Affiliate Marketing For Beginners: Your Getting Started Guide (2022)

The affiliate marketing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with exciting career opportunities for creatives. It is fast becoming a common way for e-commerce brands to market their products and services.

Statista reports that in 2020 alone, more than two billion people bought goods or services online and e-retail sales exceeded $4.2 trillion worldwide. Of the billions of people who now buy things online, Awin's 2021 Affiliate Marketing Review showed that in April, 37% bought products through affiliate links.

Awin's 2021 report shows that in April, 37% of people bought products through affiliate links.

The best affiliate marketing programs are often free, so it doesn't cost much to get started. Plus, you can turn a side business into a profitable business that provides passive income over time.

Feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to start? This beginner's guide will get you up and running quickly.

affiliate marketing for beginners

 

How Affiliate Marketing Works

Affiliate marketing is a sales model where a business pays a third party to sell its product or service. If you've ever listened to a podcast or seen a social media influencer promoting a product, they're affiliate marketers. In exchange for recommending products or services to their audience, they earn a commission from any sales that result from their recommendation.

After choosing an affiliate marketing program, you will receive a unique link or code that will allow businesses to track every customer you send them.

You can find programs directly through a company or through an affiliate network. Regardless, the standard affiliate program works like this:

1. You promote Store A on your website, blog, or social network.
2. Someone clicks on your unique link.
3. They shop at Store A.
4. Company or affiliate network records transactions.
5. The purchase is confirmed by Store A.
6. You get a commission.

 

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

1. Deciding the niche
2. Choose your platform.
3. Find relevant affiliate marketing programs.
4. Create valuable content
5. Build an audience
6. Follow FTC regulations.

 

1. Decide on a Location

A niche is a segment of a larger market that is defined by its unique characteristics. It becomes your specialty and theme by which people will know you. Travel blogs will be an affiliate marketing niche, just like pet sitting or tiny houses.

Choosing a location is a strategic business decision designed to serve a specific customer base. This helps establish a loyal audience that will buy your products instead of the competition.

 Elise Dopson, founder of Sprocker Lovers

The main affiliate marketing niches found by Easy Affiliate are:

1. Lifestyle and fitness
2. Technology
3. Personal Economics
4. Pet sitting

Of course, these aren't your only options. There are hundreds of options available. So however does one move to find a profitable niche that interests you? Consider the following:

• Do you want to know more about the niche? You will want to become an expert in your subject over time. The only way to achieve expert status is to constantly learn and stay on top of trends.
• Can you solve the problems? Affiliate marketers often have specialized training or experience in a specific niche. This gives them new ways to gift data and facilitates individuals to solve issues.
• Is it profitable? Run a quick Google search to see how popular your location is. Check out how much competition there is in the space. Read market reports. A busy place isn't always a bad thing, because it means people are ready to buy.

The goal is to choose a place that you enjoy. You won't make six figures overnight. Running an Associate in Nursing affiliate business takes commitment and time If you already enjoy doing it, you're more likely to keep doing it regardless of the money you're bringing in.

 

2. Choose Your Platform

The next step is to choose the platform you'll use for your business. Every affiliate marketer has a different platform and approach.

For example, while blogger Ryan Robinson has an Instagram account, his primary source of income ($300,000+ annually) comes from his blog. Other affiliates focus exclusively on Instagram or TikTok to earn affiliate commissions.

There are two main ways to choose a beginner:

Product review sites or specific topics

These sites review companies' products for specific audiences and compare products against each other. They can also post buyer's guides and product tutorials to help shoppers make purchasing decisions.

 

Digital content

Content creators embrace bloggers, social media influencers, and YouTubers. They consistently post content that resonates with their audience to gain impact and encourage clicks.

A good example is however Ryan Robinson's journal focuses on freelancers. Post new freelancing content regularly to attract an audience and promote the brands you're affiliated with.

Authenticity and audience engagement are two key elements of affiliate marketing. If you can't connect with your audience, they probably won't buy the products you recommend.

Not sure which platform to choose? Start on a platform you feel comfortable with. If you want to make videos for social networks, make Instagram your platform. If you are a good writer, blogging is probably the best way for you. Creating on platforms you already know will help you create content that connects with your audience and drives affiliate sales.

 

3. Find Relevant Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are many affiliate marketing programs out there. According to Mediakix, eightieth of corporations use affiliate promoting. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you find the right program for you.

Make sure you don't just focus on high-paying affiliate programs, but find affiliate offers and products that appeal to your audience. Some things to think about once selecting AN affiliate program include:

• Does this program have a great reputation in the market? You do not need to figure out partners that individuals don't trust. Fortunately, affiliate networks have vet programs and are reliable and profitable merchants you can work with.
• Does the program have a good commission rate? You want to make good money for your time and effort. Many programs pay 10% to 20% commission on sales.
• Are your Earnings Per Click (EPC) rates high? EPC is an industry-standard metric that shows the average revenue associated with every 100 clicks on a merchant's program. Networks show you this information for each merchant. For example, Modern Nursery pays a 5% commission, but your EPC is $38.20, which means you can earn about $40 per click.

Finding the right programs is crucial to running a successful affiliate business. For example, True Crime Obsessed is a comedy podcast where best friends and hosts Patrick Hines and Gillian Pensavalle talk about true crime documentaries with a comedic twist.

Using this feature in a popular location, they achieved over 70 million downloads in a year, as well as a network that was obsessed with six other spin-offs.

The podcast promotes various products and services in the episodes and a dedicated promo code page related to its location.

To find smart affiliate opportunities, raise your favorite brands if they need an envoy or affiliate program. This way, you can promote products that you already appreciate and enjoy.

 

4. Create Valuable Content

According to a Statista report, people spent an average of 170 minutes online in 2019 globally. People consume content, but if you want to stand out, you have to make your content valuable to your audience.

Blogs are a great way to do this. Findstack reports that 65 percent of all affiliate marketers generate traffic through blogs alone. Kelly Marvel of GreenSpringHome advises that new affiliate marketers should "focus on offering high-quality content... and focus on building a highly engaged audience. This should pay dividends later on." !

In 2020, Statista reported that people worldwide spend an average of 145 minutes per day on social media. So if you're asking if you must have a website to become an affiliate marketer, the answer is no.

Social media advertising is a free and easy way to get your content out to people who might be interested. Even platforms like Pinterest have affiliate opportunities using pins on their various boards.

There are many affiliate marketers who work entirely on social media, like @amandacerny who became an influencer through her YouTube vlogs and is now a prominent influencer and affiliate marketer on Instagram with over 24 million followers.

If you have a blog, do your research and understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Brightedge reported in 2020 that SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media. Doing keyword research and implementing SEO well is crucial to reaching your audience. Email marketing is another way to retain customers who are already interested in your site.

5. Build an Audience

To build an audience you must first reach them. Building email lists helps you reach your audience directly. You can send newsletters, updates on new content, and exciting offers directly to anyone who signs up to be part of your email list.

If you work primarily on social media, follow and tag influencers who are interested in your niche. The name of the game is doing whatever you can to increase traffic to your website or social media page.

Attracting them is only the first part, now it's important to build trust between you and your audience so they keep coming back. PageOneCoffee advises: "Write on things that add worth to your audience and facilitate them connect and create a more robust, additional educated call concerning the choices obtainable to them."

Don't try to sell your audience anything just to make a quick buck.

Write about things that will create value for your audience and help them connect and make a better, more informed decision about the options available to them.

 

6. Comply with FTC Regulations

The FTC protects consumers from deceptive business practices. Unfortunately, there are affiliate marketers who are willing to promote scams and misleading products and services to make a quick buck.

To prevent this, the FTC requires any affiliate marketer to disclose their financial relationship with any brand or product they are promoting. In short, you must tell your audience that you are getting paid to promote the products you are promoting, and you must always tell them when a link is an affiliate to comply with the FTC.

 

What are the Benefits of Affiliate Marketing?

Now that you understand how affiliate marketing works, let's look at some of the key benefits.

Most public affiliate programs are large and don't require you to buy the products they recommend like Amazon Associates. Just join their affiliate program, take their link, and post it on your page or website.

This is great when you're just starting out because you don't have to spend a ton of money on physical or digital products right from the start. You can take some time and experiment and see what kind of products and services are getting the most traction with your audience.

 

It is a Passive Source of Income

Once you've laid the groundwork to keep traffic coming to your site, you're pretty much ready to go. All you've got to try to do is select the correct affiliate partners that are attractive to your audience and post those links. Your unique links and codes will continue to generate recurring commissions for you, as long as you keep them visible on your site.

 

High Earning Potential

Affiliate marketing has six-figure earning potential for newbies. It might not make that kind of money yet, but there is real potential for affiliate marketing to replace your 9-to-5 job. For example, Pat Flynn told Business Insider that she earns up to $170,000 a month as an affiliate. Marketing business.

Adventure Junkie and Biking Know founder Rohan Kadam also turned his blog from a passion project into a successful online business using affiliate sales.

I grew my affiliate marketing business during the particularly challenging COVID pandemic and made it profitable in a short period of time.

 

How Much are You Able to Earn as a Brand-New Afiliate Marketer?

Commission rates vary depending on the company you work with. The Amazon Associates program offers between 1% and 10% commission on sales. Others, like ButcherBox and Thrive Market, offer a flat commission of $20 per sale. There are even affiliate programs that offer recurring commissions of up to 30% per sale.

How much you can earn from affiliate marketing is entirely up to you. It will depend on how much traffic you can generate to your site(s), how well you predict what affiliate products and services your audience will respond to, and the affiliate programs you join.

Statista reports that the affiliate marketing industry in the US will reach $8.2 billion by 2022, up from $5.4 billion in 2017.

So it's a growing market. In fact, according to Google Trends, interest in affiliate marketing has grown 142% since 2016 (although interest peaked in the summer of 2021 with a 426% increase).

 

Earn Passive Income with Successful Affiliate Marketing

There is no doubt that affiliate income is a great way to make money online. With a little time and effort, you can build an audience and earn regular payments through your affiliate site, all without taking on too much risk.

READ MORE:

Amazon Affiliate Marketing: How to Become an Amazon Associate to Increase Income

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