I make about 60% of my income each month from affiliate marketing. I’ve made as much as $80,000 in a month from affiliate marketing. So affiliate marketing is absolutely one of the best ways for new or experienced bloggers to make money.
I figured since I gave an overview of affiliate marketing in my post on how bloggers make money I should take it a step further and do a bit of a deep dive on affiliate marketing and how you can get started with it right away.
Today’s post is going to be super informative and long so if you’re a coffee drinker grab a coffee, and a notebook and let’s jump into it!
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you use links that were provided to you by a company in your blog posts, and social media posts, and if someone purchases from them you earn a commission.
The amount of commission you earn depends on how much the product costs, and what percentage of each sale the company agrees to pay you.
Do you want to start your own money-making blog?
I know starting a blog can be overwhelming, it seems like there is so much you need to know, and how are you supposed to know how to set everything up, and make sure you are getting the best deal on starting a blog?
Also, how are you supposed to know how to design your blog and get traffic?
I kept getting questions from friends, and people who wanted to start their own blogs
So I figured the best way to answer all these questions would be to create a FREE ( did I mention it’s free?) 6 Day email course.
Which will teach you step-by-step how to set up a blog, install your theme, make a logo, and create monetized content. It will completely kick-start your blogging success.
I totally suggest taking it if you don’t already have a blog (or if you do already have a blog and want the advice) because I really want to help you get your dream job. Here is a more detailed guide of what we go over in it!
Day 1: How to choose a name, and blog topics.
Day 2: How to start a blog & install the design of your choice.
Day 3: Planning out your content.
Day 4: Monetizing your website as a beginner.
Day 5: Increasing your website's traffic to make more money.
Day 6: Wrap up & Guide to follow for the future to maximize profit
Free How to Start a Profitable Blog Course
Learn how to start a profitable blog from scratch in this FREE 6-day email course. Trust me, you won’t need any prior blogging knowledge.
What do you need to get started affiliate marketing as a blogger?
you are going to need a public blog/website. If you want a step-by-step guide on how to start a blog click here. I made it and it’s the exact steps I followed to create my now six-figure earning blog with absolutely no experience.
You are going to need a few blog posts on that blog (to give brands an idea of who you are, and if you’re an actual person)
A privacy policy on that blog. Here is how to create a privacy policy for your blog.
An about page on your blog.
A contact page on your blog.
Links to your other social media such as Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and so on somewhere on your blog.
A Social Security number.
A bank account.
A PayPal account.
How do you find and get into affiliate programs?
Finding affiliate programs is pretty easy. Here are a few of my favorite ways to find new affiliate programs to apply for:
Look up “______ (insert company you already know you love) affiliate program”. To see if a company you already like has an affiliate program. Amazon, Target, and Walmart all have affiliate programs.
Search “Best _____ (insert type of company you want to work with like fashion, beauty, home decor) affiliate programs”. To see what affiliate programs other people recommend for your topic. You can search these on Pinterest, or Google.
Search Pinterest for “best affiliate programs for ____ (insert your type of blog like fashion, lifestyle, travel, mom) bloggers”. Pinterest is a great resource for bloggers.
What do you need when applying for an affiliate program?
When you are going through affiliate applications it’s important to keep a few things close by if you don’t know them by heart because chances are applications will ask for them.
Link to your blog.
Links to your social media accounts.
Your Social Security number.
PayPal email.
Bank account number.
Typically applications will ask for these things in order to decide if you are a good fit for them and their brand.
Once you get approved what do you do?
Getting approved for an affiliate program is always exciting because it feels like someone sees your hard work and thinks that you are good enough. So congratulations on getting approved!
Once you get approved you are going to want to:
log in to your affiliate account and complete your profile and account information.
find out how to access your affiliate links through your account.
How do you get paid from affiliate programs?
Getting paid from each program is different. Some programs will send a check to your house, some will pay you via PayPal and some will do direct deposit. So I recommend having a PayPal and a bank account number handy when you are setting up your affiliate accounts.
When will you get paid after earning money?
This is one of the worst things about affiliate marketing in my opinion. I hate how long it takes to get paid after you earn money from affiliate marketing.
Each program pays differently. Some programs will pay you 30 days after the end of the month you earned money. Some programs will pay you 45 days after the end of the month you earned money in and some programs will pay you 60 or 90 days after the month you earn money in.
I will say it feels like most programs are 30 or 60 days after but to me sometimes that still feels like forever.
How do you make money with affiliate links once you get approved?
Once you get approved it’s time to start making money! In my opinion, these are the best ways to make money from affiliate links:
Write an entire post about a single product you have experience with.
Ex: The Best Stroller For First-Time Moms.
Write a round-up post of products you have experience with.
Ex: The Best Skincare Routine for Acne-Prone Skin.
Ex: The 5 Things I Would Buy Again From The Nordstrom Sale.
Personally, I feel like you make more money when you only write about products you have personal experience with because you can talk about them honestly. You can share the details and why it has impacted your life positively and why you would recommend it for your reader. Personally, only affiliate marketing for products I’ve used and know has increased my income significantly.
Affiliate marketing tips:
Only talk about products you’ve used.
Include photos you personally took (or had taken of you) instead of just the product photo from the company.
Tell people to “click here to learn more about it” or “Click here to get one for yourself” when you link to the product this increases the number of people who actually take action.
Hopefully, this is helpful! I love affiliate marketing and I would recommend it to any new or long-time blogger looking to increase their income!
