Five Steps to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

You need to know the basics of affiliate marketing if you want to be successful. This guide will help you select a niche and join the top affiliate marketing programs. It will also show you how to create an affiliate platform and make money with promotions. Affiliate marketers can earn anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 per year. The most successful earn millions.

These are the five steps to affiliate marketing for beginners.

1. Find Your Niche

A niche is a small subset of a larger market. Sports, for example, is a broad market that appeals to all. Soccer, however, is a niche or subset of the larger sports market. The niche of male soccer players aged between 5 and 12 years old is very narrow.

You want to start your affiliate marketing efforts in a small niche so that you can reach your target audience easily. Your niche should be large enough to make you money.

A niche in which they have a lot of expertise or are passionate about is a good place to start an affiliate marketing business. You will be more successful in affiliate marketing if you choose a niche you are passionate about.

Tips to Find a Profitable Niche

You will need to search the internet for activity in your niche to determine if it is profitable. You should search for products and services that are similar to your niche, as well as discussions on social media.

These are more ways to find a profitable niche as an affiliate.

Search trends: Use Google Trends for search trends related to your niche. BuzzSumo can help you discover the most popular content on social media.
Do keyword research: Use free tools like Google's Keyword Planner, Answer the Public and Keywords Everywhere to find out what people are looking for.
Search for existing products and services. Discover what is being sold to your target audience. Then, explore affiliate programs that offer these offerings.
Search for the top influencers in your niche: Most niches already have at least a handful of influencers, some have hundreds. You can learn both from the top influencers and their weaknesses, as they often have opportunities for you.

Affiliate marketing beginners and professionals alike have found success positioning themselves as experts in a niche. You might be passionate about camping in the Pacific Northwest, or you may love to talk Texas wines. Affiliate marketing can be a lucrative way to make a living if you are able to find the right products for your niche.

Keywords Everywhere is a popular free tool that can help you conduct keyword research on any niche

Examples of niche websites

There are many niche websites that you can use to learn whether you want to make a side income through affiliate marketing or build a full-fledged business in affiliate marketing. Some sites make money solely through affiliate marketing, while others monetize using a combination of strategies including advertising networks and sponsored post.

Here are some examples of niche websites which have made affiliate marketing a major part of their income.

This is Why I'm Broke - This affiliate marketing site highlights unusual products sold by Amazon and other large online retailers.
Best Review This website reviews products and offers purchase advice. When visitors click on the affiliate links, Best Reviews earns money.
Nomadic Matthew: This blogger is well-known for his travel tips and recommendations. Affiliate links are one of his top sources of income.

Affiliate marketers make the most money by building niche websites. Affiliate marketing can be done through your social networks. This means that you don't need to own a website.

The Best Reviews website generates affiliate income through product reviews and recommendations

2. Identify Affiliate Opportunities for Your Niche

After you have settled on your niche, the next step is to find affiliate programs and networks to join. There are many options to choose from. It is important to understand how affiliate marketing can help you make money before you decide which programs to join.

How affiliate marketing works

Affiliate marketing works on the basis that you can access a specific audience through your website and social media channels. Companies may want to reach people in your target audience. These merchants and brands set up affiliate marketing programs, or join affiliate networks to allow you access to their products and/or services for promotional purposes.

Affiliate programs and networks allow you to earn a commission when you generate sales for the goods and services of your affiliate partners. If your audience does a specific action (e.g., joining a free trial program), you may be paid a fee. The merchants and brands make more sales, you earn money, and the product buyers have access to better products.

Example of a blog post featuring affiliate links related to the camping niche from HodgePodge Hippie

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs can be joined for free and are available in many sizes. Amazon, Target and Walmart are two of the most popular merchants offering affiliate programs. You'll need to search for affiliate programs that will best suit your niche since you're marketing to this specific audience.

Affiliate programs can be advertised directly by companies on their websites. To inquire about affiliate opportunities, you can also contact brands directly. You can also search within affiliate networks for merchants and brands you are interested in working with.

The Amazon Associates dashboards help you track your affiliate marketing performance easily

Affiliate Networks

Affiliate networks allow you to connect with a wide range of merchants through a network. Affiliate marketing is easier with networks. They allow you to access a large number of merchants and brands offering affiliate programs.

The affiliate network handles individual merchant program terms and payments so you don't need to keep track of and account for multiple programs. Below is a chart that shows you the most popular affiliate networks and provides useful statistics about your site.

Popular Affiliate Networks

	Merchants/Partner Volume	Product/Merchant Categories	Average Commissions Fees Payed*
Rakuten Marketing	1000+ merchant partners	A wide range of brands and products are represented	4% to 20%
ClickBank	1000+ digital products	Primarily digital products	50%-75%
CJ Affiliate	More than 3000 partners	Major retailers featured	4% to 14%
FlexOffers	12,000+ affiliate programs	Connect with small and large brands. Offers physical and digital products	5% to 20%
Affiliate Window	More than 29,000 brands represented	There are a wide range of merchants available in almost all industries.	5% to 15%
ShareASale, part of AWIN	4000+ merchant partners	ShareASale offers a wide range of lifestyle products, business services, and a large number of exclusive merchants	5% to 15%

These are the average commission ranges. The actual commissions earned by each merchant in each network vary.

The networks shown in the chart are all free except AWIN which requires you to pay a $5 fee. This fee is added to your account once you have been accepted. Learn more from our experts about affiliate marketing, including how to use affiliate networks to maximize profits.

How affiliate marketers make money

You should pay attention to how much you will earn when researching potential affiliate partners. Affiliate programs typically pay a percentage of sales. If a person clicks your affiliate link and buys a $500 product, and the commission fee for your affiliate program is set at 10%, then you will receive $50 ($500 x 10%).

Some affiliate marketing programs pay you on a per-action (PPA) basis. If someone signs up using your affiliate link to receive a newsletter or a free trial, you may be compensated. Amazon Associates' bounty programs pay 3 cents for each Prime sign-up.

Find the best affiliate products for your niche

It's a constant journey of discovery to find profitable affiliate products that match your content. This is also one of the most crucial steps in affiliate marketing. You should be selective about which products and services to represent. Each recommendation you make can affect your reputation.

"Be selective in who you choose to represent. It is important to choose affiliate marketing companies you can trust and stand behind. Do not pick affiliate marketing companies just to make money. Otherwise, no one will believe you and your opinions.
Blogger: Nicole Durham, Struggle Today Strength tomorrow

You'll spend most of your time looking for affiliate partners, signing-up for programs, and searching for networks that offer the right digital and physical products for your target audience. Once you are established, you will continue to search for affiliate partners and sign up for programs.

You can earn a commission every time someone buys from your affiliate link once your post is live. This is called passive income. After you have completed the work of embedding affiliate link within each post, all you need to do is sit back and passively make income for months or even decades.

3. Create Your Affiliate Marketing Platform

The place where you intend to publish your affiliate links for products or services that you represent is called an affiliate platform. This is the most popular way to do it. However, you can also promote your links via many social media platforms.

Affiliate Marketing through Your Website

The website is the cornerstone of any successful affiliate marketing business. Your website is the only channel you have control over your brand and message. Affiliate marketers use their website to launch their affiliate businesses.

You must clearly display an announcement before you place an affiliate link on your website stating that you could be paid a commission if your readers click on your links. You could be in serious legal trouble if you fail to disclose your relationship with affiliate networks and programs.

Example of an affiliate link disclosure from the Pulling Curls blog

A self-hosted WordPress website is the most popular platform for affiliate marketers. Hosting is the only cost to have a WordPress website. A WordPress blog can be set up with DreamHost, which is a free hosting provider. It costs just $2.59 per monthly.

After your WordPress hosting account has been established, it is easy to set up your WordPress website. Although there is a steep learning curve if you are new to website building, it is not difficult. You can get a jump start by following the WordPress site setup guide. It walks you through each step in just three steps.

Affiliate Marketing without a Website

It's easy to get started with affiliate marketing without having a website. Many people who start affiliate marketing are quick to build a following on social media. This is done by optimizing posts to maximize exposure for their chosen niche and frequently using related hashtags or primary keywords in their posts.

You can use Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook to start your affiliate marketing campaigns. Follow the rules of each platform for posting sponsored posts and affiliate links. Instagram allows you to place an affiliate link on your profile, but not in posts. Many sites that allow affiliate posts require an disclosure. This means that you must make it clear that you may receive a commission if people click on your links.

If your affiliate partner allows it, you can also create an ebook or digital guide with affiliate links. After your digital product has been created, you can either offer it free of charge or charge a fee via your social media channels.

If your affiliate partners permit it, you can promote affiliate links via email newsletters. Amazon Associates doesn't allow affiliate links they can't track online. This means that no digital downloads or newsletters will be allowed.

Geeky Nerdy Techy uses product reviews on YouTube to earn affiliate marketing income

4. 4. Create affiliate content

After your affiliate marketing platform has been established, either through a website, social media following or both, you can start creating authentic content that complements your niche. Either embed affiliate links in your posts or promote them through images. Affiliate marketers often use both images and text links.

Let's take a look at the different types of content that you can use for affiliate products and services promotion:

Product reviews: One product review or round-up posts that include multiple perspectives are very popular and have high conversion rates.
Recipes If you are interested in cooking or eating, then you can post affiliate links to cookware, cookbooks, recipes, and other products.
How-to and DIY guides: It is possible to create instructional content for DIY projects and add affiliate links to the products required to complete them.
Discounts and giveaways:Some of our affiliate partners offer discounts and giveaways that you can promote in your content. These are worth looking for when searching for partners.
Style and fashion posts: Talking about the latest trends and linking to similar products is a smart way for affiliate commissions if your niche is beauty and fashion.
Virtual storefront pages: A virtual shopfront displays products on your website in the same way as a regular ecommerce store. However, the "buy" button takes shoppers to an affiliate partner site for the final purchase.
Sidebar and banner ads: Virtually all affiliate programs offer a variety of ads you can insert in posts, sidebars and header sections of your WordPress website.

Style blogger Olivia Lopez from Lust for Life adds affiliate links in her fashion photo captions

Plan Your Affiliate Content

It's important to create a calendar in order to plan and organize your content posts. This is a great idea as you begin to learn how affiliate marketing works. Google Calendar and a WordPress plugin may be useful. An editorial calendar plugin is a popular choice for affiliate marketers. These allow you to plan long-term content and schedule publication ahead of time.

Calendar plugins, such as the Editorial Calendar, can be used in WordPress to plan posts, create them and set publication dates. Your posts are then published automatically by the plugin according to the dates that you have set.

Once you have an idea of how to promote affiliate offers and you are able to write compelling posts, it's time to move on to the final stage in affiliate marketing. Now it's time for you to broaden your horizons, and find more ways to reach your niche market.

5. 5.Marketing Your Affiliate Offers

As we've discussed, you can start affiliate marketing from scratch with a website, social media or digital downloads. You can also send out email newsletters. Affiliate marketers often use many different methods to promote their affiliate.

Here are some more ways to market your affiliate products:

Email marketing: To get email addresses from your website and social media channels, you can create a free Mailchimp or Drip account. You can then use email marketing to send informational content to your subscribers and promote to them.
Video Marketing: Is your topic or content well-presented in video? Make videos to promote affiliate products.
Podcasting: podcasts are an easy way to add multimedia to your website. Your listeners can share affiliate products and services.
Mobile app Certain niche topics work well as a mobile app, such coupon and deal websites. Mobile marketing can be used to promote products if your content includes affiliate links.
Guest posts for high-traffic blogs: Offer to guest post on popular blogs to increase traffic to your blog and social media channels.
Paid Search Ads: Google Ads allows you to create ads that drive targeted traffic towards your website. Paid advertising is also available on most social media platforms.
SEO for Organic Search: Search engine optimiz (SEO), is a marketing strategy in its own right. A good SEO strategy will help you attract more visitors to your site, which will in turn increase your revenue. An SEO plugin may be useful. Yoast SEO is a well-known one.

Generate more traffic to your site using a free WordPress plugin such as Yoast SEO

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: What to Avoid

There are many ways to define success in affiliate marketing. Success is a side-gig that makes a little extra each month. It's the creation of a multimillion-dollar brand with hundreds of professionals who produce highly monetized content every day.

These common mistakes in affiliate marketing will help you get closer to achieving your goals, regardless of what they are.

Don't set-it-and-forget-it: Affiliate marketing is a great way to create a relatively passive income stream, but you need to create fresh content regularly, market via social and email channels, and keep your promotions current, on-trend, and seasonally appropriate.
You are not growing your affiliate network: Keep looking for new partners to increase your profits.
Seasonal promotions are important: While you want a lot of evergreen content and great opportunities through seasonal promotions,

A common mistake made by affiliate marketers is to be too focused on the immediate. You must think about the future and what you will promote if you want to make money in affiliate marketing. You can build a niche audience that will sustain you for years.

"The biggest mistake that I made in affiliate marketing early on was playing the short-game. This is when you try to find the fastest route to your next affiliate commission. You should play the long game. Create a brand and a business that is fully integrated around a niche. You will become a specialist in your niche, and you can then accept the best affiliate offers. This strategy will allow you to be approached by affiliate managers for programs that you have not heard of. You can then negotiate your own commission rates, incentives, and other benefits.
--Rio Rocket, Digital Marketing Strategist & Branding Expert, RioRocket.com

FAQs Frequently Asked Questions about Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to start. Here are the most common questions that new affiliate marketers ask.

Affiliate marketing can make you a lot of money.

Affiliate marketers can earn $30,000 to $70,000 annually from their efforts. The highest-paid affiliate marketers make between $100,000 and $2 million per year.

Which is the best program to start with affiliate marketing?

Your niche audience will determine which affiliate marketing networks and programs are best for you. For affiliate marketers just starting out, Amazon Associates, ClickBank and CJ Associates are popular options.

Which niches are most lucrative for affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketers can make healthy profits in hundreds niches. Fashion and beauty, fashion, wellness, hobbies and mommy blogs are the most well-known niches.

What is the cost of starting affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a great way to start making money without spending a penny. If you want to maximize the earning potential of affiliate marketing, however, it is best to start your own website. A website can be launched with DreamHost at $2.59 per month.

What is the biggest mistake affiliate marketers make?

Affiliate marketers who are just getting started focus on making money, and not the products they represent. To be able to promote the brands and products you represent, it is important to do your research.

Bottom line: How to start affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketers who are the most successful didn't make huge profits overnight. Building your affiliate marketing business takes time. Affiliate marketing can bring in a lot of income if you are creative, hardworking, and focused on the strategies discussed in the five steps.

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