Affiliate Marketing relies on the product and the platform you’re using. Choosing the wrong affiliate product or platform can lead you to lose money on advertising and essentially waste your time creating content. Other online business models, such as local lead generation, don’t need advertisement funds. It requires owning digital real estate, which generates free traffic for you.
There are 2.6 billion YouTube users in 2022, according to Oberlo. This makes YouTube the second-most popular social media platform in the world. To be a successful affiliate marketer, the amount of people you can reach is vital in ensuring your profitability. YouTube can be lucrative for an affiliate marketing business, it provides a large viewer base. However, there are over 51 million active channels, according to GlobalMediaInsight, which you would have to compete with. In this article, we will discuss Kenneth Fong’s Affiliate Marketing course and if it can help you create affiliate income.
What is RapidLevelUp?
RapidLevelUp is a website hosted by Kenneth Fong. Its goal is to help new affiliate marketers in learning how to get started with affiliate marketing. Right now, it has a 3-4 hour online course which contains 5 modules and 13 videos, The YouTube Affiliate Marketing System for Beginners Course. It covers all the groundwork for starting your own channel, finding companies you want to affiliate for, and how to leverage your YouTube channel.
Pros and Cons of the RapidLevelUp: YouTube Affiliate Marketing System For Beginners Course
Pros
Cons
Features
Includes 5 Modules and 13 Training Videos.
Cost
This course is free only till 31st Oct 2022. It will be priced at $199 after that.
Refund
No Refund Policy
5 Things YouTube Affiliate Marketing Gurus Don’t Want You to Know
1. YouTube Affiliate Marketing Takes Years of Work
As an affiliate marketer, your profit corresponds to how many people you purchase a product with your affiliate link. Creating a platform can be easy. However, creating a steady base of viewers takes years. You need to post hundreds of YouTube videos for content marketing and build a trustworthy platform for you to have a steady stream of viewers. Even then, it isn’t guaranteed that you would have enough people making qualified purchases to ensure a passive income.
2. Linking Restrictions
YouTube’s guidelines on affiliate links are vague. Affiliate links are allowed, but there are certain rules so that your link doesn’t get restricted. One rule of thumb that most affiliate marketers follow is putting a disclaimer that you earn an affiliate commission before the affiliate link and making sure that your content is relevant.
3. Advertising Costs Money
If you’re just starting out, you have zero followers. That means the chances of your affiliate links receiving views are close to none. If you’re somebody looking to create income with affiliate marketing, you need to pay for advertising. This is essential so that your content reaches your audience, but there’s no guarantee that you will earn an affiliate commission, since that relies on the effectiveness of your content.
4. Channel Suspensions
One thing to remember is that you’re working on a platform that you don’t own. Unlike having your own digital real estate, you’re at the mercy of the platform you’re using. There are several reasons YouTube can suddenly suspend or ban your channel. You receive three strikes until your account is terminated, where you can lose all the content you've posted.
5. Unreliable Payouts and Low Commissions
Since you’re working with another company, the chances of you getting paid rely on their terms. Some companies require that you generate a specific amount of sales to receive a payout. There are also instances in which you generate sales, but they don’t adhere to the guidelines of that company. This would make your affiliate sale unqualified.
When starting out with affiliate marketing, it's advisable to work with lower ticket items, as they require less work. However, this also means lower commissions. You would have to generate a bunch of affiliate sales to make a decent profit. If you're generating only a handful of sales with your YouTube video, you probably wouldn't make that much to make affiliate marketing a steady source of income.
Who Is Kenneth Fong?
Kenneth Fong is a digital marketing expert with 10 years of experience. He has a YouTube channel that has amassed 2.28k subscribers. He discusses various topics on digital marketing and how to create income online.
His podcast, The Calm Marketer, where he talks about SEO and social media tips for entrepreneurs, has over 239 episodes and can be accessed through his YouTube channel or Apple Podcasts.
Who Is RapidLevelUp: The YouTube Affiliate Marketing System For Beginners Course For?
If you’re somebody who does not know where to start but is interested in creating an affiliate marketing business, then this course is for you. YouTube Affiliate Marketing System for Beginner’s Course is exactly as its title says: it’s for beginners. Kenneth Fong tackles the basics of getting started and creating an affiliate network. He even gives recommendations for free platforms you can use and companies that offer affiliate programs, such as Amazon Affiliate, to begin the process.
How Much Does the RapidLevelUp: YouTube Affiliate Marketing System For Beginners Course Cost?
The course doesn't offer any refund policies. But until October 31st, 2022, it’s completely free to access for anyone. After that, it costs $199.
RapidLevelUp: YouTube Affiliate Marketing System For Beginners Course Summary
Training 1: What is Affiliate Marketing, How it Works, and Why it Works Well for YouTube
Kenneth discusses the 3 most important concepts to know about affiliate marketing; audience, platform, and links. He also delves deeper into why YouTube is the perfect platform for affiliate marketers.
Training 2: Affiliate Programs: How to Find the Best Products to Promote
A list of the best affiliate programs for beginners is offered. Kenneth also talks about the differences between high ticket items vs. low ticket items and which works best for YouTube.
Training 3: Choosing Your Niche
Kenneth gives you the top things to consider in choosing your niche and catering to your own personal likes and the audience you want to promote products to.
This is quite similar to Digital Worth Academy, except in that course, they already give you predetermined niches to choose from.
Training 4: How to Name and Create Your YouTube Channel
The whole process into creating your channel and 3 routes for naming your channel; naming it after yourself, your brand, or a hybrid of the two.
Training 5: How to Set Up, Optimize, and Customize Your YouTube Channel
Kenneth walks you through the entire process of setting up your YouTube to drive in more viewers. From choosing your picture to setting up your channel trailer.
Training 1: Topic Research
Kenneth teaches you how to use Keywords Everywhere, a google extension that allows you to receive more data on the search volume of a specific keyword. He goes over the importance of branded and non-branded keywords and how they can help your video receive more viewers.
Training 2: Competitive Research
After gathering the necessary data on the popular keywords, Kenneth shows you how to use that information to compete with other content creators of the same niche. From comparing thumbnails to incorporating keywords into your titles and descriptions.
Training 1: Creating Your Video Outline and Notes
The basic rules on creating a general outline for a YouTube video are discussed. How to create your introduction, body, and conclusion, and how to discern how long your video should be.
Training 2: How to Use Screen Recording Software to Record
Kenneth gives you a walkthrough on how to use loom, a free screen recording software.
Training 3: How to Edit Your Videos
Kenneth goes over clipping, adding transitions, cropping, improving audio, and which resolution you should use. He uses iMovie to edit videos but also provides alternatives you can use if it isn’t available for you.
Training 1: Creating Thumbnails
The use of Canva for creating thumbnails is taught. Kenneth discusses how you can make your thumbnails competitive by looking at your competitors' thumbnails and what kind of text and layout they follow.
Training 2: Upload, Optimize, and Publish Your video
Kenneth teaches how to create a catchy title and incorporating keywords for higher chances of generating views. He goes over what to include in the video description and the first three crucial lines.
Training 1: Google Ads Crash course
Kenneth goes over how to use Google Ads and how to create your campaign for advertising your video.
How Much Do Youtubers Make in Affiliate Links?
Most affiliate programs offer between 5% to 50% of the product price in commissions, according to authority hacker. How much you earn correlates to how much the affiliate product is and how many sales you generate. The more expensive your product is, the higher the chance of you creating a larger profit.
What Happens If Someone Buys Through Your Link and Wants a Refund?
If a customer purchases a product through your affiliate link and requests a refund, whether you get commission depends if they return the product. An affiliate sale is considered a qualified sale if the customer keeps the product for a certain period. If they return the product within that time, you won’t receive a commission for that sale.
Alternatively, check out Marcus Campbell's Affiliate Marketing Dude in where he teaches how to use SEO to rank websites and generate leads. They also offer done-for-you websites with affiliate offers.
Verdict: Is YouTube Affiliate Marketing Still Profitable in 2022?
YouTube sees over 122 million users every day, according to TheSocialShepherd. This makes YouTube a great platform for affiliate marketers to post unique content and plug in their affiliate links. People watch 1 billion hours of videos on YouTube every day, according to Oberlo. As an affiliate marketer, having a wide platform is vital to driving in more consumers with your affiliate links. Despite there being large competition with the number of other channels posting new content every day, it would still depend on your niche and product on how many people view your content.
There is no guarantee that consumers will use your link to purchase these products. You’re also unable to create a customer base, as after their first purchase, there’s a small probability that they’ll use your link again to purchase the product.
Affiliate marketing depends heavily on the affiliate program and platform you’re using. This is always subject to change as you’re working with third-party companies and the affiliate program controls your income. It could take years to build a reputable brand that drives a decent number of people purchasing products using your link. If you’re looking for steady and certified income, then you may be interested in business models like local lead generation. This allows you to create your own digital real estate, removing the need to use other platforms and spending money on generating traffic.
