Bankrate.com was acquired back in 2017 for $1.24 billion, although they don’t sell products, and the tools available on the site are available for free to use.
How does Bankrate make money?
This is the first question that should come to your mind in case that you have the ambition to start an online business with the same business model of Bankrate.com and make money without selling your own product or services.
You are in the right place my friend!
I will tell you here how Bankrate.com generates revenue and profit, and I will tell you if you can make money with the same Bankrate business model.
And in the last section of this short article, I will tell you about the same place that helped me with the training and tools they provide to generate the most of my income with a very similar way to how Bankrate works.
So, without further ado, let’s begin!
How Does Bankrate Make Money?
Bankrate makes money by recommending financial service providers such as: loan, mortgage, insurance, and credit card companies to people who need them, in exchange of a commission for every lead (prospect) or customer they bring to each company they recommend.
And this is what is called a CPA marketing, which is a form of affiliate marketing.
And this is a legit way of making money online that many online website owners, including myself, leverage in order to make money without providing services or selling products by themselves.
And this is how NerdWallet makes money as well.
To make this easier for you, let’s see one article from Bankrate.com as an example.
One article is titled: “Best Cash Back Credit Cards for 2020”.
In this article, Bankrate lists 8 credit cards that are issued by some of the top banks.
And when you check out the listed options, and click on the “Apply Now” button, you get directed to the site of that bank through a unique link (affiliate link) which contains an ID that tells the bank that you came through the Bankrate.com website.
And if you fill in the application to request the card, Bankrate will get a commission from that bank, which might range anywhere from $15-$50 or even a $100, based on the card and the bank.
And the same applies to their other articles where they list the best loan and mortgage companies, life or car insurance providers, refinancing services, and so on.
The list 5-10 companies for each service, and if you click on the link to go to that company and apply for their services, Bankrate.com will get a commission.
That’s how the Bankrate.com business model works, and how Bankrate makes money.
And now to the most important question:
Can You Make Money with The Bankrate Business Model?
Yes!
You can make money with the same business model of Bankrate.com, if you are willing to put in the time and effort to learn and apply the affiliate marketing model that Bankrate follows.
But there’s a nice thing about this business model, which is the fact that you can apply it to almost any industry and make money online as an affiliate marketer.
I personally have many affiliate businesses that make me money in the basketball industry, dieting industry, entertainment industry, and in the personal finance industry.
Here’s a screenshot from one of my websites where I recommend a basketball jumping training course and I get a commission if someone buys it after learning about it from my website.
This is how I personally make the most of my income.
And if you liked this model, and you want to learn it and make money with it, but you don’t know how to get started, then the following section will tell you what to do.
Start Your Mini-Bankrate Business in 3 Steps
1 – Choose Your Audience (Aka Niche)
Choosing a niche for affiliate marketing is an important step as you need to focus on a specific group of people or audience in order to succeed online with affiliate marketing.
The reason for this is that you need to focus your efforts and make the best use of your time by researching and learning about the niche you choose, and if you try to pursue different niches at the same time, you won’t be able to do so.
Look at Bankrate.com for example, they are SPECIALIZED in the personal finance niche, and that’s why they know a lot about it, and that’s why people TRUST Bankrate and take their recommendations and promotions.
And you don’t have to start as big as Bankrate.com, but you can start at the beginning with one category, like personal loans, car loans, college loans, home mortgages, credit cards, and so on.
Or you can choose your niche to be all of these services at the same time, but tailored toward a very specific audience like veterans, seniors, married couples, single parents, and so on.
And again, you don’t have to necessarily choose a niche that is related to financial services, but you can make your niche related to almost anything, such as:
- A sport. (Basketball, soccer, tennis, boxing, …etc.)
- A hobby (Dirt bikes, travel, hiking, camping, fishing, …etc.)
- A passion or cause (Dieting, green energy, veganism, yoga, …etc.)
- A profession or a skill (Cooking, maintenance, graphic design, …etc.)
- And so on.
And for any of these industries, you can find ten’s of thousands of products like physical products, online courses, or ebooks, and services to promote as an affiliate and make money with the same business model of Bankrate.com.
It’s up to you whether to make your affiliate business about finance or about any other industry or field, you can still make money like how Bankrate makes money with any of these industries.
2 – Create a Simple Affiliate Site or Blog (No Coding Required)
Relax!
Starting a website today is easier than you think, thanks to the tools available, which I will tell you where to find them in the last section of this article.
I personally have started many affiliate sites and I know nothing about the technical side.
Your job is not to be a website creator or manager, but rather, it is to connect your audience with the right products and service providers in order to make a commission.
You need the website in order to bring your audience in and show them the products and offers you promote, and finally make money.
And the website (on your own domain name) will make people trust you. You can’t replace a website with a Facebook page or a group that Facebook can close anytime they want.
The website is yours and no one can take it away from you.
That’s how Bankrate became trusted and started making money.
3 – Start Helping Your Audience Like Bankrate.com to Earn Commissions
After starting your affiliate site based on your niche, you now need to HELP your audience like Bankrate does.
Making money is all about helping others find the best products and services that they need.
That’s how Bankrate succeeded, and that’s how you can succeed as an affiliate marketer as well.
And to help your audience, you need to create articles similar to Bankrate.com, where you help find people find the best products and services they need in order to solve their problems or improve their lives.
For example, if you choose your niche to be personal financing for retirees, then your audience could ask on Google stuff like:
- Refinancing for retirees
- Electricity refund for self funded retirees
- Mortgage refinance for retirees
- Tax refund for retirees
- Cash out refinance for retirees
- Tax reform for retirees
And so on.
And for each of these searches, you need to create an article that lists the best service providers out there that give these services.
And to make money with these companies, you need to join their affiliate programs in order to get unique affiliate links that take people from your site to their websites in order to apply for their services.
You can find these companies in different ways for finding affiliate programs, and you can see how much every company will give you on every prospect or lead that you bring.
And when someone finds your article through Google, and if they read it and click on one of the affiliate links to go and apply for a company that you listed in your article, you get a commission from that company after your referral completes the application form.
And for other niches other than the finance niche, like cooking, sports, hobbies, …etc., you have more options to promote as an affiliate and make money with the same model of Bankrate.com.
For example, I promote online courses, software tools, and even physical products, and I get a commission everytime someone takes my recommendation and buys what I recommended to them.
So, with these three steps, you can make money with the same business model that Bankrate.com uses to make money online.
And if you liked these steps and you want to do them and start a business that earns you income like Bankrate brings income to its owners, but you don’t know where to start from, then the following section is for you.
Someone to Take You by The Hand to Start a Website Like Bankrate.com?
Sure!
What I’m going to recommend to you here, is the same place where I personally went in order to learn and starting making money with affiliate marketing like Bankrate does.
This place is an online platform that provided me with all of what I needed in order to start from scratch, and build multiple affiliate sites in different niches that now make me the most of my income.
This platform is called Wealthy Affiliate.
Some of what this platform provided me with is:
- The detailed training with a step-by-step plan.
- The best affiliate marketing and research tools.
- A great website builder and hosting with a premium support so that I don’t worry about the technical stuff.
- And the best, an amazing community of more than 2 million of like-minded entrepreneurs that are willing to help you whenever you need help.
And much more.
And all of that for a little monthly fee that covers everything you need to start and succeed with the affiliate marketing model of Bankrate.com, without having to start as big as Bankrate.
Even better, this platform offers a free Starter plan for you to try it and get to know the community before you invest any money. No credit card needed.
If you are willing to put in the time and work to learn and apply the Bankrate business model, and you want someone to provide you with a step-by-step plan to follow, then check out this Wealthy Affiliate review in order to know what they can provide to you, and you will know how to start with the free plan at the beginning.
Conclusion
I hope that you know fully understand how Bankrate makes money online and how their business model works.
If you are interested in making money with the same method, then the recommended platform in the previous section above is the place to go in order to get started with all of what you need at one place.
And if you still have a question about anything I mentioned here, then please, leave it in the comments’ section below and I will be happy to come back to you asap 🙂