When I decided to write this article on how to make money with affiliate marketing for beginners, the first thing that came to mind was how I got started in affiliate marketing.

Before I got started, I had no idea what affiliate marketing even was. All I knew was that I needed to find a way to make money that didn’t involve working a 9 to 5 job.

And I’m guessing this is the reason you find yourself here as well.

So If you’re someone that is a bit skeptical about making money online, let me tell you this, making money online is very possible.

It does take a lot of work, but if you’re willing to put in the work, you too could create life changing income for yourself.

But before we get into the money making process, it’s important to first understand how it works. Believe it or not, the process is easier than you think.

How Affiliate Marketing Works - 4 Step Process

With so many people using the internet these days, it’s hard not to see some kind of ad where someone is sharing their success with making money online.

But you as a consumer probably thinks there’s some secret cheat code that only a few people know about.

I mean I get it, it’s hard to imagine making money online unless you’ve actually done it.

But I’m here to tell you all it takes is a basic understanding of how making money online works. Affiliate marketing is one of those ways in which making money online works.

Below is a picture showing how affiliate marketing works.

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Sound too simple? Well that’s because it is. So you’re goal as an affiliate marketer is to find a way to get in front of this audience to potentially earn an income.

There are over 4 billion internet users as we speak, and all you need is a small percentage of those users to make a decent income. So how do you get started?

6 Steps To Starting An Affiliate Marketing Business

As a beginner, I’ve broken down the process into 6 easy steps. Follow these steps and you should have no problems in earning your first sale as an affiliate marketer.

1. Choose A Niche

Maybe one of the most difficult parts about getting started with affiliate marketing  is choosing a niche.

If you’re not familiar with the term, a niche is basically a specific group you will be targeting. Many struggle with coming up with one, but if you’ve already figured yours out, then awesome job.

But if you’re one of the many who struggle coming up with a niche, I will go through a series of questions you should ask yourself to help guide you.

So what are you passionate about in life?

Basically, if you could make money doing anything right now, what would it be? For me, it was fitness. I had a strong passion for health and fitness, so I decided to start a fitness site.

Now one thing you want to be careful with when choosing a niche is making sure it isn’t too broad.

As with fitness, you can go in so many directions, so I decided to focus on weight loss. My advice when starting out is to focus on a particular area, then branch out as you build up your site.

So you can start off with weight loss, then branch out to other subjects like muscle building, or supplements.

Another reason you want to choose a niche you’re passionate about is because there will be days where the grind of building your affiliate business is tedious.

So it’s important to make sure whichever niche you choose it’s one that will get you through the rough times.

Is there money to be made in this niche?

Even though I believe there are no such thing as a bad niche, I must admit that some niches make more money than others.

You have to decide how much money is enough to satisfy the life you want.

If you’re just tired of working the 9 to 5 life and just want to replace your income, then choosing a niche that could potentially earn you millions may not be all that important.

One place I like to go when doing research for a particular niche is google trends. They are great at giving you a picture of what online users are searching for over the internet.

It’s a free tool so no need to worry about breaking your wallet. Also, if you come to realize that you don’t like your niche, you can always change it.

How much content can you create for this particular topic?

If you haven’t heard it before, you will hear it now...“CONTENT IS KING”. I plan on getting into this more later in the article, but I thought i’d drop that in here for you early.

Whatever topic you choose to make your site about, you need to make sure you can create a lot of content for it.

Because in order to get ranked within the google search engines, you have to create a lot of content.

Imagine going into a website and only finding one piece of article and nothing else. How long do you think you would stay on that site before clicking the back button. 

So it’s important to choose a topic you could share helpful information to your visitors.

Are there affiliate programs within this niche?

I plan on getting into this more in the next paragraph, but you want to make sure your niche has affiliate programs you can apply to.

These programs are how you will be earning your income, so you want to make sure there are programs that will allow you to promote your topic to earn revenue.

2. Research Affiliate Programs

Earning revenue as an affiliate will depend heavily on your ability to find programs that fit within your given niche.

You will be searching for products and services to promote, so making sure you take your time with this is key.

So when choosing an affiliate program, there are a few things you want to keep in mind:

How many affiliate programs should you sign up for?

Now there’s no limit to the amount of affiliate programs you can promote, but it’s not always wise to try and promote too many when starting out.

Remember, you will be creating content for these products, so the more you sign up for, the more content you have to create.

You need to be strategic when applying to programs. As you gain more experience, you will develop your strategy for you site. Also,

Even if you find a product or service you like, you still have to get approved to promote the product.

How much commissions should you be looking to make?

Depending on the program you sign up for, you will either be paid in percentage or a fixed dollar amount.

If the program you apply to pays in percentage, I would look for no less than %30, and even that may be low. But it depends on what you can find.

If the program you sign up for pays in a fixed dollar amount, I would shoot for no less than $25.

A lot of this will depend on what you can find, and what your goals are in terms of revenue.

Do you want to be a representation of the product or service you’re promoting?

Convincing anyone to buy from you is all about trust. Therefore the products and services you promote will be a reflection of you.

Do you trust and believe in it? Is it something you would use if you had the problems your visitors have? Is it relevant and good quality?

These are questions you need to ask yourself because not only do you want people making a purchase on your site, but you want them to keep coming back.

So it’s important to not promote products just to make a buck. You need to be focused on building respect and authority in your given niche.

3. Build A Website

Now if you’re serious about being successful as an affiliate marketer, then it’s crucial to have your own platform like a website.

Having a place for your visitors to check out what you have to say, is a great asset to have. That being said, many people find the thought of building a website intimidating.

They think you need to be a computer person in order to get it done. Well I’m here to tell you that is no longer the case in today’s technology driven world.

There are tools that allow you to build a website in seconds. One of the more popular ways to build a website is using wordpress.

They allow you to build a site without any coding knowledge. However, there are many other aspects needed in order to have your site up and running ready for the search engines.

It can be bit of a hassle setting everything up, but I will provide for you a service that does everything for you with relative easy.

But first, what are the components needed to build a site?

Domain Name - this will be one of the first things you will need to figure out since it’s pretty much the address to your site. In the online world, I like to call this the “new real estate”.

There are people that buy and sell domains as a business. So it is very likely that the first name you come up with for you site will be taken.

But no worries, keep trying until you find one that’s available. Now there are many places in which you can purchase a domain name like GoDaddy and NameCheap.

But if you continue reading, there is a place where you can purchase your domain name and everything else I have to mention. 

Hosting Service - If the domain name is your address, then hosting is pretty much the home your site will live. This is why some call it the “new real estate”.

There are many places in which you could purchase your domain. Many times, the place where you purchased your domain is the same place you can purchase your hosting.

If you decide to purchase them if different places, then you need to figure out how to link the two together.

There are many other things you should look for when choosing a hosting services, like security and support.

Content Management System (CMS) - this is will allow you to customize your site the way you like. One of the more popular systems is WordPress.

This is also where you will be installing a theme for your site. WordPress has thousands of themes for you to choose from.

Most hosting providers that allow for quick installation into wordpress, so I highly recommend you use it for your site.

WordPress is especially helpful for beginners due to its easy click function.

Although I mentioned how easy it is to create a site, and it is. The difficult part is finding out where to go to get access to all the tools I mentioned above.

There are various places, but you need to make sure each component fits together so that your site is working properly.

If you’d rather skip the headache of figuring out how to make this all work, then I would highly recommend you check out Wealthy Affiliate.  

Not only is this the place where I learned everything I know about affiliate marketing, but they make building a site super easy.

You can create a site in 30 seconds, and they also provide you with domain names, hosting, and many other things.

I highly recommend them, and if you want to learn more about them, then check out my review.

They even allow you to build 2 FREE websites as a starter. So it's definitely worth a look.

4. Create Awesome Content

Once everything is setup, it’s time to start getting to the core of affiliate marketing. Remember when I said that “Content is Kings”?

Creating content is probably the most difficult part about affiliate marketing. The reason being is that it can be very time consuming.

But like I say when it comes to being successful with anything, you either sacrifice your time or money.

If you don’t have time, then you have to sacrifice money. If you don’t have money, then you have to sacrifice your time.

And I’m sure the reason you’re here reading this is to find a way to make more money. Your goals as an affiliate marketer is to become an authority in your niche.

And the best way to do this is by providing unique, high-quality content. 

This could consist of:

Product Reviews - one of the most commonly used models in the affiliate marketing world is product reviews. Some even build their entire website based on product reviews.

The reason this type of model is so popular is because internet users are consumers looking to buy things.

But before making a purchase, they want to know which product or service is the best in the market.

So it makes buyers more comfortable when they read a review from a reputable source. So as you build out your site, you want to make sure you fill it with plenty of product reviews.

Information - not everyone that is searching the internet is looking to buy something.

So you want to make sure you provide content for those just looking for issues to a problem they may be having.

This can also build trust between you and the user because not everyone wants to be sold to.

Even though this type of content doesn’t produce sales initially, it can definitely provide sales in the future.

So it’s important to position yourself as someone that not only has products to sell, but can also be a solution to a problem.

Evergreen Content - if you plan on being in the game long as an affiliate marketer, then you want to make sure you produce content that is evergreen.

For those that are unfamiliar with this term, this is content that never ages and remains useful to your audience over time.

For example, people will always want to learn how to stay healthy and fit. So producing content that helps people do this will always be relevant to your audience.

You want to position your site as a place that always has relevant content. So depending on your niche, try to think of categories within your niche that you think people will always search for.

Courses - this is more advanced type of content, but can be very lucrative if done correctly.

If you can provide content that teaches people how to master a certain skill, you can generate very good income.

Just look at LinkedIn, they have a variety of courses for its members. That shows you that there is a huge demand for course creators.

So if you can learn how to create helpful courses for you audience, it can be a very good income generator for you.

Videos - if you’ve ever heard of YouTube, then you know how much of a demand there is for video.

It pretty much has replaced the TV for many homes around the world.

One thing you will learn as you create content is that some people like to watch people talk about issues important to them, and some like to read it.

So it’s important that you accommodate both types of users. If you’re someone that is a bit camera shy, I understand.

I myself am the same way. But you’ll learn that the more you do it, the easier it becomes. You never know, you may come to find yourself liking it.

5. Build an Audience

The benefit of creating content is that it will generate an audience. The more content you create, the higher the potential of users that visit your site.

Not only will an interested audience bring you consistent traffic, but also consistent sales as well. So how does one go about building an audience as a new site?

FREE traffic using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques - this is one of the most effective, but time consuming ways to go about getting traffic.

Most people that get into affiliate marketing start off with this type of traffic because it’s free.

Also known as organic traffic, you get this by creating a lot of content on your site. Making sure your content is optimized using keyword rich content.

While at the same time keeping your readers user experience in mind.

So it’s important to learn about both on-page and off-page SEO. The more relevant keywords your site ranks for, this increases the chance for more traffic

Paid for traffic (PPC) - as you build more experience in the marketing world, you may opt for paid advertising.

This can be a great way to drive direct traffic to your site if you know what you’re doing.

However, if you’re not careful, this can be a very expensive way to get traffic. You can even use PPC on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Which leads me to the other way to drive traffic to your site.

Promote content on social media - you can also promote your content for free on social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

This is one of the easiest way to do it since all you have to do is publish an article on your site, and add the link to any of your social media accounts.

Depending on the quality of your content, the potential for it to go viral can help boost traffic to your site.

Making sure your content gets likes and shares can be a great way to spread the viewership.

Email list - you’ll hear that money is created in the list. Building an email list is crucial to any affiliate marketer’s business.

Building a list allows you to communicate with your audience in a way that is personal. Just make sure not to come of salesy with every email you send.

You want to make sure you are providing value with each email and build trust with them.

Keep them up to date with what’s going on in the industry and they will appreciate it. After building that trust, then they won’t mind purchasing a product from you.

6. Promote Affiliate Offers

If by now you’re wondering when do we get to the money part, well that moment has finally come.

Once you’ve chosen a niche, built your site up, and started getting traffic, it’s time to start monetizing it.

The reason I left this part for last is, people focus so much on the money making part, they completely skip over all the other steps.

You see, you can’t make money if no one is visiting your site. Once you’re getting traffic and providing value to your audience, learning how to monetize it is key.

The best way as an affiliate is to start promoting offers. And there are a variety of ways in which you can do so. 

Product reviews - once you’ve found a particular product that aligns with your niche, writing a review about it is a great way to generate revenue.

You want to make sure that the review is Captivating, Informative, Accurate, and Opinionated (CIAO).

If you stick to this, you will no doubt get a lot of engagement when it comes to your reviews.

Once you’ve finished writing out your review, you can then place your affiliate link within the article, which directs visitors if they click on it, to the product you’re promoting.

If they happen to make a purchase, you are then rewarded with a commission. And believe me when I say, there is no better feeling than getting that first sale.

Banner ads - once you’re partnered up with an affiliate program, most will provide you with creatives to place on your site.

Just place the ad where you’re getting the most traffic, and if someone clicks on it and makes a purchase, than cha ching, you get paid.

Do keep in mind that ad blockers have made the use of banner less efficient, but it’s still can be a source of revenue for you if placed correctly.

Affiliate text links - I kind of mentioned this in the product review part, but just like the banner ads, the affiliate program will also provide you with text links.

You’ve probably seen this in many sites you’ve visited. Many of these blog posts that link to many different products and services.

They tend to blend in very nicely with the article so that they don’t come off as too salesy. Which banners tend to do at times.

Email promotions - assuming you’ve built up your list and developed a relationship with your audience, you can send affiliate offers through email promotions.

Now my suggestion would be to send them to a sales page that contains affiliate links, because some auto-responder tools frown upon emails with affiliate links.

So this tactic depends on the email marketing tool you use.

Summary Of Process

Now this whole process may seem a bit overwhelming, but with anything new, that’s usually the case. Getting past the learning curve can test any persons will.

But it’s important to remember why you’re doing it. Creating a better life financially isn’t easy, and requires a lot of work.

Once you get that first commission, trust me, you will definitely feel like it was worth it.

Years back, the hardest part would be the setting up of your site, but like I said, today’s advancement in technology has made that process super simple.

And again, I would recommend you check out Wealthy Affiliate as it is a place to get everything you need in terms of building your site.

Once that part is complete, the hardest part will be creating the content. So here’s a quick recap of everything you need to do:

1. Choose your niche
2. Research interested affiliate programs
3. Build your site (recommend wealthy affiliate)
4. Create awesome content
5. Build an audience
6. Promote affiliate products and services

How I Earn My Money Online

In 2018, I finally became a Six Figure Business, and it only took 27 months to get there. This allowed me to leave my part time job, and become a full time affiliate marketer.

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If you’re curious as to how I was able to create passive income for myself, then I recommend that you click the button below. I have prepared a special video that will explain how I did it.