When it comes to affiliate marketing, we are fascinated by the potential that this sector offers, in terms of earnings and flexibility of schedules and locations. But we tend to forget that there is work to be done, similar to a broadly defined path.
Becoming a professional affiliate is the dream of many Affiliate Marketing beginners, but being one means facing several challenges. The first is how to get started right with affiliate marketing.
Above all, because the affiliate landscape is dotted with characters who proclaim themselves as “best affiliate marketers”, “number one in the affiliate”, “the reference point of affiliate marketing,” and so on. With testimonies of people who seem to be under blackmail and who do not say what they sell and what methods they use.
For this reason, we advise you to stay away from such characters and start reading this short guide to get started with affiliate marketing for beginners without making mistakes and wasting money and time.
This definitive guide for affiliate marketing beginners is written based on the experience. It is useful for anyone trying to understand how to get started working with affiliates and those looking to stabilize their work with affiliate marketing.
STEP 1: What is it that you want to do?
Start with Affiliate Marketing starting from your passions, ask yourself: “what do I like to do?” What pleasantly takes your time?
If you can identify your passions, you will find the niche to start working on. When you talk about a topic that you like, it doesn’t weigh on you. You want to study, investigate, test, and, above all, know your potential competition well. It will help you comprehend who your adversaries are and what problems the users of that niche have because you are the first to be a user who has problems (and has had them in the past) and found a way to solve them.
STEP 2: Register a domain.
Once you’ve established a niche, you need to register a domain to create a website. Many services allow you to register one from $10 to $20 per year, depending on how much space and services you order.
We recommend that you use the domain name for the major search keywords you intend to rank for.
Don’t make the mistake of registering a long, hardly rememberable domain. Do not choose fancy names and remember that it must be in line with the main keyword, easy to remember, easily readable, and become a brand.
STEP 3: Create a website or blog.
If you intend to create a blog in WordPress (what we recommend, for reliability and ease of use), you will need to purchase a Linux hosting plan with a database. Some registrars offer a pre-installed WordPress package, or others allow you with a wizard to install WordPress in less than 5 minutes.
The only caution you must have is to install it on the root of the domain and not in a folder or subdomain.
Choose a functional and beautiful theme, install the basic plugins: Antispam, SEO, Cache, contact form, and other plugins suitable for your needs.
Create the pages: Who we are (or who I am), contacts, privacy policy, and cookie law, obviously the latter based on the use of data.
STEP 4: Write content.
Start writing content, original and useful. Provide the solutions to users who need to read the article, solutions that you have tested.
The user needs practical advice. They do not want to waste time.
Don’t be terrified to express your ideas, write, and compare yourself with other users.
Each of us is good at doing something. Telling can be useful for other users to face some things and learn to communicate.
STEP 5: Create a community.
Communities may seem like a waste of time, but they’re a great source of content.
Through communities, you can understand what users want, what they dream of, what they love, and what they hate. You can talk to them, and it may be a way to study and delve into other topics before providing an answer.
It can also be a stimulus to organize dedicated events and content.
NEVER look at your communities as a source of income. Remember that they are people like you, and even if they decide to give you money, they will have to do it freely.
You can create communities through Forum, Facebook group, Telegram, or through e-mail database.
STEP 6: Insert the first advertisements.
Get started with Google AdSense and Amazon. Amazon to understand how to insert text links (avoid putting graphic banners) technically and AdSense to understand how much your pages are worth and what kind of advertisers could be interesting for your pages.
Don’t go overboard with ad slots. Remember that the user is on your site for content and not to click on an advertisement mistakenly!
Engaging in these two partnerships will allow you to be more credible in affiliate networks and future advertisers’ eyes.
STEP 7: Curate social channels.
Each social channel has its purpose, and you need to communicate, even the same concept, differently.
Never be obvious or trite and offer value. Those who decide to follow you must do so because they trust you. Users know they can receive something and can donate something: the concept of knowledge we told you about in the community.
Social channels can help you communicate better, such as:
- Instagram Stories, to express concepts quickly and increase the ability to synthesize.
- LIVE on Facebook to connect with your users.
- YouTube to learn how to communicate in the video.
- LinkedIn to offer value in the workplace.
You don’t have to use all social media. Better to use a few but good ones, and they can be used to increase your authority in the sector.
STEP 8: Register on the affiliate networks.
This step is very important because your affiliate career depends on this choice. Do not follow easy earnings and feeding junk to your users. Seriously consider working with big brands!
For this cause, we suggest that you register with the best affiliate networks, which manage well-known brands and require a professional working method.
These are the networks with which I also started, and I would like to recommend: ShareASale, Awin, Amazon Associates, and Finance Ads (if you deal with financial products).
To be accepted by these affiliate networks, it is necessary to respect quality standards you must:
- Have the website registered in your name.
- The website must be related to category or niche. Avoid submitting consulting sites.
- NO adult, porn, violence, and avoid submitting sites about weight loss.
STEP 9: request the offers that interest you.
The affiliate networks suggested above have many advertisers divided by category. Try to select only advertisers related to your content, and not choose them based on pay.
Most advertisers accept affiliates and view posted websites. So if you own a website that talks about pets, avoid applying to credit institutions and car insurance companies. You risk becoming an affiliate marketing amateur, and networks will see you as a waste of time.
STEP 10: Affiliate marketing with text links.
Avoid using banners or graphic creative! If you really want to use them, because they are dynamic and indicate current prices, circumscribe them to an exact point to make those ads and text links look like opportunities.
Use text links on recognizable links or CTA (Call-To-Action) by inviting the user to action with simple and intuitive links.
At the base of Affiliate Marketing is the referral link. A Referral link is a way to get started, especially for affiliate marketing beginners. The Referral link stands for referring a customer through a unique and tracked link.
Generally, there is the “invite a friend” section on many affiliate programs, which is often considered an advantage that turns into benefits such as a discount, voucher, or amazon voucher. But it is none other than Affiliate Marketing. There is no better way to start.
STEP 11: Create value for your users.
You don’t need to worry about the amount you will earn before starting an online project with affiliations. Also because it can go wrong, but it can also go very well. You can greatly exceed your expectations.
But one thing must always be clear: you must offer value.
A value that only you can give, through your history, person, and experience.
Communicate what moves you, what is behind your choices, and why you decide to use a product or service rather than another. Disconnect from referrals (do not show your users that you recommend something just because you receive a commission). If you do it in freedom from the referral when you communicate value, users will recognize the referral and pay you back 100 times!
STEP 12: Analyze and make decisions.
Analyze every process of the funnel, simplify, and reshape your decisions every day. If you aspire to be better than your potential competitors, you don’t have to leave anything to chance.
Learn to do analysis even if you are a beginner in affiliate marketing, precisely because it is an activity that will serve you even when you are in an advanced stage. It is better for your own good if you start immediately to understand what happens by doing analysis. With little data and experience growth, you will know how to manage critical issues, quickly find solutions, and make the right decisions.
STEP 13: Paid traffic sources.
Learn when you’re ready to use all paid traffic sources: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, DEM, even TikTok Ads!
Don’t become dependent on just one traffic source and treat traffic sources as tools to reach potential users.
It’s not the tools that make the strategy!
STEP 14: Conceive Affiliate Marketing as a job.
Not a pastime or an automatic income- even to generate income that could be defined automatic you have to work on creation and maintenance.
Consider affiliate marketing as a full-time job and give yourself schedules and goals.
Affiliate Marketing can give you the concrete possibility to switch from Opportunity Seeker to Digital Entrepreneur.
STEP 15: Don’t be in a hurry.
Those who approach affiliations are in a hurry to earn.
In an employee or trainee job, you should wait sometime before receiving your first salary.
The same goes for online. You don’t need qualifications but skills. You have the opportunity to learn a job from home and not have high costs. Don’t let yourself be ruined by the rush and desire to reach other affiliates’ dashboards.
You are investing in your career/future, take the time you need. But you have to have faith in yourself and what you do.
