According to these 2020 affiliate marketing statistics, 48% of affiliate marketers with an established audience earn $20K per year.
Tempting, isn’t it? But building an affiliate blog from scratch can seem daunting, but it is not as hard as it might sound.
This beginner’s guide will walk you through the process step-by-step and show you how to create a successful affiliate blog in no time. You’ll learn to choose a niche, set up your website, create content, attract readers, and much more!
So, are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
What Is The Affiliate Blogging?
Affiliate blogging is when you – a blogger – promote a product or service in your articles and include a unique link or discount code related to that item that identifies your blog as the traffic source. When readers click on your link or purchase the item, you earn a commission.
Therefore, an affiliate marketing blog is different from a personal or a blog that complements a company’s business. You must create content for people looking to buy products and services. Moreover, you have to monetize the traffic and ultimately generate sales through affiliate programs and offers.
Creating a blog which one can use for affiliate marketing is a simple way to make money right at home. No specific experience is needed, but there are several rules one should follow to improve the chances of success.
How to Choose a Niche for Your Affiliate Blog
Choosing the right niche is essential for building a successful affiliate blog. You need to select a topic that:
- you are interested in,
- you know something about
- has a significant enough audience to generate traffic & make sales.
There are many different ways to find niches for your blog, but here are a few tips to help get you started:
- Ask yourself the right questions: What are you passionate about, regardless of your skills or experience? What are you good at? Now pick the topics that appear in both answers. If you have many, pick the top 3 you love the most. For each topic, set a timer for 3 minutes and write down as many post ideas as possible. Which topic was the easiest to write about? Congrats! You just found your zone of genius and the niche you should focus on in your affiliate blog. Make sure it is not broad but as specific as you can in order to stand out from the competition.
- Do some research online: Use Google or other search engines to do some preliminary research on popular topics and keywords related to your niche. This will give you an idea of what people are already searching for online and can help you come up with ideas for blog posts or other content that will be useful to your audience.
- Look at what’s trending on social media: Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are great places to find out what people are talking about right now. You can use these platforms as inspiration for new ideas and content-creation strategies!
How to Set Up Your Website
Now that you have chosen a niche and created some content, it’s time to set up your website. This is where the real work begins! There are a few things you will need to do to get started:
- Choose a domain name and web hosting: The first thing you need is a domain name (the address of your website) and web hosting. You can buy both of these items from various providers or use one of the many free options available online.
- Install WordPress: Once you have registered your domain name and set up your web hosting account, you will need to install WordPress. This software powers most websites today and is very easy to use. If you want to get into more detail in web development, there are many sources from which you can learn web development fast.
- Choose a theme: The next step is to choose a theme for your site. There are thousands of free themes available online and many premium ones too! You can also create your custom design using HTML/CSS knowledge or hire someone else who does know the code well enough.
- Add plugins: Plugins are pieces of software that add new features to your website. They can be installed from the WordPress dashboard or downloaded directly into the theme’s folder on your computer. You’ll want at least two: an SEO plugin (such as Yoast) and a social sharing like Shareaholic. In the future, we recommend having a great affiliate tracking software that gives you data & insights your competitors lack.
- Create pages for important content: It’s always a good idea to have an About page where visitors can learn more about you and why they should care. This page will help your readers feel connected with what they’re reading.
- Write a blog post: Once your website is set up, it’s time to write your first blog post. You can start by writing about anything you’re passionate about. Knowing basic SEO will help you significantly to stand out. However, if writing many high-quality & SEO-friendly articles is too challenging for you, hiring a content writer on a side is an option, too. The right content & SEO experts who increase your search traffic value and maximize your growth way faster.
Set Up the Affiliate Network
- Contact companies in your niche: After creating content and setting up your website, it’s time to look for affiliate programs. You can do this by contacting companies directly or searching online for relevant ones that match the topics on your blog posts (e.g., if you sell sports equipment, then you might want someone who blogs about how great their products are).
- Join an affiliate network: Once you’ve found a few good candidates, sign up with them through an affiliate network like ShareASale or Commission Junction. This will allow your commissions to be tracked and paid out easily.
- Start promoting! Now it’s time to start promoting your blog posts! You can do it via social media, email marketing, community forums or any other distribution methods you can think of. The more people who see your content, the better chance you have of making affiliate sales.
Final Thoughts
And that’s it! Now you can officially become a blogger with an affiliate website.
It may seem like a lot at first, but with a little hard work and dedication, you’ll be able to achieve great things in no time.
Remember to always focus on providing valuable content that will help your audience somehow, and everything else will follow suit naturally over time. So get to it and have some fun with it!
Remember: Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t expect everything to happen overnight; Give yourself time to grow and evolve as a blogger while building valuable relationships with your audience.
