Nowadays, if a person thinks about researching affiliate marketing, he’ll be met by endless advice, hacks, success stories, failures, and promises of making money while you sleep.
Affiliate marketing has maintained an image as something so complex and ambiguous that only a few people are capable of doing.
But what if you can start your affiliate marketing journey today?
With this step-by-step guide, you’ll find yourself with a better understanding of what affiliate marketing is and discovering that you have everything you need to start it, right now!
What is affiliate marketing?
Simply put, affiliate marketing is the art of generating sales commissions online. It’s a business where you are not responsible for creating the product, customer service, or coordinating refunds. You simply present the item to the rest of the world in exchange for a commission.
The merchant provides you with an affiliate link as an affiliate (product manufacturer or owner). When a consumer clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, voilà you will get a commission from the seller.
Sounds simple?
Well, yes, it is. However, put in mind that there are a few steps before you reach that point:
Step 1: Picking Your Niche
Before you skip over this section, take in mind that the most experienced affiliate marketers will tell you that selecting your topic is the most crucial decision you will make.
A piece of advice? Instead of going for niches that already have a lot of competition, look for ones that have a lot of room for growth.
This will offer you an advantage and allow you to stand out from the mass. It may mean fewer visitors – but it also means fewer competitors, faster Google ranking, and a lot more commissions!
Here is how to choose a niche for your affiliate marketing: Ask yourself, what can you talk about for a full hour without being bored? Because you will be talking about it a lot more than that so it’s best that it’s something you enjoy!
The next step is using a keyword research tool, like the one Wealthy Affiliate offers, to see if this niche has an audience by skimming through the search volume and also checking out the competition.
Step 2: Building Your Website
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Some people do affiliate marketing from other platforms (like social networks and forums). So, why should you build a website?
One of the powerful tools of affiliate marketing is having a blog and being capable of running organic search traffic. The importance of having a website or a blog for any digital business can’t be argued.
Besides, if you’re just starting your affiliate marketing journey, then many affiliate programs will expect you to have an up and running affiliate site. In fact, they might even ask for your URL before considering you as an affiliate to make sure your content is legit.
A lot of people will advise you to hire someone to “build you a website”, but the truth is, you can pretty much do the whole thing by yourself. Here’s how Wealthy Affiliate has got your back through each step of setting up your website:
- Helping you land your perfect domain name with full access to emails, privacy, and domain protection.
- Their SiteRubix hosting platform makes sure your website is always running optimally and at full speed
- Simple design tools and thousands of available templates, so you can have a beautiful website running in no time
Step 3: Putting Your Content Out There
Whatever your platform is, this one is inevitable. However, it’s extremely important and you have to put all your heart into it if you’re creating content for your blog as it’s the base of your business.
Your website’s or blog’s content will determine whether your audience will be intrigued and decide to return, or if they’ll simply bounce back after visiting your blog.
This step cannot be skipped. Before you even consider applying for affiliate programs, you must have a fully functional website. If your site lacks content, you will not only have no audience, but you will also have a minimal chance of being accepted by an affiliate program.
As a result, map out the 25 articles you want to create before you begin. Use the Wealthy Affiliate tool to find keywords and make sure you find a way to integrate them into your texts.
SEO is the most common method to get your audience to your content and it’s definitely a powerful tool that you should be using as an affiliate. However, you can also use YouTube, Podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, and even Reddit!
Make sure that your articles’ topics stay in your niche! Don’t drift away from what your website is talking about as it drives away the audience and makes your voice lose its authenticity.
Step 4: Finding Affiliate Programs
Now that you’ve got all the tools sorted out, you’re ready to start pitching for Affiliate Programs. There’s an easy way to do this if you have a company in mind, which is by simply googling the brand’s name and typing “affiliate” next to it, to see what comes up.
Put in mind that a lot of merchants hesitate to promote their affiliate programs. They’d prefer not to have an inflow of new affiliates, so they decide to keep it quiet and out of the public’s eyes. For those companies, you can contact them directly and ask if they have a current affiliate program, or if they’d like to set up a new one with you.
Still, some of the companies that have up and running affiliate programs and are looking for affiliates, have a problem with their offers are not being competitive compared to what else is out there.
This is where Wealthy Affiliate’s Affiliate Program search tool comes in handy. You can browse between different types of campaigns and take your time to compare and choose what works best with you.
Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Will you be gaining income? Yes, but it’s not as easy as some people might have led you to believe.
Just like any business, affiliate marketing needs persistence and hard work. It might be a passive source of income but it does require a significant amount of work to get to the point where your website is making money in your sleep.
Still Lost?
If you feel like you still need a little guidance on how to kickstart your affiliate marketing career, then join Wealthy Affiliate’s training program to get your hands on all the tips and tricks of beginning your affiliate marketing career.
There’s also a free membership program where you can access parts of the course and experiment with the many integrated tools on the website. Not to mention, a chance to meet a large community of affiliate marketers, some experts, and some still starting their journey as well!
