Starting up a new website to work become an affiliate marketer can be overwhelming. Here are some overarching high-level steps. I will flesh these out further in the coming days.
There are many ways to monetize your blog and affiliate marketing is just one of them. Creating products, displaying ads, and doing sponsored posts are other ways. These may be able to be done in conjunction with each other. Just try to keep your audience’s needs at your forefront or risk losing your following.
An overarching beginning to work from the affiliate marketing angle follows:
- Think about what you enjoy, know, or want to learn. This can make the process much more successful in the long run because it will be something you enjoy.
- Choose your niche. Typically you must ensure your niche is focused down enough that there is still an audience for your niche but that the competition at that level is reduced due to the specific focus. An example might be Weigh Loss for Women over 50 vs Weight Loss.
- Select a domain name.
- Sign up for web hosting.
- Set up web hosting.
- Install WordPress.
- Setup and configure WordPress site.
- Write great content.
- Build an audience and clientele.
- Read the FTC guidelines for advertising carefully.
- Ensure you have a valid affiliate disclosure page in place.
- Set your posts up to have an affiliate disclaimer at the top, as well, that links to your affiliate disclosure page.
- Promote an affiliate product.
Depending on the niche, you may also opt to create some form of an ethical bribe or lead magnet, to collect emails so that you may market using your own list of your audience members.
So, affiliate marketing is when you then promote a product for sale and then make some form of commission from a company for doing so. These commissions come in various forms. Research to see what method of payout is available before signing up for an affiliate product.
- Pay per Lead: These are offers where you get paid simply to refer visitors to a site to sign up for something by providing their contact information.
- Pay per Click: This is when you get a commission each time a visitor clicks the link and is redirected to the product/seller’s site. This can be great because even if the visitor doesn’t buy anything, you still make something. The drawback is the amount is typically smaller than Pay per Sale.
- Pay per Sale: This is when you earn a commission for every sale made using your affiliate link. This is can be a percentage or defined dollar amount.
