How To Become An Affiliate (5 Step Guide For Beginners)?

If you have a website or are planning to start one, you might be wondering if you can make money from it?

The answer is yes ! In the digital age, there is a marketing technique that allows websites to be paid by an advertiser in exchange for promotional activities: affiliation.

Simply put, if a visitor buys a product through an affiliate link on your site, you earn a commission.

Want to know how to become an affiliate? Here is our ultimate guide for beginners, in 5 steps!

Best affiliate program

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing is a technique of remuneration for Internet sites which has experienced notable growth in recent years.

In 2016, the global affiliate marketing market was worth $13 billion. In 2020, it was over $17 billion! (Kinsta, 2022). Its progress is constant and the impact on websites is very real.

The principle ? You own a website, with a significant audience. An advertiser entrusts you with an affiliate link that you publish on your site, within a blog article, for example. Each time a user clicks on the link and proceeds to purchase, the advertiser pays you a commission.

It's a process that may seem simple, but to be successful, it is necessary to have a few reliable affiliate programs in mind and to know the promising sectors.

How to Become an Affiliate?

In theory, it's pretty easy to become an affiliate. In practice, to experience success and profitability, there are 5 crucial steps to follow.

1. Choose a Niche

Choosing a niche means identifying a promising sector or product, generating interest for your audience and a good turnover for you.

In terms of selection criteria, first make sure you select an affiliate product in harmony with your editorial line and with the interests of your audience. Ideally, it should also correspond to your own desires and skills. That way, you'll be comfortable talking about it knowledgeably and promoting it convincingly.

From a strategic point of view, it is important to get an idea of ​​the demand around a product. To do this, follow trends on social networks, use search engines to collect opinions and monitor the competition.

When you start, it is sometimes difficult to go fishing for information. The risk is to get discouraged or to confuse profitability with personal interest. Indeed, the niche you choose may not be representative of your major interests in life. The goal is for it to be profitable and sustainable.

To guide your research, here is a non-exhaustive list of “safe bet” niches, in other words those that work today (Les Makers, 2022):

travel, organization of stays,

gaming and technology in general,

online training,

insurance, banks,

nutrition and weight loss.

One last piece of advice: don't be afraid to specialize! It is a factor of confidence for Internet users to see that you have expert content rather than generalist.

2. Research Affiliate Programs

The affiliate program is the link between the affiliator and the affiliate. The first wants to sell its products. The second offers a promotional speech in exchange for a commission.

How does it work? When a user clicks on the affiliate link, the potential sale is tracked and triggers the payment of the commission, according to the terms decided between the parties.

To find an affiliate program, there are two possibilities.

First, a number of brands offer in-house programs, without necessarily communicating on them. Do not hesitate to spontaneously solicit brands that you like or whose commercial potential is significant.

Second, you can join an affiliate platform. It is a platform linking the affiliator and the affiliate. Your prospecting is facilitated and security checks are carried out by the site to avoid fraud.

Obviously, in the interests of profit, we recommend that you choose programs that earn you at least 50% commission. But the less remunerated products are also to be studied, because in general more "easy to sell".

We advise you to start by looking at Impact , Awin or Amazon Club Partners.

3. Plan and Configure your Site

To welcome the affiliation on your site, you will have to make some adjustments!

The objective: to boost the referencing of your site and offer your visitors an attractive environment that inspires confidence.

First, plan your content by answering the following questions:

How often will I publish content? (Google loves regularity!)

What keywords will I work on? What are their potential performances in terms of SEO?

Second, review your interface.

For this, discover the WordPress themes compatible with affiliate marketing! They combine aesthetics and useful functions: publication of opinions, ratings by a star system, product comparisons, boosted photo galleries. The customization options are important, they contribute to the special “affiliation” ergonomics.

We advise you, depending on your sector of activity, to take a look at the Divi, Dealsdot, Foodie Pro, Neve, Zeen or Marketingly themes.

4. Create Content

To entice visitors to click on an affiliate link within a blog post, it's important that it clearly identifies your audience's pain points. The affiliate product can thus be presented as the solution to relieve this pain point.

Create honest and nuanced content. As an affiliate, you are expected to know the product, and even use it regularly. You are therefore able to depict the qualities and disadvantages, in complete transparency. Honest positioning will lead your visitor to trust you and click on the affiliate link.

Don't hesitate to give advice, to make connections with lived experiences so that your audience can identify with your concerns and project themselves easily.

To help your audience make their choice, product comparisons, “alternative” articles or reviews are good options.

Expert, original (in content and form) and authentic content is the key!

5. Build Backlinks

Last step to become a successful affiliate: attract yourself into the good graces of SEO. The idea is to send Google the signal that your site is qualitative and reliable.

It is therefore a question of obtaining quality links pointing towards your site. There are 3 techniques to try.

You can offer a service in exchange for a backlink. Are you a graphic designer? Web Editor ? Try to offer a service or a reduction, against a link pointing to your site. A win/win exchange!

Get interviewed. If you are an expert in a field, approach youtubers or podcasters and offer them to share your expertise with their audience and gain visibility and notoriety.

More pragmatic: inspect your circle of acquaintances, some may have a site on the same segment as yours? Then, you can ask them to place a link to your space there. Be careful however not to systematically make a reciprocal exchange, Google knows this technique and does not necessarily appreciate it.

Simpler: directly ask your customers who own a site to point to yours. The recommendation is a safe bet!

More tricky: the “Skyscraper” technique. First, you will identify content that is parallel to yours and has interesting backlinks. You then write much more qualitative and up-to-date content. And finally, you ask all the “backlinkers” of the original content to do the same on your article.

Finally, the guest article remains an effective method. The principle is simple: you write an article for free, to publish on a site similar to yours, in exchange for a backlink!

How Much Money Can You Make From Affiliate Sales?

This is a complicated question, since it obviously depends on the sector targeted, the product to be sold, the dynamism of the affiliate platform, and your prospecting abilities.

It's a reality, earnings can range from a few cents to thousands of euros per month!

Take the example of Jamie IF

Jamie earns over $80,000/mo through affiliate marketing by prioritizing his SEO every time.

Where to Find Affiliate Links?

To secure your search for links, registering with a platform is a good strategy. No need for an initial stake, you can focus on your marketing strategy to promote this link.

Do not hesitate to study the advantages and disadvantages of the different platforms in terms of commissions, payment terms, promotion tools, etc.

Can You Do Affiliate Marketing Without A Website?

It is quite possible to get started in affiliation without a website.

In this case, to generate income and promote your affiliate links, you can:

Write a quality free e-book.

Focus on e-mail marketing. To do this, build a mailing list well in advance and set up a regular newsletter.

Promote your affiliate link on your social networks, in post or story.

Create an engaging podcast, with informative content.

Participate in groups on Facebook, interact with potential customers to end up presenting your affiliate link when a relationship of trust is installed.

It is finally about different ways to present your affiliate link, always having in mind the quality of the support and the authenticity in the exchanges.

Can I Become an Affiliate without Experience?

Before becoming an expert, you must necessarily be a beginner!

It is possible to become an affiliate without experience, on low-risk programs and without investing money in the first place. If you see that this field of marketing appeals to you, do not hesitate to train yourself in digital strategy and SEO.

Affiliation is a good first business, because the product is already there! You just have to focus on promoting it.

Is Affiliate Marketing Easy?

Yes, affiliate marketing is easy to understand and set up. Affiliate platforms really make it logistically easy for you.

On the other hand, you will have to make choices: which products, which partnerships, which backlinks, which keywords? If you want to be successful, we therefore advise you to train yourself at least in digital strategy.

Also keep in mind that affiliation requires regularity and anticipation to publish impactful and well-referenced content.

How To Do Affiliate Marketing For Free?

By definition, affiliate marketing is "free" for the affiliate since the latter only offers a promotional showcase to the affiliate.

So of course, this requires starting equipment, but you can very well, as seen above, get started in affiliation without a website, for example. To do this, bet on free vectors to direct to your affiliate link: in an e-book, on your social networks, in a YouTube video or in a newsletter if you have a mailing list.

How Much Does an Affiliate Marketing Newbie Earn?

In the world of affiliation, there are traditionally 5 affiliate profiles (Casaneo, 2021).

Beginner affiliates do not earn significant income.

Low level affiliates earn up to $300/day.

Intermediate Affiliates receive $300-$3000/day.

High-level affiliates exceed the $3,000/day threshold.

Finally, the largest affiliates position themselves above $10,000/day.

The vast majority of affiliates belong to the first and second class. In other words, anything is possible! Keep in mind that affiliate marketing is a long-term project, a system that is built on a sustainable digital strategy.

Is It Difficult To Become An Affiliate Marketer?

In the past, affiliate marketing was limited to influencers who have a large following. However, due to social media, specifically Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, anyone can be an affiliate (and an influencer).

Naser Alubaidi

Naser Alubaidi , MEDISTIK Inc.

To acquire even more skills in terms of affiliation and to go from the status of simple affiliate to that of specialist in the matter, you first need a lot of practice!

Experience affiliation in all its forms and learn from it! Train yourself in affiliate techniques, but also in digital strategy and SEO. By working regularly, your skills will quickly increase.

How to Become an Amazon Affiliate?

The e-commerce giant offers an affiliate program on the basis of commissions between 3 and 12%. As you can see, the gains are not miraculous, but the advantage is that these are easy-to-sell products, classic, timeless or trendy products.

To become an Amazon affiliate, the procedure is simple:

Open an affiliate account by clicking on Become a Partner at the bottom of the page.

Fill in the personal data (individual / company / contact details / method of payment of commissions / websites used for affiliation).

Amazon studies your request and, after acceptance, provides you with an affiliate link on each of the products chosen. All you have to do is track your performance on the Amazon Affiliate dashboard !

To sum up

Affiliation is a marketing technique open to everyone, beginners or experienced. It allows you to generate passive income, but whose performance will be correlated to your promotional capacity.

To get started with membership:

Do extensive research on the products that interest you.

Find a niche.

Build your audience via your social networks, for example.

Promote your product honestly.

Create valuable, diverse and regular content, linked to the latest trends.

Carefully follow your statistics to target the profitability of your actions.

Be patient ! Build your affiliate strategy over the long term.