Affiliate marketing is a marketing idea in which an online retailer rewards a website with a commission for each customer referred via the website’s promotional activities.
This is how it works, you include links to products and services and invite visitors to click on the link or make a purchase after clicking through your unique referral link, by so doing you’re making lucrative passive commission online.
Unlike other ad types which pay based on clicks or views, in affiliate marketing, you only earn a commission when someone takes an action such as buying a product or signing up for a free trial.
Because there is less risk for the advertiser, affiliate programs pay out much higher commissions to publishers compared to Google AdSense or other types of ads.
Affiliate marketing requires you to find a product or service that you believe will be helpful to your users. After that, you have to strategically add it to your blog posts and other areas of your site so your users can purchase the product using your referral link.
With that in mind, we’ll walk you through the basics of how to build an affiliate marketing website that will be successful
How to Become an Affiliate Marketer
1. Choose the right niche
As an affiliate marketer, the target is to promote a specific product for earning affiliate commissions.
Since affiliate marketing can be so competitive, choosing the right niche is very crucial.
If you can manage to narrow down your niche, you can create the most significant content possible for your audience which will make your affiliate business has high earning potential that will make money for years to come.
The right niche should let you mention products easily, avoid too much competition and enable you to fetch out loyal audience.
So how do you figure out which niche is the most productive one for you?
To start with, you can do a short self-assessment. As affiliate marketers are meant to be reliable advocates for a product or brand, you want to make sure that you are in the right step.
2. Find affiliate programs to join
After you’ve picked a niche, it’s time to find out which program out there can help you promote products in your niche.
Affiliate marketing programs are sites that act as the middleman between merchants and affiliates. Since it can be hard for merchants and affiliates to find each other, these sites act as a gateway for the relationship to begin.
3. Create a Website or Blog for Your Niche
To make money with affiliate marketing, the first thing you need is a website.
When it comes to building your website, you have varieties of options.
Focus on creating a website that’s fully mobile responsive and has an extremely user-friendly interface. Make it as easy as possible for visitors to complete a purchase.
In building a website, you will first, get a domain name, that is the address that users will use to navigate to your website. For consistent branding and SEO, it should be something relevant to your chosen niche.
Then you will need to find web hosting. If that seems like a lot of steps, Bluehost offers both all in one place, along with an effortless website builder, so you can get your website set up in minutes.
4. Create quality content.
Content is a core building block of your business and your marketing, helping you develop a relationship with your audience.
If you want your affiliate site to succeed, you need to create high-quality content where your affiliate links fit naturally.
Content is in every piece of communication you usw, you will need to make your content reader-centric. Answer their questions, provide them with detailed information, but written in a way that is accessible and engaging. Know your audience, look at what brings them to your website. A search box is an excellent way to learn what they want to find on your site.
5. Drive traffic to your affiliate site
You will need to drive traffic to your prepared affiliate site which can be done through SEO blog posts, email lists and social media platforms.
The purpose is to either reach people who are looking to buy, or capture their email address to educate and inform readers before prompting the purchase.
We will recommend some of the best free traffic sources for affiliate marketing:
SEO blog posts
The most successful affiliates invest in growing traffic through SEO.
You can reach visitors who are heading to Google right before making a purchase. Using this technique, it’s much easier to get clicks on your affiliate links and earn commissions than trying to sell to people who aren’t ready to buy.
Social media sites like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, and Reddit are all great free traffic sources for affiliate marketing, but they do require some time and effort to make them work.
Affiliate marketing through email.
The direct nature of emails means tailored messages are delivered straight to your prospects’ inbox. This helps them learn more about a product and moves them towards a buying decision.
Email works great for regular product curations, sharing time-sensitive deals, and reinforcing your top recommendations to your audience.