The 4 Residual Income Types You Can Use for a Steady Monthly Income
There are basically four residual income types within the internet marketing arena and they are what we will touch on in this post. Most of those that have some experience online are familiar with these but for those newbies out there this will provide a simple explanation as to how residual commission types can add to your monthly income.
Automatic Residual Income Types
Automatic residual or recurring commissions are the most common form of residual income commissions type. Online business entrepreneurs generally offer their products and services with a monthly fee structure. This provides them with recurring commissions which they would need to cover some of their monthly costs plus a profit but it also acts as an incentive to customers to stick around for the long term. This type is what most internet marketers are familiar with and what they tend to look for when considering opportunities to invest their money in.
You as the customer are incentivized to advertise a “membership” program through the affiliate option and get people to join the program. You are paid monthly commissions for as long as the customers you brought are still in that membership program. This is how Amazon does it and this is how others do it. The products and services range from web hosting to advertising, from health supplements to crypto trading. Most companies doing business online offer some type of affiliate program as part of their platform even if the affiliate program itself is not the primary focus of the business.
Cookie Commissions
With cookie commissions the residual income commissions are linked to cookies in a customer’s browser. If you direct a customer to a sellers site, a cookie is attached to his/her computer, and anything he/she buys from the seller is linked to you, and you will earn a commission for that. However, if they delete the cookie or the customer shops using another computer, then you will not get commissions on any of their purchases. In other words the cookie commission is dependent on certain actions of the customer and could be of a temporary nature. In most cases however the residual income generated can be substantial because many customers tend to shop around on any particular site and they also would be placed on the sites email list to receive updates and promotions.
Lifetime Commissions
This is very similar to cookie commissions with the only difference being that instead of being linked to a cookie the customer was given, the customer email address is used to track their sales. Therefore, as long as the users retain the email address and use it to make sales, you will receive commissions on all the sales your customer will make for years. Most customers use the same email address for doing business online so this type provides for ongoing residual commissions for potentially a lengthy period.
Second-Tier Commission
The second-tier type of commission is something like multi-level marketing but it only goes one level deep. When you refer affiliates to a particular merchant you will of course make commissions on their purchases but you also will earn a commission for any sales your referral affiliate earns.
For a traditional affiliate sale, you earn a commission once, and that is it. For a monthly membership sale, you earn a commission until the customer unsubscribes from the program. This means you will, in general, earn a commission for several months, maybe a couple years or perhaps only a few months
However, if you promote products that have affiliate commissions linked to either a cookie or email, you will earn commissions for years on anything else that they buy from the merchant in addition to the first sale that you made.
Imagine promoting a product for a seller with an affiliate commission linked to email or cookie and the seller has a line of 30-40 different products. You promote just one of their products, and you get 20 customers buying that product. Now, you will earn a commission on any of the products from this vendor over the next couple of months or even years.
Since the product seller now has the emails of the customers you referred to them, he/she promotes their other products to these customers, resulting in further sales in the future. Normally, you would not have been making any money on these sales since you never engineered them, but since your affiliate commission is linked to emails of customers you sent there, you will be earning full commissions on each of these sales.
Therefore, in the coming months and years, you will be getting more commissions off of these same customers. This is because you promoted products with commissions linked to lifetime cookies or referrals.
Where Can You Find Such Products?
One obvious method is just by keeping your eyes open. Not many selling platforms allow for these type of referrals. By looking at those platforms that offer these types of commissions, you can find product sellers that will pay you commissions for every product they sell to the customers you brought to them and not just the one product you promoted initially.
Always ask the product creators if their commissions are linked to lifetime referrals. Sometimes, you will find them with two programs, one where they pay a one-time commission, and a secret program reserved for those affiliates that will drive significant traffic to their sites. It never hurts to ask.
Bottom Line
If you come across a merchant offering lifetime or recurring commissions, why not embrace it? You will invest the same efforts you would have invested in a one-time commission, but this way you will earn a lot more money from the same one-time effort. Who doesn’t like recurring income? We are all looking for that. It is one of the most lucrative of the residual income types in the affiliate marketing world.
To your success,
David Brahim
See Also: Affiliate Marketing – 21 Simple Steps, Is Your Goal To Generate Residual Income?
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about.
