Are you a beginner in affiliate marketing? Do you want to learn how to start your affiliate marketing program? And even if you never heard the word “affiliate marketing” or “affiliate program”?
This article is still worthwhile for you.
Because, at the end of reading this comprehensive guide, you are going to learn everything you need to know about affiliate marketing, from its definition to every dos and don’ts.
Assuredly, affiliate marketing is a great way to make money from home. Because It’s free, and you can start earning cash right away! It exists in many different categories, so it’s not hard at all to find one that interests you.
I know what you are probably thinking; there has to be a techie. A BIG NO! Affiliate marketing doesn’t require any technical skills or coding knowledge at all.
You need your computer, an internet connection, and some time on your hands to get started with affiliate marketing today!
So, let’s dive into the main treasure without any deviation.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a system where people or businesses can make money by promoting someone else’s product. It sounds simple right? And it really is!
You don’t need to be a tycoon. You can make some money by joining an affiliate program and promoting their products on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Every time someone clicks the link you posted for a product or buys it from your post after clicking through, you earn commissions that will soon add up!
Buckle down with this work-at-home job opportunity if you’re looking to find something easy yet rewarding in life.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
All of your hard work is rewarded with commissions based on how many sales you make through their site.
The affiliate marketing process is simple! You register with a merchant or company (like Amazon). Then you can send people to their site through your affiliate link.
If someone buys something, they make money off of the sale. For example, if someone bought $100 worth of clothes after clicking on your affiliate link at Shopify using one of your affiliate links, you would make $25. Take this as an example.
The company takes care of all the shipping and customer service, so you don’t have to worry about any headaches.
However, it’s not difficult to find affiliate offers relevant in today’s economy, especially because many companies offer specialized affiliate programs.
A few of these include Amazon Affiliates Program (affiliate), Booking Affiliates (hotel reservations), and Rakuten Marketing Solutions USA, Inc., formerly known as LinkShare Corporation (merchant). With one or more of those partners, you can get started right away!
Now that we have understood how the affiliate marketing program works, let’s move toward some important terminologies that will help you in your affiliate marketing career.
Who Are the Affiliates?
Affiliates are people who promote various online marketing companies.
They drive customers to the company’s website and earn a commission for each sale generated by their efforts.
Who Are the Affiliate Networks?
Affiliate networks are the middlemen and connect merchants with affiliates.
They manage all aspects of affiliate relationships, including tracking sales, commissions, and reporting to both parties. Affiliate networks do not own or sell products/services directly.
Who Are the Merchants?
Merchants are the companies that offer products or services.
The primary goal is to make money by generating sales and affiliate commissions.
Who Are the Consumers?
Consumers are the ones who buy products or services.
They are also called end-users and beneficiaries of affiliate marketing’s success because it is through their purchases that affiliates earn commissions.
Common Affiliate Marketing Models
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
You’ll be paid for every click you generate, but the product creator pays all the risk.
The affiliate gets a percentage of any money made from clicks generated on their affiliate links to your site. They take on no extra responsibility and are only in it for profits!
Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)
The affiliate drives revenue by receiving a commission for every sale they generate. This is the most common model since all of the risks fall on their shoulders.
Pay-Per-Lead (PPL)
A merchant shares the risk of a project with their affiliates by paying them for every lead they generate. This could be an online form submission, trial creation, or any pre-purchase and is typically shared in some way between both parties involved.
Why Do I Need to Use It?
- Affiliate marketing is a way to generate passive income by promoting other people’s products.
- It can be an excellent source of extra money, which you don’t have to work for unless you want to!
- It takes very little time commitment if any at all-it requires that you set up your affiliate links and go about your day as usual. Affiliates are not employees either, so they do not have the same responsibilities as traditional employment.
- Despite there being no obligation on their part, many affiliates pride themselves on providing high-quality customer service out of respect for both the merchant and customers alike. The best thing about affiliate marketing? There is something available for everyone! You can choose anything from fashion to food, from makeup tutorials to fitness equipment.
What Products Can I Promote?
Almost anything! There are affiliate programs for everything from fashion to food and even cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) related items.
You will be able to find the perfect program for whatever area of interest that you have on offer – it’s impossible not to find one!
The Pros and Cons of Affiliate Marketing
| Pros | Cons |
| You can work from home! | You have to be a good salesperson |
| You can make a lot of money if you’re good at it. | Sometimes you don’t make any money because the person you referred never buys anything, or they buy too little for it to matter |
| It’s an easy way to promote products you believe in on your own time but still earn a commission for them. | It takes time and patience before it really pays off! If you’re not prepared for that, then this might not be right for you. |
How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
How to become an affiliate marketer. What steps should I follow?
Well! the steps are:
Select Appropriate Niche and Platform
Start by choosing the platform you want to use. Think about which one will best work for what you’re trying to promote and how much time you have available. Then find a niche that interests or excites you!
If it’s just not interesting enough, then move on – this is your business, after all, so make sure it feels right for YOU!
Audience Building
Next, audience building is the essential step to make your affiliate marketing campaign successful – be it any digital platform business. And you can build an audience stream by using social media sites like Facebook or Twitter and sharing relevant content so people will follow you on those platforms.
Once they’re following other things, you will get more attention too!
Following are the tips to build an audience for your marketing campaigns:
- If your blog has a mailing list, then encourage followers to sign up for it.
- You can also use a service like MailChimp to create and send newsletters with content you’ve previously created.
- Consider paid advertising on Facebook or Twitter, for example, if that feels right for your business model.
- Create ads in Google Adwords targeted towards the audience you want – this is another form of paid advertising.
- If your blog has a podcast, make sure you include it on iTunes. You can also create videos relevant to what people would be interested in and post them on YouTube or Vimeo.
Sign up for an Affiliate Program
These are easy to find and construct. You can search by product or even sign up for a program that will help you promote your products easily online.
Affiliate programs include Amazon Associates, ShareASale, ClickBank, and more!
Choose Product You Want to Promote
Select a few products to promote and focus on them. Offer free samples for people who follow your blog or social media accounts as well, which will lead to more promotion opportunities in the future!
Create Valuable Content That Promotes Your Affiliate Products
Some great ideas for content are product reviews, tutorials, Q&A sessions, and more.
You can also create videos relevant to what people would be interested in and post them on YouTube or Vimeo!
Keep Optimize and Track Your Content
Once you post your content, make sure to optimize the title and description for search engines.
A great way to track shares of your blog posts or videos on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter is using Metricool! You can schedule your posts and also note how it’s performing with the easy to read statistics it provides. Check it out and get one brand for free to promote your product/service/business.
Enjoy Your Commission
Finally, the most important is the rewarding step!
You earn a commission for every sale your affiliate product generates or leads to.
If you are using an affiliate program that pays out once a month, this is when the royalty checks will come in!
How Much Can You Make From Affiliate Programs?
The sky is the limit! For example, if you were a member of an affiliate program that paid commission only when someone made their first purchase from your site and had 100 people sign up for it over the course of six months—and each person bought $100 worth of product—you would make $7500 in commissions. Pretty sweet deal!
The affiliate marketing company will give you a cut of the sale.
The best affiliate programs for beginners have a low payout threshold and offer rewards in all areas of digital marketing (including SEO, social media, blog posts — you name it!).
You might also consider Google or eBay affiliate programs. Both of these sites have a low payout threshold and offer many different products in their marketplace that you can promote!
Nowadays, there is a high payout threshold, but they also have plenty of rewards.
Another popular reward system is the pay-per-lead program (PPL). This will allow you to get paid for every customer that completes a transaction as long as it came from clicking on your affiliate link.
The best part about PPL is that you get paid even if the customer purchased from a company other than your affiliate partner.
How to Promote Affiliate Product on Website or Blog
As a beginner to affiliate marketing, you may be wondering how to get started or what are some of the best ways for beginners to earn money online using this business model.
You can start your blog or website to promote affiliate products. It’s a great way to give back and share what you know about the topic, but it does take time and patience!
Some of the best sites for affiliate marketing are Amazon Affiliates, ShareASale, ClickBank Marketplaces, Commission Junction (CJ) Affiliates, and Rakuten LinkShare.
Affiliate marketing is an industry that has grown exponentially over the past decade, with new opportunities for affiliate marketers every day.
Proven Tips and Tricks to Make Money Online From Affiliate Marketing
Although affiliate marketing can be very profitable, it’s not as easy to get started as many people make it out to be.
There are many different tips and strategies that you should try before settling on one or two methods.
Choose Products and Companies Wisely to Promote
Choosing the right affiliate marketing program to promote is a crucial step in making money.
Usually, you will have more success in promoting products from companies that sell high-quality items because they offer higher commissions and better customer service. Still, your customers are also less likely to return them for refunds which means that you don’t have to worry about chargebacks.
Don’t Offer dull and Outdated Content
It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a blog post or running an email campaign; the content needs to be valuable and helpful for your visitors.
This is one of those things that it’s difficult to quantify what constitutes “high quality” content, but when people are visiting your site, they should feel like their time was well spent–like they learned something new or had their mind expanded.
Keep Your Audience in Mind to Create Content
If you’re going to spend time on a piece of content, the topic must be relevant to your audience.
It doesn’t mean that every blog post has to be about affiliate marketing. Still, if you are writing one, make sure it speaks directly to people who want answers for affiliate marketing or questions about starting an affiliate program.
The content should be easily digestible and easy to follow. If a visitor has spent some time reading it but still doesn’t quite get what they need from it, that’s not good either.
Keep in mind the audience you’re writing for–a beginner will have different questions than an advanced affiliate marketer looking for more advanced information.
| Pro-Tip: Add relevant FAQs to your post to ensure your audience gets an answer to the maximum of their queries. That’s why I’ve added frequently asked questions below some of the headings that may answer your maximum short question or confusion about affiliate marketing. |
Connected With an Affiliate Manager
A good affiliate program is one that you have a personal connection with your manager. It can be tough to get in contact with an affiliate manager, but it’s worth the effort.
When you’re building your relationship, ask them about their experience working on that specific affiliate network and what they would recommend for someone just starting. If they recommend a particular program or offer, ask them a reason.
Learn to Use Pretty Link Plugin
Pretty Link is a free plugin for WordPress that automatically creates affiliate links from your post.
This will create an affiliate link to any product you mention in the article. If readers click through the link, they’ll be taken to the vendor’s site, where they can purchase with no additional steps required on their part!
Interestingly, Pretty Link eliminates all of those annoying affiliate link redirects.
Where to Find Demanded Products for Your Site
A perfect way to find products that will sell well on your site is by checking out what’s currently selling in the marketplace. You can do this using a tool called Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank.
When you search for any keyword, it shows you all of the related keywords and current best sellers within that category. It’ll also tell you who ranks higher as far as sales volume goes – which might be helpful when choosing affiliate offers to promote!
Common Myths About Affiliate Marketing
There are many myths about affiliate marketing.
- The main one is that it’s too complex for beginners to get into. However, this isn’t true.
Several free tools are available, including Google Analytics and WordTracker, which allow you to track your performance with affiliate marketing.
- The other myth is that affiliate marketing isn’t very. There are many options for earning money with this business model. There’s a wide range of affiliate programs out there, and it all comes down to what you want to promote.
The Internet has opened up so many opportunities for making money from home; Affiliate Marketing is just one of them.
- The last myth is that affiliate marketing is “old school”. The Internet has indeed changed how we do business. However, Affiliate Marketing still remains a viable option for promoting products and earning money online.
The best thing about this profession is its flexible hours. You can work when you want to work! There are no set office hours.
Best Affiliate Marketing Programs for Beginners
I recommend that you sign up with one or more of these companies. It doesn’t have to be all four to make money as a beginner!
- Commission Junction (CJ) – You can promote products from many different merchants and earn commissions on your sales.
- ClickBank Marketplaces – You can promote products from many different merchants and earn commissions on your sales. Plus, this affiliate marketing company is very competitive in terms of its commission rates.
- ShareASale – This site offers many advertisers to choose from that you may want to work with as an affiliate marketer.
- Amazon Affiliates – This is a great program that can make you lots of money at the beginning of your affiliate marketing career.
- Rakuten Affiliate Network (RAF) – I love this company because they have some lucrative offers to showcase as an affiliate marketer. You will want to check out all their options and see which ones are the best for you.
Recommended Reads: Digital Marketing
The digital marketing field is ever-changing, and as such, it can be challenging to keep up.
However, with the right book in hand, you’ll have not only access to insider information about what’s worked for others but also a skill set that will help your business grow exponentially.
In my opinion, one of the most helpful books out there on this topic is “Get an in-depth understanding of Digital Marketing and Advertising for Your Business” by Mikkell Khan.
It offers expert advice from somebody who has been at all levels within this industry. That means they come well equipped when offering strategic tips or even essential explanations of how things work.
Suppose you’re looking into learning some skills around these topics. In that case, I recommend picking up his latest release, now available on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Frequently Asked Questions – Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
Is affiliate marketing easy?
Affiliate marketing is easy as long you are willing to put in the effort. Affiliate marketing does not come with an instruction manual, and it is a different experience for everyone.
Affiliate marketing can be an easy way to make money, but it isn’t going to happen overnight. Affiliate marketing is a business, so it takes time and effort to get results.
Is affiliate marketing worth it in 2021?
Affiliate marketing will always be worth it. Affiliate marketing has been around for many years, and who knows how long it’ll last. But people have been making money with affiliate marketing for many years, and that will not change in the future if you are willing to put in the effort.
Why do affiliate marketers fail?
People who fail with affiliate marketing usually look for shortcuts to make money and don’t put in the time or effort. Affiliate marketing is not an easy shortcut, and it takes hard work. Remember, there’s nothing more straightforward if you’re willing to do what’s necessary.
Bottom Line – Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
With affiliate marketing, you can make money from products that other people have created. You can sell a product on your website or blog and get paid a commission when someone buys it through one of the affiliate links on your site.
Affiliate marketers are essentially online salespeople who represent multiple companies instead of just their own companies. We know how to use this powerful technique to help our clients grow their business exponentially!
To learn more about what we do at DF Studios, contact us today for an informative consultation with one of our expert team members.
You can also get our free ebook on how to make a Google Friendly Blog for your business utilizing all the correct practices for search engine optimization. It’s very easy to follow and can be read and implemented in one sitting.
