In a previous post, I share why I want to build an online business. In this post, I explore what affiliate marketing is and the best tips that I learned from the mistakes I made in the past.
Why Choose Affiliate Marketing?
I’ve tried different online methods including dropshipping, selling SAAS services, as well as affiliate marketing.
In time I returned to affiliate marketing, selling other people’s (digital) information products mainly because I think it is the simplest place to start because you……
- Do not need to create a product and
- Don’t have the responsibility for customer service
I would advise anyone just starting to do the same.
What exactly is affiliate marketing?
It is a business model where you build a passive income by marketing products for other businesses. You then earn commissions through generating traffic or sales.
Should you decide you’d like to give affiliate marketing a try, here are a few tips that I recommend:
Choose the right company or products to market.
One of the most important factors to consider in affiliate marketing that I later came to understand is:
- Choose a company that you know and trust.
- Choose a product that you have used yourself!!
This was a great lesson for me and I believe if you do this you will be happier in the long term as you’ve set a solid foundation!!
STEP 1
Create a website/blog that you own
Your website/blog is your owned asset, your main hub for building an online business.
This is critical as I’ve heard over the years, horror stories of building your business on social platforms, where you can be locked out and lose your income overnight!
Getting Down to Work
To set up your blog you first need to choose a domain name and this can be tricky, but try to keep it simple, and don’t overthink too much.
Do your best to purchase a .com domain and avoid dashes, numbers, or words that people may have difficulty spelling. I use Namecheap but there are others such as GoDaddy or Blue Host.
You will need a hosting service to host your site. There are many choices but I recommend Interserver or Site Ground. (There will be a minimal monthly or annual charge.)
You will register for a free Cloudflare account as it helps to make websites faster and more secure. From this service, you will be able to create an SSL for your domain. SSL certificates are what enable websites to use HTTPS, which is more secure than HTTP. Sometimes the hosting service will include an SSL certificate so in that case you will not need Cloudflare.
The next step is to choose a WordPress template, again don’t spend too much time or expense as you can use, it and go back and change it.
Once you have chosen your template the next step is to add plugins. Plugins are a piece of software that “plugs into” your WordPress site. They add new functionality or extend existing functionality on your site, allowing you to create virtually any kind of website.
You will find a Plugin tab on your WordPress site. The plugins are free and the first plugin may already be on your site if not add the Anti-spam plugin to help fight spam comments. The other plugins are Security, SEO, Resources, Links, and Analytics plugins.
The final step is to create an About page to introduce yourself and a Contact page to give people a way to contact you.
You are now ready to document your story and write a post at least once a week.
Creating Content
Without a doubt, moving forward to this next level is where you spend much of your time focused on, creating excellent content and…
- You can also use your blog to review products and/or
- Do video tutorials that let visitors learn how to benefit from and use the product well.
Now, make sure your site is easy to navigate.
Finally, keep in mind that in business it’s 80% mindset and 20% activity.
If you would like to learn more about affiliate marketing, see my coach and mentor give more detail in 2 training videos. Subscribe to my newsletter to receive it.
Are you clear on what affiliate marketing is and how to get started?
Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
I LOVE this – so much valuable advice and guidance in here for those starting out Eleanor
To think, I’ll bet it wasn’t that long ago that you didn’t know any of this and now look at you!!
Able to pass on the knoweldge you’ve learned so others can benefit
Amazing!!
Excited to see you continue so keep up the great work here 🙂
Dean
Hi Eleanor,
Great post! Your description of affiliate marketing and the tips you shared are so straight forward and easy to follow, thank you 🙂
The 80% mindset and 20% activity makes sense. I find everything we do is governed by our mind.
Look forward to your next post.
Denny
Denny, thank you. I know there is a lot more to AM that could be included, but am trying to keep as easy to follow as am thinking to keep to bite size chunks to not overwhelm.
Hi Eleanor,
What a great introduction to affiliate marketing. I love the way you explain stuff in easy to understand language. Keep up the great work.
Andy
I certainly agree with you that most of the time, we should promote a product we are using or have used ourselves.
The only exception is when you are more advanced in your business, and you are using a more advanced and expensive tool.
But you know your followers who are still beginners can save money by using a more basic tool. So this will be a good reason to recommend something you are not using yourself.
Thank you Alan. I agree that if you know of a product that is less expensive, sure why not? I would of course need to know that it does the job.
Eleanor, what a brilliant name you’ve chosen for your blog I really like it. I think it will resonate with many people and they’ll be curious to see what this is about. Your summary of affiliate marketing is really great, especially for those beginning and it will give them a good foundation. At the very least it will get the curiosity going. Thank you so much. I’m looking forward to your next one talk soon. Thanks, Atif
Atif,
Thank you. I wasn’t completely sure about the name and how it would be received but it felt special to me and spoke to my previous experience.
FANTASTIC Summary. We have similar reasons for choosing this online journey. Your explanation on the point below is so spot on and I am copying this here so others can learn…Well Done!
“Choose the right company or products to market.
One of the most important factors to consider in affiliate marketing that I later came to understand is:
Choose a company that you know and trust.
Choose a product that you have used yourself!!
This was a great lesson for me and I believe if you do this you will be happier in the long term as you’ve set a solid foundation!!”
Appreciate you Ernie.
I think the key to marketing of any kind, but including affiliate marketing, is to have a passion for and believe in what you are selling. I think most consumers are wise enough to marketing tactics that they can smell a dishonest sales pitch. I use this as a north star in determining what affiliate products to align myself with and only will promote things that I myself would purchase and find of value.
AK
Hi Acasha,
Yes, I agree, what you’ve said is key to marketing with integrity.
Hi Eleanor,
I liked your post. Very well laid out and simple for someone who is completely new to affiliate marketing to understand.
I also do think that the mindset is more important. It all start with the mindset before taking action.
Also, if someone that reads your post and its not sure what to do as an online business, will understand that affiliate marketing its one of the best choices to start with. I’m not saying it will be 100% easy but its one of the best choices out there.
Hi Albert,
I appreciate your comments about this post. It is what i wanted and hoped to achieve.
Thank you.
Eleanor,
There are so many options when it comes to making a living online. I know for myself all the choices were overwhelming. Do I create my own products, Do I market some else’s products, Do I do Amazon and so on. I lost a year because I was paralyzed on how to proceed forward. Until someone like yourself explained how affiliate marketing really worked.
The Thing about affiliate marketing is I could focus on the basics of online marketing without the stress of creating my own products or warehousing physical businesses product. The great thing about affiliate marketing is that all the skills learned in it are transferable to other forms of online marketing.
Thanks again for the explanation.
CJ
Hello Eleanor, very nice . For myself I like the fact you give relevant information without the clutter . If it’s to involved I will unengaged, nice for completely new to the platform beginner. Look forward to your next post . Have a wonderful day.
Hi, Eleanor! What a great explanation of the benefits of affiliate marketing and how to go about it.
I love the name of your blog. As you say, business is more a mindset than anything. We’ve got to work through the emotional/mental aspects as we succeed in business.
Rather than be held back, feel the fear and succeed!
Marvelous!
Good post and a great description of the ‘activity’ bit as you get started. I would love to hear your take on the 80% mindset bit!
Hi Eleanor, I’m new to affiliate marketing, too and I found this exceptionally helpful. I appreciate your transparency in sharing why you chose this path for yourself… which only confirms for me that this is the right path for me as well. I look forward to reading your next post and I’m excited to see where this journey takes you!
I have a clearer picture of affiliate marketing thanks to your tips.
I too have heard the horror stories of marketers being locked out of social media platforms. Such people were hooking people in to watching long video sales letters but at great advertising costs. They had no actual customer contact and they were banking the platform’s AI abilities to increase their sales exponentially. So if they didn’t go broke in advertising costs, a lot of times the platform would shut them down for making outrageous claims. Marketers beware!
Hi Eleanor, Thank you for sharing and explaining what Affiliate Marketing is, and providing your best tips…the ones you have learned from mistakes you have made in the past.
It provides good information for anyone looking into this great business model.
I have enjoyed your post, a valuable read and I especially love this….
It is said that when starting a new business, it’s 80% mindset and 20% activity
That is gold right there!
Have a wonderful push through week ahead 😊
Eleanor, this is such a great point you made; I have also heard devastating stories of people losing their social media platform access and all their contacts and efforts to grow their businesses vanishing overnight. I also have a publishing business and have heard of people getting their Amazon accounts shut off and their books being removed. This scares me so much, and that is why it is so important to have your own digital asset and a way to capture the emails of your customers so that if anything happens, you can still reach out and stay connected.
Great post Eleanor
You really helped me to figure out exactly where to start.
Looking forward to your next post.
Thanks
Sandy
Eleanor,
Good post! I like how you have explained affiliate marketing, and have the beginning steps laid out for someone new to this. Good luck in your journey!
Kelli