There’s no question about it, I love affiliate marketing. With the new year fast approaching, more and more people will be looking for information on how to start making money online. Today, we are going to discuss the 7 best affiliate marketing practices to help you make the new year profitable.
Why Affiliate Marketing?
Personally, I think this is the best way for new bloggers to monetize their blogs instead of starting with Google Adsense. You don’t have to worry about creating your own products or dealing with customer service.
Unlike with Google Adsense, you don’t need to have thousands of page views to make a commission. With the right business plan and strategy, you can literally start making money in a few months.
Yes, you will need to work hard and make sure that you’re doing the right things to help you grow. That’s why I always recommend this free affiliate marketing training course. It will take you by the hand and show you how to build a profitable business that stands the test of time.
You won’t have to worry about your website getting penalized when Google has an algorithm update. The best part is that you can build as many websites as you want because you know this system works.
I am now working on my second website, I am a little slower than most people. But I plan on building as many as I can, after all, it doesn’t cost a lot. You just need a great host, which I recommend SiteGround and a domain.
Then you can be off and running and working on your website. Preferably one at a time, so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Affiliate Marketing Success Tips
Whenever you start any type of business, you have to have a plan or strategy. You’ll have much better success if you start with a plan. Affiliate marketing is no different, you need to have a basic understanding of what it means and how much work is going to be required from you.
You’re going to have to work hard for several months or even your first year. But once you get the ball rolling, your blog can make some great passive income.
The best part is that affiliate businesses run 24/7/365 on the Internet. This means that your website will be working for you while you sleep, play or are just living life. Of course, it won’t happen overnight, but if you do things the way this training shows, you will eventually have a website that earns you 100% passive income.
Of course, most affiliates never earn any money because they are not willing to do the work on the front end. They start a blog with unrealistic expectations only to quit a few months after getting started.
You can start earning online in a legitimate way, it’s just going to take a lot of work. Check out this free training to help you get started. If you don’t want to check out the free training, then here are success tips for newbies just getting started.
7 Affiliate Marketing Best Practices for Big Success
#1 Have A Plan
It’s so easy to hear about someone else’s success online and wants to mimic their progress. However, before you get started, you need to sit down and think about:
- How will your affiliate website be different?
- Who is your target audience and how will you help them?
- What is your competition doing in the niche?
- Is the niche too competitive and if so, can you still succeed?
- What will you be promoting and does it have a good conversion rate and is it credible?
Do your due diligence before getting started with your chosen niche. It’s much better to take the time before starting than to jump into a niche that doesn’t have any potential.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I got started with a certain niche only to realize that it was the wrong decision. It could’ve saved me so much time and headaches if I had only taken it slowly at the get-go.
#2 Do Proper Market Research Before Putting In The Hard Work
One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is to get started in a niche without doing proper research. I’ve done this plenty of time only to realize about 20 articles in that the niche sucked.
You can use Google Trends to help you see how much potential a market has before starting.
Starting a blog is so easy, in fact, you can have your own little digital asset online in the next 15 minutes or less. However, the hard part of blogging comes when you’re trying to grow your blog.
It takes a ton of work to grow a blog and you can expect to spend several hours a week trying to grow your blog. Some people work on their blog full-time, it all depends on whether you’re still working a full-time job.
This training program will teach new Internet marketers how to choose a profitable niche. This free training alone can save you months or years of frustration.
Don’t make the same mistake I made several at the beginning stages of my journey. Make sure that you’re taking the time to find a profitable affiliate niche that will eventually make you passive income.
#3 Choose Something You’re Interested In
One of the biggest mistakes that so many new affiliates make is choosing profit over passion. Yes, I know that you want to make money with your blog.
However, the money doesn’t come overnight and if you’re NOT the least bit interested in the topic, you’re going to quit. It’s hard to stay motivated in a topic if you’re not making money.
It’s even harder to stay motivated when you have no interest in the chosen niche. The best advice I can give you is to choose something that you are interested in or want to learn more about.
There’s a good chance that it may take you more than a year to start seeing results from your hard efforts. I’ve made tons of blogging mistakes and it took me a long time to start getting results from this blog that you’re reading.
Not to mention that I’ve also started and quit several sites in the past because I was not interested in the topics.
#4 Don’t Try to Promote Everything
It’s so easy to want to promote every product that pays great commissions. However, it’s best to focus on a few products or services that you would highly recommend and have used.
If you’re an absolute beginner, you have no idea what people would be willing to spend money on. In order to maximize your efforts and make the most money, you’ll have to spend time testing different products to see which ones convert the best.
This means that you’ll need to join some of the best affiliate programs and promote those. Pay attention to what converts and what doesn’t.
It’s best if you have some experience with the program or service you are promoting. Because you’ll be able to share your personal stories and opinions of the product.
#5 Develop a Blog or Website With Unique Fresh Content On A Regular Basis
One of the things that you’ll be working on a new affiliate is content marketing. You’ll need to choose a blogging schedule that works for you and update your blog/website with fresh content on a regular basis.
Thankfully, I love writing content and I make it a point to write at least 3 new articles every week. At one point I was writing 5 articles a week, but that was way too much.
Plus, I’ve been working on growing a second blog and there’s no way that I could continue posting 5 articles a week on this blog. The great thing is that you don’t have to post that many times per week.
You can choose a schedule that works for you and work with it. Just know that the more fresh, unique content that you provide, search engines will love your site, which means that you’ll get more traffic and leads.
Once you have a huge archive of content, there’s a better chance of people finding you in the search engines. If they love your content, they’ll share it via social media and will subscribe to your email list.
#6 Re-Invest Your Initial Earnings
Making your first affiliate sale is so exciting because it’s proof that Internet marketing works. However, it still amazes me at how many people are still refusing to spend on their online education.
For some reason, they don’t want to spend money and want to do everything for free. Look, I get it, no one wants to spend a lot of money on a blog that isn’t making any money.
However, if you’re in this for the long haul and you’re trying to turn your hobby blog into a business, you need to start treating it like a business.
This means that you have to be willing to invest in your blog and yourself. Even if you haven’t made any commissions, you can still invest in the basics to get your blog running.
Once you start earning some money then I highly suggest that you start investing in yourself and your blog.
What Should I Invest In?
Everyone is different and will have their own opinions about what to spend money on. This is where you need to think like an entrepreneur.
Find out what you’re struggling with and invest in an online course or program that will teach you what you need to know. Blogging comes with a huge learning curve and there is always something that you need to know or learn about.
Maybe you’re having a hard time writing content that converts into sales? This course will teach you how to write content that actually drives sales.
If you’re brand new to Pinterest, you may need to take a deep dive of Pinterest. The Pinning Perfect course helped me understand the basics of the platform and start using it properly.
If you’re not struggling with anything, then you may want to consider investing your profits in outsourcing some help to grow. When you outsource, you can grow at an exponential rate.
Not only that, but you can outsource those tasks that you don’t enjoy and focus on the things that you love doing. Imagine how much happier you’ll be when you no longer have to do those tasks that you hate.
#7 Duplicate What Works
One of the best things about affiliate marketing is that there is a proven strategy that works. It may take a while to figure that strategy if you’re trying to do everything for free.
But once you figure it out, you will realize what it actually takes to start earning with this monetization method. There are thousands of people who have already figured out what it takes to work.
The cool thing is that if something works for one person, there’s no reason why it won’t work for you. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel, this is where most newbies fail.
Find some top affiliate marketers and follow what they are doing.
Just make sure they are NOT flat out lying to you. It’s so easy for someone to say they are successful online and try to sell on their products or services.
It’s totally up to you who you decide to follow and believe in. Although, I highly recommend that you get started with this free training before spending any money.
Once you complete the training, you will know exactly what it takes to build a successful affiliate website.
Final Take Away
More and more people are turning to the Internet to help them create a full-time or second income. In fact, 57 million people have some type of side hustle. If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog and earning some passive income, there’s no better time than now.
The future of affiliate marketing is only going to get better. There are no secrets to making money online, the only thing that is required is hard work and persistence.
Unfortunately, the success rate for newbies sucks, because you are given false information. It’s not hard to believe that if you start a blog today, you could be earning thousands in 2 months.
It doesn’t work that way, just like any other business, it takes time to grow a blog. You’ll have to work hard and free for several months or years before you start seeing any passive income on a regular basis.
Yes, some niches grow faster than others, but you can’t expect it to be you. If you are in one of those popular blog topics, then just be happy. If not, then you’ll have to just keep working hard and doing everything to grow your blog.
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MD.Fasheer says
Hi, Susan!
When I started affiliate marketing about a year ago I was overloaded with information.
I googled everything and my brain was spinning.
Looking back now, I see the tips here and think to myself why I didn’t think of that before ๐ I have learned a lot the past year and the learning curve has been very steep.
So, I will look back into the affiliate program again! ๐
Thank you for the detailed and comprehensive post on this most important topic of Affiliate Marketing!
Thank you for the tips and good luck with the website ๐
Susan Velez says
Hi MD. Fasheer,
I think that we all spin our wheels at the beginning, there’s so much to learn.
It took me a long time to realize what it actually takes to earn with affiliate marketing.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day ๐
Susan