A Step by Step Guide to Affiliate Marketing
If you’re interested in giving affiliate marketing a go, the good news is that it’s not hard to get started. Let’s check out a step by step guide to help you on your way.
- Choose a particular business niche you want to specialize in. It’s no good opting for a niche which is totally different to the one you’re currently in. You can’t market kitchen utensils if your blog is about pet care! You should also be mindful that you can create a good amount of cash from the chosen niche you’ve opted for. This means doing some research and looking into the most profitable niches but also looking for one which isn’t already drowning in other bloggers and website owners marketing their goods.
- Choose an affiliate marketing program. It’s best to opt for one which is good for beginners and one which is rich in your particular niche. There are countless out there and it’s simply a case of whittling down your options. We’ve already mentioned that Amazon is a very popular affiliate program to opt for, but this is literally swimming in previous users. If you want to stand out, you might like to go direct and choose a different program, however, there is a lot of authenticity to be had when using the Amazon Affiliate Program, so that’s something you may still like to go for. There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer here, simply go with what you feel is best.
- Register with the program of your choice and give your details – Most programs will ask for general details, and they will want to know about the number of followers and amount of traffic you regularly have. You will also be asked to give payment details, to allow you to be paid when someone clicks on the link and purchases the product, thanks to your marketing efforts.
- Get started! – Once you’ve registered, you’re free to begin. Start with just one link for the time being and be careful never to overload your site with constant affiliate marketing links. By doing this you’re just going to annoy anyone who chooses to click on your site and they’ll move to someone who doesn’t throw endless marketing methods at them! You’re also responsible for mentioning to your readers that any content you give includes links to affiliate marketing and failure to do so could lead to difficult situations; Instagram may block your account, as one example.
We should also mention that there are two main types of programs you can choose to sign up to – affiliate networks and individual programs.
Networks allow you a greater scope of products and you can sign up to several different individual programs within them. However, they can be difficult to juggle as a beginner. Individual programs are individual companies who give you the chance to sign up to their specific program, so you will be marketing their products only. You will need to apply to each company separately if you want to market their products and they can accept you or decline, depending upon the popularity of your site and whether or not they’re likely to receive many clicks as a result of using your site.
Affiliate marketing sounds confusing, but once you begin you’ll see that it’s actually far easier than you think. The main thing to remember is that you need to tell your readers that you’re using affiliate marketing, so if you’re a blogger and you decide to market something on your blog, you will need to highlight at the beginning of that particular blog post that the content includes affiliate marketing links. You can do this by a quick sentence before you delve into the main content and most readers won’t be put off by this
If you want to make extra cash from your website and monetize your way to online success, affiliate marketing is certainly one of the most popular ways to do it.