Affiliate Marketing is one of the best online businesses that any newbie can get started with.  The overall business model is so simple yet incredibly powerful.

It allows virtually anyone of any skill level to create a full time income online.

However, if you want to make money affiliate marketing and become successful, it does take time and hard work. Learning the process and developing the skills in the beginning is absolutely essential if you want to see real results.

First of all, let me give you a little background into my own personal journey with Affiliate Marketing.

I started my journey in 2013 with absolutely no website experience or really any idea what I was doing.  But I stumbled across a program that peaked my interest and lit a fire under me.  More about that later.

I followed the training in this program and even built my first website within the first few days of starting. I was excited for the potential that this business could become.  And I just kept pushing forward toward my goals.

My very first commission payment came in at a very unexpected time.  I was literally sitting on a beach enjoying life, when I got a notification on my phone.  It was my very first affiliate sale.  I was so excited and I couldn't believe that it really worked.

I made $8.50 from that affiliate sale… not much, but I immediately already recognized the power of scaling this business and I knew that I could make this a full time income.

I kept following the training and learning all I could about Affiliate Marketing and before I knew it, I was bringing in a substantial monthly income.

As a result, my life has completely changed and I now have the freedom to work from home or anywhere I choose.

⇒⇒ My Free Online Business Coaching ⇐⇐

What I am going to share with you in this Beginner's guide to Affiliate Marketing is the exact same process that I used to build my business from scratch.

So if you are ready, let's get right into it!

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is basically promoting other companies products and services and earning commissions from each sale.

As an affiliate, you simply send buyers to companies you are partnered with. Essentially you are the middle man connecting buyers with sellers.

Through this process the seller pays you a commission, because you are sending them sales.

Obviously there is some serious money to be made here and that's why it is the perfect business model for most people.  There is no overhead or shipping involved and you don't have to develop a product or hold inventory.

Even better, there are literally millions of products available that you can promote. Virtually every major company/brand has an affiliate program.  Companies like Nike, Walmart, Kitchenaid, etc.  As an affiliate, you can leverage the brand recognition that they have already built.

The Affiliate Marketing Process

In order to understand how affiliate marketing works, we will use an example of someone looking online to buy a camping stove.

This person is a potential customer and in need of a new camping stove for their next outdoor adventure.  Now let's imagine that you have a camping blog/website and you have done a product review on several different stoves.

In your review, you have placed a link (this is called an affiliate link) that will take the customer from your site to the company site that is selling the camping stove. Here the customer can purchase the stove and the company will take care of the shipping, customer service, billing, etc.

After the customer purchases the stove, you (as an affiliate) get a percentage of the sale (a commission).  That's how you make money!

The graphic below shows visually exactly how the process works…

 

How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

You've already seen that the affiliate marketing process is fairly simple in design, so getting started is actually pretty simple as well.  I'll break it down into 4 basic steps.

1. Choose a Niche

2. Build a Website

3. Drive Traffic to Your Website (aka Visitors)

4. Earn Revenue through Affiliate Links

See how simple that is?  Ok, ok… I'll go into a bit more detail on each of the steps for clarification purposes.

1. Choose a Niche

You might be asking yourself, “what is a niche?”

A niche is simply a market or a group of people with a similar interest.  For instance, “weight loss” is a niche… but “keto diet for weight loss” is even more specific of a niche.

Another example would be “fly fishing.”  This could of course be narrowed down even further to be “fly fishing reels” or “fly fishing artwork.”  The difference being that one is geared towards someone looking for equipment (like reels) and one is geared towards someone looking for decoration or art that features fly fishing images.  Two subcategories of the main niche of fly fishing.

So in this first step, you need to identify what niche you want to build your website around. It can be rather general or it can be super specific.  Don't be afraid of the super specific because that is actually the best way to pick a niche.  Try to narrow it down as much as possible.

One thing you want to keep in mind is that you should probably be fairly interested in the niche as well.  You will be writing alot about it and if you are already interested in it, you will find that it is alot easier.

This is why I suggest turning your hobby or your passion into a niche and creating your website and affiliate business around that.  If you are into quilting, then consider building a quilting related website.  If you love dogs, maybe the dog toy niche would be perfect for you.

The point is, you need to pick a niche to get started.  So do a little brainstorming and think about what you would like to move forward with.  Create a list of 5-10 possible niches and then start crossing a few off until you decide on THE ONE!

2. Build a Website

Having a website is extremely important for any affiliate marketing business. This is the foundation of your business and where you will be directing traffic to in order to make sales.

 

One of the great things about having your own website, is that you can leverage free traffic from search engines and this is very helpful to anyone who is just starting out.

Also, having a website helps you build trust with your audience.  Here you can offer them valuable content and be an asset to your audience.

Building a website might seem daunting, but in reality it is probably the easiest part of affiliate marketing.

Believe it or not, You can create a professional website in less than 1 minute.

In order to build a website, you will need the following:

• A domain name
• A hosting platform
• A website builder (like WordPress)

You can certainly source all of these components from different places on the internet, but I personally like to have them all in one place and for a much cheaper bundled price.

So I recommend the Wealthy Affiliate Platform for building websites (whether you are a complete newbie or a seasoned pro).  With this platform, you can purchase a domain name, host your website, and have a built in WP website builder.  It's all right there for you.  Plus there are a ton of other helpful tools that are being revised and upgraded on a regular basis.

 

3. Drive Traffic to your Website

When I talk about traffic, I am referring to visitors to your site. Driving traffic to your site is the only way you are going to get affiliate sales, so it is extremely important to master.

Not all traffic is the same, however.  There is cold traffic and hot traffic.  Cold traffic are people who are not even searching for the products you are promoting.  Once in a great while, cold traffic can lead to a sale, but it is rare and it certainly won't keep your business afloat.

Warm or Hot traffic are people who are actively searching and possibly even ready to purchase the products you are promoting.  The goal is to get as much Hot traffic as you can to your site every single day.

This will lead to more conversions and that means more money!

There are 2 main ways to get traffic to your website:

1. Paid Traffic (you pay for this)

2. Free Traffic (you earn this)

As a beginner, earning traffic is a much better option.  Odds are you don't have a huge amount of money to invest in your business and if you can get quality free traffic, why would you want to spend money on it?

There are specific strategies for getting free (aka organic) traffic however, and knowing how to implement those strategies will get you a lot farther quicker.

Keyword research is a big way that most people get free traffic.  This involves searching for the best keyword to use and then placing it within your content (blog posts).

In my opinion, keyword research tools are a must!  I use Jaaxy as my main keyword research tool and it has been a game changer.

⇒⇒ Learn More about Free Traffic Strategies Here ⇐⇐

 

4. Earn Revenue through Affiliate Links

So this is where it gets fun…. making money!  I mean, that's why you are here right?

We've already discusses how affiliate links are how you point potential customers to the products/services you are promoting.

There are thousands of affiliate programs available in every niche.  You can sign up and partner with them through either the company itself or through affiliate networks.

Some affiliate networks that I use are:

• • Avantlink
  • CJ (Commission Junction)
  • Amazon Affiliates
  • Share A Sale
  • ClickBank

I have also partnered directly with a few companies.  It really just depends on the company and how the like to partner with their affiliates.

Different affiliate programs will have specific commission rates… so you might make 50% commission from one program and 6% from another.  It really just depends on the product and the niche.  I don't get too bogged down with this, because money is money.

Final Thoughts – Affiliate Marketing Summed Up

The process of affiliate marketing is so simple, yet it requires work and dedication to be successful at it.

Promoting other people's products on your website through affiliate links is a great way to earn passive income and there is a lot of money to be made for anyone who is serious.

The best thing about this business model is that you have absolutely no overhead or inventory to worry about.  You have no brick and mortar store you have to pay rent on.  There are no employees to deal with.  And you can literally make money while you are asleep.

If you are serious about building an affiliate marketing business and you are ready to dive in and learn more, then you NEED to check out Wealthy Affiliate.

This is the exact platform that I used to get started and build my affiliate marketing business!  The wealth of knowledge inside of this platform will blow you away.

Absolutely EVERYTHING you need to know to become a successful Affiliate Marketer is within the Wealthy Affiliate Platform!