For anyone who understands what affiliate marketing is, the next big questions is:
How do I get started with Affiliate marketing business?
In this beginners guide, I will help you understand how to start affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a growing vertical, and you can start making money from it via a website, blog, YouTube channel & also PPC marketing.
There are many ways internet marketers are doing affiliate marketing, and you need to pick the one that suits your style of working. Below I will share how I started with it, and so far I can say confidently that it’s working, and it will work for you too.
How to Start An Affiliate marketing business:
I have shared all important links below to become a master of affiliate marketing, but first let’s take those baby steps which will help you to get the basics right.
Become an affiliate: Join Affiliate programs and marketplaces
The very first step you need to do is to become an affiliate of the products. This could be done via Affiliate networks or you can also join direct affiliate programs. It’s a good idea to understand the difference between these two, and this post on direct affiliate program vs. affiliate marketplace will help.
You need to pick products that resonate with your skills set or the topic you talk about the most. If you are an existing blogger, YouTuber, or an influencer, it will be easy for you. We will discuss more about this as we move ahead.
Promotion Channel:
Once you have become an affiliate, the next thing is to find a way to promote the products. This could be:
- A blog
- An Affiliate website (Ex: Comparison website, deals, and discounts)
- YouTube channel
- Podcasting
- Social media platforms such as Facebook Page or group, Twitter and so on.
The one that works the best for the long term is a combination of blog and YouTube channel. Since you will be using content marketing to drive free traffic to your platforms, your profit will be higher and over the time you will see organic growth.
The easy one to get started is via blog or YouTube channel. If you don’t have a blog, you can read my guide on “How to start a blog.” This will help you to get started in the next 10 minutes.
Sales pitch
For selling any product, you need to create a sales pitch. The sales pitch can be in the form of a blog post, video, a podcast, or can be a static web page. Many companies provide you with a product landing page.
Creating a sales pitch in simple words, you need to make your readers aware of what problem the product solves or it could be an offer they should not miss. For newcomers, it is easy to pick and product and then build an audience around it. For existing content creators, the product should align with your existing user base.
Link Cloaking:
Link cloaking technique helps you to convert ugly looking affiliate link into pretty links. Let’s understand this by an example:
- Affiliate link: http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=44&U=377725&M=47&urllink=&afftrack=SML
- Cloaked link: https://www.shoutmeloud.com/recommended/Shareasale/
Both the links point to the same web-page, and the cloaked one looks much friendly than the usual affiliate link. Another benefit is, you will be able to track how many people are clicking on the link. It also makes affiliate link management easier. We have a detailed guide about the same in the upcoming section of this series.
If you have a blog on WordPress, you can use this plugin called ThirstyAffiliates. If you don’t have a blog, you can use a platform called Geni.us, which offers all the features you need.
Now before you get started with Affiliate marketing, here are few guides as promised to refine your skills further:
Feel free to ask your follow up question via comments and do share this useful guide with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. You can also subscribe to ShoutMeLoud newsletter for updates related to affiliate marketing.
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can I do affiliate marketing with my Facebook page??? If yes then how and is there any effect on page unpublishing by using affiliate marketing I mean is it legal on fb???
Thanks Harsh again for this valuable Post.
I am regular Reader of Shoutmeloud.com, but after subscribing this mini course, definitely I come and read.
Affiliate marketing is the great source of Income for Blog owners, like me and I love Affiliate Marketing.
3-4 years ago, I used to promote Maxbounty Survey Programs and made around $100 Monthly, but that time I was not having any my own Blog. Then I Stopped.
As you mentioned above in the post that promoting affiliate links through your own Blog, are more beneficial in the long run. Yes I believe this, because now I am Using Amazon Affiliate Links and Enjoy more with my own Blog and having a Blog is a great opportunity to Earn Money in Online World!!
Thanks.
Wow. Thats a excellent content. I like your way of content Interlinking. Learned a lot. Thanks Harsh.
Hi Mohit,
I’m writing and reading since a long time, but I’m new to affiliate marketing and google adsense.
I came to know from some sources that google adsense pay you according to the number of clicks; but as per the above article written by you, you are talking about a sales pitch and conversion. Does affiliate marketing pays as per the conversion or number of sales through advertising? or I’m getting it wrong?
Thanks in advance, awaiting your response.
Hey Paalash,
Affiliate Marketing pays when you make a sale through your affiliate link.
I have bad experience from amazon. After selling 2 products they said it is not qualified for commission. I stopped and removed all banners from my site.
On my site, i was just using AdSense. After reading some post I got much more idea and this Affiliate marketing which course you have started. Affiliate marketing it is really awesome as you are guiding stepwise steps. Thanks, Harsh sir
This was great. It really helped me.but the links are a little too much. At a point I got confused and had to start again. Thanks anyway.
i first learned about affiliate marketing. it is really awesome. thank u. Mr. Harsh./)
Hi,
I have used Sharesale . And it is really very nice , but my conversion was less than average . Keep sharing so that I can learn more and more .
Thank you for sharing
Affiliate marketing needs good direction if you want to earn something from it. And you are providing all best information and what should anyone do with respect to it. Keep sharing like this.
Affiliate marketing can be the great source of income for blog owners but only if they work with enough knowledge and expertise. And i think your blog posts on affiliate marketing are enough to get that expertise.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Is there an easy-to-use Affiliate Marketplace Like Clickbank that pays with paypal?
Clickbank is so easy to use but it only pays with Payoneer.
So,if there is an easy to use affiliate marketplace like clickbank out there,I would love to hear about it.It just has to be easy to use and pay with paypal,That is all I want.
Please help,Guys!!
Nice Article Harsh! Last Month I made my first Affiliate Sales by reading some of your old Tips.Thanks Again 🙂
Nice Harsh, but please suggest me a marketplace where I can get all affiliate, otherwise signing manually to each affiliate and maintaing is really hectic.
I have tried top marketplaces like cj, Amazon, clickbank etc, but either they don’t have all affiliate related to blogging niche or they don’t approve. In case of cj they don’t approve and I don’t know why?
Is registering manually is the only option? Of yes then how could we manage each account.?
Waiting for your reply ASAP.
Affiliate marketing is better source of income than ads and you have included important points of improving affiliating skills. One more thing your another “CydiaGuide” is great. Bookmarked the post for future use. Thanks for such a useful information.
Really amazing post. I’m a newbie to the affiliate marketing. But, After this post I thought affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money.
Hey
Amazing post Harsh. I’m kinda young with my affiliate knowledge.
Could you suggest a few affiliate networks which work closely with Technology / Software 🙂
Thanks
Rehman
I never had much luck with Affiliate Marketing. I was infact looking forward to your posts on it.
I like your posts Harsh as it is easy to understand . 🙂
Thanks for your kind word Shabnam, I’m sure you will keep enjoying upcoming post in the series.
Yes, When it come to choose affilates products & services many things should be kept in mind, where product selection & sales pitch plays very important roles. Thanks, Harsh
Thanks for your insight and glad you agree with it.
hey good start harsh we are waiting for next post
Mohit Currently I have 5 posts schedule and I guess I can add more post soon in the series. Make sure you subscribe to my Email newsletter if you don’t want to miss any single post.
harsh already subscribe to Email newsletter and following SML from last few months so i am regular reader. waiting for your next killer post
My bad Mohit. I should have realized that with your no. of comments.
Very much helpful post. The sales pitch funda is really cool and the results related to your affiliate marketing plans are visible in your monthly reports. Thanks a lot Harsh for sharing this info, will definitely try some of them on my blog.
Thanks for your comment Sanjeev and best of luck with it.