How much does the average affiliate marketer make? How long does affiliate marketing take? Is it worth your time and when will you be able to replace your employment income?
Because there are so many affiliate marketers, it’s difficult to determine just how much the average affiliate marketer makes. The Affstat affiliate marketing benchmark report shows the following in relation to affiliate earnings:
This report was a few years ago now and no doubt there are many more affiliates since this report was carried out in 2016. As you can see from the image above, only 3.16% of affiliate marketers make $150,000 or more per year. The larger proportion (48.36%) make less than $20,000 a year. Many new affiliates won’t be making money at all. Here’s a view of the countries represented in this report.
How Much Does The Average Affiliate Marketer Make?
In 2015 this was the result of the AffStat report into affiliate’s earnings:
As you can see the statistics are similar to the following year as per the first chart. It’s also useful to look at the spread of affiliates who took part in the study. The following image shows the length of time affiliates had been affiliates and relates to the 2016 report:
Based on the 2016 Affstat report, a massive 48.36% of affiliates earn less than $20,000 a year from their affiliate efforts. It’s difficult to get more specific about earnings than this but as a beginner affiliate, you shouldn’t expect too much. Every new affiliate starts from zero and earnings are performance based. Many of the affiliates in the test group had been affiliates for several years, too.
Is Affiliate Marketing Worth Your Time?
Affiliate marketing works for some but not for others. Many jump on the affiliate marketing band wagon expecting an easy win, but are disappointed by what they can achieve easily, so they give up. The affiliate marketing failure rate is therefore pretty high.
But for those who stick at it and overcome the difficulties, there are great rewards. It’s worth mentioning too, that there are many ways to approach affiliate marketing. Not every affiliate has the same approach to it. Here’s an image from the AffStat benchmark report from 2016 showing the various strategies implemented by the affiliates who took part in the study:
From this image you can clearly see than most affiliates use SEO (search engine optimisation), leveraging social networks, blogging and email marketing. Only 34.28% use pay per click marketing and far less use the other mentioned methods.
Is affiliate marketing worth your time then, you may ask? Well it depends on how you value your time and your individual circumstances. Some new affiliates are desperate to escape their corporate jobs and would do almost anything to make it happen. They will be far more motivated to make an affiliate business work than someone who is just “having a go” for some extra income. Plus, they will have more disposable income to start and advertise a business.
Your income is a factor too. On a low income, you may not be able to access high ticket affiliate programs and use paid marketing strategies. If you have time though, you could pursue cheap and free marketing strategies, although this route will be considerably longer. For someone trapped in a career which demands their time, they will have less available time for slower marketing strategies. So they should use other methods to generate traction.
Can You Replace Your Income With Affiliate Marketing?
Yes, you can replace almost any income through using affiliate marketing. But as you see from the stats, the high earners are in a minority. Transitioning from a high paying job to affiliate marketing does give you the funds to use the faster methods of affiliate marketing. See fastest legit way to make money online. But you’ll still need to invest heavily to use high ticket products and test and measure your paid marketing campaigns before you can be profitable. Not everyone is willing to take the risk associated with starting their own online business though, and nothing is guaranteed.
If you aren’t in a well paid career, there are other ways to build an income online. You can use cheaper marketing strategies and invest at lower levels according to your budget. But cheaper products pay less in commission. So this generally will take longer than the paid marketing route.
If you’re interested in starting affiliate marketing but are unsure where to begin, you can access a free video series which explains the different ways of generating income online. Click on the image below to access.
