Affiliate marketing, as you might probably know already, is a multi-billion dollar industry and it's by far the best way to monetize your website or blog --- unless you have your own products and services to sell.
If you have a content rich website then there are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs and affiliate networks available on the web that can make you a fortune. In fact, the secret to six-figure blogging is
affiliate marketing.
The reason is pretty simple... if you are monetizing your website with the right affiliate program then it can make a lot of money with little effort (of course you need a content rich website with a handsome amount of targeted traffic).
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It's just that it takes some time to figure out what's converting and what's not.
So first things first.
Affiliate Programs & Affiliate Networks: What's What, And What's Not?
Affiliate programs are also called associate programs and it's a deal between an advertiser and a publisher. For instance, if I've a created a software and is promoting and selling it via my blog then I can also generate additional income by inviting my blog readers to promote it in exchange for a commission.
So let's say, if you referred a buyer for my newly created software product then I offer you a 50% commission (or 50% of the additional income that I have generated because of you). So if you refer more people to me then you make more income.
That's why affiliate marketing is also known as performance marketing.
And it's a win-win, right?
Now if I have the resources then I can run an affiliate program by myself --- within my own blog or website --- and then it called an
in-house affiliate program. But if I don't have the resources or don't want to manage it myself then I can sign up as an advertiser on an
affiliate network.
You may already know that WordPress is the darling of bloggers, and that it is the most popular Content Management System (CMS). WordPress powers more than 17% of the web and its users produce about 41.7 million new posts and 60.5 million new comments each month. Amazing, huh?
If you are completely new to WordPress, and is serious about blogging, then you would have heard of WordPress Plugins and must be wondering what a 'Plugin' is!
A Plugin is nothing but a tool (or an extension) that allows you to enhance your WordPress blog. It makes your blog more functional, useful, and powerful. Be it managing your Comments, Traffic Stats, SEO, Social Sharing, Security -- 'the Plugins' does it all.
WordPress is an Open Source project. So you can either choose a plugin from among thousands of already existing ones, or you can create your own plugins to suit your specific needs. Almost all the plugins that we need already exists, so you don't have to think about creating a new one.
Because, there's actually a WordPress Plugin for almost anything!
