Affiliate Marketing For Beginners: How To Earn Money From Your Blog
So What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.
Neil Patel
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As we discussed previously in the post: How To Grow Your Blog FAST, building your audience is job number one:
Bloggers interested in affiliate income to make money from their blogs can start earning by building an audience that trusts them and then offering products and services that can genuinely help that audience.
Once you introduce your audience to the products and services of the trusted companies or businesses you, yourself use and enjoy, you can get commissions on each referral or sale through a personalized link given to you by that company.
That means that if you have a product or service that you trust and like, you can promote it to your readers, and earn a part of the profit on every sale that you make from your customers.
Keep in mind that these are people you have drawn, cultivated, curated, and poured your heart and soul into through your work. Don’t make them not trust you by pushing things that are spammy or not on target for what they are there for. If every post has links to things that aren’t relevant to what they came to read, then you’re abusing the trust you have worked so hard to gain. Treat them with care, they will listen and trust your opinions, so be selective and objective when sharing affiliate links with your readers.
Affiliate marketing can work for you as long as you are willing to put in the hard work to start building your income streams. If you have the will and determination to succeed, you can start earning with affiliate marketing.
Why Affiliate Marketing Is Advantageous For Bloggers
Here are compelling reasons you should consider using Affiliate Marketing on your blog:
- It’s easy to implement. You’re just sharing the link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to track the sales, provide customer service or set up any payments. Everything is handled by the merchant .
- It’s doable even if you’re a one-man show. It doesn’t require you to have a support team .
- It doesn’t require any expertise. You don’t need to be a world-renowned expert. You just have to be familiar with the topic and know what products and services are worth recommending to your readers.
It not much effort or risk. It does not require any money or much extra time investment on your part, just to link to products you are recommending.
How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing For Beginners
Believe it or not, there are tons of ways for you to start making money with affiliate marketing.
Join Branded Affiliate Programs.
The first step is to sign up with an affiliate program. The most common ones are:
These are called affiliate networks and this is where you will find thousands to millions of products for you to promote as an affiliate.
Signing up to be an affiliate is free. If you come across any affiliate programs that ask you to pay a certain fee, stay away from them, they are spam and generally not legit.
Once your application as an affiliate has been approved, you will be given a unique affiliate link. This link allows you to track the sales.
Connect To Your Favorite Brands Directly
Most brands have their own affiliate program. If you cannot find any information about the affiliate program of your favorite brand, you can reach out to them directly.
You might be able to set up a contract with the brand and outline the commissions that you’ll get from promoting them and making a sale.
How To Double Or Triple Your Success Rate
Treat It Like Your Business
Because it IS your business, or part of it, it is what we call an income stream. It’s one of many ways you use your blog to provide income for yourself. If you treat your affiliate marketing business as a real business, you’ll get the results you want. Treating it like a real business means that you need to dedicate a certain amount of time every day and put your focus on finding products and services in your niche that provide value for your readers.
Unfortunately, some people still dabble around “trying things out” and don’t treat this opportunity seriously. They think that they will only put in the effort if they can see some results. That’s backward, you can’t see results if you don’t first put in the effort.
Be Consistent
In affiliate marketing, you need to have a well-planned schedule that you can follow and put in the consistent work.
This means you are consistently working on your website and investing in your own education to help hone your skills in online marketing.
There should be a balance between the two. Some people spend too much working on their website while seldom improving their skills. There are also some who put too much effort into learning new things, but, don’t put this education into practice making it not work.
Patience Is The Key
Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. You need to be patient.
There are times when you will not see any significant results, perhaps in the first few months. But, if you’re patient and persistent throughout the process, you can get better results than you may have imagined. Knowing your audience and providing them value is key to affiliate marketing.
Promote Offers
You can promote your offers in a number of ways. This depends on the type of site you have built and what you are selling. You can promote the products or services using:
Product Reviews
Write honest and real reviews about the product. Build your audience’s trust. Remember that they are relying on your opinion.
Don’t just point out all the positives of the product. Your honest opinion will be valued more by your audience.
Your product reviews can link to the page where your audience can make a purchase if they are interested.
Banner Ads
You can also put up banners on your site to promote your affiliate offers. Most programs will provide their own creatives (image ads) once you sign up for their offers. All you need to do is just insert the banner on your page in the post or on the sidebar.
Email Promotions
If you have an email list, you can also promote your offers via email promotions. Just make sure that you have built a relationship with your readers. The emails that you send out should contain the affiliate links to products that your audience can click through. Be sure to read the terms of service for each affiliate carefully to be sure they are okay with you adding links in an email to their products. also, check with your email newsletter provider and be sure they allow links in your email newsletter.
Discounts and Giveaways
Many bloggers run promotions by using discount codes or giveaways to attract their audience. If you are an affiliate marketer and a company you are affiliated with has a big sale, especially during holidays, this is a perfect opportunity for you to promote them to your visitors.
Affiliate Marketing is a favorite way for many bloggers to make money online. Always remember: Be honest, transparent, and be patient. All your efforts will pay off soon.
