Affiliate marketing is alive and well. Many people all around the world from all walks of life are making a great living as affiliate marketers. You can, too.
Affiliate marketing is the business of promoting other people’s products and services. You promote them, not sell them. Each time you successfully promote a product you earn a commission.
For example, let’s say that you’re an affiliate for an insurance company. You might write articles about how to find good insurance. In the articles, you would include a link to the insurance company you’re affiliated with. When your readers click the link and buy insurance from that company, you earn a commission.
Step One: Make a List of Interests and Passions
Products and services from just about every industry and niche have affiliate programs. This makes it easy for you to find ones that match your interests. And that’s the first step. Decide what industry or topic you want to focus on. Start with a list of your interests and passions. You don’t have to be ultra-knowledgeable about the topic but you do want to be interested in it. You’re going to be creating a lot of content about the topic so it helps to be interested in it.
Step Two: Make a List of Affiliate Programs
The next step is to take a look at your list of interests. If they’re not prioritized, go ahead and rank the top five. Then begin to look for quality affiliate programs to participate with. Don’t sign up just yet. Make a note of the programs.
Review how they pay and how much they pay. Also, if you have access to their resources, take a look at what they provide. Some affiliate programs provide you with an affiliate ID and that’s about it. Others provide you with advertisements, articles, and other marketing materials.
Go through the top items on your list and compare which topics have the best affiliate programs. It’s important that you affiliate with products and services you respect and trust. If your readers have a bad experience with someone you recommend, you’ll lose their trust and in the age of social networking that can affect other readers as well.
Step Three: Make a Choice and Create a Plan
You may also want to take a look at how much competition you have. Some niches have a lot of competition. The more competition there is, the more work you’ll have to do to gain traffic and attention. That’s not always a bad thing but it’s something to consider before you choose your niche. You can use keyword research tools to compare demand and supply.
Once you have your list of priority topics and a list of relevant affiliate products or services, it’s time to decide. What topic are you going to focus on?
The foundation of any affiliate business is content. So once you have made a decision about your topic, the next step is to create a content plan. What content will you write? When will you publish it?
Finally, you’re ready to create your website and start publishing content. It’s also the time to start applying to those affiliate programs you’re interested in representing. It’s a good idea to have content on your site before you apply so affiliate managers can confidently approve you as a representative of their company.