Hello and welcome to this brief guide which will show you how to do affiliate marketing with YouTube. Believe it or not, even in this day and age, affiliate marketing is still not widely known about and there are many YouTubers out there, both beginners and pros who are missing out on the advantages of affiliate marketing though the YouTube platform.
Method 1. Utalising the Video Description Box
One of the easiest and fastest ways of making money with affiliate marketing is by uploading YouTube videos in the form of reviews and recommendations. You will then be leaving affiliate links in the description box below.
For example, say you bought a great camera. Well, you can now get into the photography niche or even just create an isolated video on all the features of that camera. As you come towards the end of the video, you may let your audience know that they can purchase the same product by first clicking on a link that you have left from them in the video description box. This link will be your affiliate link. Most large marketplaces have an option for affiliates to promote their products and earn commissions. Amazon for example. (To get your affiliate links from Amazon you would need to join Amazon Associates.)
It will help towards trust if you can demonstrate within your video that you have knowledge and firsthand experience of any product you are reviewing.
There are hundreds of millions of people today using YouTube as a place to review things before they buy, or to find ideas for products in a particular niche. For example, I could be thinking of buying a specific camping tent but before buying it, I might first look for a review of it on YouTube. After seeing the video and getting all the information, I might click on the link referred to by the YouTuber in the description and buy the tent. Or, I might be thinking of tents in general and search YouTube to find a video on something like Top Ten Camping Tents, or 10 Best Affordable Camping Tents, or Summer Camping Tents, or Winter Camping Tents. These are all titles/keywords an affiliate could use to target customers like me and sell me a tent. But imagine reviewing camping gear and camping tents but not taking advantage of being an affiliate for those good quality products that other people want?
In the example below, we can see a YouTuber who is an Amazon Associate selling cameras for beginners.
The next image below shows the description box of the above video containing affiliate links.
Method 2. Referring People to an Affiliate Site you Own
While you may refer people directly to a product that you are promoting as an affiliate through a link in the description, what may prove even more effective is to direct them to something else you own, such as a website or specific article of yours that goes more in-depth on the topic and perhaps does a better job of selling.
Or, if you don’t have a website, perhaps you may have a Facebook Group where you have links to your top recommendations, some of which may be pinned at the top. In this way you might gather new members into your group and potential future buyers.
This is a more indirect way of doing affiliate marketing with YouTube. Here you are driving traffic from YouTube to other platforms you may have and where you may be selling related things.
Method 3. Running Ads
There is always the option of creating videos designed as YouTube Ads and running Ad Campaigns on the YouTube platform.
To do this you need a Google Ads account. The good news is that YouTube ads are generally a good bit cheaper to run than the traditional Google PPC Ads.
Once you are on the YouTube Advertising site and logged into your account, you will be taken through the steps of creating the ad once you provide the link to your video.
This video may be all about the promotion of an offer for which you are an affiliate. For example, you could do an ad about a new camera that’s recently come out and target people with interests similar to tech and photography. You would need to make a review video, but if it’s an ad, you may be wise to keep the video relatively short and get to the point as soon as possible so as to retain the attention of your potential customers.
I personally prefer to place my ads next to similar or recommended videos. The other option is to have it played just before a video which is what we see all the time and which is generally an annoying and intrusive feature in most people’s estimation.
Advertising can be a faster way to get eyes on your offer and may lead to more sales.
For more information and tips on affiliate marketing and making money with YouTube, see our Beginners Guide just here and scroll down to the section on YouTube.
100% Risk-Free. No Credit Card Required. Start Free.