The lure of affiliate marketing is undeniable; who can resist passive income?
But in order to succeed in affiliate marketing, there are a number of crucial steps you must take before you earn that first affiliate dollar. And these steps are, well … not passive.
The good news is that if you're determined to make this work—whether it's to replace or just to supplement your 9–5 job income—and are willing to put in the time and effort, you're already well on your way to affiliate marketing success.
Following are seven steps that, if followed, will set you on the right course and have you earning your first commission in no time.
1. Choose a Niche
Before you even begin building your first site, you'll need to decide which niche you're going to target. If you've already figured this one out, way to go! This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult and overwhelming steps.
Some key questions to ask yourself when determining your niche are:
- What topics am I already passionate about?
- What topic could I see myself easily writing 25, 50, or 100 blog posts about?
- Is there room in this niche for another affiliate marketer?
- Is there enough interest in / demand for products in this niche?
- Are there affiliate programs available in this niche?
2. Build a Site
Assuming you don't already have a website built, this will be the next step. Fortunately, building a site isn't as complicated or labor-intensive as it was in the past.
The easiest way to get your affiliate site up and running is with the AffiloTheme. Completely customizable, and built specifically for affiliate marketers, you can use this WordPress theme to bypass much of the initial learning curve other affiliate marketers will experience.
3. Research Affiliate Programs
Now that you've decided on a niche, and your site is up and running, it's time to find out what's out there in terms of programs and products to promote (although you already did a bit of basic research in #1).
Choosing an affiliate program will take some work, but don't be afraid to invest a significant amount of time into it. Choosing the right program will make it well worth your while!
When choosing an affiliate program, keep these key points in mind:
- If using ClickBank, products should have over a 50% commission (preferably 60%), and have a high gravity rating (meaning they're in demand)
- For CPA (cost per action) programs, commissions should be over $1, and not overly restrictive in how you can promote them
- For physical products, look for commissions over $40
Once you've figured out which program you're going to join, do the necessary steps to sign up and then carry on to step #4!
4. Produce Excellent Content
Now that your site is set up and you've joined an affiliate program, you're ready to begin perhaps the most time-consuming (but potentially rewarding) part of the affiliate business—producing content.
This is where the overused but truer-than-ever phrase "content is king" comes into play.
Your goal for your site will be to establish it as an authority site in your niche, and the main way to do this is to be consistently producing unique, high-quality content.
This could consist of:
- Product reviews
- Blog posts that address common problems, questions or issues relevant to your target market
- Evergreen content
- Free ebooks or info products
- A free email autoresponder series
Purchasing generic content is NOT an effective way to build your site. While it may be tempting to populate your site via this method, in the long run it won't help you to position yourself as an expert in your niche (and ultimately will mean less traffic, and fewer sales).
5. Build an Audience
Building an audience for your site will, in some ways, follow naturally once you start producing excellent content.
Some ways you can speed up this process include:
- Promoting your content via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.)
- Guest posting on high-traffic blogs
- Building an email list (which you can then promote your content to)
- Using basic SEO techniques to increase search engine traffic to your site
You may also want to consider taking out inexpensive banner ads on small niche sites, or trying your hand at Google AdWords to drive some traffic to your site.
6. Promote Affiliate Offers
Finally, the part we've all been waiting for!
This, my friends, is where the rubber hits the road. Many fly-by-night affiliates will jump right to this step and bypass steps 1–5 completely. And this is what will set you apart.
Once you've shown that you can offer something of value in your niche, it's time to continue to add value by promoting products that will be useful and helpful for your audience.
You can do this through providing detailed product reviews, promoting your product via banner ads or pop-ups on your site, working with affiliate programs to offer giveaways or contests, or by offering discounts to your readers on affiliate products.
It's only a matter of time before you make that first sale—congratulations!
7. Rinse, Lather, and Repeat
Your ongoing work as an affiliate marketer will be to repeat steps 4–6 on a continual basis (with the occasional #3 thrown in from time to time).
Review of Key Points
It can feel overwhelming to do the necessary work involved in setting up your site and building your reputation. But once you've made that first sale, we guarantee that all the hard work will be worth it!
The key points we covered today were:
- Choose your niche
- Build a site
- Research different affiliate programs and products
- Produce excellent content
- Build an audience
- Promote your affiliate product(s)
- Do steps #4–7 on a continual basis!
As you can see, there is a tried and true strategy when it comes to affiliate marketing for beginners. Put in the work, and you'll soon be reaping the rewards!
Do you feel overwhelmed about making that first affiliate sale? What's holding you back from getting started? Let us know in the comments below!
