One interesting fact about life is that when it comes to money, you’ll never have enough. Even if you’re making billions of dollars, you’ll never stop exploring new ways to increase your income.
In my own case, despite having a blog (NGFR) that earns around $1,000 every month through Adsense, I kept looking for other ways to make more money from the same blog.
And that prompted me to try out the two most popular affiliate programs we have in Nigeria right now — the Konga affiliate program and the Jumia affiliate program.
I started by registering for both programs. That was sometimes in June or July 2015. And since I already have a blog to use for promoting their offers, I didn’t have to set up a new one for the same purpose.
After I was welcomed into both programs, I logged into each account to generate the codes for banners that advertised certain product categories. I then placed the two banners in my blog’s sidebar (one banner each for Jumia and Konga).
Two weeks later, I checked to see how much I’ve made, but was surprised to see that there were just a few clicks on each banner–and no single sale! I knew I was getting it wrong somewhere, because I already knew some Nigerian bloggers who are raking in big money from these programs.
So, I pulled down the banner ads and decided to try text links instead. I went back to my Konga affiliate account to generate affiliate links that I could use within text on my blog. I ditched Jumia for the mean time because their affiliate dashboard wasn’t user-friendly.
From experience, I knew that my chances of generating affiliate sales would be brighter if my affiliate links are embedded within closely related content. So, I digged up all articles that had to do with technology products and stores in Nigeria. And I placed my Konga affiliate links within the ones that were attracting visits from search engines.
About one week later or thereabout, I logged into my Konga affiliate account, and I was glad that my efforts had started paying off. My earnings at that time (around August 2015) was N2,000 or thereabout. So, I’ve earned about N1,500 in affiliate commissions (Konga gives each affiliate a N500 signup bonus).
Although that figure was meager, I knew I could earn much more over time. So, I started adding Konga affiliate links to all tech-related posts I subsequently published on the blog. And so far, the results have been good.
On October 8, 2015, I got an SMS notification from Access bank that N16,841 had been credited to my account. Konga had paid! I’d waited for over one month for them approve my pending commissions and pay me for my efforts. So, that payment sent me strong signals that Konga’s affiliate program isn’t a scam, after all.
Affiliate earnings paid by Konga
Earlier on (September 2015), my partner, I-jay, suggested that we include Jumia links as well, since some Nigerian online buyers prefer Jumia to Konga. I told him to handle the aspect of embedding the Jumia links because I’ve been put off by their hard-to-understand user interface. So, since then, we’ve been including affiliate links for both Jumia and Konga in our posts.
On November 3, 2015, I received another SMS notification from Access bank that N5,813 was credited to my account. This time, the money came from Jumia. Interesting! So, Jumia’s affiliate program is 100% credible, just like that of Konga.
Affiliate earnings paid by Jumia
So since then, I’ve been promoting Jumia and Konga products on the blog, and I’ve been earning decent commissions. Though I’ve not started making millions from that avenue, the monthly figures are adding up to something decent 😉
My Konga earnings report as of Nov. 29, 2015
My Jumia earnings report as of Nov. 29, 2015.
Why this long story?
On this blog, I tell stories to teach lessons and prove certain points. And in this case, I want you to know that Jumia and Konga’s affiliate programs are for real — and you too can make money from them.
Both programs work in line with the typical affiliate marketing model. You register with them, generate your affiliate banners and links, sell their products, and earn a commission on each sale. I have discussed the commission structure for both programs in this post.
Bear in mind, however, that both programs differ slightly in their payment terms. While Konga pays approved commissions on the second Friday of the month, Jumia pays at the end of the month (or sometimes the first or second day of the next month). Konga’s minimum payment threshold is N10,000, but I’m not sure of that of Jumia (they first paid me N5,813, though).
Tips for making money from Konga and Jumia’s affiliate programs
Based on my experience with both affiliate programs, I’ve gathered some helpful tips for making money promoting their products here in Nigeria (of course, they operate only within Nigeria).
- Keyword research and SEO are very important. Keyword research helps you to understand the keyword patterns people are using to search Google for products that you want to promote. And good knowledge of SEO helps you to optimize your posts for those keywords, so you can rank for them later on.
- Product review posts help to convert more. Since such posts help to provide detailed information about a product, the reader will most likely click your affiliate link to buy the product.
- Text links are far better than banners. Most of us are already blind to ads. But a compelling call-to-action link that reads like, “Click here to purchase your HP 530 laptop on Jumia for just N75,000” will attract more clicks.
- Proactively promote your posts. Rather than wait for your blog posts to rank in search engine results (which, sadly, might never happen), you can actively promote your posts and affiliate links through other means, such as sharing them on social media and on chat apps, including them in your signatures at online forums, and so on.
- Build a mailing list. The best way to make money over the long term as an affiliate marketer is to have a mailing list of loyal subscribers. This will enable you to promote products and offers to your subscribers at intervals. For example, notifying them about discount offers on Jumia or Konga would prompt some of them to buy through your affiliate link. That’s more money for you.
So, whether you’re already running a blog or you’re still waiting endlessly for the perfect time to launch yours, know for sure that affiliate marketing is real, and it can fetch you some decent bucks by the side — provided you play your cards right.
Even if you can’t go for the likes of Amazon and Markethealth affiliate programs, Konga and Jumia are there for you.
Your turn
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