Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide

Earlier this week (and last week, too), Chloe talked to you about affiliate marketing and did her darndest to convince you to give it a shot. If, at the end of that blog, you were thinking things like “How am I supposed to get started with something like affiliate marketing?” you don’t have to wonder: the answers are right here. We’ll teach you all about getting started with affiliate marketing in a beginner’s guide. Start here, and then work your way through the upcoming blogs for a little more complexity.

Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide

Think about your goals

Why are you interested in affiliate marketing? What makes you want to focus on it? Write those goals down. If your only goal is to rake the in the moolah in as little time as possible, you may want to re-think affiliate marketing. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot be passive about affiliate marketing. It takes gumption to get started. Take 15 minutes to make an honest assessment of why you’re getting started with affiliate marketing in the first place.

Do your research

How have other affiliate marketers gotten their start? What do the experts in affiliate marketing have to say? Go into affiliate marketing with your eyes wide open, knowing pretty much exactly what the experience will be like.

Tread carefully

Don’t rush in – be deliberate about the brands you take on and the approach you take. It’s easier to start slow and build up over time than to over-expand yourself and commit to more than you can handle. Plus, you don’t want to get into a situation where you’re aligned with brands you don’t even enjoy and are using their products just for the sake of the affiliation. When you’re genuine, you’re in a good position. To that end…

Pick a niche

What niche would you like to focus on? Like I mentioned in the previous point, it’s easier to start small. Pick one niche. You can always grow from there! Think carefully about what niche is genuine for you. The more authentic you can be with your affiliations, the more successful you’ll be.

Build a site

Once you get started with affiliated marketing, you’re going to need a website. Our advice is to get this started sooner rather than later. Luckily, we build websites! If you’d like help building a website, you’re welcome to reach out to us.

Focus on quality content

Have I mentioned how important authenticity is? I thought so. Going hand-in-hand with authenticity is high-quality. Everything – and I mean absolutely everything – should be of the highest caliber. Why? It establishes your expertise, convinces companies to work with you and expands your readership. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Expand your audience

This happens slowly over time – that is, if you’re doing it correctly. Go for quality over quantity right from the start. It’ll be slow-going at first, but you’ll find out that long-term success requires an engaged audience, not one you paid for. The number one way to expand your audience is to push out quality content. See how all these steps are woven together? Start small, focus on one niche, create quality content, and your audience will grow from there. Good luck!