So, you’ve recently heard you can earn money online through affiliate marketing and article writing. But you can’t make up your mind about which one is better for you? Not to worry. We’ll walk you through what each job entails and what you can get out of it.

In this post, we’re going to do a comparative analysis between affiliate marketing and article writing. We’ll walk you through what each one entails, what the requirements are for each job, and how you earn money from them. As a bonus, we’ll also tell you about where you can learn the right skills to get you started. So, let’s get into it.

What is article writing?

To put it simply article writing entails creating the content you normally read from your favorite blog or website. The content can be in many forms including, blog posts, press releases, product reviews, landing pages, case studies, and about us pages among others. But make no mistake, article writing is nothing like a casual entry in your journal or coming up with a short story. It’s more professional, requiring you to properly research your content, come up with a good structure and writing technique.

How do you earn money from it?

In terms of clients, think about your favorite news website. The number of articles written on that site can’t be done by one person. Usually, such sites hire a team of writers to come up with content for their site and that’s where you come in. You can be hired as a ghostwriter who doesn’t get any credit for the content. You could also be hired as a niche writer if you’re especially knowledgeable in a particular topic. Alternatively, such site owners may only hire you to simply edit their existing content and make it more engaging.

Today there are many online platforms where you can find clients. There are job boards like ProBlogger where you can find article writing job opportunities. There are also freelancing websites like Upwork that mainly work on a bidding system where clients post jobs. You then send proposals along with other writers to bid for the job and the most suitable writer is picked. There are alternative freelancing websites like Fiverr that mainly work on a gig system. This is whereby, you as the writer get to create a package known as a gig showcasing the services you offer and the rates and market it. Instead of you approaching the clients, they’ll approach you. Many other sites operate on either system or both, such as Legiit and People Per Hour.

When it comes to how much you get paid, the rates will depend on the platform, client, and type of job. The more complex the job is the more you get paid for it. Also, the more the word count, the more your paid if the rate is based on the number of words. As for accessing the money you earn on such platforms, there are three common options. The most popular withdrawal option is PayPal. This is especially useful since you can link your PayPal account with Mpesa and transfer your funds there. Another popular alternative is Payoneer, especially when you need to make global transactions. Upwork also offers Mpesa as a direct withdrawal option that allows you to transfer money directly. So, you don’t have to worry about accessing your money.

What are the requirements to get started in article writing?

Many people make the mistake of assuming that article writing simply requires good writing skills. Even a great novelist won’t be able to write a good press release or product review. You first need to understand the different formats or different article writing content. Aside from good writing skills you need to know how to adapt tone and writing style to different audiences. In addition, you need skills in research, editing and proofreading as well.

What is affiliate marketing?

Starting with Affiliate marketing involves starting a blog on something you are passionate about. The differing bit is that you promote products by adding links to them in your content. So, if someone buys the product through the link you’ve provided you get to earn a commission. Simple right? A great example is a site like this called Yardthyme.com. In a post by Yard Thyme, the owner reviewed the best lawn mowers for small yards. Within the content each of the products reviewed has an Amazon link attached to it, to promote the products on Amazon.

How do you earn money from it?

Unlike article writing, affiliate marketing doesn’t have a clientele per se. Here you get paid per sale. To understand how affiliate marketing works let’s go back to the best lawn mowers post by Yard Thyme. Now let’s say you click on any of the links and buy the product through that link, then, Yard Thyme will earn the standard 3% commission Amazon pays based on the price of the product bought. And how does Amazon know who to pay? Normally, the links to the products have special tracking IDs that allow affiliate programs such as Amazon Associate, identify which affiliate marketer sold the product. That’s simply how you make money from Affiliate marketing. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a huge payout, you can always decide to sell your site on platforms like Flippa.com, once it starts bringing in a decent passive income monthly.

To access your payments you, a popular platform like PayPal. It’s a safe and easy method of transferring your money, even the small amounts. In addition, it has the option of linking Mpesa to your PayPal so you can easily access your money on your phone in Kenyan shillings. If you are looking to make global transactions another popular option is Payoneer. As a Kenyan affiliate marketer, Payoneer offers you a US bank account that allows you to receive money from affiliate programs like Amazon Associates.

What are the requirements to get started in affiliate marketing?

To be able to earn a decent amount of money through affiliate marketing takes more than just running a site. You need to understand what you’re doing. For that, you need a certain set of skills starting with how to build a site. You also need an understanding of what niche sites are, how to pick profitable ones, and which niches to avoid. You also need knowledge of keyword research, as well as keyword competition, to come up with the right topics for your site. Other than that, you need to know how to develop quality content for your site or where to outsource the work. You also need an understanding of SEO to know how to get organic traffic to your site from Google. Without any traffic then you won’t be able to earn through your site.

As you’ve seen, you need to gain some required skills and put in the time and effort to build a successful career. The best way to learn the proper skills is through a good course. Luckily for you, we have to best courses when it comes to affiliate marketing and article writing.

 About Wingu Digital Training Courses.

Trust us you won’t find better quality that’s more value for your money, anywhere. Each of the two courses is tailored to suit the Kenyan market and Africa as a whole. Namely, they are:

1. Professional online article writing training

In the course, we go into painstaking detail about what article writing entails, the skills to write different types of article writing, and how to generate money from it. We also train you on how to become a better writer, the common mistakes to avoid. We also offer mentorship and help you build a better mindset. What’s more, you will have a detailed assessment after every module to test whether you have mastered the skill, as well as, helpful feedback on where to improve.

What do you gain from it?

• Detailed training on how to write 10+ types of articles like blog posts, product reviews, and

landing pages among others.

• A step-by-step blueprint on how to land clients and jobs on multiple platforms like Upwork or

job boards like ProBlogger.

• Tips on how to write relevant quality content that clients love.

 

2. Professional Affiliate marketing and SEO training

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make a passive income online. We teach you how to build a site that will be earning you money each month Passively as you can monetize it with Ads and linking to affiliate offers. We break down affiliate marketing into its elements and go in-depth into what each entails. We will also teach you how to build a WordPress website from scratch without any coding involved. We will also teach you keyword research and how to use it to grow your site. Additionally, through SEO training, you’ll learn how to get organic traffic to your website from Google. We’ll walk you through how to get paid through affiliate marketing, as well as, familiarize you with the different affiliate programs. But the cherry on top is that you get a free student WordPress website to practice on, on top of the practical assessments you receive at the end of the course to help you master all the concepts.

What do you walk away with?

• Proper skills and adequate knowledge to start and build a career as an affiliate marketer.
• You’ll be able to create a blog from scratch without any coding knowledge.
• Access to our Wingu WordPress student website where you can practice how to publish and format content in WordPress before venturing out on your own.
• A detailed plan of action, to grow your blog so that it can generate a full-time income for you.

Overall, why are our courses the best online training courses for online jobs?

• They contain in-depth and comprehensive content that is simple to understand. We use as many relatable examples to help you understand by applying them to your life. All the while, covering all the necessary bases.
• You get both comprehensive text and video lessons that make it easier to consume the content from anywhere be it your laptop or mobile phone, in the house, or on the road.
• Each course has a practical assessment with detailed feedback from our team to ensure you master the skills taught in each course.
• At the end of each course, you’ll get a detailed plan of action that’s a step-by-step blueprint of how to get started and progress after training.
• We teach you how to build professional portfolios using the assessments you complete.
• We also teach you how to use the portfolio to land jobs.
• We are also constantly updating our courses to keep up with the evolving market, so our students always remain ahead of the curve.
• After the training, you will continue to receive expert mentorship and support through our Wingu Master Minds community on Facebook as well as by reaching out to us by email or call our team will be available for you, 24/7.

 

So, which one is better?

Both article writing and affiliate marketing are great ways of earning money online. Article writing on one hand is a great option if you’re looking to actively earn money now. On the other hand, affiliate marketing is a great option if you’re looking for something that will earn you passive income in the long run. In any case, it is possible to do both jobs at the same time. Having both skills in content writing, plus affiliate marketing and SEO can be a huge advantage to you as you can also work as a highly-skilled Virtual Assistant.

Combining both can help you earn from both client work and passive income from your own affiliate sites.