How to Start Affiliate Marketing as a Beginner

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to make more money in your business, or someone with a 9-5 looking for a side hustle, you should consider affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is essentially promoting someone else’s product or services with some sort of compensation. You’re typically paid when someone purchases the product or service using your unique link. The compensation packages vary from affiliate program to affiliate program. Let’s get into how to start affiliate marketing as a beginner.

1. Research Affiliate Programs

The first thing to do when approaching affiliate marketing as a beginner is research. The great thing about affiliate programs is that they’re typically free and risk-free to join. In addition to that, there aren’t usually many barriers to entry. For example, you don’t need a college degree, high school diploma, or even experience. 

The main problem is picking affiliate programs that are best suited for you. There are thousands of programs you can choose from. You don’t have to only pick one; you can join many affiliate programs.

Start by looking at programs you already use. Chances are they have an affiliate program. Do you use Teachable? Etsy? Shopify? Kajabi? They all have affiliate programs you can check out. 

You don’t even have to stop at business tools. Think of the things you use in your personal life. Think about your beauty products, apps, or your clothes. Those businesses probably have affiliate programs too. 

2. Pick High Value Affiliate Programs 

Chances are you’re looking to join affiliate programs because you realize that one stream of income is not enough. Therefore, it’s best to pick and focus on high value affiliate programs. 

Make sure you’re picking affiliate programs that can solve the problems people in your niche face. In other words, consider which products and services your audience would love. If you can figure that out, you’ll make money.

You can mix high value affiliate programs with some that aren’t. 

Need ideas? Here are 7 affiliate programs we recommend you check out. 

3. Create Valuable Content

Once you’ve picked the affiliate programs you want to join, applied and are accepted, it’s time to start promotion. 

What you have to remember is that the content is cash. In order to make money from affiliate marketing, you have to produce valuable and consistent content. 

Your content should attract and then convert your audience into paying customers. If you consistently produce good content, people will not only trust you, but they’ll keep coming back for more. 

Remember, the best content comes from intention and strategy. You can’t just share a link and say “buy this” or “check this out”. Make sure to really care about your audience and provide them with value. 

For example, try creating educational content. Let’s say you are an affiliate for a hair company you use and love. When creating the content, think about the problem this product has solved for you and the problem it will solve for your audience. Then, create content educating your audience about the issue, why it happens, and how they can fix it. 

Just remember to check the rules for each product, so you know what’s an acceptable way to promote and what’s not allowed. In addition to that, always disclose you’re promoting an affiliate product for transparency and legal reasons. 

4. Use the Resources Provided By the Affiliate Programs 

Typically when you get accepted into an affiliate program, they provide tons of resources. They are happy to help you market the product because they also benefit if you encourage someone to make a sale. 

For example, MailerLite’s affiliate program will give you access to the same professional branding and marketing assets they use to do their own marketing. 

The resources vary from program to program but we recommend checking them out before you start promoting. 

5. Find Your Platform

Finding the best platforms to promote your affiliate links are just as important as finding good affiliate programs. 

If you’re camera shy, you don’t have to make YouTube your platform to promote your affiliate links. There are many platforms you can pick and choose from. For example, if you have an engaged audience on Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, or Instagram, you can promote your affiliate links there.

If you’re good at writing, you can promote your affiliate links on your blog. As a matter of fact, blogs are popular platforms for affiliate marketing. Some bloggers make 5 or 6 figures per month, and many of them utilize affiliate marketing. 

Fit Small Business says, “travel blogger Adam Enfroy earned $44,262 in March 2020 from affiliate marketing alone.”

You may have to try various platforms to see which ones work for you and what’s the best content to publish there, but it’s worth the extra effort. 

Next Steps

If you need help with affiliate marketing as a beginner, we’re here to help. Affiliate marketing has been a fantastic source of income for us, so we want to help you get started. The Six Figure Affiliate Marketing Masterclass will teach you how to 5X your sales by incentivizing fans and other people to promote your stuff to wider audiences and networks. You will learn how to 5X your income by leveraging affiliate marketing to promote other people’s stuff. This is the class that will get you making massive money without having to create another product. If you’re ready to begin your journey as an affiliate marketer, access the masterclass here.

Last updated September 3, 2022 at 3:20am EST.