So, you want to be an affiliate marketer? Congrats! You’re going to learn amazing marketing skills that can help you make a lucrative income online. And if you want to know, is affiliate marketing easy for beginners? I’ll share my thoughts as an experienced affiliate marketer myself.
Hey there. My name is Eartha and I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for quite some time. I got my start with blogging and later began exploring high-ticket affiliate marketing using a sales funnel.
I’ve been through the frustrating moments and wondering if affiliate marketing would work at all. I’ve also celebrated my successes such as my very first low-ticket commission and my first high-ticket commission.
I understand what it takes to make a steady income online, how to get a steady flow of traffic, how to build an email list, and more. Keep reading to learn if affiliate marketing is easy for beginners. You may be surprised at my answer.
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Is Affiliate Marketing Easy for Beginners? Yes or No?
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest online businesses to start for beginners. That’s because it doesn’t involve any product creation, there is never any inventory to buy, no shipping of anything, and zero customer service.
It is also easy to learn the skills needed to begin making an income online. One of the hardest things about affiliate marketing is staying consistent with content creation. If you’re not running paid ads, you have to create content.
Content can be in the form of social media posts, blog posts, podcasts, email marketing, and YouTube videos. Many beginner affiliate marketers start strong with creating content and then eventually begin to slow down until they are hardly creating content at all.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Before we go any further, let’s define what affiliate marketing is. Here is a short definition:
Affiliate marketing is the promotion of another company’s products in exchange for a commission when a sale is made.
You get to choose what affiliate products you want to promote and the method by which you want to promote them (social media, YouTube videos, a blog, etc.)
Affiliate programs are free to join and there are no limits on the amount of income you can earn. It doesn’t require you to do any payment processing, nor do you have to do any customer service.
You can work solo or you can outsource work to freelancers who can do the day-to-day tasks as your business grows. I’ve heard of one very successful affiliate marketer who runs their business by themselves.
The sky is the limit when it comes to making money with affiliate marketing.
Sample Affiliate Marketing Websites
If you want to see sample affiliate marketing websites, open up Google and type in the search box “read our affiliate disclosure.” Scan the results and you’ll find various websites with affiliate disclosure pages.
Click on some and you’ll see how some of these websites are in specific niches and how they link to affiliate products within their content. Here are some screenshots of an affiliate website that I found doing this search:
You can explore these websites to get an idea of some of the niches they are in and the types of affiliate products they are promoting. Pay attention to the type of content that is written, the keywords being targeted, and even the length of the articles.
Affiliate Marketing Amazon Niche Websites
Amazon Associates is a common beginner affiliate program where a lot of new affiliates get their start. There are millions of products on Amazon and there is hardly anyone who doesn’t shop on the website.
The most common strategy is to create Amazon niche websites. It is debatable as to whether or not these types of websites do well any longer due to recent Google algorithm updates.
It’s possible to have a successful niche website if you’re able to produce helpful content in the process. I would research this topic before creating an Amazon niche website. Find out if they are still a good way to make affiliate income.
The Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners
Besides Amazon, several affiliate programs are known to be best for beginners. These include the Walmart affiliate program, the Target affiliate program, the Costco affiliate program, and other large online retailers with affiliate programs.
These are good affiliate programs for beginners as they are well-known companies where millions of people shop online every day. Other excellent affiliate programs that are good for beginners are software affiliate programs and online courses that have an affiliate program.
Software and online courses are two of my favorite types of products to promote as an affiliate marketer. Many software affiliate programs offer recurring commissions. That means you continue earning a commission each month for as long as your referrals remain customers of the company you’re an affiliate of.
How to Start Affiliate Marketing
There are so many ways to start affiliate marketing. What I don’t recommend is trying to start affiliate marketing with no money. It is extremely difficult to make a steady income without investing in software or tools such as sales funnel software, email marketing software, keyword tools, and more.
You can start off using as many available free options as possible. However, once you’re making commissions, it’s a good idea to invest in your business by using software and tools to help you grow.
I’ll go over two ways I’ve made affiliate commissions. One method is lower cost than the other but both methods are easy to maintain.
Blogging for Affiliate Marketing
I got my start in affiliate marketing with a blog. Blogging is one of the lowest-cost online business models you can start. I enjoy writing blog posts (as you can tell from reading this one, haha.)
The best thing about a blog is that it can generate organic traffic for years. That means you don’t have to pay for ads. Even better, your content will attract the target audience that is highly likely to buy the products you’re recommending.
Blog content relies on SEO (search engine optimization.) It helps to learn some basic SEO to get the best results. I also recommend doing keyword research. You can use either free keyword tools or paid.
Blogging requires posting new blog posts regularly. A new post 1 to 2 times per week is great. At a minimum, one good post a week is ideal.
Don’t underestimate a blog. Once your blog begins receiving a steady flow of web traffic, it can generate new leads daily.
Using a Sales Funnel for Affiliate Marketing
The other method I use to make steady affiliate commissions is a sales funnel. A sales funnel is made up of two simple web pages. The first page is the opt-in page (also called a squeeze page.) This is the page where you offer a lead magnet in exchange for a visitor’s contact details.
A lead magnet can be in the form of an ebook, audio file, a free online course, or an email course. Once a visitor inputs their info such as a first name and email address, they will be directed to the second page of your funnel which is a thank you page or what’s called a bridge page:
Should You Take an Affiliate Marketing Course?
It took me a long time to invest in an affiliate marketing course. Like many people, I wondered if affiliate marketing courses are worth it. After I bought my first course and got results from what I learned, I didn’t hesitate to invest in other courses that teach something I want to learn.
A good example of this can be found in my Millionaires Challenge System review. This system is not only an affiliate marketing training course but includes having access to a top 7-figure online business coach.
You don’t need to buy an affiliate marketing course to have success with affiliate marketing. However, I do feel a legit course can help speed up the learning process and help beginner affiliates reach success faster.
Conclusion
When you’re starting in affiliate marketing, it may not feel easy when you’re learning new terms and new skills. However, it does get easier. Affiliate marketing remains one of the best online businesses for beginners.