Martine Are you just getting started with affiliate marketing?
If you are an affiliate marketing beginner then you are in the right place! We’re going to be taking a deep dive into everything you need to know about affiliate marketing to get you earning more money!
If you already know the basics, you may consider taking my 5-day affiliate marketing challenge
But if you are a beginner at affiliate marketing or need a little reminder of the basics, read on to learn everything you need to know about affiliate marketing for newbies…
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a form of low-risk marketing whereby a content creator promotes a product in return for a commission if they make a sale within a certain defined amount of time.
The affiliate marketer will use a link with a tracking code to refer their readers to the product.
Companies like using affiliate marketing to promote their products as they only have to pay you if you are successful. Therefore it is very low risk for them.
Essentially, it is a passive form of income where you put the work in early to reap the rewards later which is a win-win for everyone involved!
Why is affiliate marketing so great?
Affiliate marketing is my favorite way to make money. Not only is it very lucrative but it allows you to have total autonomy over your website. You decide what to promote and how to promote it.
There are no deadlines or difficult demands by an external company like with sponsored posts. You can promote JUST the products that you love.
Also, once your articles are written, your email welcome sequence created and your affiliate pins circulated and scheduled, your affiliate strategy will work on autopilot helping you to make money whilst you sleep.
That is not to say affiliate marketing is easy. You’ll need to put the work in and occasionally update those posts or share them again on social media or in emails. BUT, the bulk of work is done in the beginning so you can sit back and relax and enjoy the ongoing income.
OR you can work on creating more affiliate posts and grow your business!
How does affiliate marketing work?
When you join a program, you will be given a unique referral link that you can share with your readers every time you mention a product. The tracking code on the link lets the company know that you referred that customer.
The link has a cookie period which means it is tracked for a period of time. If that person comes back to buy within that time frame, then you still earn the commission.
The best programs have longer cookie periods giving you more time to convince someone to make a sale. This is especially useful for higher-value products where the reader is not likely to make a spontaneous sale.
Top tips to be successful with affiliate marketing
- Only promote products you love and are passionate about. Your enthusiasm will come across and help you make a sale.
- Make sure your affiliate product solves your reader’s problems.
- Make your affiliate links clear and add a few scattered through your posts. Mix text links, buttons, image links and widgets.
- Always test what works and keep analyzing your success.
- Build your audience’s trust. Ask questions, reply to emails, start a Facebook group and email list to engage with your audience and don’t promote anything shady.
- Make sure your articles contain all the details your reader needs – don’t give them a reason to go elsewhere.
- Be patient – it can take a while for articles to gain traction.
For more tips, join my 5 day affiliate marketing course designed for beginner-intermediate level affiliate marketers.
Where to put affiliate marketing links?
Whilst you need to check the rules for each program you join, for many affiliate products, you can promote them in a variety of ways. I use affiliate links in the following places;
- Within blog posts
- In my Facebook group
- On my Facebook page
- On Instagram
- On Twitter
- In my emails (including in my welcome sequence which goes out to all new subscribers)
- On Pinterest
- On a resource page on the website
Articles which convert well
Whilst adding affiliate links to all of your best-performing articles is best practice, to be really successful with affiliate marketing you will need to write some posts which are dedicated to that affiliate product. The following types of post convert well;
- Reviews
- Comparisons
- Tutorials
- Interviews with the product owner
- Top 10 style listicles
- Itineraries
- Gift guides
Affiliate networks to join for beginners
Some companies will offer their own affiliate programs but many will use popular affiliate networks to manage their programs.
These networks will have many affiliate programs to choose from and you can search by your niche and also by the average earnings per click.
Here are a few of the affiliate programs I recommend signing up to;
Awin
One of my favorite affiliate programs and the one where I make the most money. It’s great for British based affiliate programs though there are plenty of US programs too. I find the user interface with Awin the easiest to use compared to the other main affiliate networks.
Shareasale
Shareasale is a part of Awin and has more US programs on offer. It also has a lot of digital programs which tend to have good commission rates. It’s great for promoting the tools that you use for blogging. The options with Shareasale are endless!
Commission Junction
Commission Junction or CJ affiliates has a huge variety of affiliate programs. I don’t particularly enjoy the user interface but there are so many programs with CJ that I use it anyway.
Amazon Associates
Amazon has one of the most popular affiliate programs as there is something almost every blogger can promote.
The downside is they only use a 24-hour cookie. But on the plus side, you earn commission for anything that a person buys that day, not just what you referred them to.
To have success with Amazon affiliates, you either need to refer a LOT of people OR refer them right at the end of the buying cycle when they are ready to purchase (e.g. when the person starts searching for reviews, they are close to being ready to purchase.)
Please note, Amazon has strict rules you need to follow. For example, all links must be uncloaked, you cannot link to Amazon via Pinterest or in emails. Also, you must 3 sales within the first few months with Amazon otherwise your account will be suspended. You can then reapply when your website has grown.
For this reason, I would recommend waiting until you have some decent traffic going to articles which you think might convert well like packing lists, reviews and gift guides.
Skimlinks
Skimlinks is the perfect affiliate program for beginners as there is no need to apply to individual programs and so you don’t need to worry if you are only getting a trickle of traffic. You know that trickle is going to become a raging torrent because you are learning about SEO and growing your blog. But the affiliate companies do not.
Skimlinks provides a solution for newbie bloggers.
With skimlinks, you download a plugin which will convert any outbound link to an affiliate link provided they are included in their very extensive network of affiliates. So if you link to a product on Amazon but Amazon Associates has rejected you, you can still get the commission!
The downside is that some of the commissions and cookie periods are less favorable than the original affiliate program so where possible, you should try to join the original program.
However, for products you may only mention once on your site, ones that don’t have a regular affiliate program or those which are picky about who they’ll accept into their program, Skimlinks provides the perfect solution.
A word of caution though. Occasionally Skimlinks scrapes some of your regular affiliate links. It’s unusual and if it happens, just reach out to support and they’ll make sure links from that site are ignored by Skimlinks. Most people do not have this issue but there are occasional cases. Luckily it is easily rectified.
Things to look for in an affiliate program
When looking at affiliate programs, there are a few important things to consider;
- This is what percentage of the sale price you get rewarded with.
- Cookie period.This is how long the tracking code remains tracking your referral. So if you refer someone to a product and they decide to buy it a month later, you may still be rewarded the sale.
- 1st click vs the last click. If someone clicks on two different affiliate links, only one person will be rewarded the commission. You need to know if it is the first person who referred them or the last. (If it’s the last click you should aim to reach the person towards the end of the buying cycle.)
- Fixed or recurring commission. Recurring commissions are brilliant as you can earn money every month meaning your income continues to rise the more people you refer (providing they stay with that company.)
What Next?
Now that you understand the basics of affiliate marketing, would you like to join my free 5-day affiliate marketing challenge to supercharge your affiliate plan? It’s a mini-course drip-fed over 5 days via email that I think you might love.
For people looking for a truly advanced affiliate marketing course, Affiliate Marketing Boss is my signature online course and is a really deep dive into all things affiliate strategy. From the basics right up to advanced modules about email marketing, open-close cart sales and using bridge pages.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how affiliate marketing works and how you can be successful with it!
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments.
Can you do a fellow boss a favor and pin this to your Pinterest boards? Thanks, you’re a boss!
