Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Learn How to Get Started [2024]

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money online. In this guide, I’m going to take an in-depth look into the world of affiliate marketing and talk about some of the easiest ways for a total beginner to get started.

People new to making money online often gravitate towards affiliate marketing due to its perceived low barrier to entry.

The reason for this is that anyone can get started in affiliate marketing without spending a dime.

All you need is targeted traffic and/or an audience to get paid.

I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true!

This is why I recommend affiliate marketing to anyone and everyone who is looking to make their first dollar online.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a revenue-sharing model where as a publisher, you promote products or services offered by a company and receive a commission for every sale, click, or lead generated through your unique affiliate links.

It’s a mutually beneficial relationship between merchants and affiliates. Businesses get more customers and you can potentially earn passive income without creating products of your own.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? (The Basics)

If you are reading this guide I’m assuming you are still fairly new to this whole affiliate marketing thing, so let me break the basics down for you.

In the world of affiliate marketing, there are 3 key players: the merchant, the affiliate, and the consumer.

As an affiliate, you select products you trust and promote them via a unique affiliate link provided to you by the merchant.

When consumers click on your affiliate links a cookie is dropped on their computer. This cookie allows the merchant to track affiliate sales and give credit to the proper affiliate.

If your cookie is on the customer’s device when they make a purchase, you will receive credit for the sale and earn a commission from the merchant.

Through affiliate networks, you can gain access to various merchant’s affiliate programs, which are agreements outlining commission rates and payment structures.

What stands out in affiliate marketing is its performance-based nature. You are compensated strictly based on the results generated, which means your income reflects the effectiveness of your promotion.

How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing for Beginners (My 4-Step Blueprint)

While it takes consistency and skill-building to generate significant income, making your first dollars with affiliate marketing as a beginner is very achievable if you have the right strategic mindset.

To help you get going, I’m going to hand you a viable blueprint that every new affiliate marketer should follow👇

1. Select a Niche (And a Sub-niche)

If you don’t have an existing audience to promote to, then selecting a profitable niche and building owned media assets to drive traffic to your affiliate offers is crucial.

The “3 Kings” of affiliate niches – Health, Wealth, and Relationships – are extremely broad but popular categories that provide plenty of monetization potential.

Health

The health niche involves promoting products and services related to fitness, weight loss, nutrition, beauty, and overall wellness.

Examples of offers include supplements, exercise programs, diet plans, and wearable tracking devices.

Health is a massive industry with no shortage of buyer intent. Everyone wants to look better, feel better, and live longer.

There is a huge demand for solutions, which means major affiliate opportunities.

Wealth

The wealth niche covers affiliate offers related to making and managing money – things like making money online, investing platforms, trading signals, financial planning tools, cryptocurrencies, business programs, and more.

Interest in growing wealth passively is all the rage these days. And the right recommendations could save or make people small fortunes.

This leads to advantageous high-ticket affiliate potential.

Relationships

The relationships niche involves affiliate marketing around dating/relationship advice, whether for traditional coupling or more modern forms of connecting.

Offers include dating sites, marriage counseling, pickup artistry courses, matchmaking services, etc.

Relationships can impact happiness more than almost anything. So solutions for loneliness or marital issues drive big demand, allowing you to capitalize on in-depth recommendations at scale.

2. Research Affiliate Programs

Once you choose a niche, find relevant affiliate programs that align with your audience’s interests.

Mismatched offers won’t resonate or convert. For example, don’t promote weight loss pills to a personal finance audience.

Below are a few ways to find affiliate programs when you are first starting out:

• Sign up for affiliate networks and search for offers in your niche
• Google “{niche} + affiliate program”
• Check the websites and social media of competitors to see which affiliate programs they are promoting

Find one or two offers that make sense to promote to your audience, and test them out.

If an offer gets clicks but has few sales, the merchant’s funnel or sales page likely needs optimization. But if no one ever clicks your promo content in the first place, then it’s likely missing the mark for readers. Keep testing new offers.

When you land on an offer earning clicks AND conversions consistently, you should make it one of your core offers that you continue to promote as your traffic grows.

Finding Affiliate Programs through Affiliate Networks

Outside of Amazon, most major affiliate programs are hosted on dedicated affiliate marketing networks.

The major networks provide access to large product catalogs with solid pre-optimized funnels and appealing commission rates from top merchants.

Getting approved by the top affiliate networks is an important step in growing your affiliate marketing business.

Below are some of the top affiliate networks for promoting both physical and digital products/offers:

• Amazon Associates
• ShareASale
• Awin
• Impact
• CJ
• Pepperjam
• Rakuten
• Clickbank
• Warrior+Plus
• JVZoo
• Digistore24
• Paykickstart
• MaxBounty
• Gumroad

Just because you are approved by the network itself doesn’t necessarily mean you will automatically be approved by every program it hosts, but it certainly helps your chances.

The real benefit is that once you become a successful affiliate for a network, merchant programs take note and will reach out with improved commission deals or bonuses for you to test and promote their offers to your audience.

This insider access allows you to be more selective and maximize your ROI with the most lucrative opportunities.

Company Run Affiliate Programs

With the rise in popularity of e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, more companies now run their affiliate programs internally vs joining larger networks.

Working directly with the company itself can have some advantages.

Working directly with a merchant brand can unlock higher commission rates thanks to cutting out the network middleman fees.

But one big disadvantage is the company could disappear overnight.

So, make sure you properly vet company-run affiliate programs before you send them your precious traffic.

Some key vetting tips:

• Search the company name plus “reviews” online
• Check affiliate marketing forums for insights
• Learn about leadership, years in business, reputation
• Review their affiliate program page and contact them with any questions
• Examine cookie durations and payment processes

The best affiliate partners will offer transparency, responsiveness, and assurances during your vetting process. Don’t risk working with unproven programs without deeper due diligence.

Remember, direct affiliate arrangements can provide higher profit margins long-term. But avoid sending traffic to questionable sources.

Affiliate marketing is a game of quality over quantity.

3. Choose an Affiliate Traffic Source

The easiest affiliate commissions come from promoting to your existing audience. Leverage loyal followers you’ve already built trust and engagement with.

Consistent promotion to an engaged audience you’ve already built trust with can yield impressive conversion rates.

Your best bet is picking 1-2 owned traffic sources and regularly recommending relevant affiliate offers you genuinely believe into that established group.

You can choose any source of traffic to get started, and all of them, except for paid ads, are free or very inexpensive to start with.

I’ll quickly touch on the pros and cons of each traffic method…

Affiliate Marketing with Blogging/Niche Review Sites

Building niche sites and blogs to promote affiliate offers can yield impressive passive income over time.

While competitive, I still believe content publishing is the most strategic affiliate marketing model for sustainable long-term earnings.

The core benefits of niche sites and blogs include:

However, patience and realistic expectations are key upfront:

For your site to make money, you will need to have at least a basic understanding of search engine optimization (SEO).

Your SEO skill level directly correlates to a site’s ability to rank and earn. Don’t let this scare you away though. SEO is one of the highest ROI skills you can learn when it comes to affiliate marketing (or online business in general).

When your site begins to rank in Google, you will receive consistent traffic without having to put in the daily effort.

Overall, niche sites unlock tremendous passive income potential through SEO and affiliate marketing. It just takes consistency.

Affiliate Marketing on YouTube

YouTube stands as a top-tier traffic source for affiliate marketers when leveraged strategically.

As the #2 site globally for search volume behind only Google, YouTube offers a ton of money-making potential for savvy affiliate marketers.

The key benefits of monetizing YouTube for affiliates include:

However, be realistic about the steep learning curve for beginners:

While blogs cost money upfront for hosting/domains, YouTube has zero financial barriers to entry. Although video creation does require heavy time investments.

The good news? Even if you are camera shy, there are plenty of options for making videos without ever having to be on screen.

Affiliate Marketing on Social Media

Promoting affiliate offers via social media can be very lucrative if you have a large following, but anyone can start as an affiliate (even if they have no followers).

The main benefits of running affiliate campaigns on social platforms include:

However, growth requires patience and skill-building from zero followers:

Sharing straight raw affiliate links rarely converts cold traffic.

Once you nail down effective audience targeting and traffic-warming tactics, social media provides an affordable channel to scale affiliate promotions.

Affiliate Marketing via Email

Building an email list to directly promote affiliate offers can generate sizable profits over time through relationship-based selling.

The main benefits of email marketing include:

However, getting started has challenges without existing website traffic:

Once you provide enough value via helpful advice or entertainment, earning permission to selectively highlight relevant affiliate products is easier through contextually embedded links in broadcast emails.

Email requires understanding compliance and focusing on value first. But promoting offers via email lists unlocks major commission potential.

Affiliate Marketing with Paid Ads

Driving paid traffic to affiliate offers can accelerate sales quickly but requires near flawless execution to achieve long-term profit.

The main benefits of running paid affiliate marketing campaigns include:

However, inexperience brings considerable financial risk:

I advise waiting to incorporate paid traffic until you gain competency with at least one free organic source like SEO, social media, or email. Master fundamentals first.

While paid ads provide rocket fuel to scale conversions faster, they burn through cash if set up poorly.

When just starting out, focus your energy on any of the other traffic sources on this list before introducing media buying.

4. Create Compliant Content that Captivates and Converts

That was a real tongue twister huh?

Write this down on a sticky note and keep it by your computer: The foundation of affiliate marketing is providing value through content.

Without interesting and educational content, you have no audience to ultimately promote to.

As a beginner, start focusing your efforts on creating quality blog posts, videos, and social media content that captivate your target audience and establish your authority.

Below are my tips for creating content that will resonate with an audience in any niche.

Understand Your Audience

The key to effective affiliate marketing is deeply understanding your target audience and creating tailored content that solves their struggles.

Spend time researching what your niche audience cares about most and what problems they want to solve.

Observe conversations in forums and Facebook groups and make note of recurring themes.

Once you truly know your reader’s pains and motivations, then address those needs genuinely through your posts.

Be Genuine and Transparent

Focus on recommending affiliate products that you’ve personally tested and can genuinely vouch for their value to your followers.

Build a relationship based on trust by transparently sharing your experiences and offering insights into how these products have benefited you.

If your audience senses your sole motive is to profit from them, you’ll quickly lose their trust and attention.

Offer Clear Affiliate Disclosures

You are required by the FTC to disclose that you are promoting affiliate links.

The last thing you want to happen is to get fined and lose all of the affiliate money that you earned!

If you are promoting links on a website you should put a disclaimer at the top of every post that contains affiliate links.

I display the above disclosure at the beginning of any article that has affiliate links.

I also link out the word here to a separate Affiliate Disclosure page.

My Affiliate Disclosure page goes into more detail about how I get paid to recommend products.

I’m not a lawyer, so please do your own research on the topic, but I will show you how I display my affiliate disclosures.

When promoting on social media make sure to tag your affiliate post with #ad #sponsored or #affiliate.

Also, any emails you send that contain affiliate links should clearly state that they are included.

Use a Personal Touch

When creating affiliate content, spotlight real stories and examples from your own trials with a product.

This helps you to connect with the reader emotionally, humanizing your suggestion.

Optimize Discoverability

Implement SEO best practices meticulously by optimizing metadata, refining formatting, structuring your content semantically, and strategically using keywords that resonate with your target audience.

Keep in mind that these principles extend beyond Google’s search rankings.

Virtually every content platform is governed by an algorithm that determines the reach and impact of your content.

By tailoring your content to these algorithms, you can significantly increase its potential to go viral and capture a wider audience.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action

Once content offers enough value, guide visitors to take your desired next step with a clear call to action.

Describe the offer details again or incentivize purchases through time-sensitive promotions for urgency.

Create Detailed Reviews

One of the highest converting types of affiliate content is the product review.

Write comprehensive reviews that delve into the key features, advantages, and drawbacks of the products, giving your followers a full picture of what they are purchasing.

Always supply them with the necessary details to make informed buying choices, presenting a balanced view rather than just positively promoting every aspect.

To cap off your review, include a pros and cons list and compare the product to its competitors, offering a transparent and straightforward assessment that highlights its unique value proposition.

Curate Comparisons and Roundups

Establish your authority within the niche by crafting content that showcases a deep understanding of the best solutions available.

Conducting head-to-head comparisons examining the differences in features, performance, and user experience among leading products is a great way to achieve this.

Additionally, leverage the effectiveness of round-up style posts, which concisely present a curated list of top options, providing a valuable resource for decision-making.

These formats not only demonstrate your expertise but also serve as a trusted guide for your audience, positioning you as the go-to source for informed recommendations.

Create Educational Content

Cement your role as a helpful authority by producing a variety of educational content, such as tutorials, comprehensive guides, detailed analyses, and practical how-to content.

This type of content is the perfect vehicle for weaving in affiliate links to recommended products that your audience may be interested in.

Focus on teaching actionable skills that align with your readers’ passions, simultaneously highlighting indispensable products and resources. T

his approach not only enriches your content with value but also subtly aligns your affiliate offers with your audience’s learning journey, making it a win-win for both you and your followers.

Use Attractive Images and Multimedia

Elevate your content’s appeal by using relevant, high-quality photos, graphic designs, videos, and other visual elements.

Not only do these visuals grab attention, but they will also aid in the understanding and retention of your content.

Consider this striking statistic: using images can increase conversions by up to 74%.

For affiliate marketers, this means that presenting products through visually captivating and polished imagery is crucial.

Incorporate these visuals in your reviews and detailed comparisons to not just tell but show your audience the compelling features and benefits of the products you endorse.

By doing so, you create a more convincing narrative that can significantly boost the persuasive power of your affiliate content.

Keep Content Updated

Revisit existing content periodically to update any outdated details or new findings related to the products.

When refreshing content, be sure to include any significant industry shifts, consumer feedback changes, changes in pricing, and any new insights from your hands-on experience with the products.

Keeping your affiliate content up to date not only showcases your credibility but also keeps your audience informed with the most current and accurate information, reinforcing their trust and encouraging repeat visits.

Leverage Social Proof When Possible

Strengthen your recommendations by spotlighting positive experiences from past buyers.

Handpick authentic testimonials from reputable sources. Quote industry experts that applaud a product’s merits.

When possible, link to independent product reviews that confirm a product’s quality and value.

This layer of social proof enhances the perceived reliability of your recommendations and boosts the confidence of potential buyers, leading to better overall conversion rates.

Continually Test and Optimize

Refine your content strategy by leaning into the power of A/B testing.

Tweak your headlines, calls to action, and the placement of offers to see what resonates.

Through continuous split testing, you can determine the most effective approaches for your niche, leading to an uptick in both clicks and conversions.

This process not only optimizes your content but also deepens your understanding of your audience’s preferences, allowing you to tailor your messaging for maximum impact….and maximum commissions!

Why Should Beginners Choose Affiliate Marketing?

There’s just no sugarcoating it…becoming a successful affiliate marketer requires a lot of time, skill, and persistence.

This isn’t a get-rich scheme, and if some guru is telling you anything different, you should run for the hills as quickly as possible.

However, the truth is that I also think affiliate marketing is hands down the best opportunity for beginners to make significant money online.

Below are the most compelling reasons why a beginner should choose to focus on affiliate marketing:

1. Passive Income Potential

One big advantage of affiliate marketing is the potential to eventually generate passive income. This means building online assets that earn money automatically with minimal ongoing work required.

Examples of assets that lead to passive income include:

• Optimized blogs that rank highly and drive free organic traffic from search engines regularly
• Email lists that you can send promotions to whenever you want
• Display and retargeting ad units that deliver commissions automatically based on previous site visits

You should be fully aware that building these hands-off affiliate income streams takes a good deal of upfront effort.

You need to thoroughly research profitable offers, create high-quality content, run tests to optimize conversions, and effectively build steady traffic channels.

But once your assets start performing well, you put your feet up more and watch the commissions roll in each month with little maintenance needed. The passive income compounding from just a few well-optimized assets can eventually exceed what most people make at their 9-5 jobs.

This appeals to many affiliate marketers and makes the hard work worth it.

2. Little to No Upfront Cost

A big advantage of affiliate marketing is the extremely low startup cost. You can begin earning commissions without much upfront investment beyond time and effort.

All you really need is a laptop and internet to get your affiliate campaigns off the ground. This means no need to risk big budgets upfront as you build your business, which is invaluable for beginners.

Virtually every other online business model requires significant capital before operations even begin. E-commerce stores need inventory, paid ads, and complex website hosting. Agencies require establishing branding and leads before securing clients.

But as an affiliate, you can start applying marketing skills to earn commissions right away without these expenses eating into profitability early on.

So if you currently don’t have much startup capital but want to break into online entrepreneurship, affiliate marketing allows you to start completely free and test things out. You won’t find many other online businesses that offer such little financial risk.

3. No Clients to Deal With

Unlike operating an agency or e-commerce business, affiliate marketing does not require directly dealing with clients or customers to earn income.

You don’t need to constantly chase down new clients through cold emailing and networking. And you certainly don’t have to worry about client retention and churn.

Instead, affiliate marketers get to focus entirely on leveraging their marketing skills and hard work to drive traffic and sales.

So if you’d rather avoid the client and customer headaches that most online business models have, affiliate marketing may be the path for you!

4. No Customer Support Required

One great aspect of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to provide any customer support or fulfillment as part of your business. That entire job falls on the merchant you partner with.

For example, if you run an e-commerce store, you have to handle issues like:

• Responding to customer emails and complaints
• Processing returns and refunds
• Managing inventory and stock levels
• Coordinating delivery logistics and shipping

But as an affiliate marketer, you get to sidestep these problems entirely. Once you drive a qualified sale through your affiliate link, your job is done.

The merchant handles any customer inquiries, processes orders and payments, packages products, and deals with potential returns or issues.

Meanwhile, the only middle-of-the-night emails you’ll get as an affiliate are notifications that you have made a new commission!

5. Flexible Work Schedule

A major appeal of affiliate marketing is the flexibility it offers. Since you earn commissions based on performance, you can work when and where is most convenient for your lifestyle.

Unlike a 9-5 office job, you don’t need to work set hours or remain tied to a particular city. As long as you have a laptop and internet, you can manage your affiliate campaigns from anywhere in the world at any time of day.

So if you prefer working odd hours or frequently traveling, affiliate marketing allows that location freedom.

You can be there for morning school drop-offs and work later while the kids nap. Or take entire days off midweek to recharge.

The ability to work flexible hours from any location with internet is a major lifestyle advantage of affiliate marketing for many, especially those with existing life commitments or who simply value control over how/when they work.

6. Build Real Business Skills

Affiliate marketing provides an excellent opportunity for beginners to develop a wide range of digital marketing skills.

While the barriers to entry are low, becoming a successful affiliate over time requires building expertise across many crucial areas, including:

• Digital media buying
• Social media marketing
• Data analysis
• Sales funnel optimization
• Marketing psychology
• Persuasive copywriting
• Video production

The low risks due to minimal startup costs plus the future skill-building potential make affiliate marketing a strategic starting point. It allows beginners to get their feet wet running an online business in a risk-tolerant way.

The experience gained can then be transferred and applied to many other online business models down the line.

Top affiliate marketers often credit their early affiliate journey as a strategic stepping stone for long-term business success.

How Much Money Can a Beginner Expect to Make with Affiliate Marketing?

When I first started out in affiliate marketing over 6 years ago, I struggled as a beginner to earn any money.

But through consistent effort and skill-building over time, I now make well into six figures per year.

My experience shows that a beginner’s income potential spans a wide range – from $0 to an amount that could completely transform their life. Like any business, results require substantial and sustained effort.

Affiliate marketing is a long game. Patience and persistence are key.

The only real limitations are your own marketing capabilities and the volume of targeted traffic you drive.

With a commitment to honing your craft and scaling qualified traffic sources, the income potential has no ceiling for beginners over the long haul.

My own journey proves that with maximum effort, affiliate marketing can evolve from a reliable side hustle into a full-fledged career.

Other Important Things a Beginner Affiliate Marketer Should Know

So far everything sounds great right?

Keep in mind that there are a few things that you should be aware of if you choose affiliate marketing as a way to make money online.

Getting Paid

Most affiliate networks pay you once or twice per month and have minimum payout thresholds in place.

Depending on the network you may get paid 1-2 months after the month in which you made the initial sale. 

This is usually to account for return and money-back guarantee policies.

All major affiliate networks pay via direct bank deposit, but some of your company-run affiliate programs may only pay you via Paypal.

Negotiating Affiliate Terms

Unless you have an established track record in a specific niche when you first start out promoting a new affiliate program you are at the mercy of the program’s standard terms.

However, once you start getting consistent sales for a program this changes.

The easiest way to increase affiliate revenue is to get paid more for the traffic you already have.

The easiest way to get a yes when asking for a commission bump is to already have a good relationship with the affiliate manager.

📌 Here are some tips for winning over your affiliate manager:

• After you get approved for the program, reach out to them immediately via email, and introduce yourself.
• Make contact occasionally and ask them if they have any specific products or offers that have been converting well that you could take advantage of.
• If you feature their company in a content piece or campaign, send them a link. This lets them know that you are busy promoting.
• Take advantage of any contests that may be running. Getting to the top of the leaderboard is a great way to get noticed.

When negotiating a commission increase, make sure that you have been getting consistent sales and that your conversion rate is greater than the program’s posted average.

Send an email letting them know you are going over your content calendar for the quarter and evaluating which affiliate programs you want to promote. 

Ask them if there is any wiggle room with the current commission rate and tell them you would be happy to prioritize their products in your upcoming content, as well as your email and social media campaigns.

Make sure to remind them that your conversion rate is higher than their program’s average.

If they have any room to give you an increase, they most likely will for the increased exposure.

Think about it. If you were getting 4% and got an increase to 6%, you are making 50% more on your existing traffic!

Don’t ask. Don’t get.

Final Thoughts…

Affiliate marketing can be a great way for beginners to get started in the world of online business.

However, you can’t start developing your own affiliate marketing strategy and laying the groundwork for success without first understanding the basics of what affiliate marketing is and how it operates.

By following the tips and advice outlined in this blog post, you can get started on your affiliate marketing journey and start seeing results in no time. So, don’t wait any longer, start exploring the world of affiliate marketing today!