How to YouTube Affiliate Marketing (Step – By – Step)2023

YouTube is one of the best social media platforms to start as an affiliate marketer. With traffic of 2.6 billion people each month on YouTube globally, a huge market is waiting to be reached with your affiliate marketing skills. YouTube has recently exceeded 3 billion dollars in global consumer spending so you can tap into a vast potential audience. So, let’s get started with this step-by-step guide on using YouTube affiliate marketing to amplify your earnings.

What is YouTube Affiliate Marketing?

YouTube affiliate marketing is an intelligent approach to give your viewers more value while also generating income. Affiliate marketing gives you direct control over what you promote and allows you to see more of the resulting income. At the same time, YouTube offers a variety of built-in ways to monetize your content.

YouTube affiliate marketing is simply the process of promoting products or services on YouTube by creating videos around them and earning a commission whenever someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link.

As an affiliate, you can promote anything from books, shoes, shirts, jeans, electronics, medicines, beauty products, baby products, and groceries to financial products.

Pros and Cons of YouTube Affiliate Marketing

Pros	Cons
Vast Audience – According to Statista, YouTube’s user base in India in 2021 sums to 459.23 million users approximately and is estimated to reach 833.03 million users by 2025. This opens up a huge opportunity for affiliate marketers as people are watching millions of videos in every possible niche.	Content creation – Your content should stand out from your competition. If you want to succeed in your niche, then there’s no room for half-hearted content. Your content should be creative, informative, and unique.
Low Competition – Apart from the mainstream niches like gaming, tech, beauty, fashion, etc., the competition for other niches is relatively low. This means that you can easily promote products from other niches and build a huge following.	YouTube SEO – SEO on YouTube will help in optimizing your channel and videos to improve the placement in search results. Therefore, you must have a good understanding of SEO to do well.
Independence of choosing offers – You can add affiliate links of any offer you want that you think will resonate with your audience, apart from a few no-go niches like gambling and adult offers.	You don’t own the platform – On YouTube, you can get banned for violating their terms of use which can result in your channel being deleted. However, with independent websites, you will not experience any such problem.
Loyal following – People who like your content can subscribe to your channel. By doing this, people will automatically see all the new videos you post in their subscribed feed, even if you don’t do any promotion.	Channel Building – Building your YouTube channel will require time and effort as you need to create compelling and interesting videos to keep your viewers engaged.
Passive Income – The hard work is done after you publish a video that includes an affiliate link. For an extended time, this video can continue to make money. One of the main reasons to begin using YouTube affiliate marketing is to generate a passive income.
Minimal Investment – You can start your affiliate marketing journey on YouTube with little to no investment. All you need is an idea and a smartphone to begin.

How to do Affiliate Marketing on YouTube?

• The first step is to pick a niche you want to create videos about, like gaming, product reviews, tech, fashion, food etc.
• Then create a YouTube account with monetization enabled and give your email address and phone number. This will allow YouTube to connect you with Google AdSense and other marketing companies.
• With the help of Google Adsense, you can host advertisements for other companies in your channel. More brands and companies will allow you to host advertisements when your popularity rises.

Where Can You Put Affiliate Links on YouTube?

1. Video Descriptions

In the description section of your YouTube videos, you can put affiliate links. To get visitors to click on these links, be careful to disclose that they are affiliate links and offer a clear call to action.

2. Video Overlays

Overlay ads can be added to videos on YouTube by creators. These overlays can be used to advertise affiliate goods and services.

3. End Screens

At the end of your videos, end screens are a fantastic method to advertise your affiliate products. To encourage viewers to click on the affiliate links, you might include a call to action.

4. Pinning Comments

Also, you can “pin” comments with your affiliate links to the top of the video’s comment section. Once more, be careful to mention that these are affiliate links.

Don’t Miss out: Check our latest blog, where we have mentioned how you can start affiliate marketing on Shopify to earn higher returns.

How can you Make Money with Affiliate Marketing on YouTube ?

1. Create Relevant and Engaging Content

The quality of your videos will encourage viewers to visit your channel, trust your advice and eventually purchase a product. According to Shopify, 68% of users have watched a YouTube video before purchasing. For this reason, you must create relevant and engaging content.  

The first step is to find a niche you would like to work on. A place is simply a fragment of a larger market. To find the right niche for you, consider your interests and expertise. Do keyword research and find out the niche’s monetization potential. Ideally, you can select a niche you are interested in and easily monetize. Then you can create video content around that topic. As a YouTuber, these are the most popular types of content you can create to generate affiliate revenue.

1. Trending videos- YouTube is the world’s second most used search engine. Due to this reason, it has its segment of trending videos. Find what’s popular and create an affiliate product video around that topic.

2. Unboxing videos- Have you ever watched an unboxing video before purchasing a product? You can go to the description and find out that there is a link that will redirect you to an e-commerce platform. This is an affiliate link. As a YouTube affiliate, you can create unboxing videos on mobiles, laptops, headphones, etc.

3. Round-up videos- You can influence a buyer’s purchasing decision by creating videos encouraging impulse buying. This includes creating videos like ‘top 10 financial products’ or ‘monthly favourites’.

4. Product review videos- Almost every customer reads a review before making a purchase. You can create reviews of any product, be it fashion, make-up, toys, sneakers, electronics, or lifestyle products.

5. Tutorials- Those who are watching a tutorial video are already interested in purchasing a product. Creating a how-to-use product tutorial video can easily convert them into customers. For example, how to decorate a cake, charge an electric car, be a more confident public speaker, and save stuff in the drop box.

2. Add Affiliate Links to the Description

‘You can check out the link in the description is perhaps the most used line by YouTubers. This is because an affiliate link will redirect you to an eCommerce platform like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, etc. When you make a purchase, the YouTuber, who is also an Affiliate Marketer, earns money. As a YouTuber, you too can make money through Affiliate Marketing on YouTube by adding the affiliate link in the YouTube description.

First, sign up with an affiliate marketing network like EarnKaro for free. Explore products and deals from popular brands like Apple, Adidas, One Plus, Mama Earth, Ajio, etc. Next, select a deal relevant to the YouTube content you have created. For example, if you have created a make-up product review. You can select a Nykaa deal. Finally, copy its affiliate link and paste it into the YouTube description. You will earn a commission whenever someone watches your YouTube content and purchases the product through your affiliate link.

You can add multiple affiliate links in the YouTube description. This means you can add affiliate links to multiple products. The customer can decide which product they want based on your YouTube video. Like other YouTubers, you can remind the users in the video itself to check out these links. YouTube has a feature called ‘end cards’ that only YouTube Partners can use to incorporate links directly into the last 20 seconds of each video.

3. Be Honest and Disclose your Affiliate Links

Honesty is the best policy you can use to gain the trust of your audience. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling; you need to tell your viewers that you will get a small percentage of the products they buy. You can do this by asking them to support your channel by purchasing the product or by stating upfront that you are an affiliate with the company. This way, you will not be duping your audience.

You would only naturally talk more about the affiliate product in your video. If the customer is not aware that you are an affiliate, they cannot make an informed decision. Therefore, you must mention that you have provided affiliate links in your video. Being transparent will only help you to build long-term trust with your viewers.

4. Affiliate Marketing with YouTube Shorts

You can also do Affiliate Marketing with YouTube shorts to earn money online in India. For this, you would need to make a 60-second video about the product you are promoting. You can talk about the main benefits and features of the product in this time frame. Don’t forget to link the YouTube shorts to the main video internally. Viewers interested in knowing more about the product will watch the main video. If they like the product, they will make the purchase.

5. Post your Content on YouTube

After creating the video, you can add the affiliate link and post the content. However, make sure that you are using eye-catchy thumbnails. To generate more sales, you would need more clicks on the video. You can think of thumbnails as the cover page of a book. If it is not good, no one will bother reading it. It is always best to give out your thumbnails for someone else to design them. That is if you are not a good designer. Canva and Fotor are good sites that you can use to create your thumbnails yourself.

Another important thing you need to remember while posting your videos is optimizing your content for search engines. Figure out the keywords that match your target audience and add them. You can check out other YouTube channels that are promoting similar products and use tools like Keywords Everywhere to figure out the search volume for a topic. 

Finally, you can add chapter marketers and post your content. Chapter markers are needed to help people skip through unnecessary details and move into the session they want to watch. These chapter marketers will help customers directly know about the product you are talking about.

Do you know that you can do affiliate marketing on Facebook as well? Don’t worry. We will guide you with every step needed to start, do check our blog covering affiliate marketing on Facebook.

Most Viewed Types of Videos on YouTube

1. Fitness and Health

This area is consistently well-liked, and many affiliate programs sell supplements, exercise equipment, and healthy food items.

2. Beauty and Fashion

This niche has several potential affiliate programs, including skincare, apparel, and makeup brands.

3. Technology and Gadgets

Tech-related channels frequently have high levels of engagement and a wide selection of affiliate programs, including those for electronics, software, and online courses.

4. DIY and Home Improvement

This industry is ideal for affiliate marketing since consumers are constantly looking for goods and services to enhance their homes and way of life.

5. Travel

Travel channels may have an audience that is very engaged and can feature affiliate products like luggage, travel insurance, and tour operators.

6. Gaming

Gaming is another area with a devoted and enthusiastic following, and many affiliate programs sell goods like gaming hardware, software, and services.

Also, do not miss out on our guide, which explains how to earn with affiliate marketing on Instagram. Check the necessary steps mentioned and let us know if you find it helpful.

How Do You Get Traffic to Your YouTube Videos?

1. Optimize your Video Titles and Descriptions

Create descriptive and captivating titles that adequately describe your content, and be sure to include keywords that people could use in searches in your descriptions.

2. Use Tags

When you use tags, you can appear in search results for relevant terms and help YouTube understand the topic of your video.

3. Promote your Videos on Social Media

Share your videos on social media and interact with your followers. To cross-promote your content, you can work with other creators.

4. Encourage Engagement

Invite your audience to subscribe to your channel, like your content, and comment. To create a community around your channel, reply to comments and interact with your viewers.

5. Utilize SEO

Use search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to improve your channel and video descriptions. This may increase the visibility of your videos in search results and draw more visitors.

6. Create Compelling Thumbnails

While a user is exploring YouTube, the thumbnail is the first thing they will see, so make sure it appropriately represents your video.

7. Use YouTube Ads

YouTube ads can be an effective method to promote your affiliate links, but they can be costly. If you have a budget and want to reach a bigger audience, consider using ads.

Tips for YouTube Affiliate Marketing? 

Whether or not you should start doing affiliate marketing on YouTube depends on your goals and whether it aligns with your content and audience. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Niche

Affiliate marketing may be a good fit for you if you provide content in a niche where your target audience is interested in certain goods or services. For instance, if you make videos on cosmetics, you could use affiliate links to promote makeup or skincare items.

2. Audience

Affiliate marketing could be a terrific strategy to monetize your content if you have a following of interested readers who trust your recommendations. Affiliate marketing may not be productive for you if your audience is not driven to make purchases or if they do not recognize your recommendations.

3. Content

Affiliate marketing can be a good fit for you if you produce content that is dedicated to promoting goods or services. But you might need to be more deliberate in how you use affiliate links if your content is more educational or informational in nature.

4. Goals

Affiliate marketing might be a smart choice if you want to monetize your YouTube channel and generate passive income. However, you might want to concentrate on different techniques if your main goals are expanding your audience or developing your brand.

Overall, affiliate marketing can be a lucrative way to monetize your YouTube channel, but it’s important to make sure that it aligns with your goals and your audience’s interests. If done correctly, it can be a win-win situation for both you and your viewers.

In addition to this, we would also like you to check our latest guide, where we have mentioned some of the best ways to earn money with Snapchat. Do have a look and let us know if you find it helpful.

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