Receiving a passive income is the dream for most people working on the web, and affiliate marketing is the simplest way most of them start.

In this easy guide about affiliate marketing for beginners you will learn what is it, how to start, make progress and earn money. Let’s dive into!

What is affiliate marketing?

Above all, it’s a web marketing startegy. Simply put,

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.

SmartPassiveIncome.com

So, basically it’s like renting a space on your blog or website or social media page to promote other people’s products. Then you will earn money for each piece of lead you get for those people.

Who are the main protagonists of affiliate marketing?

If you have got a product or service to promote, you are the so-called merchant. Similarly, if you are the person promoting it, you are called the publisher or affiliate.

Lastly, the most important person in affiliate marketing is the consumer. That’s the person you want to open your content, be interested in it, go to the affiliate link and perform an action.

For example this could be purchasing something, subscribing to a newsletter, partecipating in an event and more.

Why should you try?

Let’s say you have a quite well positioned website. You are a blogger or a social media personality read by a lot of people (or even a small number of people in a very particular niche).

Therefore, whether you aknowledge it or not, you can be call an influencer. In other words, people reach out to you to ask questions and get advices about your area of expertise.

Why don’t you monetize this status by getting started with affiliate marketing? You already have a web space (your WordPress blog or website) and you already have an audience. In addition, you know your audience. You know what they need, in which areas you can help them and how to talk to them.

Being the influencer is not easy

Of course, convincing other people to buy a product or a service is not easy, but if you are a good communicator you’r halfway through. Affiliate marketing happens through a banner or a link put on your website.

Therefore, what you need is for users to click on it. You can implement different strategies to do that:

• place the banner in a prominent position;
• curate the aesthetic of your page so that the banner is visually pleasing;
• create a perfect call to action;
• use SEO skills to attract the right people to your content;
• apply copywriting and persuasive writing rules to convince them to actually perform the CTAA CTA is a phrase or word designed to get an immediate response from the reader. As the name suggests, it's usually something that involves a precise action performed by....

Will you get paid?

Of course you will. And once set up, this could be a profitable source of passive income. Depending on the advertiser and your agreement, you could be paid per sale, per lead or per click.

Be sure to settle everything from compensation to the duration of the affiliate marketing relationship to the method for data analysis. In conclusion, be sure to have everything in order.

How to do affiliate marketing: start here

First of all, you need complete trust between merchant and affiliate. So try starting from big, well-known and accomplished companies.

Remember you are suggesting these companies to your readers. If something goes wrong, you’ll lose the commission. But most importantly, you’ll lose your audience loyalty.

That means you need a partnership for affiliate marketing that is completely safe both for your reputation and your community’s safety. Rely on established companies with intuitive payment methods, clear privacy regulations and excellent products. Of course, the first and most important that come to mind is Amazon.

Why Amazon

Because you probably already know it. And your readers,too. For sure you have bought something from Amazon, you know their policy and service quality.

Also, you can pretty much link everything to Amazon, it being the biggest e-commerce in the world. Whether your niche is fashion or technology, pet suppliances or parental issues, books or home appliances, you can find everything on Amazon.

That way, your affiliate marketing banner or link will be included in your webpage in the most organic and natural way.

How to be good at affiliate marketing

People aren’t just buying things online anymore. They crave for complete purchasing experiences. What does that mean? They want to feel the same bubbly feeling as when walking up and down a shop deciding what to buy.

Whatever you are promoting, you have to sell an entire customer experience that is better than a physical one in a number of ways.

• Present the product as something you would actually recommend to a friend. If the affiliate marketing program allows you, try some of these products. Your first-hand experience will be extremely valuable to readers.
• If you can’t personally try each product, study as much as possible about them. Again, your reputation is at risk here. You don’t want to promote a real-leather purse on a vegan blog, do you?
• Include your affiliate products in the most natural way in your storytelling. For instance, if you have a travel blog about nature adventures, linking a pair of ski boots seems appropriate. If you talk about politics, the biography book of a preminent leader will be a perfect choice.

2021 web marketing trends to try

With the ever-changing world of web marketing, there are trends and news to be updated to. This way you can perform your affiliate marketing strategies to their best capacity.

For instance, a well-known trend is hyper targetization. People are searching for more and more specific items on search engines. You need to catch the right product for the right target audience.

Constantly analyze your conversion rates and conduct A/B test to understand what’s working. You can most effectively apply it to email marketing campaigns. Send to two group of contacts two different copies and analyze which converts more. That will be the right strategy to earn a lot of money from affiliate marketing.

The importance of your mailing list in affiliate marketing

Sure, you can just put a banner on your website and hope for the best, but will it work? It won’t and you know that. As we said, segmentation is key here.

So, besides searching for the perfect product to the perfect audience, also try to create a targeted mailing list. Each lead will be included in a particular group based on age, geographical location, online shopping habits and such.

This way you will instantly know which promotional emails to send to which group and maximize your conversion rates.

Make your content more and more enaging

As email marketer and guru Neil Patel says,

What makes you want to buy a fridge more: reading a review on a blog or seeing a live presentation of the fridge in action?

Neil Patel

You probably guessed it: a live presentation is surely more effective. People love to feel like a part of a community, a tribe. Just imagine how excusive it seems to be invited to a live virtual event.

And this is even more relevant in this pandemic climate. They are at home more than ever, missing friends and families and human contact.

Be their human contact. Be that person who really engage with them; challenge them; ask for their opinion; include them in a special Q&A session about the product you are promoting. Your affiliate marketing sellings will skyrocket!

Grow your affiliate marketing business

Affiliate marketing for beginners involves big companies, small niches and little money. But that’s just the beginning.

How to grow your income into a steady and passive one with huge numbers and great credibility? Ask affiliate marketing programs and platforms for help. There are lots of them, generalists or specilized in a particular niche. So you will surely find the perfect one.

In conclusion

Now you know how to do affiliate marketing on a beginners’ level, but also a lot op tips and tricks to grow your business in an efficient and highly profitable one.

Start exploring Mailsenpai’s Affiliate System service in order to know more and get started. The best is yet to come.