Top 10 Important Things to Know When Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing

For any beginner, the affiliate marketing industry can seem overwhelming.  There are many affiliate marketing
Niche, offer and strategy, where do you start?  In this guide, we reveal the top 10 most important things you need to know as an affiliate marketing beginner.  Use this list as a starting point to help guide your affiliate marketing journey to achieving affiliate marketing success and generating passive income.


  What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a system that allows you to generate income by recommending products or services with an affiliate link.  Imagine that every time you recommend something to your friends, you earn if they buy it.  We are often more likely to buy a product when it is recommended to us by someone we trust.  This is basically what affiliate marketing is, only with a larger audience.

There are so many products in the market now that choosing the right one to solve our problem can be a nightmare.  Affiliate marketers not only offer suggestions for the best products to solve problems, but also offer in-depth reviews to allow the user to see exactly what they are getting with a product or service.

  How do affiliate programs work?

Affiliate marketing is also known as third party advertising.  It starts with a company that sells something (also known as the owner of the offer) whether it's a product or service, and they create a link for affiliate marketers (third parties).  This is known as an affiliate offer.  It includes a link and information on how much commission you will make on each sale.  Each marketer has their own separate affiliate link, and when someone uses that link to make a purchase, the affiliate marketer makes a commission.

Affiliate marketing works by merchants who offer revenue sharing with their affiliate networks because they understand how important marketing is.  A company's products can be the best in the world but if they have to strictly use generic marketing channels and paid advertising it costs a fortune, resulting in lower profits.  Some businesses focus entirely on affiliate web traffic or a combination of regular marketing techniques and the use of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate programs often come with pre-made marketing materials such as sales copy and advertising angles.  However, as an affiliate marketer, you can choose to advertise your offers in any way that suits you.

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  How do I start affiliate marketing as a beginner?

The first step in affiliate marketing is choosing your niche.  It can be anything from fitness and health to business and investing.  The best way to choose your niche is to follow your passion.  Whatever topic you choose, you'll be writing or creating content around it most days, so it's important to pick something you're genuinely passionate about.

You should aim to become an expert in your niche.  Not overnight, but as you continue to create content you will learn more and more about your topic and the products involved.

The second step is to find the first offer you want to promote.  You can check our list of affiliate offers on Digistore24 Marketplace to get some ideas.

You need to decide whether you want to start with video or text.  For text, you can choose to blog or create ads on social media, and for videos your best option is YouTube.

The next step is to start creating content that regularly includes your affiliate link.  Whether it's blog posts, social media ads, or videos.  Stick to a schedule you can manage and try to be consistent with how often you post.

  How much can a beginner earn in affiliate marketing?

There isn't a huge amount of data collected on the earnings of new affiliate marketers.  Generally, in the industry, a beginner affiliate marketer is defined as someone who earns $1,000 or less per month.

According to PayScale, the average affiliate marketer salary ranges from $39,000 to $73,000 per year.  We've all heard stories of affiliate gurus making tens of thousands per month and millions over their careers, but that's not the norm.  How much you earn depends on how much you work.

It is good to keep in mind that it is unlikely that you will have an audience or any credibility on the first day of becoming an affiliate marketer.  It may take a few months to start building an income, and before you can live happily on the salary you earn.  However, once you've built an audience that trusts you, affiliate marketing becomes a very easy way to make passive income.

  How Can I Succeed in Affiliate Marketing?

There are many ways to become a successful affiliate.  There is no one platform or one method that is significantly more successful than another.  The key is to understand what works best for your specific audience.  Here are some top tips from our industry experts if you want to become the most effective affiliate marketer you can be:

Choose a niche that you are passionate about.  Make sure you can maintain enthusiasm for the content you're creating every single day.

✅ Become an expert in one traffic source.  Don't spread yourself across multiple platforms, but use one consistently to build an audience.

✅ Build a relationship with the platform you are using.  Connect with the business so you're more likely to get help when you have a problem.  Affiliate relationships are important whether they are with merchants, platforms, or your audience.

✅ Understand your audience.  Know the people you're trying to sell to and offer them quality content and value.  Be a trusted resource.

Set long-term goals.  Forward-thinking affiliates are most likely to get good offers and generate income in the long run.

  Top 10 Things to Know to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing
  1. Set achievable goals.

Don't expect to become a millionaire overnight.  That's just not how it works.  Affiliate marketing is a great way to generate passive income and make more money online.  This is not a get-rich-quick scheme.  Becoming a successful affiliate marketer takes time and effort.

However, it is a great way to start an online business with very little cost.  Successful affiliates have been going there for a while now.  Their success comes from expanding their knowledge in an area and consistently creating great content in that area.

So what are your achievable goals?  Well, it depends on how much time you have per week.  If you have decided to do all the work and spend all your working hours on affiliate marketing, great!  You can spend 8 hours a day learning the ropes and creating content.

If, like most people, you're doing this while at your regular job while you supplement your income, you need to be very realistic with your time.  How many hours per day are you willing to spend creating content?  Start with a small goal of one piece of content per month (or week, or less, whatever fits your schedule).

Be consistent with your posting.  Choose less often if that's what you can currently be compatible with.  Set yourself small goals so that you feel a sense of accomplishment right from the start.  This will make you go further and succeed as an affiliate marketer.

2. Choose the right niche.

What is the best affiliate marketing niche?  There is no perfect place when it comes to generating affiliate income.  The most successful affiliates know how to find the best niche for them.  It depends on your skills and interests.  For your affiliate marketing strategy, it is important to understand the areas in which you can become an expert.

The best niche is one that you are genuinely interested in.  Passion for a place allows you to write passionately about it every day.  That energy comes through in your writing or videos.  The more you work in this space, the more you will develop your skills.

  Why do you need to become an expert?

People will come to your website or channels first if you know about a topic.  They will trust what you say.  This will in turn help you get more traffic by ranking better in search engines (called search engine optimization) because Google likes websites that have authority in a subject.  More Authority = More Affiliate Sales!

  "But I'm a beginner, I'm not an expert!"

do not worry.  You don't need to be an expert on day one.  Over time you will increase your knowledge as you research and write about your niche.  Now you just need to choose a niche that you are genuinely interested in.  Remember, expert is a subjective term.

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  3. Stick to your niche

It's important that once you choose a niche, you don't stray too far from your main subject.

  The simple reason is authority.

If you create a weight loss website and promote nutritional supplements, you will create relevant content for your audience.  If you suddenly post an article about skateboarding promoting a training course, it will look weird.  Not only will it look out of place with your other content, but why would people come to you for advice in a completely different niche?  They would go to a skateboarding expert, not a weight loss expert.  You want to post content with authority, so your customers trust the products you promote.

A good place to start as an affiliate marketing beginner is to create a mind map.  Centralize your niche and link to your core topics.  Then from there find all the sub-topics and sub-topics you can branch into.  Once you have this map of topics, try and stay as close to it as possible to ensure your customers value what you have to say.

I'm interested in two niches, can't I combine them?"

The simple answer is, probably not.  Your best bet is to create different websites and channels for each niche rather than trying to combine topics.  Some niches are naturally close together like healthy food and fitness so you can tie your content to those topics.  However, in general, it's best to stick to one place on each platform.

  4. Decide on the best platform.

Choosing the best platform depends on two main factors.

  Where does your audience spend their time?
  What kind of content will you produce?

The first question should be answered by looking at your customer avatar.  Using your market research and customer avatars you should already know where your ideal customer spends most of their time.

The second question is related to your personal skills.  Below is a list of the main platforms used to create content and add affiliate links, and who should use each.

Which platform should I use for my affiliate marketing?

Facebook - Best for short hooky text and a mix of images and short videos.  Facebook advertising and marketing also make it an easy tool for beginners to use.
Instagram – If you want to become the next big influencer, Instagram is your platform!  Great for anyone with strong visual and photography skills who wants to get into influencer marketing.
YouTube – Review videos are a great way to create affiliate content.  If you feel comfortable in front of the camera and willing to spend time editing video content, go for YouTube videos.
Blog or Website – Creating your own blog is the cheapest way to get started in affiliate marketing.  If you're a good writer, blogging and creating landing pages on your own affiliate website is probably your best bet to get started.

You might be thinking, can I use all these platforms at once?

Of course, you can use all of the above tips at the same time.  However, we recommend becoming an expert in one platform.  What changes on Facebook may not work on YouTube or an affiliate site.  So it's better to understand one platform and generate sales from one traffic source rather than spreading yourself too thin across multiple channels.

  5. Be honest.

  Building trust with your audience is essential.

  Why?

If a friend of yours keeps recommending bad restaurants, it won't take long for you to stop taking their advice.  The same is true with your audience.  You want them to come straight to you for advice.  If they're looking for a product, or just information, you want to be the resource they trust.

Trust isn't just important to your audience.  This is actually one of the key things that Google looks at when ranking websites in search results.  Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness are the three main criteria that Google uses in its ranking algorithm.  By creating a trusted resource you will not only retain your customers but also increase your Google rankings for your blog posts and reviews.

  6. Find a suitable affiliate offer.

One of the biggest mistakes new affiliate marketers make is choosing the wrong affiliate offers to promote.

There are so many out there that it can be easy to come across affiliate marketing offers with the biggest commissions.  Big commissions are great, but if the offer doesn't turn into a sale, no matter how big the payout is, you'll never see it.

Instead of focusing only on high-paying products, try to find offers that are relevant to your audience.  Pick and recommend the best products, and over time your audience will trust your opinion more and you'll make more sales.

Below are a few things to look for in an affiliate program:

✅ Does the affiliate program have a good reputation?  Can you find positive reviews online from their affiliate network or is the program through a website you trust?  For example, here at Digistore24 we personally verify every affiliate offer and only offer trusted merchants to our affiliate network.

✅ Is the commission rate reasonable?  You want to pick offers with good commission rates, but too high a rate can also be a red flag.  Look for affiliate products that promise good income without sounding too good to be true.

✅ What is the potential earnings per click?  Your earnings per click (or EPC) is the main metric you want to watch.  Low commission with high EPC can still be a great offer.  While high commission and really low EPC should be avoided.

7. Prioritize quality content.

There is always a balance between quality and quantity.  Posting thousands of useless articles will not build you a dedicated audience.  On the other hand, posting one amazing article every year won't help you either.  You need to find the right balance.  Always go for quality over quantity.  If you can only post one quality video or article every two weeks to start with, then start there.  Once you have more time available, and your ability to produce content faster, you can increase your production.

Google prefers content that is genuinely useful.  Good content will always rank high in search results.

  How does Google know if your content is good?

Great content not only keeps people on the page longer, but other sites are more likely to link to it.  Be a resource in your niche.  Be the best place for anyone to find information about whatever your main topics are and focus on creating great content.  The most successful affiliate marketers feel that selling affiliate products is a secondary goal to providing useful resources and solutions to their audience.

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  8. Interact with your audience.

Engaging with your audience is a great way to build relationships and learn about their needs.  Forums and comments on social media posts are great places to start.  Find and study conversations about your location.

The jackpot is when you get a conversation about an issue.  Not only can you learn more about what your audience needs, but you can also offer your content or affiliate links as solutions!

Building relationships is an important part of the journey of all online entrepreneurs.  Be a resource in communities within your niche.  Offer value wherever possible and you'll get a dedicated audience.

  9. Always track data

It is impossible to effectively grow your affiliate marketing business without data.  There are a few key affiliate metrics you should be tracking right from the start.

How many people click on your content or website per month?

How many unique visitors are you getting per day?

✅How many sales is each affiliate offer making for you?

  How much do you earn from the offer?

How much are you spending on creating     content or advertising?
Where are your visitors from?

These metrics allow you to understand how successful each affiliate offer is for you and which of your content performs best.  You can use this data to create more content based on what your audience wants.  It's also important to understand traffic conversions, which tell you how much it's costing you per customer to buy a product.  That way you can decide if the price is worth the commission.

Never work blindly.  If this is all speculation, it can be very difficult to successfully promote products as an affiliate marketer.

  10. Never stop learning.

The online world is constantly changing.  Just because you've found a great affiliate marketing method, doesn't mean it will always work.  Be prepared for change.  Being prepared means you don't wait for your surroundings to change, you already know what's going to happen.  You can do this by regularly reading affiliate marketing blogs and posts from within the industry.  It's also a good idea to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing and working for them.

Never stop learning.  About affiliate marketing and within your niche.  If you have the latest information in your niche, your customers will continue to use you as a resource.

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