Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for bloggers, website owners, and entrepreneurs to earn passive income. By promoting products or services on your website, you can earn commissions for each sale or lead you drive.
In this complete affiliate marketing guide, we will cover everything you need to know to get started and succeed as a beginner affiliate marketer.
Contents
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing where you earn a commission when someone purchases a product after clicking your affiliate link.
As an affiliate, you partner with a company (known as a merchant) and promote their products to your audience. When someone makes a purchase through your link, the merchant pays you a percentage of that sale.
Affiliate commissions typically range from 5-30%, but can be as high as 75% for digital products. The amount depends on the merchant‘s affiliate program policies.
Compared to other monetization models like display ads, affiliate marketing offers much higher earning potential. You get paid for results, not clicks or impressions.
Some examples of affiliate websites include:
- Wirecutter – Reviews and recommends the best products in various categories.
- Lucie‘s List – Promotes baby gear and products for new parents.
- NerdWallet – Recommends financial products like credit cards and loans.
Affiliate marketing is appealing because you earn passive income on autopilot. Once your content is driving traffic, affiliates sales will start rolling in.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Tracking Work?
For affiliate tracking to work, merchants provide you with a unique affiliate link or ID to use when promoting their products.
Your custom link allows the merchant to identify sales driven by you, so you get credit for the commission.
The affiliate tracking process works like this:
-
You join the merchant‘s affiliate program and get a unique ID code.
-
You promote their products using your special affiliate link containing your ID.
-
When a visitor clicks your link and makes a purchase, the sale gets credited to you.
-
After reaching the payment threshold, the merchant pays your commission.
Affiliate networks like ShareASale make this process easy by handling the links and tracking for you. More on affiliate networks later.
How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing
If you want to get started with affiliate marketing, here are the steps:
1. Have a Website
To do affiliate marketing, you need a website or blog to promote products. We recommend starting with WordPress since it‘s easy to set up.
You can get a free WordPress site on WordPress.com but you‘re limited in the affiliate programs you can join. For the most flexibility, get affordable hosting and setup a self-hosted WordPress.org site.
2. Disclose Affiliate Relationships
Be transparent with readers by disclosing your affiliate relationships. This builds trust and complies with FTC regulations.
Add a disclosure page stating that you earn commissions for affiliate links. Make it easy to find in your site footer menu.
You should also mention affiliate links with text like "Paid link" or "Affiliate link". Don‘t try to hide your affiliate relationships.
3. Have Privacy and Terms Pages
A privacy policy and terms of service are required legal pages. The privacy policy covers how you handle data while terms outline site rules.
Having these essential legal pages published also lends legitimacy to your site for affiliate programs.
4. Find Relevant Affiliate Programs
Do research to find affiliate programs that align with your website niche and audience interests. Some recommendations:
-
Promote your favorite products – Apply for affiliate programs from brands you personally use and love. Your genuine enthusiasm will come through.
-
Check competitor sites – Look at sites similar to yours and find out their monetization methods. Sign up for the same affiliate programs.
-
Use affiliate networks – Join networks like ShareASale and FlexOffers which provide access to thousands of affiliate programs.
-
Ask companies directly – If you want to promote a product not in an affiliate program, reach out to the company and ask.
-
Bring targeted traffic – Focus on driving visitors actively looking for products by optimizing for buyer keywords. More affiliate sales will follow.
The key is choosing products you genuinely want to recommend. Don‘t sacrifice trust for higher commissions.
Why Join Affiliate Networks?
Affiliate networks make affiliate marketing much easier. They provide a centralized platform to discover and manage multiple affiliate programs.
Benefits include:
- Access to thousands of affiliate programs in one place
- Affiliate tracking and reporting
- Link and banner code generators
- Program performance metrics
- Affiliate management dashboard
- High paying deals and offers
- Payment processing
We recommend joining ShareASale and CJ Affiliate since they have a wide range of affiliate opportunities. Amazon Associates is also valuable for physical product promotions.
Affiliate Marketing Tips to Boost Earnings
Here are proven affiliate marketing tips to help you maximize your earnings:
Promote High-Quality Products
Research products thoroughly before promotion. Make sure they provide real value for your readers. Never recommend bad products purely for financial gain. It will damage your credibility.
Create Useful Content
Write detailed reviews or tutorials to showcase the product‘s benefits. Address common questions and objections. The more helpful your content is, the more conversions you‘ll get.
Use Email Marketing
Email is one of the most effective channels for affiliate promotions. Send dedicated promo emails when you join a new affiliate program.
Promote Relevant Products
Only promote products suited for your audience. For example, don‘t promote baby products on a website about retirement. Relevance boosts conversion rates.
Disclose Affiliate Relationships
Again, be transparent. Let readers know when content contains affiliate links so they trust your recommendations.
Monitor Performance
Use analytics to see which affiliate programs are performing best. Double down on the top converters. Cut links with low clicks and sales.
Following these tips will help you earn higher commissions over the long-term through better conversions.
Affiliate Marketing Plugins for WordPress
Here are some handy WordPress plugins that make managing affiliate marketing easier:
ThirstyAffiliates
ThirstyAffiliates lets you easily insert affiliate links into your WordPress site. It also cloaks ugly affiliate links into pretty, memorable URLs.
With the plugin, you can also automatically replace keywords with your affiliate links. This saves tons of time.
AdSanity
AdSanity is an ad management plugin for WordPress. It makes it fast and simple to insert affiliate banners anywhere on your site.
You can track all your different ad campaigns in one centralized dashboard.
MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It shows you which affiliate links get the most clicks so you can double down on top offers.
The plugin also makes it easy to see your top referral sources and conversion pages.
Final Thoughts
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for bloggers and site owners to monetize their content through product promotions.
The key tips covered in this guide include:
- Choosing reputable affiliate programs that align with your niche
- Writing high-quality, helpful content spotlighting products
- Disclosing affiliate relationships to build reader trust
- Making affiliate promotions relevant for your target audience
- Testing different affiliate products and special offers
- Using plugins to easily insert affiliate links and track performance
When done right, affiliate marketing can become a significant income stream for your website. Apply these tips to get started on the right foot and grow your earnings over time.
