Affiliate Marketing for beginners – A quick crash course

To be completely honest with you I was new to affiliate marketing a little over a year ago. However, as a designer and instructor for Learn to Blog, I had almost everyone asking me about the ins and outs of how it all worked. Well folks, here is the “affiliate marketing for beginners” crash course developed from all those conversations I had over the past 18 months.

How Do Bloggers make a Living?

There are several ways a Blogger can make money and those different ways become available as a website begins to get more and more traffic.

Most bloggers start with selling products and services. If the blogger is selling a physical product themselves or is selling their time/services, then they are a direct sales blogger. If they are selling someone else’s products or services, then they are an affiliate marketer. There is more to this, but these account for most of the bloggers out there.

What is an Affiliate Marketer?

Lets say, I had made an arrangement with a few small business owners that were related to the topics I blogged about. The gist of this arrangement is that these companies will give me a flat fee or a percentage of the sales that are generated from the customers I send their way. (In other words, a commission). Outside of the internet, this can be tricky to track. However, it is very easy to track online.

These Companies sign up affiliate marketers to help advertise their products. After they register with said company, they receive a special web address or affiliate link. when a visitor clicks on this affiliate link they are taken to that company’s website where they will be presented with an offer or multiple offers. Something else happens when they use that affiliate link. Their activity is tracked on the site and any purchases made by that visitor becomes a commission for the affiliate marketer who sent the traffic to that company.

How Do I Become an Affiliate Marketer?

Just ask almost any company that depends on online sales if they have an affiliate program and how you can apply to be an affiliate. It really is that simple.

Which Company’s should I ask first?

Ask the company’s that offer products and services that are related to what you will be blogging about.

For example, I am a graphic/web designer. I work with many people who want to start a website for the first time. There are a few services that you need to use to make that a reality. First, is a domain name. You could start an affiliate relationship with a registrar (place where you purchase a domain name). Next you need a hosting account to store your website. I have affiliate relationships with 3 different hosts. This is nice because I can provide options to my clients and I will make a commission regardless what they pick.

You could almost create an income funnel out of affiliate sales if you are in the right market and one service leads to the next.

Alternatively, Click Bank is a website you can go to pick out your favorite affiliate offers.

What are some great Affiliate Marketing Techniques?

Once you have your affiliate link and you are ready to start making money with it, research the offer. It’s even better if you are a customer of that company because you can speak from experience when you are writing. Honestly, your visitors are looking for a recommendation based on a personal experience. If you loved whatever it is you are marketing it will be almost effortless to blog about it.

Which leads me to what not to do. Do not Create a page on your site and fill it with affiliate links for random things and wonder why you are not making any money. Would you buy something off a website like that? I wouldn’t.

There are several other ways to get traffic to your affiliate links, but get your feet wet on this primary technique first.

Then you can move on to master squeeze pages, webinars and email marketing.

If you thought this was helpful or if you think I left something out, Please let me know in the comments below!

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