Affiliate Marketing for New Bloggers – How to Make Money Blogging
Affiliate marketing for new bloggers is a great way to make money online and generate income from your blog.
In affiliate marketing, you partner with brands and companies that have products or services that are relevant to the content on your site. You then promote these affiliate products in an article or video of yours, and if someone clicks through and buys something, you earn a commission!
Affiliate marketing can be challenging for beginners because there is more involved than just creating content. New bloggers have a lot of questions about affiliate marketing. How do I get started? What products can I promote? Don’t worry – we’re going to cover everything you need to know about affiliate marketing so you can get started today and what you need to do to be successful.
We’re going to tell you everything we know about how to make money from your blog, including our top tips for getting started and the best affiliate programs out there.
Affiliate marketing is the number one way I make money with my blog. Today I’m going to share my best affiliate marketing tips, to help you succeed in affiliate marketing as a new blogger.
Disclosure; This post probably contains affiliate links. We only recommend products we use and love and all opinions expressed here are our own.
Affiliate Marketing For New Bloggers
Learning affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your blog. As a new blogger this is the best and fastest alternative to start with when you’re starting to think about monetizing your blog.
Taking a course like this will help you make money quickly.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing for bloggers is a performance-based online marketing strategy. In affiliate marketing, you promote a company’s product or service and earn a commission if someone buys that product as a result of your recommendation. It can be challenging for bloggers because there is more involved than just creating content – it also requires promoting affiliate products to gain an audience.
In my opinion, affiliate marketing is one of the best income sources for bloggers in any niche.
Related article: How To Start A Blog: The Ultimate Blog Launch Checklist
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Basically, to learn affiliate marketing for new bloggers, this is how it works:
- Build a website where you can promote your affiliate products (more about this in a moment)
- Select affiliate products to promote. When I have a positive experience with a product or service that I use on my blog, I always look into joining the affiliate program for this specific product and sharing it with my readers.
- Join the affiliate platform for the brand that sells the product you want to promote.
- The affiliate platform gives you a special affiliate link to promote the product.
- You use the affiliate link in a post, email or video about the product.
- You create content on your site that is valuable to the reader, and you promote affiliate products in this content. Sharing my personal experience helps to build credibility for the product, and makes the sale more likely.
- If someone clicks through your affiliate link and makes a purchase (which often happens after they view a post about the product on your website), then you earn commission! It’s as simple as that. The customer doesn’t pay any extra. Your commission is paid to you by the brand.
- Different companies offer different percentages of commission or payout rates.
First, you have to select great affiliate products for your blog. Make sure the product is relevant to your content so that people are more likely to buy it after reading your post or watching a video about it.
Related: Is Affiliate Marketing Dead? – Is Earning a Full-Time Income Possible?
What Is An Affiliate Marketer?
An affiliate marketer is someone who promotes affiliate products to earn a commission. For new bloggers, affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online because it’s flexible and requires fewer startup costs than other ways of making money online.
Affiliate marketers can be also called affiliate partners, affiliate program affiliates, or publishers (if they work with a large publisher), and the brand that sells the product is usually referred to as an affiliate merchant/advertiser.
Affiliate marketing can be an affiliate marketer’s main income source – or it can become one of the affiliate marketers’ many sources of income. It all depends on how successful you are at promoting affiliate products and building your affiliate blog/website!
What Is The Goal With Affiliate Marketing?
The affiliate marketer’s main goal is to earn affiliate commissions by promoting affiliate products. Of course, it also helps to build traffic and gain followers, but the primary focus should be on building your affiliate income.
Affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial partnership between affiliate marketers and affiliate merchants.
The goal of your blog is to help people – so it’s important not to promote affiliate products just because they offer high affiliate commissions. Of course, affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money – but your focus should always be on helping people first and foremost! Building relationships with your readers and gaining their trust by sharing affiliate products that are genuinely helpful to your audience will help you earn more affiliate sales. No one wants to purchase from someone who is just trying to make a quick buck.
Personally, when I have to make an online purchase, I head over to my favorite bloggers’ websites and purchase the thing I need via their link to support them. It doesn’t cost me any extra money and it feels great to support someone else! Actually, it can be cheaper to buy something via an affiliate link as bloggers or influencers often have a collab discount.
How Much Does Affiliate Marketing Cost?
It costs you nothing to start affiliate marketing. There is no fee to join affiliate programs. The only startup cost is buying a domain name and hosting, which you can get for less than $100 per year if you’re using Bluehost.
You will need a website or blog, and it definitely helps if you have knowledge about affiliate marketing already. It’s important that your site is set up correctly before you share affiliate links – otherwise, people won’t trust what you’re promoting!
How Much Money Can You Make With Affiliate Marketing?
That really depends… If you are starting as a new blogger or no-name affiliate marketer, you might not make a lot of affiliate sales at the beginning. However, affiliate marketing can help to build your traffic and follower base in many different ways, so it’s definitely worth trying out! When I started affiliate marketing in 2016 with my first blog, I didn’t earn much money from affiliate commissions either – my affiliate earnings were about $200 per month. However, I was able to grow my affiliate income with the same blog over time. At the end of 2017, affiliate commissions accounted for more than half of my overall blogging revenue! So it’s definitely possible – you just have to be patient and consistent with your efforts!
Big affiliate marketing programs pay good commissions, but you can also earn a lot with smaller affiliate platforms or even directly from affiliate products that are available on the bigger affiliate networks (Amazon Associates for example).
Related: How to Become a Full-Time Blogger With No Experience
What Kind of Content Should Affiliate Marketers Create?
Create content that is valuable to your readers – this means YOU have to do a lot of research and testing yourself before you write about affiliate products. Create in-depth blog posts, use videos or images on your site/blog where appropriate, and link back to the affiliate product pages if someone clicks through one of these
How to Create An Affiliate Marketing Website
The first thing you need to learn about affiliate marketing for new bloggers is that you need a profitable affiliate marketing website. Your website will serve as a place where you will promote affiliate products.
Your website can be a blog, but it doesn’t have to be! A great way to start affiliate marketing is by simply sharing affiliate links on social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram.
You can hire a web designer to create affiliate marketing websites for you, but I suggest that you learn how to do it yourself! It’s not hard and will cost you less than $100 if you use Bluehost like me 🙂
Once you have set up your website it’s time to create automation sales funnels. You can do this by creating different opt-ins or freebies. Once the reader puts in their email address they’ll be funneled to an upsell and subscribe to your email list where you can promote more of your affiliate offers.
Once you have a large email list, start creating affiliate offers that will be sent out via automated sales funnels (I use ConverKit).
We have a great step-by-step checklist if you’re interested in creating your own affiliate marketing website.
Affiliate Marketing For New Bloggers – The Best Tips
Here are some great tips on how to make money with affiliate marketing as a new blogger.
Find Affiliate Products and Programs
Choosing affiliate products for a new blog can be overwhelming at first, but it gets easier over time as you learn about the industry and find out what works best for your niche market.
First things first – choose affiliate products that are relevant to your niche market. I always recommend starting with a product that you already are using and loving.
It’s important that you choose relevant affiliate products because it will help build trust with readers and increase conversions (sales).
Go to the website of the company you want to promote and look in their footer for their affiliate program is a great way to find affiliate programs to join.
When you click on the link, it will redirect you to a page that gives you more information about the affiliate program. Make sure you read the affiliate program terms before joining them.
Some affiliate programs will instantly accept you as an affiliate partner as soon as you’ve completed the application process. Others have a slower approval process than others.
This approval process could consist of looking at your website, checking the level of traffic that your website has, checking your social media following and engagement rate, etc.
Unless the company specifically demands specific criterias that must be met before applying to their affiliate program, don’t let the fear stop you from applying.
The worst that can happen is that you get a rejection. Then you can just try to apply to the program again at a later time.
Best Affiliate Marketing Platforms For Beginners
Many brands choose to host their affiliate programs through an affiliate network. Knowing about the best affiliate marketing platforms for beginner bloggers is super helpful.
A few of the most popular affiliate marketing networks for new bloggers include:
- Awin
Awin is an affiliate marketing network that offers affiliate programs for a range of brands and businesses.
Commission: Varies depending on the product and affiliate manager.
- Clickbank
Clickbank is an affiliate network that hosts affiliate programs for all kinds of products.
Commission: 50%+ commission rate on the majority of offers available in their marketplace.
- ShareASale
ShareASale is an affiliate marketing network that offers affiliate programs for all kinds of brands.
Commission: Varies depending on the product and affiliate manager.
- Peerfly
An affiliate marketing platform where you can promote thousands of different affiliate offers to your audience and earn up to $500 per sale or more!
- Max Bounty
A leading affiliate network that offers affiliate programs in multiple niches for all kinds of brands and products.
Commission: up to $500+ per sale depending on the product you are promoting.
- Amazon Associates Program
If your blog is about reviewing products, then you can join the affiliate program for Amazon.
Commission: up to 15% of every sale you generate on your website, plus many other perks.
- Flex Offers
FlexOffers affiliate network is a popular affiliate marketing platform that hosts affiliate programs for thousands of different brands and products.
Commission: Varies depending on the product and affiliate manager.
- CJ Affiliate
CJAffiliate offers the largest selection of affiliate networks online, with over 400 supported across affiliate marketing, display advertising, paid search, and affiliate management.
Commission: Varies depending on the product and affiliate manager.
- VigLink
A platform where you can find affiliate offers in any niche of your choice!
Commission: Varies depending on the affiliate manager and the product you are promoting.
- Clickbooth
A popular affiliate network that hosts affiliate programs for a wide range of products in multiple different niches, including SEO tools & services, dating sites, and more.
Commission: 15%+
Most affiliate networks want to know how and where you plan to promote their products. So, just write down a few affiliate marketing ideas at the beginning of your application.
Each program has its own guidelines so make sure you read through the information so you don’t break any rules.
After being accepted as an affiliate partner, you’ll have access to the affiliate dashboard to find the affiliate links and banner images offered by the affiliate manager.
- Jasper
Jasper is your AI writing assistant trained to generate original, creative content.
Commission: 30% monthly recurring for as long as the customer stays subscribed (No limit).
If possible, look at the commission percentage an affiliate program offers. The higher this is, the more you can earn affiliate money.
The amount of information and training an affiliate program offers is also very important! I love affiliate programs that give me a lot of support if I have any questions about how it works etc. – this makes life easier for us bloggers 🙂
What Are the Best Affiliate Programs For New Bloggers?
As a new blogger, you need to know what to look for before applying to an affiliate program.
As mentioned above you need to choose products relevant to your niche.
Also, I love to use affiliate programs that have a recurring commission. This means that when someone subscribes to the affiliate product, you get paid on that subscription for as long as it lasts.
There are also affiliate programs out there where you only get paid once when someone subscribes and then never again – I don’t recommend these affiliate products or companies!
A few affiliate products I promote with recurring commission include:
- Canva Pro
Canva is a graphic design platform that allows you to easily create invitations, business cards, graphics, and more using professionally designed templates. You can also upload your own photos and add them to Canva’s templates using a drag and drop interface.
Commission: 25% of a full year’s subscription.
- ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email software that allows you to promote your latest project and collect subscribers with beautiful landing pages, sign-up forms, and link pages that make your work stand out.
Commission: 30% monthly recurring
- Tailwind
Tailwind is a social media scheduler that allows you to schedule Pinterest pins and Instagram posts with just a few clicks.
Commission: 15% per month recurring until canceled at any time.
Create Content For Your Affiliate Links
Creating high-quality content where you can include your affiliate links is one of the most important steps in becoming a successful affiliate marketer as a new blogger.
The key is to deliver useful content to your readers, and then promote affiliate products that will be of benefit to them.
For example mention affiliate products in a post about how-to’s or DIY projects; include affiliate links when you write product reviews on specific items/brands etc.; add affiliate banners into older blog posts where they complement the topic you are writing about.
Since affiliate marketing is all about trust, it’s really important to make sure you provide valuable content for your readers and not just a sales pitch.
Once you have built a relationship with them by providing value in the form of helpful advice or information – they will be more likely to check out affiliate products that can help them solve a problem or achieve their goals.
If you can include affiliate links in your articles, images, and videos without looking spammy – then affiliate marketing will be very profitable for you!
How to Drive Traffic to Affiliate Links
The most effective way to increase your affiliate sales is to drive more traffic to your content and your affiliate links.
SEO
Focusing on SEO is still the most effective affiliate marketing strategy because it helps you increase your organic traffic and get more conversions with affiliate links.
High quality content
Besides SEO strategies like optimizing titles & meta descriptions, writing great content that people will want to read is vital for success.
Give away a downloadable step-by-step guide for free or a training around how to use the affiliate product. Then when they upgrade to a paid plan you’ll earn a commission for the referral.
By delivering valuable content and giving it away for free, you will be able to help more people, while earning more commissions yourself.
Promote relevant products
Focus on affiliate products that are relevant to your target audience and will help them achieve their goals, so they can become loyal readers who buy affiliate products you recommend.
Crate in-depth reviews explaining why you like a product, exactly what it does and how it has helped you.
Social media
Use social media channels like Pinterest and Instagram to promote affiliate products related to topics you are covering in your blog posts – and drive more affiliate traffic to your blog.
Related: Pinterest Strategy for Bloggers – How to Drive Traffic from Pinterest
Build an email list
Building an email list is another great way to drive traffic to your affiliate links, because people who subscribe to your list are more likely to buy affiliate products you promote.
Offer a bonus
Offer your readers a bonus if they purchase an affiliate product through your link. Just ask your reader to send you an email with their receipt.
Affiliate banners on older blog posts
If you have any older blog posts where affiliate banners can be relevant, add them there as well. In this way, it will help drive traffic back to those old articles and increase conversions with affiliate links.
Cloaking your links
Link cloaking is the process of shortening and hiding the affiliate link URL provided by an affiliate program. Link cloaking protects your affiliate commissions by making your affiliate ID less visible. Also, it makes your affiliate links more visually appealing to your readers.
Take an affiliate marketing course
To become successful in affiliate marketing I highly recommend you to take an affiliate marketing course like The Affiliate Marketing Training Bundle.
Best Content For Affiliate Marketing
Here are some tips on what content to create to drive traffic to your affiliate links:
Product reviews
Product reviews are great affiliate marketing tools because people trust recommendations from other customers.
If you have affiliate products in your niche, include affiliate links when you write product reviews on specific items/brands, etc., so potential buyers can find the information they need to choose a reliable affiliate product that will be helpful for them.
Including affiliate links in your product reviews makes sense from both the reader’s and vendor’s perspective – as they will receive a commission if someone buys an affiliate program after clicking through your link
Tutorials, how-to’s and DIY projects
Tutorials also provide affiliate marketing opportunities because they are helpful for people to solve problems or accomplish their goals.
If you have affiliate products in your niche, mention them when writing tutorials on how-to’s and DIY projects – so potential buyers can find the information they need to choose a reliable affiliate product that will be helpful for them.
Email newsletters
Use affiliate links in your email newsletters as well as your blog posts, so the affiliate links you share will be seen by more people – and can lead to increased affiliate sales.
Email marketing is a great way to generate some extra income from home on autopilot – as long as you focus on bringing valuable content to readers first and then promote affiliate products that they might be interested in.
Affiliate marketing and email newsletters go hand-in-hand, as affiliate links can be included anywhere within your newsletter content to make it easy for readers to find affiliate products that they might like – instead of making them search for those affiliate offers on their own.
Resource page
Create a resource page or favorite product page on your website with affiliate links to your favorite products in each category that fits into your niche.
This is a great way for webmasters and bloggers to share affiliate programs they are promoting with their visitors, so you can increase chances of earning affiliate commissions by letting people know about affiliate offers/products related to topics you blog on.
Implementing an Affiliate Disclosure
When you are creating affiliate content you want to make sure to disclose affiliate links.
You need to disclose your affiliate relationship with brands in accordance with FTC rules and guidelines – so potential buyers know they are clicking on an affiliate link that will give you a commission if they buy your recommended products/services after clicking through.
Disclosing your affiliate relationship doesn’t have to be that tricky. I highly recommend getting the Legal Bundle which includes templates for all of the required legal pages.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a way to make money on the internet, affiliate marketing is one of your best bets!
It’s easy to get started with affiliate marketing for new bloggers and doesn’t require any technical know-how or upfront investment. And when you have an audience that trusts what you say, it can be really lucrative! What do you think? Have we convinced you yet? We hope so because we want to help all our favorite bloggers—newbies and veterans alike—make more money online with their blogs!
