Thousands of independent creators, entrepreneurs, and online publications use affiliate marketing to drive millions in revenue every single month.

how to start affiliate marketing

Most beginners who try affiliate marketing fail to see the financial results they were promised by countless blogs and videos on the internet.

Read on to avoid common mistakes that hold beginners back, plus the most important affiliate marketing tips to help you become successful, sooner.

According to Statista, spending on affiliate marketing programs by businesses will grow to $8.2 billion in the US this year. That's up 76% in the last 6 years alone.

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Affiliate marketing fundamentals you need to know:

   What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a business model where brands share revenue with publishers and content creators in exchange for leads and sales. It works similarly to a salesperson being paid a commission for a successful sale.
The more sales you make, the more money you earn. Affiliate commissions can range from cents on the dollar to hundreds of dollars per referral. Done right, affiliate marketing could help you earn more than your current job or diversify the revenue of your existing content business.

Here's an overview of how affiliate marketing works:

  1. You share an affiliate link on your website, blog, or in a social media post
  2. A customer clicks your affiliate link
  3. The customer is redirected to the advertiser's website
  4. The customer is tracked as being referred by you through a cookie
  5. The customer makes a purchase
  6. An affiliate network attributes the purchase to you and issues a commission
  7. Commissions appear in your affiliate dashboard
  8. You get paid (!) by the affiliate network

  • There is no single profile for a successful affiliate marketer. They range from independent entrepreneurs to teams at well-known news outlets and online publications.

    And since you aren’t responsible for the delivery of a product or service, affiliate marketing is low risk. You don't need a degree in marketing or any specific qualifications to be a successful affiliate marketer. With the right resources, almost anyone can generate affiliate revenue.

    In today’s world, the success of an affiliate depends heavily on its ability to capture an audience and attract the right kind of traffic. To do that yourself, you need to craft quality content and optimize it for conversion.

    And it all starts with understanding and creating affiliate links.

    What is an affiliate link?

    The main way affiliate marketing works is through affiliate links. Affiliate links are trackable links with a unique URL assigned specifically to you. They help advertisers know that you sent them a specific customer, so they can pay you a commission if that customer makes a purchase.

    Here's an example of the structure of a typical affiliate link:

  • The most important thing to know as a beginner is that in order to earn a commission, the customer who converts needs to come through your unique affiliate link.

  • Then there's the way you earn your commissions. For the most part, there are two main models for earning affiliate revenue:

    • CPA (Cost Per Action): You earn every time someone from your audience completes an action. Depending on the program, the action could be making a purchase, starting a free trial, or filling out a form with contact information.
    • CPC (Cost Per Click): You get paid for clicks the advertiser considers to be quality visitors, even if they don’t complete a specific action.

    Different affiliate programs will offer different payment models, and some may even pay you for both leads and conversions. We'll cover how to pick good affiliate programs later in this guide.

    While you're here, here are a couple more key affiliate marketing terms you should get familiar with. These will also help you pick affiliate programs with high earning potential:

    • Cookies: Cookies are small files that are stored on a customer’s device when they click an affiliate link. They help businesses and affiliate networks remember that you referred the customer to them, so they can give you a commission later on.
    • Cookie duration: Cookies typically have expiration dates. Affiliate links tend to have expiration dates between 15 to 30 days, but they can run for as little as 24 hours up to a year or more. Cookie duration matters to affiliate marketers because customers may come back to purchase days or weeks after a customer first clicks on an affiliate link.
    • Affiliate networks: Brands typically set up their affiliate programs on third-party platforms called Affiliate Networks. These platforms bring brands and affiliate marketers together. There are dozens of affiliate networks, with the most popular including Impact, Flexoffers, Clickbank, PartnerStack, and Rakuten.

    Is affiliate marketing worth it?

    As an affiliate marketer, your earning potential is unlimited. And how many people can say that?

    How much you earn depends on you, your chosen niche, and your ability to optimize your content and revenue streams. But that doesn't mean that most affiliate marketers end up becoming online millionaires.

    According to PayScale, the average Affiliate Marketer earns between $3,000 and $6,000 per month (or, $36K to $72K annually).

  • And the top 1% of earners generate tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month. They tend to be full-time affiliate marketers with dedicated teams, and several years of experience.

  • But you don’t have to go full-throttle to create a sustainable business. The best part of affiliate marketing is that it can supplement your 9-5 income from day one.

    And with enough patience and dedication — replace it entirely.

    The steps to get started with affiliate marketing

    The biggest, open secret to affiliate marketing is that your earning potential is highly dependent on the niche you choose. That is, what kind of audience you want to serve and the types of products that the audience needs to buy. So you need to know what to look for in a niche before launching your affiliate marketing business.

    Here are the steps you need to get right from the beginning:

    Step 1. Choose a niche based on research

    Rushing to catch the latest fads can lead to trouble when these trends end faster than they appear (fidget spinners, anyone?).

    Doing niche research is the best thing you can do to make sure your affiliate business has high earning potential and will make money for years to come.

    In the process, you'll analyze the competitive landscape, learn about affiliate programs available in your niche, and be able to create a sustainable affiliate marketing strategy and content plan.

    Here's an overview of the niche research process:

    If you’re looking for niche ideas, there are plenty of free niche research tools that will help you get the ball rolling. Just quickly, here are three popular tools for niche research:

    • Google Trends – Trending topics and searches, organized by geography

    That said, if you're starting affiliate marketing with no money or a small budget, I recommend picking a topic you're passionate about. That way, you won't get bored or hate your niche when you're writing 50+ articles on the topic.

    But a topic you like isn't enough — it needs to be able to make money.

    Again, tools like Google Trends are good for vetting niches that you discover and making sure they're not just passing trends. In all likelihood, you're going to want to choose an evergreen niche that generates income all year, every year.

    Finally, it’s also important to understand the competition to find your entry point into the market.

    You might want to start a blog about web hosting (one of the most lucrative affiliate niches), but the amount of capital and content it takes to compete might be out of reach for beginners.

    Look for medium-competition niches, where there are a few established players, but you can better serve a smaller audience, distinguish yourself, and expand later on.

    For example, instead of "web hosting" for everyone, you could start with "salon website builder" and focus on teaching professionals in the beauty industry. By starting a niche, you can build a tight-knit community around your brand and even gain an advantage in ranking on Google.

    Step 2. Choose the right platform

    With a niche in mind, it's time to decide where to host your affiliate content and what type of content you want to create.

    There are two main choices for affiliates starting out: a website or a YouTube channel.

    YouTube can be an excellent place to grow an audience, build a brand, and promote affiliate products to an audience that trusts your recommendations.

    But there are some downsides to starting with only a YouTube channel:

  1. The video takes longer to produce than written content. Which limits the amount of content you can create when starting your project.
  2. Videos are harder to outsource. Especially if you're the face of the channel, it means you'll need to be involved with every video.
  3. Harder to grow your email list. YouTube doesn't have a built-in way to collect email subscribers. Yet email is one of the most effective channels for affiliate marketing.
  4. YouTube channels tend to make less affiliate money. There's simply more friction to getting clicks on your affiliate links from a video compared to a well-optimized blog post.

  • Ultimately, it's great to have both a website and YouTube. Embedding videos on an affiliate website is also an excellent way to boost conversion. But if you're a total beginner, you'll probably find it easier to start affiliate marketing with a blog. 

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