Affiliate marketing is a way to monetize content by promoting products by other companies via affiliate links. You earn a small commission based on your referral if someone purchases a product/service.
You have heard that people make money online from home and even while they sleep. And, of course, you are wondering if you can do the same.
Yes, you can, and affiliate marketing can be a source of passive income if you are ready to put in some time and effort.
But before you start dreaming about the millions, let’s see why affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online.
Why Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective and efficient way to earn money. You can work from anywhere in the world so long you have an internet connection.
Moreover, it is a low-risk and inexpensive business. A blog, website, or just a profile on social media is all you need to start an affiliate company.
Furthermore, you don’t need to create your own product or stock items in a warehouse. All you need is to promote products that are on the ground already.
A report from Statista shows that affiliate marketing spending in the United States will reach 8.2 billion US dollars by 2022. And about 80% of brands have affiliate programs.
That’s massive; don’t you want to be part of it?
So, now we’ll be covering the basics of affiliate marketing and how it works. Then, I’ll show you what you need and guide you in getting started. Let’s go!
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
Affiliate marketing refers to promoting products of external vendors on your site. Although there may be a variety of definitions, the general rule is that at least three to four people are involved in an affiliate arrangement. Let’s not make these terms too confusing.
The Merchant, Affiliate, And The visitors
The affiliate, also known as “the marketer,” manages a website with affiliate links. Visitors who click on an affiliate link to purchase a product receive a commission.
The visitor is the person who visits the affiliate site and clicks on a promo link to make a purchase.
The merchant is the company that sells the products being marketed by the affiliate. As some companies have their own affiliate program, it is common for the merchant and the network to be the same.
So, I will combine the two entities throughout the remainder of this discussion. If all that seems confusing, let’s see how an affiliate sale might look in real life.
You, as an affiliate, post blog articles on your site and attach an affiliate link to the product page’s CTA at the bottom. Then, anytime customers read the blog post and are intrigued by the review, they click the affiliate link.
Once the customer is on the merchant’s website, they have possibly decided to buy the product.
Monetizing a website does not have to be complicated. You can make your website extremely profitable, both economically and creatively.
You don’t have to do much legwork like other ways of making money online.
You may be curious how the merchant can identify which affiliate was responsible for purchasing the product. It’s easy because each affiliate has a unique link that tracks every product they promote.
This process allows the merchant to track all referrals via cookies. It also lets them know how much each affiliate has earned (and what they should be paid in return).
How Can Affiliate Marketing Benefit You?
Affiliate marketing allows you to pick the products you want to promote. In addition, it will enable you to choose the programs you will work with. In most cases, you can also select the services and products you wish to promote.
It means that you don’t have to spend a lot of money upfront. Instead, you can begin small and increase your marketing efforts as you go.
You might find the idea of earning money just by sharing links appealing. However, affiliate marketing has many other benefits than just the obvious. So let’s look at how being an affiliate marketer can help you and your website.
9 Top Tips To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
As we have already said, affiliate marketing is relatively easy to get into. I’ll help you quickly get started in affiliate marketing by walking you through the initial steps to make your site successful.
Here are the top things to consider before you become an affiliate marketer.
- Choose a suitable affiliate niche
- Start a blog
- Create great content
- Sign up for the right affiliate programs
- Include promo links in reviews
- Disclose affiliate links
- Avoid affiliate theft
- Manage your affiliate links
- Be patient and never stop learning
1. Choose a Suitable Affiliate Niche
The best niche will have many potential customers and be something you can write trustworthy and knowledgeable content about.
Your niche will determine the subject matter of your website and, by extension, the types of products or services you’ll be promoting. Therefore, finding a niche that you enjoy and can make money in is crucial. So, pick a financially viable niche.
In addition, it would be best to choose a popular topic for people to be interested in. It may seem not easy, but there are many options.
It’s a smart move to perform keyword research at this stage to determine which keywords drive the most traffic via search engines.
This step doesn’t only involve finding the best niche. You should choose the one that is right for you to be successful. That will help you produce authoritative, engaging content for your affiliate links if you have much knowledge in the chosen field.
In addition, you will gain a better understanding of your target audience’s needs, gain their trust, and build credibility.
Hence, They will be more inclined to trust your judgment and recommendations and click on your links.
When you start a new affiliate website, you must decide what niche you want to work in. Your site’s niche will determine the type of content you produce, whom you target, and what products you promote.
2. Start A Blog
The next step after choosing your niche is to build your website. A report from findstack shows that about 65% of affiliate marketers worldwide generate traffic majorly by blogging.
And, again, if you look around the big companies, they all have websites: Amazon, Google, and a host of others.
Building your own website will help you improve your brand awareness and build credibility for your business. In addition, your audience feels more comfortable having an avenue to contact you directly.
Here’s an article to help you get started quickly, How to build a WordPress website in minutes (step by step).
But if you are concerned about the technical process, you can follow the free training with Wealthy Affiliate to get your website up and running in minutes.
3. Create Great Content
I’m sorry, there’s no shortcut here; you must consistently create valuable content. Write helpful and informative articles that help your readers solve their problems.
Do thorough keyword research, and target low competitive and long-tail keywords in your content. With that, you can generate organic traffic to your website.
Remember, content is king.
4. Sign up for the Right Affiliate Programs
It’s essential to find lucrative programs. You’ve put much into promoting merchants’ products, so you deserve a share of the proceeds. It’s best to research each program and find out what other affiliates have said about it before you sign up.
Once you have your niche and website ready to go, it is time to start looking for affiliate programs. Many programs are managed directly by merchants to promote their products.
There are dedicated affiliate networks such as Rakuten and CJ that offer merchant-driven programs. These programs include thousands of products and multiple merchants.
Before deciding which programs to join, consider the products they want you to promote. They must offer products that are well-known in your chosen niche.
It might be worthwhile to join an affiliate group like Wealthy Affiliate. You can get help and expert advice from affiliate marketers who have been in business for years.
You will find this very helpful, especially as beginners. In a few years, you may be the one who helps another beginner get started.
Look for brands that appeal to your market and check if they offer affiliate programs. For example, if your website is focused on hosting sites, you might look into web hosts that offer affiliate programs.
You can access multiple products without signing up for many different programs. Even eCommerce giants such as Amazon and eBay have their own affiliate programs.
5. Include Promo Links in Reviews
You have now signed up for the top affiliate programs in your niche. It’s now time to get to work; go ahead, and start sharing your affiliate links.
It makes sense, for example, to include affiliate links in reviews if your site is a review one.
It is easiest to include the links as text links within your content. However, this approach is misleading because it makes it less evident that you are promoting the product.
And that’s why disclosing your affiliate link is essential.
Depending on the type of content you create, there will be different ways to implement these links on your website.
It is better to keep your links separated from your main content. You can, for example, place them at the end of each post.
6. Learn How to Disclose Affiliate Links
Visitors must be aware of affiliate links on your website. The Federal Trade Commission has guidelines for endorsements regarding affiliate links. Transparency is an intelligent way of increasing trust in your business and website (not to mention sales).
7. Avoid “Affiliate Theft” at all costs
There are many illegal ways to increase your commissions. These are collectively called “Affiliate stealing” or “Commission thievery.”
It is essential to understand that affiliates are not selling out. Although this is what many people believe, it’s not true. The key trait of the most successful affiliates is their ability to provide insightful and honest content that goes along with their links.
There’s no need for you to lie or link to low-quality products.
8. Manage Your Affiliate Links
Ensure you use an affiliate link management plugin to coordinate your affiliate links in one place. You can also use it to shorten your link so people can easily remember it.
I use Pretty Links and can say it’s a good choice. On your WordPress dashboard, go to plugins and add new.
Choose the link you want to shorten and enable. Then, in the advanced setting, click on no-follow. Update changes, and that’s it.
9. Be Patient And Never Stop Learning
Affiliate marketing is not a quick success story. Building a community and generating traffic takes time and effort, especially for new or not well-known sites.
Therefore, it is essential not to expect immediate results and to be willing to do the hard work required to grow your website and increase your commissions.
You’ll be prepared and have realistic expectations if you carefully consider all the points. These points will provide a solid foundation on which to build your affiliate marketing career.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing can be highly lucrative, although it is not a fast track to riches. You earn a percentage on every sale that you refer. There’s no limit to your earnings. That means you could make a substantial passive income if your affiliate website grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing promotes products and services from a merchant, and you get a commission when people buy through your unique affiliate link.
How can I make money with affiliate marketing?
The most effective way I have seen people succeed with affiliate marketing is to build a website, write valuable content and drive organic traffic to your site. Then sign up for affiliate programs.
Helpful article,
Why do some people fail with affiliate marketing?
Even though affiliate marketing is a great way to make passive income online, it’s easy to make mistakes if the process is wrong. So it’s always good to learn from experienced people in the field.
Helpful article, Common affiliate marketing mistakes to avoid
Can I start affiliate marketing without a website?
Yes, it’s possible. For example, you can write helpful content on social media or start a YouTube channel and link to your affiliate products.
Helpful articles, How to make money on Pinterest without a blog,
Can I start affiliate marketing for free?
Yes, you can start with Wealthy Affiliate for free. Learn to build your own website and also get step-by-step training to develop your online business from scratch.
How do you get paid in affiliate marketing?
You can either be paid through Paypal or a bank transfer.
If you have questions or need help with affiliate marketing, comment below. I promised to get back to you as soon as I could.
Thank you for reading.
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Hi Muslimah, Just finished reading. I think this is good information for beginners. I like how you’ve put this all together. From this there isn’t much I didn’t know already but I think you’ve done a good job of explaining to others that are not so aware of these concepts. I like the bit where you said about how as long as you provide quality honest information people will be interested.
Best regards;
Alex
Good to know you liked the article, Alex.
And thank you for the kind comment.