We all have that dream life we crave dearly!
To wake up in the morning flip your laptop open and see alerts...
It's simple - passive income!
Simply making money while you roll on your bed.
For 99% of people living this life started out with affiliate marketing.

Probably you have heard of Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria and it's something you have not been able to wrap your head around.
You have heard or seen some big boys on the internet or business space telling you how huge they have earned through Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria and you have envied them.

Funny enough majority if these big boys earn money from the comfort of their own homes.
It looks as though it's impossible to get this done, relax buddy! It's as easy as slicing a cake neatly.

In this article, I am going to explain exactly what is Affiliate Marketing, how it works, some existing programs that you can take immediate advantage from and how to go about it like a pro.

Isn't that cool? So let's get started immediately to see exactly how this work.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?
One of the best definition of Affiliate Marketing I found is Patt Flynn's Smart Passive Income:

Affiliate Marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people's (or company's) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale you make.

To simplify it in bullets:

Find a product/service you like,
Promote it to your audience and,
You earn a profit or commission from the product owner for every sake you make.
According to Wikipedia

Affiliate Marketing is a type of performance-based marketing, in which a business rewards one or more Affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the Merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the Network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the Publisher (also known as ‘the Affiliate’), and the Customer.

Simplifying this for better understanding:

Wikipedia talks about 4 different parties that are involved: the Merchant, the Network, the Publisher, and the Customer:

Merchant:
This is the owner or the creator of the product/service. This could be any product ranging from physical products like (Jewelry) or even digital products (eBook). Anyone offering a product online for sales is a Merchant and most serious Merchants will likely be open to getting Affiliates on his blog or website.

Publisher:
This is someone always called an Affiliate, he simply takes a product link from a merchant and promotes it to his own audience, thereby sending traffic (Leads) to the Merchant's website - to make sales and earn commission/profits.

Network:
This is a platform where both Merchants and Affiliates co-exist. Merchants signup to list all their products in their affiliate program and Affiliates see these, pick up offers appealing to them. These platforms always stand as a third-party between the Merchant and Affiliate especially with ensuring due payments and satisfaction of both parties.

Customer:
Anyone who makes a purchase from the Merchant through the Affiliate is known to be a Customer. I always call them the most important party because, without them, there aren't any commission or revenue to be made.

Affiliate Marketing Disclosure
As of 2018, it is expected that every Affiliate should disclose the relationship they have with a Merchant and let customers know they are part of an affiliate marketing system, but sincerely most Affiliates don't. Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria is getting big and we must start operating on a global scale.

What Affiliate Marketers do is to keep the tracking system in the background, a customer can follow the purchase process like his own. For example, I can advertise a product on Jumia to you, promote it as though I own it and I give you a link to buy and I earn a commission without you knowing. It's not much of a big deal anyway, but I think transparency keeps relationships that can close more deals in the future.

Personally, I will simply advise Affiliate Marketers to be transparent to potential customers and I will let you know why I strongly hold on to this in the cause of this article.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Let's assume you have a website that you drive traffic through your marketing efforts online to make sales. It could be through Google, organic traffic, social media etc.



What happens is that marketers usually get exhausted. They may exhaust sales on generated traffic, or run out on ideas on how to keep marketing campaign going.

In this scenario, the best thing these companies do is to outsource sales to other affiliate members who have potential buyers of the products. And of course, share the revenue. In this case, it is usually a win-win for both parties. Both the Merchant and Affiliate makes sales in passive income.
further reading: https://dapsdigital.com/-nigeria/