YouTube Affiliate Marketing (8 Tips)

Today, YouTube is the second-biggest search engine on the internet. How? You might say. Well, Currently, 2.7 billion people are using YouTube for the purpose of entertainment, watching tutorials, finding old series, news, and so on. Thus, YouTube has become an important part of the social media realm.

Because of that, many people started to use YouTube for their businesses or turn YouTube into their own businesses. One way of doing that is being a YouTuber and benefitting from YouTube Affiliate marketing. In today’s article, we will discuss what YouTube Affiliate Marketing is, how can you benefit from it, some video ideas and so much more! Today, we will delve into the immersive world of YouTube, and we will take you with us! So, let’s go!

What is YouTube affiliate marketing?

In order to understand what YouTube affiliate marketing is, first, we should understand what affiliate marketing is. Affiliate marketing means the process of promoting and selling a company’s product or service by taking a commission. Product owners create a special affiliate link for the seller, a.k.a content creator. With this special link, the business owner can understand who comes from the seller’s link and give the commission based on that.

What about affiliate marketing on YouTube? Affiliate marketers choose a channel to promote their products. YouTube marketers do that through videos. That’s why, marketers carefully analyze a YouTuber’s channel and audience, and then, make a deal with the YouTuber. They want to be sure that their product will resonate well with the YouTuber’s audience.

If you are a YouTuber and affiliate products, you need to make sure that the affiliate link is visible to your audience. To achieve that, you can put the link in the description part, and pin a comment of the link under the video. This way, you can lead your audience to that link, and get your commission.

YouTube Partner Program vs. Affiliate Programs

When it comes to monetizing content creation, most people confuse the YouTube Partner Program with affiliate programs. Even though both programs have their own benefits, they are not the same thing.

YouTube Partner Program (YPP)

YouTube Partner Program (YPP) gives creators a chance to access YouTube’s monetization features. Basically, it allows you to earn money from your views, likes, etc. It requires a channel to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months. If you meet those conditions, you can easily become a YouTube partner and start to earn money. With YPP, you can get money from ads displayed on the videos, channel memberships, and super chat & super stickers. In that program, YouTube cuts 45% of the revenue and leaves the rest of it to the creator.

As pros, in this program, your money directly comes from YouTube. YPP can help you to earn money from various resources, not just ads. This way, you can reach the vast audience of YouTube easily. However, since the eligibility requirements are hard to achieve, not every channel can meet them. Thus, becoming a YouTube partner can be challenging for some YouTubers.

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are different ways of earning money, not directly from YouTube but from businesses. For these programs, you don’t need to have a minimum number of subscribers or other numbers. To be eligible, you should only have a channel to promote a product. If you have a strong audience, any business can reach out to you to do a promotion.

In this system, you can earn money from the affiliate link you share by getting commissions. When someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link, you get a percentage of the sale. Common YouTube affiliate programs can be Amazon Associates, ClickBank, ShareASale, etc. The money you will get can change from program to program. It can range from a few percent to over 50% of the sale price.

Many content creators prefer these programs because they are easy to enter. YouTubers can easily become members and start to create videos including those products. Instead of sticking to one platform, YouTube, they can promote the same product from various platforms including YouTube and others.

Choosing one of them to earn money completely depends on you. Many YouTubers combine two and earn money from both of them. This is probably the most effective way to earn money from the platform itself. Balancing both of them can bring about beneficial results for your own channel.

How To Become a YouTube Affiliate Marketer?

If you choose to continue with YouTube affiliate marketing, you are in the right place! In order to become an affiliate marketer, at first, you need to apply to those affiliate programs. Many of those are free to join and do not require you to have a massive number of subscribers.

To ease that process, the network has “YouTube Shopping affiliate program.” However, to be able to join this one, you need to meet some requirements. These requirements are:

• Being a part of YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
• Having more than 15k subscribers
• Being based in United States.

If you do not meet those, don’t worry! This program is not the only option you have. There are different YouTube affiliate programs as we mentioned above. These are Amazon Associates, ClickBank, ShareASale, and Impact. Even though these are just some well-known examples, there are tons of other affiliate programs as well. Before choosing one, we recommend conducting comprehensive research, and then, becoming a part of it.

How To Make Money with Affiliate Marketing on YouTube?

YouTube Affiliate Marketing can help you to increase your revenue in various ways. First of all, if you have an affiliate link, you will, of course, get a commission based on your sales. In order to do that, you should give products a place on your video. You should mention them, share the link or talk about it and put it under the video. This way, you can increase your commission quickly.

Another way of earning money from YouTube affiliate marketing is YPP, YouTube Partner Program. As we explained earlier, YPP helps you earn money from the ads displayed in your video. You can earn more money from your affiliated video by adding the ads as well. This way, you can maximize your revenue and earn more money!

In order to earn money in two ways, first, you should create a video. You can promote the product, mention the link, etc. in the video and direct your audience to that. You should give importance to your video quality and consistency so that your audience can take your promotion seriously.

Affiliate Marketing Video Ideas

We said that your videos are as important as the product you choose for YouTube Affiliate Marketing. Some of your audience will want to see the advertisement in the video openly, while others will be opposed to it. To solve that, we have collected 5 different video ideas for you. In those videos, you can mention the product you are promoting, place it, and direct your audience towards that product.

Product Reviews

Product reviews are the most preferred type of YouTube Affiliate Program videos. You can simply review the product, mention its pros, and share your experience. In order it to be successful, you should turn this into a consistent series, or review different products in the videos. This way, you can keep your audience interested and maximize the efficiency you will get from the YouTube affiliate links.

Unboxing Videos

Unboxing videos are regarded as surprise eggs of YouTube. No one imagined that those videos would become that successful on the platform. Many people, including this author, enjoy watching unboxing videos of different products, even if we are interested in them or not. For that type of video, you can ask for a boxed version of the product, so that you can create an interesting unboxing video.

Comparison Videos

Comparison videos, as you can guess, compare a product with its competitors in the community. In those videos, you can mention more than one or two products at the same time and use their YouTube affiliate links in the same video. This way, you can earn money from each product or service. Many people want to buy a new technological device, download a new application, or find a project management system. You can introduce them, or compare them in your video and maximize your revenue.

How-To Tutorials

How-to tutorials are one of the most used types of videos in affiliate marketing on YouTube. In those videos, you can explain the product, show its usage, share tips of using it, and mention its features. This way, you can make your audience more interested in the product and eager to buy the thing you are introducing. If you want to make your audience believe in you, you can choose a product that is related to your niche or turn those videos into a series.

Top 10 Lists

The top 10, or Best 10 lists are one of the most watched videos on YouTube itself. You can turn this into YouTube affiliate marketing and mention the products you are in the YouTube affiliate program. You can collect similar products in one video and introduce them one by one. The typical rule in those “list” videos is to start from the least favorite to the most favorite one. You can give an affiliate link to any of the products you mentioned in the video and start to earn money quickly.

8 YouTube Affiliate Marketing Tips

Let’s say, you joined a YouTube affiliate program and chose a type of video. Now what? Is taking a video enough to earn money? Well, even though it is the beginning step, it is not the only thing you should be focusing on. In this section, we collected 8 effective YouTube affiliate marketing tips for you. You can implement those in your channel and add those tips to your videos. This way, you can maximize your revenue, and create a stronger bond with your audience.

Create Engaging Content

If you want to attract the right audience’s attention, your videos should be engaging! You should plan and create high-quality content that will engage your audience and encourage them to interact with you. If they enjoy the video, they will be more eager to click on the link you have provided.

To create engaging content for YouTube affiliate marketing, first, you should find your niche and analyze what is going on as trends. You can search for common trending topics, video types, effects, sounds, and so on. This way, you can understand what your audience wants to watch and create that specific content.

Moreover, you can ask your audience to leave a comment, like, or subscribe to your channel throughout the video. This way, you can encourage them to check the description box by adding a call-to-action in the video. If your video is more engaging, they will be more eager to respond to your CTAs.

Make Your Thumbnails Eye-Catching

Let’s be honest, we all clicked on a video just because we liked its thumbnail. That sentence basically summarizes the importance of thumbnails. Thumbnails are important for a video, especially, if you want to make a high-quality YouTube affiliate marketing video. The better your thumbnail is, the higher the chance of it getting more views. In order to create an eye-catching thumbnail, here are the things you should implement:

• Strong and vivid colors
• Descriptive texts
• Arrows and circles showing the product
• Branding or the logo

It is also a great idea to use consistent thumbnails on your videos. Your audience will appreciate a consistent design. Moreover, it will make you stand out from the others since many people will recognize your videos just by looking at the thumbnail.

Add Chapters to Your Videos

Day by day, many people divide their videos into chapters so that viewers can find the relevant part, or the interesting part of the video. As we mentioned earlier, YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the digital world. Many people use it as a search engine, and thus, they want to find the information quickly. That’s why, dividing the video into chapters can be an easy solution both for you and your audience.

Why is it related to YouTube affiliate marketing? Well, if a viewer likes your video and finds it easy to toggle, they will engage with your other videos. As a result, they will become a part of your audience in the long run. This can even lead them to your YouTube affiliate link, which will return you as money.

Optimize Video Titles and Descriptions

Optimizing video titles and descriptions is the key to success on YouTube for any video. If you want to improve your rankings on search engine results, you should conduct a comprehensive keyword analysis on your niche. You should find the trending keywords for your content and add them to your video title and description. Adding keywords to your video can become a great help if you want to increase your views and rankings. This can return you more commissions as well.

For example, you are promoting “Product A” on your “How-to-use A” video. When people search for that product, it will be better to see your video in higher rankings. If your video is listed in the top results, YouTube users can watch your video, analyze the product, and click on your YouTube affiliate link. This way, you can kill two birds with one stone. In other words, you can both earn money and increase your views on your channel.

Create Playlists

In this immersive YouTube world, we do not want to only attract attention for one video. We want to attract attention for every other video on the channel so that people can click on the YouTube affiliate link under those as well.

One way of achieving that attraction is by creating playlists. Compiling similar videos together can lead people to other videos on your channel since the playlist automatically goes to the next one. If you do not know how to create a playlist on YouTube, it is simple! Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Make a list of videos that are related and open them one by one.
2. Click “Save” on each of them, which is under the “…” button.
3. Select “Create a new playlist” or add to an existing one. Now, you are done!

Be Honest and Transparent

All of us are a YouTube watcher in our free time, and we all hate videos like advertisements. We all prefer videos that openly tell that this video includes an affiliate link, which means that the YouTuber will promote a product. No one likes to be taken for granted. Thus, including us, people prefer honest and transparent YouTubers compared to subtle ones.

Moreover, we recommend being honest and transparent about the product itself. If it has some drawbacks, please mention them in the video so that your audience can believe in you and lead towards the YouTube affiliate link. If they buy the product and see you are lying, they won’t probably buy anything you have recommended. Because of those two reasons, being honest with your audience is of great importance in YouTube affiliate marketing success.

Use Affiliate Link Shorteners

Even though it seems less important, YouTube affiliate links’ visuals are also important and influential in attracting people to your link. Let’s say your link is too long, includes characters like *, %, or numbers, and capital-small letters. To be honest, I wouldn’t click on that link because it does not seem professional enough. I probably won’t trust the link and just skip the video.

To avoid that, you can use YouTube affiliate link shorteners. These tools can help you to create clean and branded YouTube affiliate links so that they can look more professional for your audience. This way, you can use a more user-friendly link, in addition to its being more trustworthy.

Host Giveaways and Contests

Last but not least, our list ends with the last tip, hosting giveaways and contests. YouTube can be a great tool to host giveaways for your audience. Giveaways encourage viewers to engage with your audience more and eagerly wait for results. To participate in a giveaway, you can ask them to leave a comment, like a video or a similar call-to-action. This way, you can both increase the views on your video and strengthen the bond with your audience. Do not forget that the prize you give should be related to your YouTube affiliate marketing products. You can give one product you are promoting freely. This way, your audience can see the product, might lean towards buying it from your link, and enjoy the product itself!

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