Affiliate Marketing :
Your Startup Guide (2024)
New to affiliate marketing? You’re in the right place. Learn how to start your first affiliate marketing business in this guide.
The affiliate marketing sector is a multibillion-dollar industry offering exciting opportunities for creators and affiliate marketers. It's a popular method for ecommerce brands to promote their products and services, with 79% of online companies utilizing affiliates.
Similar to a salesperson earning a commission, affiliate marketers earn rewards for directing new customers to a company. However, unlike a traditional salesperson, you don’t work directly for the company.
The great advantage is you don't need to invest time and money in developing your own products—someone else has already done the hard work. Essentially, when you help another company generate sales, you earn a share of the profits!
There are two main roles in affiliate marketing: product owner/affiliate program creator and affiliate marketer. Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful ways to generate income online. No matter your niche, the potential for success in affiliate marketing is nearly limitless if approached correctly!
One of the appealing aspects of affiliate marketing, especially for beginners, is that you don’t have to create the products yourself. These products already exist, making it easy to start without significant investment.
Affiliate marketing opportunities are everywhere, and you may have participated without even realizing it. If you've ever clicked a link in a blog post that led to a purchase on another website, the original site owner likely received a commission.
The best affiliate marketing programs are often free to join, making it accessible with minimal start-up costs. Many entrepreneurs begin affiliate marketing as a side hustle and gradually build their businesses over time.
How affiliate marketing works
Let’s get into how affiliate marketing works. There are three main players in an affiliate marketing arrangement:
You and Your Website (the "Affiliate"): You promote products or services on your platform.
The Affiliate Company or Network: In straightforward arrangements, you work directly with a company to promote its products. More complex networks like Amazon, Impact, and ShareASale allow you to earn revenue from a range of products.
The Customer: This is a member of your audience who uses your affiliate link to purchase a product from the affiliate company or network.
Companies offering affiliate marketing programs may call them partner programs or referral programs.
Here’s how each party benefits from affiliate marketing:
Your audience discovers products, courses, or tools that may be useful to them through your recommendations.
The company gains new customers they might not have reached otherwise.
You earn a commission from the sales generated through your audience.
When done correctly, affiliate marketing is a win-win-win situation.
To succeed, earn your audience's trust first and only recommend products you’ve used and believe will benefit them.
As an affiliate, you'll receive a unique link that allows the program manager to track every customer you refer. When a customer makes a purchase through your link, you earn a commission.
You can find an affiliate program directly through a company or via an affiliate network that lists multiple programs. Regardless, here’s how the standard affiliate program works:
1. You promote Store A on your website, blog, or social network.
2. Someone clicks your unique link.
3. They make a purchase in Store A.
4. The company or affiliate network records the transaction.
5. The purchase is confirmed by Store A.
6. You receive a commission.
For example, influencer Juliana Silva promotes the Shopify, directing users toward the affiliate link in his bio. Shopify has an affiliate program to attract influencers.
Clicking one of those links stores a cookie on your device. This tracks your visits to the affiliate, so the program manager can compensate Juliana for a successful referral, even if you visit Shopify at a later date.
If you click on the link in his bio, you’ll see further links to all the brands that Juliana promotes.
How much do affiliate marketers make?
The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to invest time and effort in creating your own product. You can start selling as an affiliate as soon as you have a platform. This makes affiliate marketing an excellent way to earn extra income with minimal hassle and upfront costs.
However, it takes time and hard work to build a successful affiliate marketing business. Like any passive income stream, it requires dedication to create a steady revenue flow. While affiliate marketing has been my primary income source for a while, reaching this point involved building strong relationships with the companies I promote.
So, how much can you make once you’re established in affiliate marketing? It largely depends on your commitment and the amount of time, energy, and focus you invest. Several factors influence your earnings:
Commission Percentage: The rate you earn for each sale of an affiliate product or service.
Audience Size: The number of people you can reach with your promotions.
Promotion Success: How effectively you promote the products or services to your audience.
Commission rates vary based on the affiliate company and the types of products or services you promote. Digital products and services often offer higher margins, sometimes up to 50%, due to lower production and fulfillment costs.
There is no real limit to how much you can earn as an affiliate marketer. It can be a great way to supplement your income or even become your main source of income if you're willing to commit. For long-term success in affiliate marketing, it's crucial to do it the right way.
How to start affiliate marketing
How to start: Affiliate marketing for beginners
Many how to start affiliate marketing posts suggest a series of steps similar to this:
Find a company and product you want to promote.
Sign up as an affiliate.
Get your unique affiliate link and add it to your site.
A visitor to your website clicks the link, which takes them to a third-party page.
If the visitor makes a purchase, you receive a commission based on the value of the item purchased.
Now, these steps are definitely accurate—you can’t earn money with affiliate marketing without first finding a product to promote!
But more importantly, you shouldn’t be affiliate marketing without first establishing trust with your audience. Audience first, always.
That’s why my methodology for successful online affiliate marketing goes like this:
First, build a relationship with your audience.
Then, identify a product that might fit your audience’s needs.
Next, use and test the product yourself, to ensure it’s truly something worth recommending to your audience, so you don’t risk taking advantage of their trust.
Show your audience tangible proof that the product does what it promises via a blog post or case study on your website or YouTube channel.
Then—and only then!—you can start to promote the product to your audience and hopefully start earning some affiliate revenue when they purchase it.
This approach puts your audience’s needs front and center, setting you up for success with affiliate marketing.
These are the four biggest traps to look out for, so that you have an even greater chance to succeed with this powerful tool that can help you better serve your audience, generate an income, and build relationships with the owners of the products you’re promoting.
The four biggest affiliate marketing mistakes:
Promoting a product that doesn’t make sense for your audience.
Not keeping an eye on the quality of your audience’s experience.
Not being honest about a product or promotion.
Earning all of your income from affiliate marketing.
Authenticity and audience engagement are two critical elements of affiliate marketing. If you can’t connect with your audience, they likely won’t buy the products you recommend.
Not sure which platform to choose? Start on a platform you’re comfortable with. If you enjoy creating social media videos, make Instagram your platform. If you’re a good writer, maybe blogging is the best route for you. Creating on platforms you already understand will help you create content that connects with your audience and drives affiliate sales.
3. Find a relevant affiliate marketing program
It’s important to make sure you find the affiliate program that is right for you. Make sure not to just focus on high-paying affiliate programs but to find the affiliate offers and products that will appeal to your audience.
A few things to look for when choosing an affiliate program include:
Does the affiliate have a good brand reputation? Don’t work with partners that customers don’t trust. Fortunately, affiliate networks vet programs and present reliable, profitable merchants you can work with.
Does the affiliate program have a good commission rate? You want to earn good money for your time and effort. Many programs pay upward of 20% commissions for a sale. Choose a rate that works for you.
Does it have a high earnings per click (EPC) rate? EPC is an industry-wide metric that shows the average affiliate earnings per 100 clicks across a merchant’s affiliate program. Many affiliate networks show you this information for each program.
Finding an aligned program is critical to running a successful affiliate business.
To find good affiliate opportunities, ask your favorite brands if they have an ambassador or affiliate program. That way you can promote products you already appreciate and enjoy.
You can also find products and brands to work with in the following affiliate marketplaces:
4. Create valuable content
In 2023, people spent an average of six hours and 35 minutes online per day. There's no doubt that global attention is available for online content creators, but to capture it, you must make your content valuable to a specific audience.
Blogs are a good way to create relevant content, with a reported 65% of all affiliate marketers generating traffic through blogging alone.
Promoting an affiliate link on social media is another free way to get your content into the hands of the people who might be interested in it. There are plenty of affiliate marketers who operate entirely on social mediaplatforms.
5. Build an audience
To build an audience, first you have to reach them. Creating email lists helps you to directly reach your audience. You can send newsletters, updates on new content, and exciting offers directly to anyone who signs up to be a part of your email list.
If you’re operating mostly on social media, follow and tag influencers who may be interested in your niche. The name of the game is to do what you can to increase the traffic to your website or social media page.
Reeling them in is just the first part, now it’s important to build trust between you and your audience to keep them coming back.
Don’t just try and sell anything to your audience in order to gain a quick buck. The more they feel your genuine interest, the more they will trust you.
What are the benefits of affiliate marketing?
Now that you understand how affiliate marketing works, let’s look at a few top benefits.
You don’t own the products you’re promoting
Most public affiliate programs are larger and don’t require that you buy any of the products you recommend, like Amazon Associates. You simply join their affiliate program, grab your link, and post it on your page or website.
It’s perfect when you’re starting out, because you don’t have to invest a bunch of money off the bat. You can take time and experiment to see which types of products and services are gaining the most traction with your audience.
It’s a passive income source
Once you’ve established the groundwork to keep traffic coming to your site, you’re pretty much set. All you have to do is choose the right affiliate partners that will appeal to your audience and post those links. Your unique links and codes will continue to bring in a recurring commission for you, as long as you keep them visible on your site.
It has high earning potential
Affiliate marketing has six-figure earning potential for newcomers. You may not bring in that sort of money right at the jump, but there is real potential for affiliate marketing to replace your nine-to-five.
Back in 2016, affilaite marketer Pat Flynn told Business Insider that he earns up to $170,000 per month from affiliate commissions.
Adventure junkie and founder of affiliate website Biking Know How Rohan Kadam also turned his blog from a passion project into a successful online business by using affiliate sales. “I scaled my business, especially during the COVID pandemic, and made it profitable in a short period,” he says.
How much can you make as a new affiliate marketer?
How much you can make with affiliate marketing is completely up to you. It’ll depend on how much traffic you can generate, how well you gauge which affiliate products and services your audience will respond to, and the commission rates of the affiliate programs you join.
Commission rates vary widely among affiliate programs. High ticket programs may offer higher rates and larger payouts, but this needs to be balanced against less frequent sales. Programs for lower-value products typically offer 1% to 20% commissions on sales, which may be more frequent.
Some brands operate their own affiliate programs with bespoke commission models such as flat rate commissions or payment for traffic rather than sales. As your performance improves, you may also be able to negotiate preferable rates with your affiliate partners.
Earn passive income with successful affiliate marketing
There’s no doubt affiliate income is a smart way to earn money online. With a little time and effort upfront, you can build an audience and earn consistent payouts through your affiliate site—all without taking on too much risk.Affiliate marketing for beginners FAQ
How do I start affiliate marketing as a beginner?
Decide on a niche
Choose your platform
Find relevant affiliate marketing programs on affiliate networks
Create valuable content
Build an audience
How much do beginner affiliate marketers make?
Beginner affiliate marketers typically make up to 30% commission per sale. Depending on the number of sales made, beginner affiliate marketers can make anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 annually.
What are the best affiliate marketing opportunities for beginners?
The best affiliate marketing opportunities for beginners are programs that are related to that creator or marketer’s niche. Look for programs that pay higher commission rates and those related to trends and popular search terms. Search for these opportunities on affiliate network or marketplace like:
Is affiliate marketing worth it for beginners?
Affiliate marketing work is worth it for beginners because you can start with no money. You can gain and grow your target audience on free platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, and promote your affiliate products without any upfront costs.
1. Decide on a niche
A niche is a segment of a larger market defined by its own unique characteristics. It becomes your specialty and the topic people will know you for. Travel blogging would be an affiliate marketing niche, as would pet care or tiny homes.
These aren’t your only options, of course. There are hundreds of affiliate marketing niches available. So how do you go about finding a profitable niche that interests you? Consider the following:
Do you want to learn more about the niche? You’ll need to become a subject matter expert on your topic by constantly learning and staying on top of trends.
Can you solve problems within the niche? Affiliate marketers often have special training or experience in a specific niche. This gives them new ways to present information and help people solve problems.
Is the niche profitable? Lucrative niches are rarely untapped. A niche that contains a few competitors is a sign that there are customers ready to buy.
The goal is to choose a niche with good business prospects, but also one that you enjoy. Running an affiliate business takes commitment and time. If you enjoy the process, you’ll be more likely to stay committed.
2. Choose your affiliate marketing channel
The next step is considering what channels you’ll use to reach your audience. Each affiliate marketer has a different approach.
For example Instagram or TikTok or Pinterest affiliate marketing to earn commissions.
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