Affiliate Marketing for Dummies

You're here because you searched for Affiliate Marketing for Dummies! 

I'm here to tell you that you are in the right place! Obviously your not a dummy, but you probably are a beginner, and that's great!

I could have named this article Affiliate Marketing for Beginners!

I was never a fan of the whole dummies series of books, but if you are, you can get a copy of Affiliate Marketing for Dummies here. And yes, that is an affiliate link to Amazon.

Go ahead and click on it and you will get a basic idea of how affiliate marketing works.

I will explain more in a bit...

Yes, I know that is not Affiliate Marketing for Dummies! There isn't one in the Dummies series, but I wanted to start by showing you an example of affiliate marketing.

Now, before you go and buy the book, let me just tell you that you will learn more from this article and from just copying what I do, than you will by reading any book.

Let's get on with it...

Affiliate Marketing for Dummies 101

In this article, I am going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing so that you can begin to understand how to make money online with this form of marketing.

With the emergence of search engines in the mid-1990's, the internet grew into a massive information and e-commerce center.

Businesses realized they had an opportunity to market their products and services to consumers through the millions of websites they visit every day.

Early forms of online advertising, such as CPM or fixed placement began experiencing competition from other emerging and cost effective forms of online advertising, such as affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing has grown rapidly since its inception in 1989.

According to a recent report published by Forrester Consulting, the total affiliate marketing sales are expected to exceed $4 Billion in 2016.

Yes, with a B!

Here are all the essential details you need to know about affiliate marketing so that you can get your piece of that $4 billion dollars!

As you are reading through my article, Affiliate Marketing for Dummies, you will see text links(they are colored blue), be sure to click on these links as they will bring you to pages with more in depth information on that topic.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is an online marketing technique where a merchant pays a commission to publishers or affiliates, for referring new customers to their website.

Affiliate marketing is performance  based, meaning that affiliates are only paid when their promotional efforts result in an actual transaction.

At its core, affiliate marketing is a relationship between three parties: the merchant, affiliate and the consumer.

The merchant, also known as the vendor, creator, seller or brand, is the party that creates the products.

The merchant is ready to pay other people to help with selling and promoting their products or services.

The affiliate or publisher(you) is the individual or company that agrees to promote the merchant’s product in exchange of earning a commission.

The consumer is the person who sees the ad and then performs an action by clicking link and purchasing, or submitting their info via an online form. The consumer completes the affiliate relationship triangle.

The best affiliate marketing training that I have found is at Wealthy Affiliate. You can learn more about WA in my Wealthy Affiliate Review.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

You (the affiliate) must sign up for an advertiser’s affiliate program and choose the products you want to sell.

The seller or merchant will provide you with a unique affiliate link that you will use to refer traffic to their site.

Affiliate links have tracking in them to ensure that you are credited for every sale you make. When a consumer clicks your affiliate link, then the seller will know it is you who sent the customer.

Affiliate programs are run and managed via various affiliate networks.

Some programs are consolidated on a single network while others work on multiple networks.

Cookies are used in the network to track the progress of a customer from the affiliate's website, through the shopping cart of the seller.

The network then automatically pays commission to the affiliate based on the rules laid out by the seller.

In most cases, commissions for all sales of the previous month are paid out on a monthly basis. However, this may vary depending on the merchant’s payment policy.

Affiliate Marketing for Dummies 102

Now that you know what affiliate marketing is and how it works. Let's move on to Affiliate Marketing for Dummies 102!

How Do You Get Started in Affiliate Marketing?

To succeed in affiliate marketing, you must take a number of important steps.

The good news is that you can certainly succeed if you are willing to commit the time and efforts that it takes .

So, how do you get started in affiliate marketing?

Step 1: Choose a Niche.

Before you even build your first site, you must choose a niche you are going to target.

To choose the right niche, consider the topics you are already passionate about.

For example, if you have passion about bicycles, select a niche that is bicycle related.

While following your passion is definitely recommendable, ensure there is money, enough demand for products and affiliate programs in your chosen niche.

Click here for an excellent tutorial for choosing a niche.

Lastly, before deciding on a niche, consider the competition in the niche and whether or not you are going to be able to get your website into the first page of Google search.

This is a major factor in determine the success of your niche. The best way to determine the difficulty in ranking on Google is with a keyword research tool like Long Tail Pro.

Step 2: Find a Good Affiliate Program.

Once you have decided on a niche, you can then research the best affiliate programs.

Before choosing an affiliate program, consider the type of sellers who use the program and the commission you are likely to make from the products.

Remember to check the kind of customer support you expect from the network once you have signed up. All this will help to gauge the likelihood of success with a particular program.

Here is a great post on the Top 10 Affiliate Programs to help you decide.

Step 3: Build Your Own Website.

The first two steps are all about research and determining what is possible and profitable.

Now, it is time to put your research into action. If you do not have a website, this will be your next step.

If you are new to building sites, the quickest way to set up a site is by using WordPress. To have your site up and running, follow these few steps:

• Buy a domain
• Buy and set up hosting
• Install WordPress
• Install an attractive WordPress theme

If you would like help with this, I have a solution that will get you up and running fast!

Join me here for FREE!

There's no obligation and no credit card needed!

Step 4: Create High Quality Content.

Now that you have set up your website, you need to create interesting and engaging content for it.

Each article or post should be focused on one keyword phrase. Again, I can't stress enough the importance of proper keyword research.

The more product reviews, articles, visitor feedback and information you publish on your site, the higher the chances of attracting visitors to the website.

Giving away free informational products such as mini-courses, email series and e-books is a popular tactic many affiliate marketers use to build an email list and increase traffic to their site.

Remember your content must be 100 percent unique and relevant to your niche.

Step 5: Build an Audience for the Site.

If you produce excellent content, you will have an easy time building an audience for your website.

An interesting audience will not only attract visitors to your site, but will also lead to consistent sales and of course, higher profits.

Some proven tactics of building audience for a new site include promoting content via social media, investing in paid advertising, using basic SEO tactics among other methods.

Step 6: Promote Affiliate Offers.

After publishing relevant content on your site and building a reliable audience, the last step is to continue adding value by promoting products.

You can promote offers in many ways. It all depends on what you are selling and type of site you have built.

Some popular ways of promoting affiliate offers include writing honest product reviews, using in-text content links, email promotions as well as offering good discounts and giveaways.

Affiliate Marketing For Dummies Video

I've made an affiliate marketing for dummies video that shows the basic process for making money online as well as a real life example of affiliate marketing, Check it out!

Affiliate Marketing for Dummies Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn monthly income from your website, while providing valuable content to your visitors.

You can start earning money today by following the tips outlined in my Affiliate Marketing for Dummies.

Perhaps the best piece of advice that I can give you is to be "real". Be yourself.

You don't want to come across as a salesman. You want to come across as a friend.

Think about it, if you were interested in buying something, would you take advice from a friend, or from a stranger?

Of course you would take the advice of a friend!

I hope that you have gained some knowledge from Affiliate Marketing for Dummies!

If you are interested in learning more, click here for a guide to the best affiliate marketing course. 

The program above is free to join and you can remain a free member forever, if you choose to do so.

Check it out and get started today!

Affiliate Marketing For Dummies Infographic

I have created an awesome Affiliate Marketing for Dummies infographic that you can see below!

Feel free to share it and you may even publish it on your site as long as you use the embed code located below the infographic!

If you have any questions about affiliate marketing for dummies, please post them in the comments below.

I am very active with my readers and I am always available to help!

To Your Success!

JV