Foreign exchange market is a widely spread community of people from every area of expertise. Of course, most of the market participants are traders and brokers who are directly interested in the currency trading process. However, just like in any other industry, there are still a bunch of opportunities for a position behind the curtain. It is a segment of professionals who make the Forex trading possible and popular and sometimes do not trade on their own. In this article we are going to explore the complex world of making money through Forex without getting involved in the trading process. We will cover:
What are Forex affiliates and why do they exist
Most common ways of how to make money as a Forex affiliate
How much do Forex affiliates make
How to promote a Forex affiliate channel
What does a Forex broker do and how to become a broker
What is a Forex affiliate
An affiliate program is a way for a company to attract new clients through partnership with independent representatives. Sourcing new visitors through as many channels as possible is a wise marketing strategy. This way a company makes sure that potential clients all across the Internet will have an opportunity to learn about it. As for the affiliate partner it is a chance to apply their professional skills in the field of currency trading without necessarily having to trade. This suits very well for those who are not experienced enough to trade in the conditions of a live market or do not have enough time because of other professional commitments. Practically anyone can benefit from becoming a Forex broker affiliate since as we have already mentioned there are so many processes that need to back up the giant machine of the exchange market. To give you an example, some of the non-traders who still make their income through Forex are:
PR and Marketing professionals who offer their expertise to promote the services of broker companies. This can include a variety of positions from social media managers to writers and concept developers.
Technically skilled professionals who are backing up the actual structure of all market related products. Since the most of nowadays currency trading is happening online, the professionals from software development, web-design, network engineering, digital design, video editing and others. There is really no limit to a list of technical jobs that can be potentially helpful in the multilayered concept of modern Forex trading.
Sales enthusiasts that can be both professional sales people or representatives of other fields with good communication skills. For example, customer service representatives or media experts. Word of mouth is a powerful engine behind many promotional strategies and having an ability to convince people can prove itself extremely helpful in a number of industries.
As you can see from above there is an opportunity for practically anyone who is willing to offer their service to the always growing and highly profitable industry of currency trading. Well-established brokers know that they can benefit from hiring additional help from various areas and therefore most of them design specific affiliate programs that serve a double purpose: invite new clients who can benefit from currency trading and offer jobs for people with skills that can be applied in the field. Let’s now move on to some of the exact ways of how to make money as a Forex affiliate.
How to make money as a Forex affiliate
If you are looking for a way to make money through Forex but for whatever reason you do not want to participate in the trading process, there are some options for you. In order to choose the correct affiliate program start by evaluating your professional skills and determining how much time you have available. The beauty of working as a Forex affiliate is that it is completely flexible and you are the master of your own time, meaning that you can choose to work as little as 15 minutes a day or as long as a full work day. Plus, you definitely do not need to be a market expert in order to be a Forex affiliate. Here are some of the most common ways of earning income through currency trading without actually trading:
Introducing Broker (IB). The most common way of being an affiliate is through becoming an introducing broker. This can be described as an independent branch of an existing large broke company. An IB can take full responsibility for the introduction to trading in general or simply refer the clients to the master broker. Usually an introducing broker will have a separate web-site or a social media channel dedicated to advertising the broker’s services and gathering the contact information from potential new traders. Depending on the number of tasks and the size of commission there are options to become a master IB and get additional income on top of the fixed commission or a regional IB to focus on the local trading community within their home region. Introducing brokers usually get a full support from the “mothership” through 24 hour contact and various marketing collateral materials such as logos, banners, watermarked images and so on. IB is the most basic form of Forex partnership and can suit anyone including existing brokerage and investment companies, professional individual investment managers and traders, owners of high traffic media channels or pretty much anyone who has the time and resources to promote Forex for the sake of creating an additional or even a primary source of income.
White Label (WL). This is the next level from the IB form of partnership and includes way more tasks and responsibilities. A white label program is an opportunity to create your own brokerage company with its own name, but process the transactions with the assistance of the original broker. This is a great opportunity for companies or individuals who are looking to become a Forex broker but do not have sufficient funds to proceed. By getting a white label agreement with an existing successful broker, the smaller company gets to access the market through the trading platform of their larger partner. WL affiliate still remains responsible for all the contact and financial transactions with their clients just as if they were an independent broker. As you might have gathered, this is a solution for professional market traders as it will require a high level of knowledge and expertise. A successful white label company will have to take care of their own marketing strategies, customer care and sales. This means that in order to proceed with starting a WL one has to first have a starting capital to cover the initial costs of starting a business like marketing expenses, salaries of contractors and full-time employees, office rent etc.
An Employee. A more on-site kind of partnership with existing broker is to find a job within the company. The form of employment can differ based on the broker’s set up from a full time job to part time, remote and project basis positions. It is important to keep in mind that no matter the position, any Forex broker employee still has to have a solid understanding of market procedures and depending on the job itself sometimes even the full on expert level in trading and investment management. This does not include support staff such as drivers, cleaners and chefs since their job description is not directly related to the idea of currency trading.
How much do Forex affiliates make
There is no single answer to how much do Forex affiliates make. Your income will differ based on the partnership path you have chosen and the amount of time and effort you put into the process. The best thing here, however, is that there are no limits when it comes to making money through Forex trading even if the trading itself is not directly involved. Both introducing broker and a white label partner are responsible for their own success and the harder they work the better results they will get. The base of any task well done is a strong level of skill and a desire to perform at your best possible ability. Of course, being in charge of your own time can get tricky for some, but it also serves as a great motivation when you see the transparent relation between how much work you put in and how it reflects on your income flow. In simple words - hard work always pays off.
We have already established that there is a place for everyone in the Forex industry and you can definitely make currency exchange a part of your career with the right mindset and an ability to work hard. Let’s dig a little deeper into the idea of profitable partnership with existing currency companies such as an introducing broker and figure out effective ways of how to promote Forex affiliate.
How to promote Forex affiliate projects
The world of marketing is now bigger than ever and with the amount of daily ads and campaign coming at us every day it is becoming harder for both sides: the marketing professionals need to come up with more effective ways to get noticed and the users have to learn to notice the information that is potentially useful to them. Of course, becoming an introducing broker will be easier for individuals skilled in PR or currency trading or even both. Luckily any skill no matter how complex can be tackled as long as you have a well thought out action plan. Here are some helpful guidelines on how to promote a Forex affiliate channel:
Get to know the matter. Knowledge is always key to starting any new project. If you are not familiar with the nature of Forex trading start by learning as much as possible. There are plenty of informational sources available so feel free to get your hands on a Forex learning course, or a blog that will allow you to explore all you might need during the IB experience.
Choose an audience. Forex is for everyone but this does not mean that you will be able to reach every single person who can potentially benefit from currency trading. Focus your attention on a specific group of people to better understand what approach to take in order to show them that they can become successful traders. Follow the basic steps of determining a target audience by establishing their age, location, profession, leisure time preferences, learning styles, availability and so on.
Select the right channel. There are many ways to deliver information nowadays. The trick to getting to your audience is through choosing the right way of delivering this information. Sometimes you can work with as much as a simple website which can serve as a blog and a place to collect contact info and in other cases you will need to back it up with a bunch of social media platforms in order to get to the right people. To keep your audience involved make sure to remain consistent and creative.
Consider hiring help. Do not hesitate to get assistance if you need it. You might be a genius sales person but lack the skills to build an effective website with all the parts working as they should. Same goes for getting someone to developing and executing a fool-proof marketing strategy such as writers, designers, social media experts.
Practice trading. In case you do not have any trading experience it might be a good idea to practice trading before you start advertising it. This way you will be able to answer any questions and work out the most effective promotional campaign. If you don’t want to open a live trading account, you can always try it out in the demo mode which will include all of the features of the trading platform and will not cost you anything.
As previously mentioned the successful one fits all formula does not exist when it comes to promoting Forex trading, however this also means that there is a very broad selection of options to create a profitable and productive affiliate channel. Before we wrap up, let's make sure we included every possible scenario in this segment and briefly discuss an opportunity of becoming an independent Forex broker.
