The Ultimate Guide to Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a common way people make money online.

It also allows you to be less stressed and have more freedom and flexibility to make your schedule and work from anywhere.

If you are new to affiliate marketing and feel a bit intimidated by the idea of building a business in which you have no experience, don’t; this blog will give you the ultimate guide in affiliate marketing.

First, let me tell you just what affiliate marketing is

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is like communicating to your friends on social media; you recommend a product or service and earn a commission when they purchase it (or complete some other associated action).

An example of affiliate marketing

An example of affiliate marketing would be I will use myself as an example.

I spent many years in the healthcare industry, and I have a blog about health, so on my site, I recommend vitamins and medical equipment for home use.

I affiliate with a company that sells vitamins and medical equipment.

The company links me to the products I am promoting with my unique affiliate ID.

Whenever I use that link in a blog post, and someone clicks it, my affiliate ID follows them for a time. ( each company has its length of time, some 30 days, some 60 days) If they buy any of the products I advertise on my blog at that time, I will earn a commission.

So as you can see, affiliate marketing involves three parties, the merchant, the affiliate marketer, and the customer.

You can also become a partner with an Affiliate network.

What is an affiliate network?

Affiliate “networks” are centralized collections of, in some cases, more than 1,000’s affiliate programs you can join through one network. This is convenient because you can promote many programs simultaneously (even in various niches) and receive one payment.

Also, using an affiliate network, you will have no communication with the advertiser directly; all your communication will be through the affiliate network.;

which includes applying for the program, finding your unique affiliate links, tracking your sales, and getting paid.

Not all advertisers use an affiliate network. Some advertisers run their affiliate programs like Amazon.

There are many affiliate networks. Many are easy to join. Some require you to apply and wait for the approval. Some are by invitation only.

Different affiliate networks provide other products, so you’ll want to hunt around to find the one(s) that are the best fit for you.

I use two affiliate networks, ShareASale and CJ Junction.

I like affiliate marketing; there are so many benefits to having a business in affiliate marketing; let’s look at some of them.

For me, the pros of affiliate marketing far outweigh the cons. However, affiliate marketing still has cons. You have to decide whether it’s right for you.

Pros of affiliate marketing

You do not need to think about producing or storing, shipping, returns, or customer service; in other words, affiliate marketing is hassle-free.

You can work from anywhere, and as affiliates, you have more time to focus on what you want to do while still making money.

No hard-selling. Your job is to refer potential customers to them, which is excellent for those who don’t like selling.

You get to earn a commission from each purchase made from a link in your post, and it doesn’t have to be the product you are advertising.

An example would be someone clicking on compression socks I advertise on Amazon; however, if they did not buy the socks but bought some household items instead, I would get the commission on everything purchased from that click.

For many affiliate marketing programs, there is little or no barrier to joining.

Most require you to have a website, and some need you to have an active audience. And you stand to lose nothing unless you join a PPC, which would be very little.

There is little or no maintenance associated with an affiliate link unless there is a change from the advertiser, and the advertiser will notify you;

Once the link is in your blog post, you can earn commission repeatedly, days, weeks, months, and years later. (a passive income)

Cons of affiliate marketing

It takes time to build trust, and you won’t make money without an audience that trusts you first.

Building trust takes time, and it takes a lot of patience up front, so keep in mind success will not happen overnight.

Affiliate marketing is much more profitable if you have a lot of traffic and build up your audience. There are some other that takes time.

There are some others, in my opinion, minor cons. Once you make a referral, you ultimately do not control your audience’s experience or information.

If you are wondering, affiliate marketing is legitimate, and your money depends greatly on you.

Some affiliates make 4-6 figures per month, but one affiliate says she makes sure to publish a new article every day; she makes $8000.00 + per month; her blog name is little mama.

While some affiliates have several income streams, it all depends on you but remember, after you are established, and your audience trusts you, you will then be able to take it a bit easy.

Website

You will need a blog and a website to be an affiliate marketer.

A website is where you will be communicating with your audience and advertising your products.

I would suggest your blog should be about something you love or are passionate about; this way, you will have more interest, and writing won’t feel like a chore; it doesn’t matter if you are not an expert; you will be doing research which will make you an expert in the end.

Then you will need a platform to host your website; some platform charges for their service, and I use the Wealthy Affiliate platform, which is free.

You will also need to buy a domain name, the address for your website, and the .com address.

You will then need to draw people to your website using social media, YouTube, etc.

I know all this may seem overwhelming, especially if you are new to affiliate marketing or not a technical person. Still, there are several platforms you could join that will teach you, but in my opinion, Wealthy Affiliate is the best, and it is free to start.

Wealthy Affiliate

Description This is a 5 lesson course that is part of the Wealthy Affiliate Online Entrepreneur Certification. It will walk you through creating a successful online business that generates revenue. Getting started on the course (level 1) is your first step to realizing your potential as an online business owner. Phase one consists of 5 lessons, and these are

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/share/stats

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With this free membership, you will get the 2web site and 12 WordPress themes to choose from, and your website will be hosted for free your domain name would not be free; it costs approx. $13.50 per year, and this can be purchased at Wealthy Affiliate.

Premium Membership

A premium level also provides you with much more information and tools to meet your goals better.

 The platform is constantly updated, and for the coming year, there is a lot of new information and tools to be added, and as a start, there are some bonuses.

We will offer the following bonuses the year ahead, over FOUR hours of live video classes with full Q & which will prepare everyone for a successful year ahead.

Bonus #1: The Path to Affiliate Stardom in 2020 – Kyle Goes AMA (Ask Me Anything)
Bonus #2: Building an Incredible Internet Business in 2020, The WhitePaper.
Bonus #3: Creating a Thriving Authority Website in 2020 (5 Weeks of Live Training)
Bonus #4: Early 2020 Beta Access to New Platforms (Yearly Members Only)

You may be wondering if you could operate a successful business with the free membership; if you are new to affiliate marketing, I would recommend you upgrade to the premium program; I joined for free, then after a month of looking around and familiarizing myself with the platform I upgraded to premium a free membership never expires so.

In Conclusion

I have tried to give you an ultimate guide to affiliate marketing; I know you probably have more questions, and I am willing to answer them; leave them in the space provided I will reply,

Affiliate marketing is not hard; you do not need to be an expert or a language major to write a blog, so please do not be intimidated by the thought of your article being published on the web.

If I can do it, so can you; I am a retiree with no previous experience; at Wealthy Affiliate, you will be given step-by-step instructions, and you work at your own pace, so give it a try; you have nothing to lose.

I do hope you found this post helpful; thank you for stopping by, and please share this post,   

  

NOTE:  This post includes affiliate links, which, if clicked on and a product purchased, I get a small commission (with no increase in cost to you).