If you want to make your first affiliate commission or supplement the income you already have, using YouTube for affiliate marketing is a great way to do it.
I’ve been creating YouTube videos for a few years now and my personal experience of using it for making affiliate sales has been positive.
I promote various affiliate products and some convert better than others. I’ll share my tips for doing affiliate marketing on YouTube.
Why this online business model works best for affiliate marketing.
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How to Use YouTube for Affiliate Marketing
After monetizing my own YouTube channel by promoting affiliate products, I have learned what works well for getting conversions.
I’m sure there are individuals that have managed to earn a full-time income from using affiliate marketing on YouTube.
However, if you are just starting out, I wouldn’t rely on this strategy for more than some extra income.
Choose a Niche for Your Channel
I’ve found that conversions work best if you focus on one specific niche for your channel.
The reason is that when your viewers come to your channel, they’ll immediately understand what your channel is about.
This also helps to build trust. If your videos are all over the place, and you are promoting affiliate products that aren’t related, it may be difficult for viewers to relate to your content.
If they cannot relate, they likely won’t buy what you are promoting.
Many people struggle with niche selection. If you are having a hard time deciding, I recommend finding an affiliate offer that you like.
I like to find affiliate programs that either have recurring commissions or are high-ticket (commissions of $500 and up.)
Choosing an affiliate product first selects the niche for you since you have to target the audience that is most likely to buy the product you are promoting.
Be in Your Videos or Go Faceless?
Using any type of social media for affiliate marketing can be a struggle for many people. You may not want to put yourself in videos or photos.
Having a YouTube channel doesn’t require you to be in your videos. If you are hesitant about recording yourself, you can create faceless videos.
There are many YouTube channels in which the creators are never in their videos. However, they still provide a lot of value in their content.
That is really the key. Create videos that help people with their questions and concerns within the niche you’ve chosen.
Faceless videos can consist of tutorials on how to use the product you’re promoting or screen recordings.
How to Make Money with Your YouTube Channel
Whether or not you already made money from YouTube advertising, you can still make money from affiliate marketing.
That is why it’s important to focus on the niche of the affiliate product that you’re promoting.
If you can address the issues of the niche audience, you can recommend products that can help them.
When you recommend these affiliate products, you can link to them in your video descriptions.
What I like to do in my videos is direct people to check the links in my description. I may say something like, “Be sure to check below the video for more resources.”
I also like to make my affiliate links stand out by adding dashed lines above and below the link as demonstrated in the image above.
The best conversions will come from demonstrating the benefits of the product you’re recommending.
Remember, people want to know how it can benefit them. Do a good job at that and you can boost your conversions.
Build an Email List
Besides adding your affiliate links within your video description, another highly effective way to use YouTube for affiliate marketing is to build an email list.
I actually prefer viewers to sign up to my email list over clicking on the affiliate links in my descriptions.
The reason is that you can promote affiliate offers to your email subscriber list for the long-term.
Yes, there will be those that unsubscribe from your list. However, there will be even more that subscribe and stay subscribed for months or even years.
How to Build Your Email List
You will need a simple sales funnel to build your email list. A two-page funnel is sufficient. It will consist of a squeeze page and thank you page as shown below:
On the squeeze page, you’ll want to offer a lead magnet. A lead magnet is some type of free gift in exchange for a visitor inputting their email address in your opt-in form.
A lead magnet could be a free ebook, video, audio file, or even email course. It should be something of value that will help your niche audience.
After your visitor submits the form, they will be sent to a “thank you” page. On the thank you page, you can let the visitor know more about the product you’re promoting.
You can have a video explaining what the product is or it can be a page with text only.
You’ll also want to have a call-to-action on the thank you page such as a button that is linked to your affiliate link.
Some of your visitors will click on your affiliate links an proceed to buy the product, thus earning you a commission.
Now, the benefit of having an email list is that those that do not buy the product are still a part of your email list.
That means you can continue marketing to them in the future. You can promote various types of affiliate offers.
Having an email list is like having your own customer base. It is much more valuable than simply placing affiliate links in your YouTube descriptions.
Software for Building Your Email List
Creating your sales funnel is easier than ever as there are a number of different software that you can use. Some popular options include ClickFunnels, Systeme.io, Kartra, and more.
There are even WordPress funnel plugins if you prefer to use WordPress. You can build a simple two-page funnel using any of these options.
Summing-Up
YouTube is great for earning affiliate commissions. If you get tons of views on your videos, the more chances you have of making affiliate sales.
I highly recommend using YouTube’s traffic to build your own email list. You can promote affiliate offers for the long-term.
Learn how I went from working a 9-to-5 job to earning income online. Click here to learn more.
