Demystifying Affiliate Marketing – A Beginner’s Guide

In this post, I’m going to walk you through the steps to make money by referring people to online businesses like Flipkart, Jabong, Snapdeal or Amazon, which is popularly known as affiliate marketing. But, before you get started on this, you first need to understand the basics of affiliate marketing.

BASICS OF AFFILIATE MARKETING:

Well, it’s an easy way to receive a commission by recommending any online products or services of the merchant to other people. Online Business rewards the site owner or blogger when that visitor or customer buys the product on their recommendation.

HOW IT WORKS:

• Find a product that aligns with interest of your audience
• Sign up for an affiliate program
• Get a special URL (affiliate link) which allows the brand to track the sales
• Promote the affiliate link on website or blog
• Online shopper lands on an affiliate site
• Now shopper is redirected to merchant’s site
• Shopper buys the product; you receive a commission

There are hundreds of affiliate networks like ShareASale, Clickbank, Avantlink, JVZoo, Commission Junction, and even eBay. But in India, the most popular affiliate program is from Amazon.

So in this article, we’ll focus on promoting products from this site.

Amazon Associates is best among the affiliate programs on the internet. The best part about Amazon is, if the surfer has clicked your affiliate link and bought any product from Amazon in the next 24hrs, you’ll be paid commission. This means you earn rewards on not just the product you promote, but for all products sold on Amazon.

Another benefit of Amazon affiliate program – If a shopper clicks on your affiliate link at 11 a.m., but buys nothing! Again at 6 p.m., shopper goes to Amazon directly & buys a product. You’ll get the commission for the sale.

START AFFILIATE MARKETING

Follow these easy steps below to promote products from Amazon:

STEP 1: CHOOSE A NICHE

• Before you begin writing, you’ll need to decide which niche you’re going to target.
• The reason you need to choose one specific topic is that it’s much easier to work on something if you’re passionate about it.

STEP 2: CREATE A WEBSITE

• After you’ve decided on the topic, it’s time to create your website for online promotions.
• Your website will form the foundation of your online business.

STEP 3: SIGN-UP FOR THE AMAZON AFFILIATE PROGRAM

• Amazon Affiliate Program: Sign-up here
• Simply enter your website address and other necessary information to complete the registration.
• Content not added to your site yet, no issues! Write about how you plan to promote products on your website and they’ll approve it.

STEP 4: CHOOSE THE TYPE OF PRODUCT

• Visit website: amazon.com and select a category.
• Once you have decided the product, contact the PR team of the particular brand or contact the product owner and introduce yourself.
• To be an expert affiliate marketer, take the time to know the product better from the makers. They will be able to share the features, benefits, and results.

 OR

 SELECT PRODUCT FROM AMAZON BESTSELLERS PAGE 

• Go to the Amazon website
• Select your category from top selling products.
• Pick a product with a lot of positive reviews.

Already selling a product is a lot easier to sell, compared to promoting an unknown product.

STEP 5: WRITE CONTENT

List of most popular content ideas for affiliate marketing:

• Comparison articles: Compare two or more similar products. E.g. LG SMART TV vs. Samsung Smart TV.
• “How to” blogs & tutorials: For example, “How to get rid of dark circles” article with links to products is best.
• Offer or Discount articles: Share the best deals and coupons codes of products related to your niche.
• Review blogs: Try the product; write about its pros and cons to help people decide better.

So, these are the few suggestions that will come handy while creating the content to promote an affiliate link.

STEP 6: ADD AFFILIATE LINK

• Sign into your Amazon Associates account; you’ll see a grey bar at the top of all product pages.
• To get your affiliate link for a product, simply click “link to this page”.
• Right click in the preview area and copy the affiliate link address
• Click the buy button in your article and click edit.
• Select link to custom URL & paste the link.
• Update & publish the article.

I hope this post helps you kickstart your own affiliate marketing website. Always make sure your audience should benefit from your advice and tips you share.

Any doubts or questions, ask them in the comment section below.