Index
* What is Affiliate Marketing?
* How to start affiliate marketing for free
* Deciding on a niche
* Picking a product
* Finding an Affiliate Program/network
* Choosing a Traffic source
* Building authority and bringing in traffic
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Quick reminder? Affiliate Marketing is an online advertising model where you get paid to promote and bring in leads for a company’s products/services. The more actionable leads you’ll bring in (i.e clicks, sales, signups, etc.) the more you get paid in commissions.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
* You find a product and sign yourself up for its affiliate program or network.
* Get a unique link that tracks clicks from your site back to the product owner
* Promote the product on your website, blog, social feeds, or PPC advertising
* When a sale is made from your link, you get a commission
How to Start Affiliate Marketing For Free
The journey ahead isn’t easy. You’re up against an ever-changing market and some pretty stiff competition. But, over time, and by breaking the work ahead into bite-sized steps, you’ll grow your audience, forge the right relationships and earn higher revenue with each passing product.
Here are the steps needed to start affiliate marketing for free.
Step 1: Find an Affiliate Program or Network
Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Networks are roads to the same destination. The difference? Affiliate Networks are multi-product platforms where product owners and affiliate marketers can connect. As an affiliate, and for a low monthly fee, you can sign up to an affiliate network, browse through their catalog and find the offer you’d like to promote.
Step 3: Generate Traffic for your Affiliate Offers
If you already have a strong online presence and an existing following, then bringing in more traffic will be easier. But if you’re new to online promotion, here are a few simple steps you can take to drive traffic and make the most of affiliate marketing for free.
Start a Blog
One of the easiest ways to share affiliate links is through blogging. Post detailed reviews, and informative content around a niche that you’re passionate about and imbed product links, strategically and naturally throughout the copy. Avoid the Rambo hard sell, and opt instead for rich relatable content with links to products that actually add value. If you’re sharing a recipe, maybe your audience could use a particular kitchen product, if you’re listing digital trends, perhaps there’s room to make mentions of a helpful software subscription, and so on. One more thing? Have a disclaimer at the top of your page telling your audience that you will be using certain affiliate links. Transparency goes a long way.
You can also add your affiliate links as replies to blog comments. But only where helpful.
Start a Youtube Channel
Close to 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every day. If you have the time, inclination and multimedia know-how, you can start your own Youtube channel and promote your affiliate marketing products for free through unique and interesting videos that relate to your vertical or niche. Add your affiliate links in the description below the video and consistently answer comments. The downside is that good video content takes time to produce.
Answer Questions on Quora
Head over to Quora and thoroughly answer questions around your niche. Remember, that direct affiliate links are not permitted, but you can redirect traffic to your website or blog post, where your affiliate links are housed. Keep in mind that Quora users don’t take kindly to sales pitches.
Start a Medium Blog
Repurpose your existing site content and post quality, niche-specific articles on Medium. As with Quora, avoid placing direct links into the article itself, but rather redirect traffic back to your site through your profile and bio description. You can also use a similar approach on Reddit.
Optimize Your Website
Traffic needs to find your site in order to click on your affiliate links. Make your site and site content easy to find and optimize your content to rank higher in Google’s search results. Your site pages should have relevant keywords, well-optimized meta-descriptions and titles, image alt tags, and well-placed subheadings. Ensure that your site is fast-loading and well optimized for both mobile and desktop. Check out these Key Tips To Grow Your Blog Traffic today.
