Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Dead Simple Guide
This is my favorite monetization strategy.
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Affiliate marketing is, hands-down, my favorite way to make money. Here’s why:
It’s low-cost. You can quickly start an affiliate business for free. All you need is a bit of time to spend creating content.
It’s a low-risk. You don’t need to buy inventory, lease a space, or conduct research and development, so there isn’t much to lose.
It doesn’t require customer service. You don’t need to be responsible for shipping products, handling returns, or dealing with customers’ issues.
It’s high profit. You can keep your expenses low, so most of your revenue is profit.
It has passive income potential. Once you’ve built a solid foundation and systematized your business, you can reduce the amount of time you spend working, and more of your revenue will become “passive.”
You can do it from anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection.
Anyone can do it. As long as you have access to a computer and some time to invest, you can take advantage of this opportunity.
No wonder it’s a $19 billion industry. And by 2030, it’s expected to grow to $37 billion.1
That’s because it’s not just an excellent business for entrepreneurs to start. It’s also a great sales channel for product-driven companies to acquire more customers cost-efficiently. 80% of online businesses use affiliate marketing to drive sales.2
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a relationship between anyone with an audience (or anyone who aspires to build an audience) and a company that wants to increase its sales.
Affiliate marketers share personalized links, and when shoppers make a purchase through their personalized affiliate link, they earn a commission from the company selling the product.
It’s also a great way to monetize audiences, including on Substack, Instagram, and anywhere else you can capture attention.
Why Would Companies Pay Other People a Comission on Their Sales?
Affiliate marketing can be a great marketing channel for companies looking to scale their sales—especially online—for two reasons:
It’s cost-effective. Since companies only pay their affiliates for actual sales, it can be preferable to traditional advertising, which usually requires them to pay whether or not the campaign leads to sales.
It drives incremental revenue. Affiliates help companies access buyers they may not have been able to reach through other channels easily.
Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?
I’ll be honest: when I first heard about affiliate marketing, my mind was blown. I couldn’t believe people made money this way and figured it had to be a scam.
I’ve since realized it’s quite the opposite: Affiliate marketing is extremely commonplace. Most content websites exist to make money, and they primarily do it through ads or affiliate marketing.
Affiliate Marketing Website Examples
Here are a few examples of affiliate marketing businesses, including one you probably already know about.
Wirecutter
Wirecutter, known for writing rigorous product reviews, doesn’t spend months extensively testing products as an act of charity. They do it because it’s highly profitable. That’s why the New York Times was happy to pay $30 million to acquire Wirecutter in 2016. 3
The Small Things
The Small Things, a home and beauty blog, often features product recommendations with affiliate links. Kate, the site’s founder, has written that her business earns enough to support her family of five and that around 40% of her revenue comes from affiliate links.4 She also publishes content on Instagram.
Retro Dodo
Retro Dodo, a brand dedicated to retro games, earns $50,000 monthly, primarily from affiliate links.5 The site builds its audience through a variety of informational content related to retro games and then publishes review content that generates revenue. It also publishes content on YouTube
How to Get Started With Affiliate Marketing
Looking to get started in affiliate marketing? The process is actually quite simple, although it takes time to build an audience you can monetize with affiliate links.
Note: If you already have a niche and audience, for example, monetizing a Substack publication or an Instagram theme page, you can jump right to Step 3 and join an affiliate program!
Step 1: Choose a Niche
The first and most crucial step is to choose a niche. What will your brand be about, and how will it contribute to its niche?
Start by looking for a niche with enough demand to build an audience you can monetize effectively. You want to make sure you know how you’ll build an audience (e.g., which marketing channels you will use).
While any traffic source can work, Google presents the most significant opportunity. This is why nearly 80% of affiliate marketers prioritize search engine optimization for driving traffic.6 Keyword research is essential for effective search engine optimization, so don’t skip it.
You also want to determine how you’ll stand out in the current competitive landscape. Evaluate all the key players and consider your unique selling proposition.
For example, it would be hard for anyone to compete with Wirecutter on general consumer goods product reviews but there are countless opportunities to niche down and go deeper. You could pick a specific product category to test, like travel products, and review them in more detail. Or you could review general consumer goods with a unique angle, such as limiting your reviews to eco-friendly options or adding in information on how sustainable the companies that make each product are.
Step 2: Build an Audience
Once you have chosen a niche, it’s time to start building an audience. Most likely, this will mean starting to create content optimized for SEO keywords, but it may also mean building a following on social media and converting traffic and followers into email subscribers.
This is always the hardest step. It takes time to build an audience, but if you consistently put in the work, your traffic, followers, and subscribers will keep growing. And you’ll be glad you put in the work!
Make sure you focus on adding value to your community. Not every piece of content you create should be about monetizing.
Step 3: Join an Affiliate Program
Next, join an affiliate program so you can promote their products!
Look Up Your Favorite Products
One of the best ways to find an affiliate program is to look up affiliate programs for the products you already know and love in your niche. Products that can be purchased online are more likely to have one than not.
To find programs, check the footer of your favorite brand’s websites or search “brand name” + “affiliate program.”
For example, when I go to the footer section of my favorite swimwear brand’s website, I can see a link to information about their affiliate program right away.
I also quickly found a link to their affiliate program when I searched for it on Google.
Join Amazon Associates
Another great option is to join Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates. Although this program is known to offer lower commissions than others, you’re much more likely to get conversions. That’s because almost everyone already has an account with Amazon, so if someone clicks your affiliate link, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll complete a purchase.
Explore Affiliate Networks
Finally, if you’re looking to browse for ideas for affiliate relationships, you can search affiliate networks. Most companies work with affiliate networks instead of running their own affiliate programs. Affiliate networks handle all the tracking for brands and commission payouts for affiliate marketers.
There are many affiliate networks out there, some specializing in specific niches, but these are the top five most used networks:
Commission Junction
ClickBank
ShareASale
Impact
Awin
Whichever program you join, make sure you read their terms and conditions and follow them. It will likely have guidelines on how you’re required to disclose your affiliate relationship with your audience.
Step 4: Use Your Affiliate Link
Once you’ve joined an affiliate program, it’s time to start using your links! Anytime you create content related to a product you’re an affiliate for, include your link. You’ll get a commission each time someone purchases a product you recommend using your link. Here are a few content ideas to get you started:
Reviews of products.
Tutorials on how to use specific tools or products.
“Best of” lists.
Your favorites and recommendations.
Gift guides.
Whether you already have an audience or want to start a new online business, I hope you’ll consider affiliate marketing. Join me next week for a new opportunity you can monetize with affiliate marketing!
To endless possibilities,
Casandra
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Cassandra, thank you so much!