you can find one that suits your channel and audience. Once you've found a program, promoting it is easy - include a link to the product or service in your video descriptions, and encourage your viewers to check it out.
Affiliate Marketing vs Google Adsense income
There are a few key differences between affiliate marketing and Google Adsense. For one, affiliate marketing typically requires more work on the person promoting the product or service. They may need to create content, like a blog post or video, and then promote it through social media or other channels. Google Adsense, on the other hand, is a more passive form of income generation.
We can try to make a comparison. We assume that affiliate marketing has a 1% conversion rate and we will use Miss Hosting’s affiliate program. On the other hand, we will utilize a YouTube calculator from Influencer Marketing Hub.
Monthly views income chart
| Monthly |
Revenue from Affiliate Marketing |
Revenue from Google Adsense |
Adsense revenue after Google’s commission |
| 1,000 |
Up to $358.80 |
$7.65 |
$4.18 |
| 10K |
$7.65 |
Up to $69 |
Up to $38 |
| 100K |
Up to $26,850 |
Up to $687 |
Up to $378 |
1M |
Up to $179,000 |
Up to $6875 |
Up to $3780 |
For larger audiences, we’ve shrunk affiliate marketing conversion rates to 0.75% and 0.5%, respectively (100K & 1M).
Of course, there are a couple of factors we need to take into consideration before we claim that affiliate marketing has won by a mile.
- Diminishing revenue - affiliate marketing plays a huge role in getting value from your YouTube videos. Still, you need to consider creating a lot of content to keep making good money out of it.
- AdSense works as a passive income - Google Adsense revenue wouldn’t be anything special if it weren’t for the way it works. As your YouTube channel grows, people will start watching older videos, too. And this is where Adsense kicks in.
YouTube Affiliate Marketing: How to Turn Views into Money?
Any YouTube affiliate marketing strategy worth its salt will require a lot of content creation. But it's not just about coming up with new videos. There are many little details you need to pay attention to if you’re to succeed. Let’s see some good strategies.
Create engaging thumbnails
As a YouTuber, one of the most important things you can do to grow your channel is to create engaging thumbnails for your videos. Thumbnails are what sell the video and persuade viewers to click and watch. They should be high quality, visually appealing, and relevant to the video's content.
To make sure your thumbnails are up to par, take some time to study other successful channels in your niche and see what they're doing right. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with different thumbnail styles and layouts until you find something that works best for you and your channel. With a little effort, you can ensure your thumbnails are helping you attract more viewers and grow your YouTube channel!
YouTube thumbnail tips:
- Add more contrast
- Ensure your thumbnails look well on mobile devices.
- Update old video thumbnails
Optimize your content for SEO
If you want to make money with YouTube affiliate marketing, you need to optimize your content for SEO. This means picking discussion topics that are closely related to the affiliate marketing products you're promoting. You can't talk about eggs and then promote web hostings - it just doesn't make sense.
But if you pick topics that are closely related to your affiliate products, and then optimize your content for SEO, you'll be in a much better position to make money with YouTube affiliate marketing.
YouTube SEO tips:
- Research keywords for your title
- Ensure your video description is also keyword-optimized.
- Use niche keywords
Make YouTube shorts
YouTube Shorts are a great way to attract interest in your channel. Within 60 seconds, you can create a hook and then link to a longer video. If you have more imagination, you can also promote products with affiliate links, but it takes time to master that.
Creating successful YouTube shorts requires an understanding of what works on the platform. On YouTube, people mainly look for entertaining or informative videos. So, your short should be able to stand on its own as a piece of content that is worth watching.
To ensure your short is successful, start by planning the story you want to tell. Ensure that your video has a beginning, middle, and end so that viewers are satisfied with the content they watch. Then, film and edit your short following best practices for YouTube videos.
YouTube Shorts tips:
- Talk about a single topic.
- Use a lot of effects to grab the attention of viewers.
- Create YouTube shorts every day
Link older YouTube videos to the current one
If you're looking to make the most from your affiliate programs, one of the best things you can do is keep old videos alive. How does it happen? It's simple. Try to link new videos to older ones and mention them. This way, you can generate way more views of old content and sell more.
For example, if you have a new video about a product you're promoting, be sure to embed an older video from your channel in it. Mention the old video in the description of the new one, and include a link back to it. This will not only help people find your older content, but it will also give them a reason to watch it. If they like what they see, they're more likely to purchase the product you're promoting.
YouTube link embedding tips:
- A good idea is to make “Chapter 1,2,3…”
- Further develop topics mentioned in older videos.
- Embed the links within the video (top right corner).
Spend time on the YouTube video description
In case you are looking to improve your YouTube ranking and get more views on your videos, then you need to make sure you have a good video description. This is what tells viewers what your video is about, and it's also what helps the algorithm determine where to rank your video.
A good description will include your target keywords and a few sentences describing what the video is about. You can also add affiliate links in your description, which can help you earn money from your video.
YouTube video description tips:
- Research for keywords from your niche.
- You can play around with emojis to give it more “life”.
- Try to structure the paragraphs. Don’t write bulk text.
Promote your affiliate partner subtly
As an affiliate marketer, it's important to remember that people don't want to be pushed towards making decisions. While you need to mention the affiliate product you are promoting, do it without selling it in front of the client eyes. Be an expert, not a salesman.
For example, let's say you're promoting a financial planning course as an affiliate. Instead of trying to hard sell the course to your readers, explain why financial planning is important and how the course can benefit them. Then, provide a link where they can learn more or purchase the course if they're interested.
By providing value and being subtle with your promotion, you'll be much more successful in getting people to convert into paying customers.
YouTube affiliate link placement tips:
- Include one or two paid promotions at most.
- Create a short trailer for the product/service (10-15 seconds) from your video.
- Add links in your video description
Summary
YouTube affiliate marketing is an excellent way to monetize your channel and earn substantial commissions even before you have built up tens of thousands of subscribers. You can create useful content and make a good living thanks to affiliate programs.
To be successful with YouTube affiliate marketing, it's important to choose products you're passionate about that will appeal to your target audience. You also need to create high-quality content that will interest people in your promotion. And finally, you need to be active on social media and build up a following of potential customers.
YouTube Affiliate Marketing FAQs
Is affiliate marketing allowed on YouTube?
Yes, affiliate marketing is allowed on YouTube. You can use affiliate links in your videos and in the description of your channel. If you use affiliate links, you must clearly state that you are an affiliate for the product or service. However, you cannot use affiliate links to promote illegal or harmful products or services.
What is the best way to get started with affiliate marketing on YouTube?
- Make a YouTube account - the first step is to create an account on YouTube. Google owns the streaming platform, so you should create a Google account, and then you’ll get access to YouTube.
- Create a new channel - you have to create a new channel before you start uploading videos.
- Sign up for an affiliate program - the next step you should do is sign up for an affiliate program.
How much money can I make from YouTube affiliate marketing?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as it depends on a variety of factors such as the products you promote, the commission rates, the niche, and the number of YouTube channel views and subscribers. However, if you are able to effectively promote products and generate a significant amount of traffic to your channel, you could potentially make 5 or 6 figures from YouTube affiliate marketing alone.
Is YouTube affiliate marketing better than paid ads revenue?
YouTube affiliate marketing is a great way to snowball your earnings. You can start making money sooner with affiliate marketing, as opposed to paid ads. Paid ads require you to have a certain amount of traffic before you can start earning, but with affiliate marketing, you can start earning from day one.
About Miss Affiliate
If you want to get involved in web hosting affiliate programs, Miss Affiliate is a great option. With over 10 Brands to choose from, you can find plenty of opportunities to make profits - especially if you go for the global brands. Plus, the local options are still very lucrative. All in all, it's a great way to take advantage of the growing industry.
