What is Affiliate Marketing – How to Get Started

Everyone loves the idea of making money anytime even while they are asleep, but very few people actually know how to do it. You have probably heard about a successful entrepreneur who has mastered the art of passive income, but knowing what to do to achieve their level of success can be hard, especially if you do not know what to do and how to go about certain things. In this guide, we will be providing you with a step-by-step guide on how to do affiliate marketing and how you can make passive income through affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the practice of promoting products and services of another person, company, business, or organization in exchange for a commission on every qualifying sale. Affiliate marketing is a great way to supplement your income from the convenience of your home.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing involves referring a product or a service by sharing it on your blog, social media platforms, websites, or podcasts. It is a monetization model in which you- the affiliate marketer is rewarded a commission for providing a specific result to the company, person or business whose products/services you are promoting. Most companies/businesses usually pay marketers for sales made, but some reward them for leads, free trials, clicks to their websites, downloads on apps or files.

How do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?

Affiliate marketing is usually commission-based, and the commissions are accrued in the following ways:

a. Pay Per Sale: Pay Per Sale, also referred to as Cost Per Action, is the most used standard of affiliate marketing model by most merchants. Pay per sale means that you earn a commission on sales made using your affiliate link.

b. Pay Per Lead: This affiliate model rewards the affiliate marketer for leads generated using their affiliate links. Your referrals will have to sign up to a list, register for a free trial, or book a demo, and you will be paid if they complete the actions required.

c. Pay Per Click: Pay Per Click affiliate programs are programs that reward you for directing traffic to their websites. Your referrals don’t have to do anything, unlike in pay per lead affiliate programs.

TIP: If you are starting a new blog, we highly recommend you avoid including pay per click programs on your website until you have at least 10,000 page views a month. This will help you add quality content to your website that will drive more traffic since you will only be getting around $5 a month from most pay-per lead affiliate programs with little traffic.

Is Affiliate Marketing Worth it?

Affiliate marketing is definitely worth it. Affiliate marketing is the best online business models that you can easily leverage to make passive income and scale your ventures. It doesn’t require a huge upfront investment of money or time to get started, and you can easily monetize the audience that you currently have regardless of your industry or niche. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider affiliate marketing:

1. It is easy to start: Affiliate marketing is very easy to start and execute. Your main task will be to handle the marketing side and building an audience, and you will not have to worry about other tasks such as offering the services, manufacturing the products or fulfilling the orders.

2. Low Investment and Risks: When joining most affiliate programs, you will not be required to pay any amount, and you can start making money on the go with established affiliate products and services without any upfront charges or investment.

3. It is easy to scale: With affiliate marketing – when done in the right way- you can exponentially increase your earnings from the comfort of your home. You can introduce new products or services to your audience and create campaigns for additional products while the products/services you promoted earlier continue to bring in more money.

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

When learning how to start affiliate marketing, there are several things that you must know, such as finding the right merchants and getting the right commission affiliate programs that your audience will resonate with. Here is what you need to do to start affiliate marketing:

a. Pick a platform

The first step when doing affiliate marketing is choosing a platform that you will use. Everyone has their approach and preferred platforms depending on their level of engagement with their audience. Some people preferer to use social media platforms; others prefer using YouTube, podcasts, emails etc. There is no limit to which platform you can use for affiliate marketing as long as you have an audience.

We recommend you use Namecheap for your domain name and BlueHost to host your website if you use a blog to promote affiliate products. Namecheap has the best and the most unbeatable prices, while BlueHost has the best user interface for beginners.

b. Pick a Niche

The next step is to select a topic or area you would like to talk about with your audience. Again, there is no limit to the niche you pick so long as you do not violate any laws or policies in your State. Just make sure that you pick a niche that you are comfortable with, as it will help you create high-quality content, which will result in a stronger and more engaged audience, leading to high conversion rates. Here are some major categories that you should consider when picking a niche:

· Niche topic and review sites: Niche topics are platforms that offer reviews on a specific topic. They offer insights into different products and compare them against their competitors.

· Digital Content: Digital content creators include social media influencers, YouTubers, and bloggers. They come up with content based on their audience’s preference.

TIP: Regardless of the platform you choose for your affiliate marketing, building an audience, authenticity and trust are the most crucial elements that you should really consider.

Questions to ask yourself when selecting a niche:

· Which topics are you passionate about?

· What unique experiences do you have?

· What unique experiences do you have?

· What industry is your business in?

· What is your elevator pitch?

c. Register for an Affiliate Program

After establishing the niche that you would like to focus on, the next step is to register for an affiliate program. There are hundreds of affiliate marketplaces that you can register for affiliate programs, including:

· ShareAsale

· CJ affiliate

· ClickBank

· FlexOffers

· AvantLink

· Affiliate Future

· RevenueWire

· LinkConnector

You can also visit the website of the products and services you are looking to promote on your platforms and see if they have affiliate programs. Just go to the website you want to promote and scroll down to the bottom; most companies usually have a section for their affiliate programs there.

Another way is to contact the organization, person, business or company and find out if they have any affiliate marketing programs.

When selecting an affiliate program, ask yourself the following questions:

· What does success look for you with that affiliate program?

· How well will you promote the products and/or services you are signing up for?

· Is the commission worth your time?

· Will the affiliate program give you additional resources to help you market their products much faster and increase conversions?

NOTE: If you are a beginner, we recommend signing up for the ShareAsale Affiliate program. Their registration process is simple and pretty much straightforward.

d. Promote your affiliate offers

After registering for an affiliate program, the next step is to promote your affiliate offers. After signing up for the affiliate programs, you will be given a link to attach to your website, social pages etc. The links will be encoded with a cookie with a specified timeframe to track user engagement and conversions.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you start affiliate marketing with no money?

Yes, you can start affiliate marketing with no money; all you have to do is have an audience and a platform for posting your affiliate links. You can use your social media platforms to get started on affiliate marketing.

2. Can beginners do affiliate marketing?

Yes, anyone, even beginners, can do affiliate marketing. You can sign up for an affiliate program, promote the products and services from those platforms, and earn a passive income.

3. Is affiliate marketing easy?

When done in the right way, affiliate marketing can be easy. Affiliate marketing involves a systemic and flexible sales model that creates multiple income streams. Although it is not a get-rich-quick income model, when done, following the right steps, including product research, web traffic patterns, audience interest, and demographic targeting affiliate marketing, can help you make a passive income much more easily.