Are you interested in starting an affiliate marketing business but don't know where to begin? In this article, I'll walk you through the steps to creating an affiliate marketing business from scratch
How Affiliate Marketing Work
Affiliate marketing is a business model that allows you to earn a commission by promoting other people's products or services.
Cookie Mechanics
When a user clicks on an affiliate link, a cookie is placed on their device to store information about the referral source. The cookie typically contains an affiliate ID, the date and time of the click, and occasionally, additional data about the promotion.
When the user makes a purchase or completes a desired action, the website's tracking system checks for the presence of an affiliate cookie on the user's device. If a valid cookie is found, the sale or action is attributed to the corresponding affiliate. As a result, the affiliate earns a commission for their marketing efforts.
Affiliate Click Attribution
Different affiliate programs have their own ways of keeping track of clicks and rewarding affiliates for their hard work. Knowing how a program tracks clicks can help affiliates plan their marketing and know what to expect when it comes to getting paid.
First-Click Attribution This method gives credit to the affiliate whose link was clicked first by the user. If the user clicks on more than one affiliate link but then buys something, the commission goes to the affiliate who first showed the user the product or service.
Generally estimated that fewer affiliate programs use the first-click model compared to the more popular last-click attribution model. This is because the last-click model is often considered more representative of an affiliate's direct influence on a customer's decision to purchase. Keep in mind that these percentages can vary based on the industry and specific affiliate networks.
Last-Click Attribution In this method, credit goes to the affiliate whose link was clicked last before the user bought something. If a user clicks on a few affiliate links, the commission goes to the affiliate who got the user to finally make the purchase.
Many affiliate programs use the last-click attribution model, as it is a popular and widely accepted method for assigning commissions.
Amazon, Clickbank, ShareASale, Rakuten, CJ Affiliate all use last click attribution click model in their affiliate programs.
Learn more about cookie duration and click attribution here
Where To Sign Up
Here are some popular affiliate programs that you might have heard of:
Amazon Associates: Amazon has one of the largest affiliate programs in the world. As an Amazon affiliate, you can promote any product on Amazon using your affiliate link and earn a commission on the sale.
For example, if you have a cooking blog, you could promote kitchen appliances or cookbooks on Amazon and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
ClickBank: ClickBank is a marketplace for digital products such as e-books, courses, and software. As a ClickBank affiliate, you can promote these products and earn a commission on the sale.
For example, if you have a blog about personal finance, you could promote a course on how to save money or invest in the stock market and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
Bluehost: Bluehost is a web hosting company that offers an affiliate program. As a Bluehost affiliate, you can promote their web hosting services and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
For example, if you have a blog about blogging or online business, you could promote Bluehost as a web hosting provider and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
Udemy: Udemy is an online learning platform that offers courses on a wide range of topics. As a Udemy affiliate, you can promote these courses and earn a commission on the sale.
For example, if you have a blog about graphic design, you could promote a course on Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
Example Affiliate Marketing Businesses Currently In Operation
Booking.com: Booking.com is a travel website that allows customers to book hotels, flights, and rental cars. As an affiliate, you can promote Booking.com's services and earn a commission on any bookings made through your affiliate link.
Expedia: Expedia is another popular travel website that offers a wide range of travel services, including hotels, flights, and vacation packages. As an Expedia affiliate, you can promote their services and earn a commission on any bookings made through your affiliate link.
Airbnb: Airbnb is a platform that allows homeowners to rent out their homes or apartments to travelers. As an affiliate, you can promote Airbnb's services and earn a commission on any bookings made through your affiliate link.
Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor is a popular travel platform that offers user-generated reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants, and attractions worldwide. As a Tripadvisor affiliate, you can promote their services and earn a commission on any bookings made through your affiliate link.
DirtBikePlanet.com: DirtBikePlanet.com is a niche website that caters to dirt bike enthusiasts, providing valuable information, tips, and product reviews related to dirt bikes and their accessories. As an affiliate, you can promote dirt bike products featured on the website and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
SmartPassiveIncome.com: SmartPassiveIncome.com is a niche website that teaches people how to build passive income streams through affiliate marketing, blogging, and online business strategies. As an affiliate, you can promote various tools, courses, and resources featured on the website and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
Agoda: Agoda is a travel booking platform that specializes in hotels and accommodations in Asia. As an affiliate, you can promote Agoda's services and earn a commission on any bookings made through your affiliate link.
PCPartPicker.com: PCPartPicker.com is a niche website that helps users find the best prices on computer components and build custom PCs. As an affiliate, you can promote computer components and earn a commission on any sales made through your affiliate link.
Skills Required To Build An Affiliate Marketing Business
Running an affiliate marketing business requires a range of practical skills. Some are not limited to:
Keyword research: Keyword research is the number 1 thing you will do over and over to grow an affiliate business. Learn to spot low competition keywords on your own or scout opportunities from your competitors by using keyword tools like Ahrefs and SEMRUSH is paramount.
Backlinking: Backlinking involves acquiring links from other websites to your own website. This can help to improve your website's authority and search engine rankings, leading to more traffic and sales. It can be the hardest thing to do because it requires reaching out to people and exchange info. It's a numbers game.
Domain flipping: Domain flipping is all about acquiring an aged domain so an beginner affiliate can skip the search engine sandbox and see result quickly. It's all about finding valuable keyword rankings that others are skipping over.
Digital marketing skills: You'll need to have a good understanding of digital marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising.
Content creation: Content creation is the oxygen for an affiliate business. It's the most time consuming part of the business. This can include blog posts, product reviews, videos and even interviews
Sales skills: Affiliate marketing is all about promoting products and driving sales. You'll need to have good sales skills, including persuasive writing and communication skills, to convince your audience to purchase the products you're promoting.
Analytical skills: Be able to analyze and pinpoint problems
Networking skills: Building relationships with other affiliate marketers and industry professionals can be key to access unique content and backlinks
Technical skills: Basic understanding of html, javascript are enough to operate an affiliate website or working with an SEO agency
Delegation: You can't do everything yourself, so you have to master communication and team building to get people on board, so you can free up the time to focus on something more important.
Common Mistakes Beginner Affiliate Marketers Make
Choosing the wrong niche: Choosing a niche that's too competitive or too narrow can be a common mistake for beginners.
Focusing too much on promotion: Beginner affiliate marketers may focus too much on conversion than building trust with their audience. Typically bad content or lack of content is clear indication that not a lot of work has been put in.
Not disclosing affiliate links: Failing to do so can be seen as deceptive and get account closed
Not tracking results: Not tracking link in a systemic way. Disorganized link tracking is a common problem
Relying too much on one traffic source: Beginner affiliate marketers may focus too much on one traffic source, such as social media or SEO, and not diversify their traffic sources. When one traffic source suddenly change, then their revenue and traffic suddenly change
Giving up too soon: SEO can take as long as 6 - 14 months. Do not quit too early!
Generate Traffic
SEO
Most affiliate marketing is relying on SEO via content. One of the main advantages of using SEO to drive affiliate sales is that it can be a highly effective way to generate traffic and sales over the long term.
By optimizing your website and content for search engines, you can attract a steady stream of organic traffic that can result in sales over time.
However, SEO can also be a slow and difficult process, especially if you're in a competitive niche. It can take months or even years to see meaningful results from your SEO efforts, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever rank on the first page of Google for your target keywords.
SEO requires a significant amount of ongoing effort and investment in content creation, link building, and other tactics. It can be a complex and time-consuming process, and it's not always easy to stay on top of the latest best practices and algorithm updates.
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising, on the other hand, can be a much faster way to generate traffic and sales as an affiliate marketer. By running ads on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, or Instagram, you can quickly reach a targeted audience and drive clicks and sales to your affiliate offers.
However, paid advertising can also be expensive and risky if you don't know what you're doing. It requires a significant upfront investment in ad spend, and there's no guarantee that your ads will be profitable. In addition, there's a learning curve involved in mastering the art of creating effective ads and targeting the right audience.
Paid advertising should also be apart of the SEO strategy. Think about paid ads as a rocket booster to spike traffic whenever it's needed.
Clickfunnels vs. Building a Regular Website
Clickfunnel is for non technical business owners.
Building a website is for experienced individual who wants to take control of everything.
Clickfunnels is a platform that allows you to create sales funnels that are designed to maximize conversions and sales. These funnels typically consist of multiple pages that guide the visitor through the sales process, from the initial offer to the checkout page.
While Clickfunnels can be a powerful tool for maximizing conversions and sales, it can also be expensive and limiting in terms of design and functionality. In addition, you're essentially building your business on someone else's platform, which can be risky if they decide to change their terms or shut down your account.
Building a regular website, on the other hand, gives you more control and flexibility over your business. You can customize the design and functionality of your site to your liking, and you're not reliant on a third-party platform for your business. However, building a website can be time-consuming and require more technical knowledge than using a platform like Clickfunnels.