Updated August 2024
If you are still asking what’s the best way to make money with affiliate marketing then this post is for you. I will explain how affiliate marketing works and how you can start making money online too.
Making money with affiliate marketing is something that anyone armed with a computer and an internet connection is able to accomplish.
Nowadays, it seems like everyone and their mother has a blog, and usually, the purpose for these blogs is to generate a little (or a lot) of extra money.
But what is the best way to make money online? The most common method of doing this is by getting involved with one or more affiliate programs.
Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing:
There are a number of reasons why affiliate marketing is so popular, and we’re going to discuss a few of those reasons before we delve into the “how-to” of affiliate marketing.
Little or no cost to start
While most startup businesses will require some sort of investment to get them kicked off, affiliate marketing can be started on a shoestring budget.
The fact is, you can actually get a free affiliate marketing website, and joining affiliate marketing programs is free as well (one should not have to pay to join an affiliate program).
There aren’t many businesses that one can start without having to invest any money, but affiliate marketing is one.
Affiliate Programs Are Available For All Niches
If there is a hobby, passion, or something that you have a particular interest in, you most certainly will be able to find a relevant affiliate program that you can promote to potential customers.
Simply perform a Google search for something you are interested in and add a “+ affiliate programs” after the search term. You might just be amazed at the number of results that pop up. Let me give you an example.
Let`s see, I`m a runner and also love skincare and I am interested in promoting skincare supplies or running shoes. I can simply perform a google search for “skincare + affiliate programs” and see what comes up.
No Special Education Or Experience Required
businesses can be started by anyone. There are no special degrees or certifications required.
For someone willing to learn as they go, there are a number of resources available that can teach you everything you need to know.
This one is my personal favorite, the best place to learn affiliate marketing,it`s a program that has been around for years and created countless successful affiliate marketers.
But I try to utilize any method that I can find that offers quality information.
I always try to avoid methods that promise shortcuts to instant success, and you would be wise to avoid them as well.
Believe me, there is no instant success online and anyone telling you they made hundreds in their first month blogging is not being honest.Affiliate marketing is NOT a get rich quick scheme.
Work On Your Own Schedule
Most people that are looking to get into affiliate marketing already have a full-time job. They want to be able to supplement their current income.
While more than a few will hope to completely replace their income and go to work full-time with their own business.
Affiliate marketers have the ability to work around their busy schedules and build their business at a pace that suits their lifestyles.
It goes without saying that the more time and effort that is invested into an affiliate marketing business, the faster one could expect results, but there are no rules.
Affiliate marketing is a great opportunity for stay-at-home moms
It is hard to deny the many benefits of having a stay-at-home mom or dad.
However, there are many cases that these benefits come at a price.
Nowadays, it’s just not easy for most families to make ends meet with only one income.
Starting an affiliate marketing business can help ease the financial burden while building up a business that can really generate a great additional source of revenue.
Students are often some of the most successful affiliate marketers.
One thing that I’ve frequently noticed is there are a lot of students that get into affiliate marketing most of it as social media influencers creating brand awareness and getting paid as affiliates.
What a great opportunity to not only make some spending money while in college but to also build up a profitable business for when they get out.
In fact, there is one particular student that comes to mind and he’s built up his business from $0 to over 4 figures a month in profits in a matter of months.
Who knows where he’ll be by the time he graduates. But if nothing else he will have a nice extra income stream coming in, and that can do nothing but help.
How To Get Started In Affiliate Marketing For Free
One of the most surprising things that most new affiliate marketers discover is just how easy it is to get started.
Once the decision is made to get into this type of online business, you can literally get started in a matter of minutes.
I’m going to bullet out a few things that will help you get started. This is not going to be an A-Z on affiliate marketing, but rather an overview of some of the things that are going to help give you a foundation to build a business on.
An interest or passion that you want to build your business around
One of the first things that’s needed when starting off in affiliate marketing is an area of interest.
This should focus on something that you are not only passionate about but something that you can see yourself enjoying for the long term.
Building an online business should be fun for you, as that will keep you motivated to keep putting in the time and effort to make it grow.
What could be worse than starting off with something that you don’t enjoy and then getting stuck researching and writing about topics that bore you?
There is no better way to making money with affiliate marketing than choosing a niche you`re knowledgeable about and love.
A website Will Be Your Platform To Success
Having a website is the key to building an internet business. This can be a scary thought for some, as most people tend to believe that they have to be programmers in order to build a website.
The great news is that this just isn’t true! Today people with no technical skills(like me) or background are building amazing, money-making websites.
There are platforms such as WordPress that make the process of building a website as simple as using your phone.
Keep your readers coming back with helpful and awesome content
In order for any affiliate marketing business to work, the most important thing is going to be getting people to your site that actually want to see what you’re promoting.
You do this by providing useful content that people are actually searching for.
Once you create must-read content and start getting people to your site.
Then you can promote whichever products or services that you affiliate with. Writing is another thing that tends to worry people.
They think, “I’m not a great writer” and fear what people might think. The thing to keep in mind is that you just need to write how you speak.
If you’re building your website around something that you’re passionate about, it should really come pretty naturally.
If you need more practice in writing, this ebook really helped me improve my writing as I`m not a native English speaker.
An added benefit of creating a lot of quality content is that the search engines will begin to show some love to your site by the way of higher rankings.
These rankings will allow you to get free, organic traffic to your website that is going to be very targeted and very high quality.
Another tool I use to help me write is Grammarly which is a Grammer checker tool to help correct my writing mistakes.
Affiliate products to promote
Once you have come up with an idea for your website, started creating some must-read content to place on your pages, and have people that are beginning to visit your blog, it is time to start promoting your affiliate programs.
And this brings us to our original question, what’s the best way to make money with affiliate marketing?
This can be done in a number of different ways, but the most important thing to remember is that the items that you’re promoting should be totally relevant to your website’s content.
For someone that focuses on a hiking niche, promoting football cleats probably wouldn’t get a lot of results.
However, hiking boots and outdoor-friendly clothing would likely convert really well.
Example Of Affiliate Sites
There are countless affiliate programs out there, anything you can think of, you can find a market for it, just remember to promote the right products to the right audience.
Check this post on how to find your money-making niche.
The post is a bit long but will explain things in a simple easy to understand way that at the end of it, you will know exactly what you have to do.
- Share a Sale
- Amazon
- Flexoffers
- Wealthy affiliate(not an affiliate network)
- magiclinks.com
- CJ affiliate
- Rakuten
- Skimlinks
With everything that I’ve discussed to this point, it would be remiss for me not to mention some of the big players in the affiliate marketing world.(apart from the few named above).
First, we have Amazon. By becoming an affiliate for Amazon (aka amazon associates program), you will instantly be able to promote millions of products that cover just about any possible niche that one could come up with.
But what’s the best way to make money with affiliate marketing? promote products in your niche, this way, you have a chance of making more sales.
Amazon commissions are typically in the 1% – 8.5% range(you may want to check more about Amazon affiliate commissions here).
The cool thing about Amazon affiliate program is that even if you’re promoting a book that sells for $10 and someone clicks on your link and ends up buying a $2,000 TV, you will get the commission on that TV.
This is is not the case with most affiliate programs, you only get paid for the product you promoted that someone bought. Amazon may have low commission rates but they have very high conversion rates once you have clicks to your affiliate links.
If you’re looking for a larger commission percentage, perhaps CJ (Commission Junction) or ClickBank would be good options for you to explore.
These networks offer thousands of different products and services (mostly digital) that can pay high commissions of up to 75%, and many of them will be recurring payments. Check my earlier post on how to make money on Clickbank here.
The truth is, most businesses that sell something online, have some type of affiliate program.
Even eBay has an affiliate program available. As previously stated, these should not cost you anything to join, as you are bringing them business, for a small fee of course to learn affiliate marketing.
These are just a few affiliate programs I could think of right now, there are countless out there.
Amazon might be the most used by affiliate marketers but check my Amazon review before you join the program.
As An Affiliate Marketer Don’t Forget Your Audience
One thing that is important to always keep in mind is who you’re actually writing for. You will want to define a target audience and then write content that they would be interested in.
So often, people starting a blog will focus on trying to get the search engines to like their site by overusing keywords.
They forget that the purpose of their blog is to get visitors to the site that actually enjoy the content and want to stay around and read more of what you’ve written.
This will generate more people sharing your content and help expand your audience. While it is important to know how to SEO an article.
It is equally important to have your reader in mind whenever you do any writing. Here is a video from my favorite mentor on SEO long but worth watching.
Set your expectations appropriately
It goes without saying that the Internet has made a lot of people a lot of money.
Unfortunately, some of those people make their money by selling the false promise of instant success for those that are looking for an opportunity.
Always use your best judgment and remember the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.
One place I really Recommend to learn affiliate marketing is reviewed here.
Building a business takes time, effort and commitment. This is true not only for a brick-and-mortar business but also for an online business.
However, I have no doubt that if you’re willing to invest the time and learn the affiliate marketing business, you will be able to achieve success.
Is Affiliate Marketing Legal?
Affiliate marketing is a popular way for people to make money online,as said,you don`t need your own products, you promote other companies’ products and earning a commission on sales.
Affiliate marketing is legal when done properly and ethically. The key is to follow rules set by regulators and be open about affiliate relationships. Marketers must disclose when they may earn money from recommendations.
There are some legal issues to watch out for with affiliate marketing. These include false advertising, spam, and privacy concerns. But when done right, it’s a legitimate business model used by many companies and individuals.
Legal Framework of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing operates within specific legal guidelines to protect consumers and ensure fair business practices. These rules cover disclosures, privacy, and advertising standards.
Understanding Affiliate Marketing and the Law
Affiliate marketing must follow federal laws and regulations. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees these rules in the United States. They focus on keeping marketing honest and clear for consumers.
Affiliates need to follow truth-in-advertising laws. These laws say ads must be truthful and not misleading. Claims about products or services must be backed up by proof.
Privacy laws also apply to affiliate marketing. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects personal data in the European Union. Similar laws exist in other countries.
Disclosure Requirements for Affiliate Marketers
Affiliate marketers must tell readers about their business relationships. This means clearly stating when a post contains affiliate links.
The FTC requires these disclosures to be clear and noticeable. They should be near the affiliate link or product mention. Vague statements like “this post may contain affiliate links” are not enough.
Good disclosure examples:
- “I earn a commission if you buy this product”
- “This is a paid partnership with [Brand Name]”
Reviewers and influencers must also disclose free products they receive. This applies to social media posts, blogs, and youtube channel videos.
Breaking these rules can lead to fines or legal action from the FTC.
Executing Affiliate Marketing Responsibly
Affiliate marketing can be done ethically and effectively by following key principles and best practices. This approach helps build trust and long-term success.
Ethical Considerations and Best Practices
Honesty is crucial in affiliate marketing. Marketers should disclose their affiliate relationships clearly. This helps customers make informed choices.
Affiliates should only promote products they believe in. Testing products before recommending them builds credibility. It’s important to give honest reviews, mentioning both pros and cons.
Avoid making false claims about products. Stick to facts and personal experiences. This protects both the affiliate and the customer. If your readers do not trust you,even the best affiliate programs will be useless to you because you`ll not make sales.
Respect privacy laws and data protection rules. Don’t spam email lists or use deceptive tactics to get clicks. These practices can damage reputations and lead to account termination.
Choose affiliate programs carefully. Work with reputable companies that offer quality products. This helps maintain ethical standards and protects your audience.
Focus on providing value to your audience. Successful affiliates create helpful content that addresses their readers needs and reccomend the right product.
This approach builds trust and can lead to more sales over time,do this if you want to be a successful affiliate marketer.
Stay up-to-date with affiliate marketing industry rules and platform policies. Follow guidelines set by affiliate networks and advertisers. This helps avoid issues and keeps your business running smoothly.
The Best Place to Learn Affiliate Marketing
There are many online courses that promise to teach you affiliate marketing but….they come with a but, you have to invest again and again to get the next detail,the next training,the next module.
Wealthy Affiliate is the place to be, this platform teaches you how to start an affiliate marketing business from scratch.
You’ll learn valuable skills to build your own website and promote products. Wealthy Affiliate provides step-by-step training,all the classes series make-money-social-media-and-getting-ready-to-scale/introduction-to-affiliate-marketing?, and support to help you succeed in online business.
The community at Wealthy Affiliate is full of friendly entrepreneurs. You can ask questions, get feedback, and connect with others on the same journey. Join today to start your path to online success.
Why Join Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate offers a complete package for those looking to start an online business. It provides training, tools, and support to help you succeed.
Comprehensive Training Modules
Wealthy Affiliate’s step-by-step training covers everything you need to know in online courses. The Online Entrepreneur Certification course teaches you how to build a business from scratch.
The Affiliate Bootcamp focuses on promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself.
These courses break down complex ideas into easy-to-follow steps. You’ll learn about:
- Choosing a niche
- Building a website
- Creating content
- Getting traffic
- Earning money
The training is always up-to-date with the latest online marketing trends. This helps you stay ahead in the fast-changing world of internet business and teaches you how to write great content.
Inclusive and Supportive Community
At Wealthy Affiliate, you’re never alone on your journey. The community is full of helpful members ready to answer your questions.
- Ask for help in live chat
- Send private messages to other members
- Get feedback on your website
- Share your progress and celebrate wins
This support system keeps you motivated and helps you overcome challenges. Many members have become full-time online entrepreneurs thanks to the community’s guidance on creating valuable content and other aaspects of affiliate marketing and what products to sell to make affiliate income.
Click here to try Wealthy Affiliate totally free.
Extensive Range of Tools and Resources
Wealthy Affiliate provides all the tools you need under one roof. This saves you time and money as you build your online business without wasting time looking for other online courses.
Key tools include:
- SiteRubix website builder
- Web hosting
- Jaaxy keyword research tool
- Writing platforms
- Training classrooms
These tools are user-friendly, even for beginners. They help you create professional-looking websites and find profitable niches without technical headaches.
A Trustworthy Platform with Proven Results
Wealthy Affiliate has been around since 2005. It was founded by Kyle and Carson, who still actively run the platform today with great success.
The site has many success stories from members who’ve achieved their goals. Some have quit their day jobs to work full-time online. Others have created passive income streams.
Wealthy Affiliate is upfront about the work required to succeed. It doesn’t promise overnight riches. Instead, it gives you the knowledge and tools to build a real, lasting online business selling other people’s products digital products or physical products.
Membership Details and Advantages
Wealthy Affiliate offers different membership levels with unique features and benefits. Let’s look at what you can expect as a member.
Understanding the Wealthy Affiliate Memberships
Wealthy Affiliate has two main membership tiers: Free and Premium. The free membership lets you try out basic features at no cost.
You get access to starter training, limited website hosting, and some community support.
Premium membership unlocks all features. It costs a monthly or yearly fee, but gives you more value.
You get full access to training, unlimited website hosting, and complete community support,search engine optimization training. Premium members also receive extra tools for market research and search engine optimization.
The premium option is affordable compared to buying similar services separately. It’s a good deal if you plan to build multiple websites or need ongoing support.
Support Mechanisms and Professional Guidance
Wealthy Affiliate gives you lots of help as you learn. You can ask questions in the community forums any time. Other members and experts will answer quickly.
The site offers live chat for fast help with technical issues. You also get access to weekly live training sessions. These cover new topics and let you ask questions in real-time.
Wealthy Affiliate has a big library of video guides and written lessons. These cover everything from basic website setup to advanced marketing tactics. The training is always being updated with new content.
As a premium member, you can even get personal coaching from successful affiliate marketers. This can really speed up your learning and success.
Additional Features and Benefits
Wealthy Affiliate gives you tools beyond just training. You get hosting for your WordPress websites included in your membership. This saves you money on separate hosting fees.
The platform has its own keyword research tool. This helps you find good topics to write about that can rank in search engines like Google.
You get access to a network of other affiliate marketers. This lets you share ideas, find partners, and even promote each other’s content.
Premium members get extra perks like higher commissions when they refer new members. They also get first access to new features and tools as they’re added.
Wealthy Affiliate regularly adds new bonuses and updates. This keeps the platform fresh and makes sure you always have new things to learn and try out.
And if you want to invite your friends to tryWealthy Affiliate, you get all the promotional materials.
Conclusion On the best way to make money with affiliate marketing
As always, I hope I’ve provided you with some useful information that will help you to determine the best way to make money with your own affiliate marketing business.
If you`re an experienced marketer, what’s the best way to make money with affiliate marketing in your opinion?
Remember, the hardest part of starting anything new is just taking that first step. I implore you to go ahead and take that first step, you won’t regret it.
There is a ton of opportunity with the internet and it isn’t just for the select few, but rather for the masses to take advantage of and help build a better, brighter future.
I`m sure this post answered your question on what’s the best way to make money with affiliate marketing, you now know how to choose products and who to target when promoting products.
I’d like to also ask that you share this post via social media with your friends and family.
One last thing, don’t forget to sign up for my email list. This way you will get to stay up to date with new content that I post and also some exclusive information that is reserved just for my subscribers who i let know the most profitable ways to make more money online.
Revglue says
Hey, great stats. I’m intrigued by the fact that the affiliate industry is growing so much. Is there a ceiling, I guess it will saturate at some point in the future, do you think? It will not make any sense if every person becomes an affiliate, percentage of every product becomes an affiliate commission which pushes the prices up. Interesting to see what it’s going in the future. Good job on gathering info, Ray. Cheers.
sarganser says
Thanks, I don`t think there is a chance of affiliate marketing getting saturated at any near future,I think it`s even opening up more as more and more people start to shop online.Having said that, I think affiliates who are more nihed down will make more as they can write consistant relevant reviews, but still even the new affiliates still have a chance because as said, more and more people are moving to online shopping.
GVporras says
Thank for this great post really informative and well explain, and really excited on my new journey as affiliate marketer I been trying to earn a passive income online and I think affiliate marketing is a really good way to start and I can do it on my time and I can make some money money as I learn and get better every day.
Thank you again and very helpful post for me.
God Bless You
admin says
Wish you all the best with your affiliate marketing journey.Let me know if you need any help in the future.
Bruce DeMustchine says
Thanks for listing some networks to get started with!
Ankit says
Very useful article you told about affiliate marketing.
But this is good when you have more traffic on website or blog.
Thanks for the article.
sarganser says
Traffic to a website needs work, you can not start blogging today and expect your site to have hundreds of visits,but with traffic that is targeted, making money with affiliate marketing is quite easy.
Emma says
Nice article with some nice easy to follow advice.
sarganser says
Glad you found the article useful.
Jen Towkaniuk says
Such a great reference list! Thanks for sharing. I got some great new ideas from this post!
sarganser says
Glad you found the post useful, making money online can be hard if you`re just getting started and unsure where to find products to promote.
Sarah Philip Jee says
Thank you so much for putting this very informative article together. Indeed very helpful.
sarganser says
Glad you found the post useful Sarah, making money online is easy but if can be impossible if you do not know the right way to do things.
Leigha says
Great roundup of all the different affiliate marketing programs! Thanks for putting this well-thought post together.
admin says
Thanks for stopping by, many new bloggers struggle to find affiliate programs and affiliate products to promote so I wanted them to know there are enough products out there.
Happier At Home says
Thank you for the very informative post! I am new to this world of affiliate marketing, but I plan to check out some of your affiliate companies as I build my site! Thank you! ?
admin says
Affiliate marketing should not be hard(in my opinion) it`s like recommending your hairstylist to your friends and the hairstylist pays you a commission.
It`s the same with affiliate marketing, find an affiliate program with good commissions, find their products you like then recommend the product to your readers, after that, send traffic to that post, anyone makes a purchase, you get paid affiliate commission.
I`m sure you`ll do well.
Kelsey says
Very informative and helpful! I did not know that about the amazon affiliate program, earning a percentage of whatever they buy after clicking you link! Thanks!
admin says
Thanks Kelsey glad you found the post helpful, making money online can be hard especially if you have no one to guide you.
Having said that, there are different ways to make money online and what works for you might not necessarily work for me,the good thing is that there are so many different ways that there is enough room for everyone to make money online, what counts is finding the best way and for me the best way to make money online is by affiliate marketing as I do not have to deal with returns, shipping and all that are involved in online buying and selling.