I've been online as an affiliate marketer since 1997. It's not rocket science. Read the following article to learn about affiliate marketing for beginners.
I've condensed and simplified the steps required to start your own affiliate marketing business as much as possible in the following article and have included links to relevant articles and videos.
NOTE: If you're not sure what affiliate marketing is or how it works, please watch my video, “How Affiliate Marketing Works” first. Then, at the bottom of this post, you can watch my “Affiliate Marketing Simplified” video. 🙂
Here, in 7 basic steps is how to start an affiliate marketing business.
1. Pick a Niche Topic
Pick a topic about which you are both knowledgeable and passionate, then search the web to find sites related to your interest.
Pay particular attention to sites with informative and entertaining content and note which products they promote. What words and phrases (keywords) would customers search to find those sites? Make a list of those terms to help you in your marketing later. Do you see areas in which those sites could be improved? Take notes to make those improvements part of your site building plan.
Learn more about niche and keyword research.
2. Register a Domain Name & Arrange Web Hosting
Choose a domain name that is relevant to your chosen topic and has the .com extension. Keep it short, simple, and devoid of hyphens (if possible). If you want to register your domain separately, I recommend GoDaddy.
You can however register a domain name (for free through BlueHost) at the same time as you set up web-hosting. A web host is a server on which your site resides.
Here is the list of web hosting services that I currently recommend.
3. Start Building Your Blog
As an affiliate marketer, you NEED a website. Don't let anyone tell you any differently.
Building a website nowadays is SO easy. I use the WordPress blog platform on all my sites. Here's a tutorial that shows you exactly how to start your own blog today.
4. Develop Content
If you love to write, you're already ahead of the game by leaps and bounds!
If, on the other hand, you hate to write, creating content for your blog may seem rather daunting.
Fear not, getting information together for your site is probably easier than you think, as there are many wonderful resources of pre-written content available to you.
To help you get started, here are 6 ways to create content for your site.
5. Source Products to Sell
Having a site full of great information won't do you much good if you don't recommend products or services that your visitors can purchase to solve their problems or fulfill their needs. 🙂
I suggest joining the following affiliate networks to start with — ClickBank and Shareasale… but only AFTER your blog is up and has some content.
6. Build a List
Overlook this step at your peril! It is absolutely essential to build a list to keep in touch with your visitors so you can promote more products related to their interests.
Learn all about email marketing. I personally use and recommend Aweber's autoresponder service.
7. Market Your Site
Here is a list of my favorite 3 ways to get traffic.
There you have them, the 7 basic steps to get your affiliate marketing business off the ground.
Start today, work diligently and reap the rewards of becoming a successful affiliate marketer.
Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
