Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: How to Find Success

Affiliate marketing. You know what it is (at least sort of). You know it boasts enormous passive income potential (when you do it right). Perhaps you know you’re ready to dive in (…you think).

So, where to start?

By learning more about making affiliate marketing for beginners work for you.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketers affiliate (partner with) another person or brand, then market their products to their own audiences.

In exchange for promoting goods/services, affiliates receive a commission when their audience complete specific actions. (If you’ve ever seen websites note they “might earn money” when you click links, that’s affiliate marketing!)

Affiliate marketers generally operate one of two ways:

1. They run their own content creation business, like a blog, YouTube channel, or podcast. As part of their monetization strategy, they partner with businesses that complement their brand and fill viewers’ needs. (Many parenting blogs follow this model, for example.)
2. They focus solely on product reviews, buying guides, and how-to tips, complete with affiliate links. (Think YouTube “unboxing” channels.)

But neither method starts earning overnight. First, you have to build your brand, audience and affiliate relationships, and affiliate marketing strategy.  

How affiliate marketing works

The technical details of affiliate marketing are relatively simple. After establishing your affiliate partnerships, the process goes something like this:

• Your affiliate merchant issues a unique affiliate link that contains a tracking ID
• You promote your affiliate through product reviews, how-to guides, thought leadership content, promotions, or other strategies
• Viewers who click your unique affiliate links redirect to the merchant’s website
• The merchant or affiliate marketing program uses your tracking ID to trace the source of the traffic to your brand
  • Some links use “cookies”, which store tiny files on viewer devices for a short time. Cookies allow affiliates to receive credit for any actions or purchases a viewer takes even days later.
• If the viewer takes a required action as outlined in your affiliate program, you’ll receive the credit – and the commission

Affiliate marketing lets merchants outsource the marketing process, increasing their potential reach. Plus, affiliates can market products their own way, allowing for more creativity!

NOTE TO ANNA: This image is NOT OURS and should NOT be published in this article; I pulled it from another site as inspiration in case you wanted to generate your own charts for originality! I know many brands do that for longer-form guides, so I thought I'd drop in a starting point just in case. 🙂

How affiliate marketers get paid

We noted that affiliates get paid when consumers take “required actions”, but that doesn’t always involve money changing hands. Most affiliate programs set commissions around one of these pay-per models:

• Pay-per-click (PPC): Affiliates earn commissions when viewers click their affiliate links
• Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) models track how many leads an affiliate’s links generate
• Earnings-per-click (EPC) models measure the average earnings per a set number of clicks (usually 100) generated by an affiliate’s links
• Pay-per-sale (PPS): Affiliates earn commissions when their viewers make a purchase through their link
• Pay-per-lead (PPL): Affiliates earn commissions when their viewers complete “lead” actions, like:
  • Providing contact information
  • Signing up for email lists
  • Joining product trials
  • Downloading an eBook or digital file
• Pay-per-install (PPI): Affiliates earn commissions when their users install a software or mobile app

Merchants trace consumer clicks and purchases to a specific affiliate using their links’ ID tags. Then, they pay up by bank transfer, check, or even PayPal.

Affiliate marketing’s major players

Affiliate marketing unites four players under two goals: bringing useful products to consumers’ attention, and profiting from increased awareness.

Merchants

Also called:

• Brands
• Vendors
• Sellers
• Product creators
• Retailers

Merchants produce, operate, or sell the product or service their affiliates market.

They take many forms: entrepreneurs, small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in-between. Their industries vary enormously from ecommerce sellers to software companies to credit card behemoths.

Some merchants actively participate in the advertising process (e.g., furnishing key talking points). Others simply send out links and let affiliates do their thing.

Affiliates

Also called:

• Publishers
• Advertisers

Affiliates are the entrepreneurs and brands that partner with merchants. They may incorporate links and promotions via their affiliate site or blog, social media posts, email blasts, YouTube videos, or other means.

Affiliates tend to focus on a particular niche like parenting or gaming. Generally, they choose merchants in their niche – e.g., a mountaineering blog might partner with biking brands but not home improvement stores. Pairing valuable content with related products contributes to their brand authority and sales potential.

Consumers 

Also called:

• Audience
• Viewers
• Readers
• Customers

Consumers drive the entire affiliate cycle – without their dollars, affiliates and merchants have no incentive to partner up. Consumers watch the videos, listen to the podcasts, and visit the websites and blogs that affiliates run. If they find the content (and products) valuable, they click through and spend the money that spins the world ’round.  

Affiliate networks

Affiliate networks have become major players in the marketing world. These middlemen organize affiliate-ready merchants and products into large databases. Marketers can sign up for the affiliate network and shop niche-specific opportunities without contacting individual merchants.

So, why affiliate marketing for beginners?

Affiliate marketing boasts several benefits for entrepreneurial hopefuls:

• You’re not responsible for nitty-gritty details like product research, creation, sales, or customer support
• Extremely limited overhead to consider
• Old content continues generating passive affiliate income
• Work from anywhere you have internet access – including in your pajamas

But with so much hype around affiliate marketing as a passive income paradise, you might think the niche oversaturated. In reality, the space is prime for explosive growth.

Already, 81% of brands use affiliate programs to boost sales and brand awareness. That translates to big bucks: businesses spent $8.2 billion on affiliate marketing in the U.S. alone in 2022. Globally, the industry could rake in up to $28 billion by 2027.

Still, you might counter, with so many successful affiliate marketers out there, is there room for just me?

The answer: emphatically yes – 77% of affiliate marketers operate as “solopreneurs.” Additionally, nearly half are women, giving moms and single women plenty of room to make their own success.

How to start affiliate marketing in 6 steps

Once you’re established, affiliate marketing may require only a few hours a week to keep generating income. Naturally, the hard part happens upfront.

1.   Choose your niche

Before anything else, you’ll need to establish your brand. To do that, you have to identify your niche and target audience. If you don’t have a business idea in mind, ask yourself a few questions:

• What do you know a lot about? It’s easier to build your brand around your interests and expertise, even if you’re not the expert.
• Where can you stand out? Affiliate marketing has lots of untapped potential, but popular spaces like travel, finance, and wellness are overpopulated. Less competitive affiliate marketing niches offer more room to succeed.
• What can you narrow down? It’s tempting to cast a broad net, but going toobroad stretches you too thin. Start small – “painting” instead of “art”, for instance – and expand when your business is ready.
• What problems do you want to solve? Many affiliates start by solving problems or filling information gaps. Maybe you want to spread awareness of the link between pet food and pet health or creative non-screen alternatives to entertain children before bed.
• What are you willing to commit to? You’ll spend lots of time on you brand upfront, so stick with ideas that excite you! (Or at least don’t bore you to tears.)

2.   Select a platform (or two)

Next, it’s time to determine what form your content will take and where. Popular options include:

• Niche topic or product review sites: Publish reviews, product comparisons, buyer’s guides, tutorials, and more.
• Microsites or minisites: Landing pages or collections of pages that link to a larger site or domain. These usually highlight specific events or product lines.
• Branded blogs: Publish audience-focused content like personal insights, how-to guides, thought leadership, and educational materials. Blogs benefit from tapping a variety of SEO and advertising strategies and pair well with other mediums.
• YouTube channels: Publish highly visual content to “show, not tell” their audience what’s up.
• Email marketing: Often used to supplement blogs and YouTube strategies. Email marketing connects you with your audience more personally so you can share links, tips, sales, and foster a dialogue.
• Social media platforms: Often paired with other strategies, social media marketing fosters more intimate consumer-business relationships. Advertise on Facebook, splash your brand on Instagram, curate a TikTok tip library, and more. 

Remember: most marketers use more than one platform and affiliate marketing strategy. The key is starting where you’re comfortable and where your audience is. (For instance, woodworkers don’t want to read text-heavy blogs – they want to watch the action!)

3.   Determine what type of affiliate marketer you want to be

Affiliate marketers broadly fit into three categories:

• Unattached affiliate marketing: Marketers have no firsthand expertise and little to no subject matter authority. Unattached marketers may prefer monetization and business-building over nurturing relationships.
• Related affiliate marketing: Marketers have experience in their niche and may have name recognition or an online following. They’re dedicated to providing value to their audience, though they may not try every product personally.
• Involved affiliate marketing: Affiliate partners try many or all of their products before putting out reviews and recommendations. They have the firsthand experience to back their claims, build reliability, and curate tight-knit business and consumer relationships.

Your own goals, strategy, and audience will determine which category you slot into.

4.   Narrow down your affiliate criteria

Over 11,000 affiliate programs operate in the U.S. Most won’t be in your industry, let alone your niche – and some that are in your niche won’t fit your goals or strategy.

So, how do you decide which to partner with?

In general, they should fit one or more of the following criteria:

• You already use them. Some of the best affiliates promote products they personally use. Providing firsthand insights increases your value to consumers and stakes your name on your recommendations.
• They appeal to your audience. Focus on affiliating with businesses that relate to your niche. You’ll be able to speak more authoritatively on their benefits (even if you don’t use them yourself) and keep your content genuine.
• They have a good reputation. You don’t want to partner with shady or lawbreaking brands – otherwise, you’ll ruin your own reputation!
• They’re recommended by other brands. Brands with more affiliates effectively have more votes of confidence in their business or product. You’ll face more competition, but popular merchants may be less likely to tarnish your name.
• They pay solid commissions. Let’s be honest: It’s not worth affiliating with merchants whose payouts don’t compensate your marketing efforts. You’re not asking one referral to pay your rent – but a few bucks apiece would be nice!

5.   Reach out to potential affiliates

Okay, now you know what you’re looking for. So, where do you find affiliate programs?

• Existing programs. Let’s start with the obvious: reaching out to individual brands. Not sure if a desired niche or product partners up? Simply Google “[Your niche/Product name] + affiliate program” to see what’s available! Typically, these programs have an official application or request process to join up.
• Brands willing to create a program for you. Some retailers may offer kickbacks or special promotions if you reach out and offer to drive traffic to them. You’ll likely need an established name for this option to appeal to merchants, so consider this strategy a long-term goal.
• Affiliate networks. If you don’t want to spend time scouring individual programs, sign up for big-name networks instead. Aside from the site-specific Amazon Associates program, consider:
  • CJ Affiliate
  • ShareASale
  • FlexOffers
  • AvantLink
  • ClickBank

6.   Create high-quality content

To stand out in a busy industry amid global competition, you need to make yourself invaluable. Low-quality, keyword-stuffed content no longer passes muster in a content-rich world; it’s on you to prove your worth!

Of course, how to do this varies widely – you might:

• Write or video brutally honest or hilarious reviews, comparisons, and how-to guides
• Offer personal stories of success, failure, and lessons learned
• Tell ghost stories that happen to incorporate real-life products
• Pair recommendations with your own products or services

There’s no wrong way to create high-value content – unless you don’t know what your audience wants. (Hello, market research!)

Top tips to get your affiliate brand off the ground

Above, we tackled some practical steps to jumpstart your business. Below, we’ll explore pro tips to boost your chances of finding success.

Take a course

Affiliate marketing isn’t difficult, exactly; it just requires making lots of moving parts work together. Though our guide touches on the basics, I’ll be honest: there’s a lot we left uncovered. SEO and keyword research, content creation, social media management…you have hours of research ahead.

OR!

Instead of waffling around Google, you could take a tried-and-true shortcut: an affiliate marketing course that teaches you everything you need to know in one go. (And yes, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is, in fact, our affiliate. Affiliate-ception!)

While we can jumpstart your passion, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing turns that passion into laser-focused action, from eBook to in-depth lessons.

Don’t affiliate with businesses you wouldn’t recommend to close family

Whether you’re numbers-minded or incredibly involved, remember the golden rule: don’t affiliate with products you wouldn’t recommend to loved ones.

Peddling cheap, ineffective, or dangerous products will tar your good name and drive down commissions. If you’re not testing products yourself, spend time thoroughly reviewing them before sending recommendations live.

Disclose your affiliations

FTC regulations require affiliate marketers to be upfront about sponsored and affiliated content to prevent bad actors from misleading consumers. You can publish sponsored content policy pages or insert disclaimers into articles or video descriptions.

Build traffic through multiple avenues

To build an audience, you’ll need to reach them where they hang out (or entice them to come to you). As established digital marketers know, it’s best to have at least routes of establishing and maintaining customer relationships.

1.    Paid advertising traffic

Paid traffic, like ads placed on Google or other websites, point traffic in your direction immediately. The downside: they dig into your profits and can take time to optimize just right. Fortunately, beginner marketers can raise awareness by other means.  

2.    SEO traffic

Search engine optimization (SEO) drives 83% of search engine traffic, which is why almost 4/5 affiliate marketersrely on SEO as a primary traffic draw.

Essentially, SEO makes your content “findable” to search engines. You do this through creating value-rich content, deploying keywords and legitimate link-building tactics, and ensuring Google can find, crawl, and index (categorize) your content.

3.    Email lists

Curating active email lists lets you plonk newsletters, content updates, promotional offers, and hot tips right into front of your audience. (Hello, direct-to-consumer affiliate links!) Yes, they take a bit of time and effort – and you may need to encourage sign-ups with a free eBook or discount code – but their long-term payoff remains uncontested.

4.    Social media

Social media strategies put your brand in front of your audience’s eyes with little effort on their part. Use social media to directly engage with viewers, promote giveaways and linked content, bundle your own products for sale, and more.

Strategize your marketing

Content alone won’t drive commissions if you don’t have a good marketing strategy. Go above and beyond by:

• Considering viewers’ needs. Content isn’t spaghetti – don’t blindly throw it at the wall and see what sticks. Put effort into solving consumers’ problems, filling information gaps, or providing unique insights alongside affiliate links. 
• Understanding your products. I’ve mentioned above, I’ll probably say it again: Don’t peddle unknown or poor-quality products. Test or familiarize yourself with each product; collaborate with experts; and back facts with research.
• Place links thoughtfully. Where you stick links matters – a lot. Lump too many together and you look spammy. Shove them at the bottom of each page and you may not see any clicks. Even linking to the wrong words can drag down your clicks (and your SEO).

Time your content releases

Keep your content relevant by planning around your niche’s needs and calendars. Aside from the almost-obligatory “best present” lists before the holiday season:

• Match with tech brands to offer pre-release product reviews
• Send reminders and product blasts ahead of craft conventions
• Touch on timely financial tips and tricks come tax season
• Generate cheers and laughs with “School’s Out! Time to Entertain the Kiddos” and “[Finally!] School’s Back in Session! Time to Rediscover Your Sanity” email blasts for your parenting blog

In short, timely content and promotions will do wonders for your views – and commission checks.

Successful affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be trial-by-fire

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be a pain, but getting started on the right foot matters tons. Instead of stumbling along making your own mistakes, try leaning on the wisdom of others! Here's an ebook on affiliate marketing to get you started.

FAQs

Is affiliate marketing beginner friendly?

Affiliate marketing can be relatively easy for beginners, as long as you do your research ahead of time. (Or take a course to start your business on the right foot.)

How much money can beginner affiliate marketers make?

Affiliate compensation varies tremendously. Annually, the “average” affiliate marketer earns anywhere from under $10,000 to over $50,000, depending on the niche. Temper your expectations by aiming low but working to earn high.

How much does it cost to start affiliate marketing?

Getting started with affiliate marketing usually requires an upfront investment of a few hundred dollars. That money pays for business registration, buying a domain, building your website, and email marketing and SEO tools. (Though you can reduce expenses with free trials or membership tiers at first!)