Affiliate Marketing: What It Is And How To Get Started?

Are you a blogger having your own website? Affiliate marketing might just be the thing you need to monetise your website. 

What is Affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is where you promote another company’s product or service in return for a commission on the sales you generate. Commissions are typically a percentage of the sale price, but can occasionally be a fixed amount. The popularity of this marketing channel can be gauged by the fact that 81% of the brands today rely on affiliate programs to improve their business.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to drive sales and generate significant online revenue. It is extremely beneficial to both brands and affiliate marketers, the new push toward less traditional marketing tactics has certainly paid off. 

How to get started with Affiliate Marketing –

Not sure how to start? We’ve made it all simple for you.

6 simple steps is all you need:

1. Choose A Platform

You can theoretically do affiliate marketing on any platform. Use Instagram, if that is where your followers are. Or youtube, if you can make regular video content, or a Blog, if your expertise is writing informative articles.

However, you’ll likely get more clicks from a blog than a YouTube video. For that reason, it’s best if you have your own blog and a website.

2. Choose Your Niche

Choose a topic to Blog on, one that focuses on a specific category. For example, the topic of “food” is an enormous category. Rather than tackling that, try something more specific, like grilling food. Even if you’re not an expert in the field, you can just document whatever you are learning. People might be interested in your journey.

3. Find Affiliate Programs To Join

There are three types of affiliate programs to choose from.

A. High-paying, low-volume affiliate programs:

These are affiliate programs for niche products with high payouts. For example, ConvertKit’s affiliate program pays almost $700 per month if you send just 80 customers their way. However, as they sell CRM software for small business owners, there’s a limited pool of buyers. There also tends to be more competition for programs with high commissions. Since you’re probably just starting, it’ll be quite challenging to make a meaningful amount of money competing against skilled marketers with deep pockets.

B. Low-paying, high-volume affiliate programs:

These are affiliate programs for products with low payouts but mass appeal. For example, take PS4 games. Lots of people play PS4, but the average cost of a game is only around $50, and affiliate commissions are usually in the single digits. This means you’ll earn $2-3 per sale if you’re lucky. To make these types of affiliate programs pay, you’ll need lots of traffic.

C. High-paying, high-volume affiliate programs:

These are affiliate programs for products with mass appeal, which also pay high commissions. One example is credit cards. Everyone needs a credit card, and most people stay with the company for years (sometimes even decades!)
The downside of these types of products is that they attract affiliate marketers with lots of expertise and deep pockets. Some also use spammy tactics that you just can’t compete with.
And since you are just getting started, don’t worry too much about the details. Just be aware that these programs exist. How to decide which affiliate programs to join depends on your niche and level of expertise. If you’re targeting consumers, you’ll likely go with the second model of low commissions and higher sales volume. If you’re going after a business audience, you’ll likely go for the first model: high-paying and low volume. The most popular programs here are for software and web hosting-related products.
The best way to find these affiliate programs is with a Google search. However, if there is a product you’d really like to promote without a public affiliate program, reach out to the company and ask if they would be willing to build an affiliate relationship with you.

4. Create Great Content

If you want your affiliate site to succeed, you need to create high-quality content where your affiliate links fit naturally.

5. Drive Traffic To Your Affiliate Site

You’ve created great content. The next step is to get more people to read it, so they will click on your affiliate links. SEO will help you go a long way, in this step.

6. Get Clicks On Your Affiliate Links

Just because you have an amazing piece of content doesn’t mean people will click on your affiliate links. Your link must be placed in the right place, you might even want to consider using callouts or highlighters.

We didn’t invent anything new in this blog. These are the fundamentals of affiliate marketing, and applying them will get you off on the right foot. Just don’t expect life-changing income or the freedom to quit your 9-5 overnight. Affiliate marketing takes time. Focus on making your first affiliate sale. As your site grows, set new goals, and continue experimenting.
Now that you know what to do to start as an affiliate marketer, check out our blog to find out 8 important SEO metrics you must track: https://skillwise.pro/agency/8-most-important-seo-metrics-you-must-track/