As I coach and consult with solo-preneurs and small business owners on a daily basis, I find that one of the most misunderstood and under-utilized marketing strategies is affiliate marketing. It is mind-boggling how many are overlooking and/or ignoring this opportunity to generate thousands in additional income and grow their business by leaps and bounds.

Affiliate marketing, also known as performance marketing, is a method by which you monetarily reward and incentivize others for spreading the word about your programs and services. In essence, you (the merchant) pay the person sending you referrals (the affiliate). In some models, you pay an affiliate for clicks and/or leads. Through my 5-step lucrative launch blueprint for coaches, I teach my clients to create a model in which you pay the affiliate only if an actual sale is made.

With affiliate marketing, you pay only if a sale is generated by the affiliate.

Imagine what having 10, 20, 50 or even 100+ affiliates can do for your business. Your own self-motivated sales force sending you new coaching clients on a regular basis. And, you don’t have to pay them out of your pocket until after they’ve put something in there first.

You might be asking yourself how do you keep track of referrals coming from so many different affiliates?

There are several affiliate program service providers and shopping cart services (i.e. e-junkie.com, 1ShoppingCart, Premium Web Cart, etc.) that provide the tools needed to do this very easily. Each affiliate that signs up for your program is assigned a unique link. They may then share this link in emails to their list and on social media. Wherever they like. As prospects click the affiliate’s link that leads them to your website, the affiliate management software tracks this. If the prospect then makes a purchase within a certain number of days, the software calculates the commission the affiliate made so that you can pay them.

Merchants typically pay their affiliates between 25% to 35% commission on each sale. Could be more or less. I recommend including other bonuses and prizes in your program to distinguish yourself and make your program really attractive. Not sure what will motivate your potential affiliates to spread the word? Just ask them.

Use surveys and informational interviews to determine what will motivate your affiliates to share your programs and services.

While it does take some effort and time to establish an effective affiliate marketing program, the return on investment in the long run significantly outweighs the upfront investment. Make sure that you at least consider this strategy and how it can greatly increase your income.