Are you keen on trying out affiliate marketing? Stats show that the top 10% of affiliate marketers earn more than $50,000 per year from affiliate sales alone.
Affiliate marketing also comes with low barriers to entry. If you already have an online audience, you might have an affiliate marketing opportunity sitting right in your lap.
Don’t have an online audience? No problem. You can still build an affiliate income stream for yourself.
If you’re looking to generate passive income, you don’t want to miss out on affiliate marketing. Continue reading our guide to affiliate marketing for beginners to learn about this income source.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Before we get into how to make money with affiliate marketing, what is affiliate marketing exactly?
Affiliate marketing is the process where affiliates earn a commission on every sale they trigger for a business.
To put this into a real-life example, let’s say Sally runs a hair salon. You decide you want to recommend her services. Sally decides she’s going to reward you for each new client she gets from your recommendations, by paying you 10% of the value of their first cut or hair treatment.
This is essentially what affiliate marketing is, except instead of physically going around and recommending a product, all you have to do is talk about or advertise it on the web.
Amazon currently runs one of the most famous affiliate programs in existence, Amazon Associates. Just about anyone, from bloggers to Youtubers to online marketers can sign up.
Once you become a member, you can incorporate referral links to Amazon products in your content. If someone clicks on your referral links and makes a purchase, you get a percentage.
Amazon played a big role in pioneering the way for affiliate marketing programs. Now, there are thousands of affiliate programs you can sign up for.
Advantages of Affiliate Marketing
Now that we’ve outlined what affiliate marketing is, let’s take a look at why it can be such an advantageous way to start making money online.
Here are some of the reasons why you might want to focus on or include an affiliate marketing strategy in your online endeavors.
You Can Make Money Reccomending Products You Genuininly Like
One of the advantages of affiliate marketing is that it can allow you to make money recommending and mentioning products you genuinely like.
If seamy, sales-ey marketing makes you want to run a mile, then affiliate marketing could be a good fit for you.
There are literally millions of different products and services you can recommend that have affiliate marketing programs. Take the Amazon Associates program for example.
Currently, Amazon sells over 12 million products. They also have a high level of brand trust. If you recommend a product you found on Amazon, you’re not going to look like some seedy internet marketer who’s trying to get rich quick.
Instead, you’ll be helping other people who are also looking for a similar product.
Affiliate Marketing Can Integrate Seamlessly With Content
Another big perk to affiliate marketing is that it’s easy to integrate with content. Unlike things like sponsored brand deals, you don’t have to dedicate an entire piece of content to an affiliate link.
You also don’t have to meet any specific requirements from brands or follow any briefs. The only thing you need to do is meet the requirements for entering the affiliate program, which usually involves having a certain sized audience and creating content that does not promote illegal or illicit behavior.
If you already have a blog or large social media following, you can work affiliate links into your content wherever they fit in naturally.
For instance, if you run a recipe blog you can incorporate links to kitchen-related items into your content. If you have a DIY channel on Youtube, you can create a list of affiliate links for some of the tools and materials you use.
Besides including affiliate links into new content you create, you can also add them to existing content.
You Don’t Have to Be an Influencer to Generate Money With Affiliate Marketing
Implementing an affiliate marketing strategy is a great way for existing bloggers, influencers, and content creators to increase their revenue—but you don’t have to be an influencer to make start making money with affiliate marketing.
If you want to, you can create a new website purely focused on providing information and promoting affiliate links. This is the most common way to drive affiliate revenue, as 65% of affiliate marketers use blogs to drive traffic and conversions.
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners Isn’t Super Complex
For most people, it’s not too hard to get started with affiliate marketing. If you are already creating content, signing up with a good affiliate program shouldn’t be difficult. After that, it’s simply a matter of incorporating your affiliate links into your content in a way that is not spammy and will drive conversions for you.
If you haven’t started creating content, then it will probably take you a little longer to start making money with affiliate sales. You might need to learn some new skills along the way, such as how to set up a website, shoot video content, or craft compelling blog posts that get found in search.
If you’re aiming to make money through affiliate marketing and a social media following, then you’ll need to devote time to growing that following and connecting with your audience.
How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
If you’re already creating content, affiliate marketing is an opportunity you shouldn’t pass by. If you’re just dipping your toe into making money online and building a passive income, you should definitely consider how you can leverage affiliate marketing.
But how do you actually go about making money with affiliate marketing?
Here’s how to get started with affiliate marketing for beginners. The first few steps are for those who aren’t yet creating content.
Pick a Niche
If you’re starting from scratch, and don’t yet have an audience, the first step is to pick a niche. There’s an old saying around making money online, and that is “go niche and get rich”.
By niching down, you can refine your target audience and create content that is tailored uniquely to them. Instead of just creating content around anything, you can set yourself up to become an authority in your niche.
Establishing yourself as an authority is a key part of building trust. If your audience trusts you, they’ll be more likely to buy a product you recommend.
If you’re going to be creating content, it’s also advantageous to pick a niche that you’re interested in and already knowledgeable about.
For instance, if you’re a bit of a kitchen gadget nerd, then it might make sense to create kitchen gadget reviews. If you’re buying and testing out new kitchen gadgets frequently, then why not create content out of it and an affiliate marketing opportunity?
Start Creating Content
Once you’ve picked a niche, pull the trigger and start creating content. A lot of good affiliate programs require you to have some minimum audience level, so you might as well get started right away putting out content and building your audience.
One of the keys to success when it comes to making money online is dedication and persistence, especially in the beginning when it might feel like you aren’t getting any traction. Almost all online endeavors are a slow build. Whether it’s blogging, Youtubing, building an Instagram following, you name it.
However, if you keep at it, and provide value, things will start to snowball at some point. The best way to ensure you don’t give up before this happens is to set a content schedule and stick to it.
Sign Up for Affiliate Marketing Programs
The next step is to sign up for one or more affiliate marketing programs. The best programs to sign up for will depend on your niche and content.
Product relevance should be your driving factor when picking an affiliate program. The more relevant affiliate products are, the easier it will be to naturally incorporate them, and the better your conversion rate will be.
Amazon Associates is usually a good one for almost any content creator or influencer. Even if you don’t regularly mention specific Amazon products in your content, you might still find opportunities to use their affiliate links.
For instance, if you have a Youtube channel, you can include a section in the description of all your videos where you list the filming gear you use with the applicable affiliate links.
Incorporate Your Affiliate Links
Once you have signed up with the right affiliate programs, all that’s left is to incorporate your affiliate links into your content.
If you want to, you can create content to specifically target certain affiliate links, such as product comparisons. Or, you can just incorporate them whenever they happen to be a good fit.
Want to Learn More About Affiliate Marketing for Beginners?
Do you already have an audience or a following? If you have yet to try affiliate you’re leaving a solid income stream on the table.
Alternatively, maybe you’re looking for ideas on how to make money online? If so, affiliate marketing could be the perfect income source to target.
Do you want more content on affiliate marketing for beginners? The Affiliate Renegade has got your back. We cover all things affiliate marketing in an easy-to-understand way.
Browse our blog for more posts on how to start making money with affiliate marketing.
