12 Affiliate Marketing Tips For Beginners To Make Passive Income

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to make money online. The benefits can be huge, but you have to know what you’re doing! In this blog post, I’ll share 10 affiliate marketing tips that will get you started on the right foot and help maximize your success.

You may not know it, but affiliate marketing is more than just a way to make some extra cash. It can be a highly lucrative business venture if done correctly.

The best part about affiliate marketing is that you don’t need any special qualifications or skills to get started–you just need the right information! In this article, we’re going to discuss 10 ways to maximize your success with affiliate marketing and make money online in general.

While affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online, it can be hard to find the information you need to get those first few affiliate sales.

I’ve spent years studying affiliate marketing and want to share the knowledge with you! My goal with this article is to help you succeed at affiliate marketing so that you can start making more money from home or anywhere else!

Whether you want to start a new website and join Amazon associates or just send a Clickbank offer to your email list, you should find something helpful in the tips below.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the act of earning commission by promoting other companies’ products. People who do this are known as affiliates, or affiliate partners.

Affiliate marketing can be done in a number of ways. Rather than selling products yourself, you’re just recommending them to your audience, friends, connections, and so on.

This article will provide you with the basics of affiliate marketing and provide 10 powerful tips for how to get started with top affiliate marketing programs.

How to start an affiliate marketing business

Getting started as an affiliate marketer is easy. First, you should consider starting a business. While this may not be strictly necessary depending on your goals, it’s a good idea to make your business official.

Next, you’ll need products to promote or an affiliate network account. You can sign up for free with any of the big players in the industry and start looking for offers that seem interesting or profitable.

From there, just apply those offers to your site through their linking tools as appropriate. There are plenty of guides on how this works so I won’t go into detail here.

You should also consider joining forums or groups where other affiliates gather and share advice about marketing strategies and techniques–you might be able to learn some valuable information from others who’ve been using these same networks for years!

Many times these people will offer newbies help without asking anything in return because they know what its like starting out.

There is no need to have your own products or website, but you should still treat this like any other business endeavor and maintain a budget. Always consider how much time and resources you’re willing to put into your business.

The affiliate Marketing Journey four steps infographic

How to find affiliate products and great affiliate marketing programs

There are lots of affiliate marketing opportunities out there, but the best ones will be those that fit your niche and audience. If you’re a travel blog for example, then an offer from hotels or airlines would work well.

But if you run a kids clothing store on Etsy with no mention of traveling in it at all, then these offers probably won’t make sense for you (although they might still bring some traffic to your site).

You can pretty much boil down finding opportunities to two methods: network-first prospecting and product-first prospecting.

Network-first prospecting is the easiest way to find affiliate marketing opportunities. This method simply involves joining an affiliate network such as ShareaSale or Clickbank and choosing products from their listings.

Product-first prospecting involves deciding which products you’d like to promote and then finding affiliate offers for them. This method is more time-consuming, but can be much more lucrative in the long run if done properly.

Last but not least, remember that persistence pays off! If one offer doesn’t work out with a company after many tries than don’t give up–it just means there’s another opportunity waiting around the corner for you!

The benefits of affiliate marketing and building an email list

email marketing

There are many reasons that make affiliate marketing a great choice for anyone, regardless of skill level or budget.

The benefits range from earning money passively while doing something they enjoy (writing), connecting with new companies/products, building links which help their SEO rankings (which is good if you’re trying to build more traffic) all the way up to owning an entire business just through affiliate income.

Since there’s no such thing as a typical day in affiliate marketing, it’s easy to work around any schedule.

One of the most attractive features for those just starting out is that there are no inventory requirements or shipping costs since affiliates only provide links instead of products.

Another advantage for bloggers and other content creators is that their blog posts can be used for offers–which means they don’t have to write new content every time! It also helps them keep up with consistently posting when they’re not taking on additional projects.

Affiliate marketing has been shown to generate more income than traditional methods like blogging alone, which makes it worth considering even if you’re looking at this post years after its publication date!

Before I give you the positive tips, I’m going to treat you to some “what not to do” tips. These will hold true for almost any affiliate partnership you may form. 

Keep in mind that social media platforms are not your affiliate website, and just because you have someone’s email address does not mean you have permission to spam them with affiliate links. Instead, focus on helpful content which they need to buy your product to benefit from.

For example, if you’re an email marketing expert you could create a free training using GetResponse. Anyone who wanted to benefit from the training fully would need to sign up for GetResponse, and they might just do it using your link.

12 Affiliate Marketing Tips For Beginners To Start Strong

Hopefully you’re finding the entire content of this article helpful, but here are the 10 affiliate marketing tips you came looking for!

#1 Start small

When you first start out as an affiliate marketer, it’s tempting to want to go all-in and try for big wins very quickly. This isn’t always the most effective strategy though. You’ll do much better by starting small so that you have time to figure out what works best for you. You can always grow your efforts after you’ve learned more without risking as much money or time in the process!

#2 Do your homework

homework

If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing, it’s important that you do your research. Not only should you look at what products are going to make the most money for you, but also which ones will provide a good customer experience as well. You can avoid losing customers and making less money by keeping this in mind!

#3 Choose complementary products

Promoting products that are in the same niche or that are complementary will help you earn more faster. This will make it easier for you to promote and help your customers navigate their way around if they need more information about a product or have questions. You’ll also be able to have a more congruent content strategy.

#4 Be honest

No one will trust a dishonest affiliate marketer. If you promote stuff you wouldn’t personally use, you’ll be unlikely to create repeat customers or real relationships. And if you lie about the wrong product, it can lead to bad reviews and being kicked off the affiliate program.

If your audience finds out that a product doesn’t work, they’ll feel deceived and won’t trust anything else you share in the future. The best affiliate marketers are those who put their customers first and always promote products they swear by.

#5 Build relationships with your audience

Comment on their blogs, Twitter posts, and Facebook updates. Engage in a dialogue about the products you’re promoting so that customers know you care about them as people rather than just sales prospects.

#6 Destroy fear and limiting beliefs

Affiliate marketing is a great way for you to earn extra income with minimal risk on all fronts, so don’t let anything get in the way of your affiliate campaigns.

#7 Focus on the best affiliate program or programs on one or two platforms

By only signing up for the top affiliate program or programs on each platform, you’ll be able to avoid wasting a lot of time promoting stuff that won’t make much money. When in doubt, use Google and tools like CBengine or Muncheye to learn more about the offers.

#8 Look for high ticket or recurring commissions products

High ticket products are those which have higher commission rates. Recurring commissions means that you receive a monthly payout rather than a one-time reward. These types of offers will allow you to earn more money faster than lower priced items which may result in losing interest early on before realizing any return on investment.

#9 Keep your affiliate marketing efforts simple at first

There are a lot of different strategies to use in this industry, so be sure you start with the basics and don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do too much at once.

#10 Consistency is key

The more often you publish content or promote offers, the better chance there is for generating traffic and sales leads that result in commissions. Stay consistent with your social media posts and other affiliate marketing campaigns!

#11 Use free analytics software

Install Google Analytics and (possibly) also a Facebook Pixel on any affiliate sites, blogs, or funnels you use. This will make your properties more accessible to search engines and give you valuable data you can use to make decisions about which affiliate marketing strategies to commit to.

#12 Consider focusing on digital products

Digital products tend to have higher commissions, which means you can earn more money with fewer sales. There’s nothing wrong with promoting physical products, but they present a higher degree of difficulty in many cases.

Authority Content For Affiliate Marketers – Reviews, Emails, Blog Posts and More

Content creation is a cornerstone of affiliate marketing. You can’t just chase sales – you need to create content in order to increase your authority, build customer trust and increase conversion rates.

The following types of content are highly recommended for affiliate marketers:

  • Reviews – providing your personal opinion on a product you’ve tried and tested. These reviews can include pictures, video or links to the products. The more information you provide about the benefits of using this particular item, the better!
  • Emails – these work well because they’re more personal than blog posts, and you can send them out to a subscriber list. They’re also easy for readers to digest when they come in through their email inboxes
  • Blog Posts – these are the most popular type of content because it allows you to share your own opinion on products or provide advice that’s more in depth than an email
  • Product Bonus Pages – these are the easiest content to produce and can be done in a matter of minutes. You just need an affiliate link, product name and some benefits you want to highlight about this particular item. Pair that with a relevant piece of PLR as a bonus, and you’ve got a product bonus page!
  • Marketing Videos – these can be more time-consuming to create, but are worth the investment. They allow you to share your opinion on a product and its benefits through video. provide video training.

Content Creation Tips

Here are some tips to follow when creating content to help promote your affiliate offers:

  • Use your voice rather than a formal tone when creating reviews or blog posts. This allows you to connect with your audience on a more personal level.
  • Don’t be afraid to show some personality while you’re writing posts and reviews – this can make you a lot more relatable and trustworthy in the eyes of potential customers!
  • Use numbers or bullet points when creating product bonus pages, videos, emails etc. This will help readers quickly scan the information.
  • Show your face. While this isn’t necessary, it will help you build a stronger relationship with your audience.
  • Offer bonuses or discounts to readers who sign up for your email list – this will help generate leads and also increase the time they’ll spend on your site, which can lead to more sales in the future!

Conclusion – one final piece of affiliate marketing advice

Affiliate marketing can make a good main focus or side hustle, but either way one thing remains true. You must take action. Although you can build recurring passive income with affiliate marketing (and this is a great way to take a vacation), the day that you stop taking action that builds your brand is the day your business may begin to fail.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Affiliate Marketing

Here are some common questions related to affiliate marketing you may find helpful.

How to choose which deals to promote?

First, choose an audience that you want to serve. Next, choose products that will help them succeed that you have used or will use yourself. Focus on the products that allow you to earn the most, and build relationships with the vendors.

What makes a successful affiliate marketer?

There are multiple ways to measure success in affiliate marketing. One of the most popular ways is to look at your own revenue and how much you earn per day. Another good way of considering your success is by how much your audience appreciates your content.

Does affiliate marketing still work in 2021?

As long as you employ solid affiliate strategies, it can definitely be a great way to make money online. I favor content creation because once you create a great piece of content with an affiliate link attached, people will continue to find it for days, weeks, and even months and years to come. But there are other methods that work just as well – it all depends on what you’re selling and personal preference.

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About Alex

Copywizard and AI whisperer, digital and affiliate marketer - helping you build the business in your brain.