How to start affiliate marketing in 2024: 6 steps to a successful affiliate business

Affiliate marketing offers a low-risk but high-return way to make money online. In fact, you can start an affiliate business at zero cost, since you don’t have to develop your own products or rent a warehouse.

However, like any other venture, you need well-planned affiliate marketing strategies to achieve success. Keep reading to find out how to kickstart your affiliate marketing journey, from deciding on a niche to setting up a website and boosting your income.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a business model in which you promote products or services from other companies and get paid for every successful transaction.

It’s a win-win for both sides – affiliate marketers earn income without creating or stocking products, while companies expand their reach through affiliate promotion.

While similar, affiliate marketing and dropshipping are two separate business models.

With dropshipping, you sell products from different suppliers under your own brand name. As such, you’re fully responsible for product quality, delivery times, and customer support. Any issues with the item or shipping process can directly damage your brand reputation.

In contrast, affiliate marketing is more about recommending products that might solve the audience’s problems, instead of selling directly.

As an affiliate marketer, you position yourself as a helpful resource for users looking to make an informed choice instead of the seller they will buy from.

How does affiliate marketing work?

So, how do you recommend products to the audience? The most popular method is to create an affiliate marketing website that provides in-depth product reviews, comparisons, and buying guides.

Nerdwallet does it to great effect. Specializing in the finance niche, this site earns affiliate commissions by helping users choose the best credit cards, insurance, home mortgages, and more.

If you’re confident in your public speaking skills, you can also start a YouTube channel. This is an excellent way to leverage video content to create step-by-step demonstrations of the products you’re promoting.

No matter which approach you take, the steps of building an affiliate marketing business remain the same:

1. Sign up for a relevant affiliate marketing program in your industry. If you want to promote products from various merchants, join an affiliate network instead.
2. Once registered, you’ll get unique affiliate links to promote affiliate products or services.
3. Share these affiliate links on your website, blog, YouTube video descriptions, and social media platforms.
4. When someone clicks your unique affiliate link and completes the desired action, such as making a purchase, you will earn a commission.
5. The merchant tracks conversions through your unique links, ensuring you get referral credits to claim your commission.

The commission structure and requirements differ from one affiliate program to another. Some offer a percentage of the sale amount, while others pay a fixed rate regardless of how much you sell.

Beyond sales, many businesses also use affiliate marketing to increase brand awareness. They’re willing to pay commissions just to get users to create an account or sign up for a free trial.

Types of affiliate marketing

Based on the level of association with the promoted product, here are three main types of affiliate marketing:

• Unattached affiliate marketing. In this scenario, the affiliate marketer has no relevant background or authority in the product or service they advertise. For example, a fashion blog showing gym product banner ads.
• Related affiliate marketing. It focuses on promoting products that align closely with an affiliate’s area of expertise or niche. For instance, if you have worked at a cafe before, you can use the knowledge to recommend coffee brewing machines.
• Involved affiliate marketing. Unlike the other two types, it requires direct involvement from the marketer. Using the above example, instead of relying on your experience as a barista, you actually try every brewing machine to provide authentic reviews, which can be much more persuasive.

How to start a profitable affiliate marketing business

Now that you understand how affiliate marketing works, let’s discuss the step-by-step process of launching and scaling your affiliate business.

1. Decide on a niche

Building a successful affiliate marketing business begins with choosing the right niche. If you’re not sure what it means, a niche is basically a specific topic your content will focus on.

For example, affiliate marketing sites in the travel niche will probably talk about affordable trip destinations or hiking gear recommendations.

Selecting a niche you genuinely know and love is a great starting point. As an expert in your field, you’ll be able to create content that’s true to you and the target audience, making it easier to establish trust.

However, since you’re just getting started, it’s best to conduct keyword research and target a highly specific market. Breaking into broad and popular niches is tough because these sectors are usually saturated with established affiliates.

Use keyword research tools like Ahrefs to find less competitive affiliate marketing niches with good traffic potential. Simply open the Keyword Explorer tab and type in your desired niche, such as personal finance.

As you can see, this term has a high search volume, but it’s super difficult to rank for. If you want to niche down, go to Matching terms on the left sidebar and set the keyword difficulty (KD) to 20.

Here, you will see several low-competition topics with a decent search volume. For example, the phrase “best personal finance books” is searched by 2,000 people each month, but its KD score is only 13.

In other words, targeting this particular sub-niche is a great way to enter the personal finance niche before branching out to more popular keywords down the line.

How to target popular affiliate niches

If you’re more of a high-risk, high-reward person, it’s also possible to target popular topics right off the bat. That said, you have to offer something unique to have any chance of attracting and converting visitors.

FinlyWealth is an excellent example. Instead of just comparing the best credit cards like Nerdwallet, this affiliate marketing site decided to take a unique approach: providing personalized recommendations based on each individual’s spending habits.

To do so, FinlyWealth incorporates features like bank account integrations and spending analysis into its site. This way, customers can choose the right credit card for their specific needs and financial goals.

2. Create an affiliate marketing website

While you can start an affiliate marketing business without a website, having one helps you establish credibility much quicker.

Unlike social media platforms, launching your affiliate business on a website means having more control over the platform. You can register a custom domain name and tailor the site’s design to match your brand identity.

A website also gives you creative freedom to display products or affiliate links in a way that’s appealing to visitors. Plus, it’s easy to integrate any affiliate marketing tools to optimize your efforts.

The best part? Creating a website isn’t as complicated as it might sound. Our Managed WordPress hosting comes with powerful tools to help you set up an affiliate marketing site in no time:

• AI Content Creator. Write and publish high-quality content regularly with the help of AI so you can attract readers and build your authority.
• Amazon Affiliate Connector. Link affiliate products from the Amazon marketplace and start earning. You can add a single product, display multiple items, or show a comparison table. 

Before starting the setup process, sign up for one of our WordPress hosting plans. We recommend choosing Cloud Startup for the best performance.

On the checkout page, select a subscription duration. The 48-month plan offers the best price and three extra months, plus a free domain name.

Then, create a new Hostinger account and fill in the payment details. After completing the payment, follow these onboarding steps to set up your WordPress site:

1. Choose to create a website if you’re building one from scratch.
2. Set up login details for your WordPress account.
3. Select Affiliate marketing site as your website type.
4. Use our custom-made design for your website, or browse more WordPress themes.
5. Enable Hostinger Amazon Affiliate Connector. With this plugin, you can easily display affiliate products from the Amazon marketplace.

6. Enter your brand name and description to create website content with AI.
7. Fill in your desired domain name and claim it. If the web address isn’t available, choose from our suggestions instead.

8. Select a server closest to your audience for faster performance. Finally, wait a few minutes as our system installs WordPress and sets up your website.

Once finished, you will be taken straight to hPanel, our user-friendly control panel. Here, you can manage your hosting account and access the WordPress dashboard to customize your affiliate site further.

For a more in-depth guide, check out our article on creating an affiliate marketing website.

3. Join an affiliate marketing program

With your affiliate marketing platform ready, it’s time to sign up for affiliate programs.

Simply research brands within your niche and see whether they offer high-paying affiliate programs. If you sell retail products, the most obvious choice is to join Amazon Associates.

Alternatively, apply for an affiliate network to access various programs at once. Popular affiliate networks include Rakuten Advertising, ShareASale, and CJ Affiliate.

When choosing the best affiliate program, consider the following aspects:

• Cookie period. Merchants track your affiliate sales through a cookie attached to your unique links, which last from one to over 30 days. By choosing programs that offer a longer period, you have more time to convert visitors.
• Commission structure. Look for programs with a high commission rate and low payment threshold. Subscription-based businesses usually offer recurring commissions as long as the customer is still paying for the service, making them a good option for passive income.
• Brand reputation. Check out online reviews, discussion forums, and social media conversations to evaluate each merchant’s track record.
• Support. See if the affiliate program provides additional resources to help market their product, such as marketing assets or frequent workshops.

Apart from established programs, you can also form partnerships with retailers or suppliers who haven’t tried affiliate promotion yet.

This approach helps you negotiate for better commission rates. Plus, you don’t have to compete with thousands of other affiliates for the same products.

4. Write high-quality content to drive traffic

By now, your affiliate marketing business should be all set up, but the job isn’t done yet – you still need to attract potential customers before you can generate affiliate revenue.

Creating helpful content around your niche is a proven method of driving organic traffic, connecting with the audience, and gaining their trust. According to digital marketing facts, ranking first on Google generates 39.8% of all organic clicks, which highlights the importance of writing SEO-friendly content. When you do that consistently, Google will also see you as an industry expert and ultimately place your site higher in search results.

When writing SEO-friendly content, a good practice is to target specific and long-tail keywords since they are easier to rank than generic ones. Keyword research tools like Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner can help you come up with the right content ideas.

Here are some of the most common content types for affiliate sites:

• Product reviews. The most popular content type amongst affiliate marketers since 90% of online buyers seek product reviews before purchasing.
• Product comparisons. Compare two similar products and explore their benefits and drawbacks to help the audience make an informed choice.
• Product roundups. Similar to product comparisons, a product roundup evaluates several products within the same category.
• Tutorials. Explain how to use products or services step by step. Customers are more likely to buy a product when they understand how they can use it to their benefit.
• Resource pages. Consisting of tools and resources to solve the audience’s problems, this content type can further establish your authority as the go-to source for a topic.
• Statistics and reports. Partner with research companies to survey users and publish original reports not available elsewhere. This is a great strategy to attract backlinks and traffic to your site.

Whatever type of content you prefer, aim to produce original, informative pieces that address the audience’s interests and questions.

If you’re a Hostinger user, you can speed up the writing process with our WordPress AI Content Creator:

1. Access your WordPress dashboard.
2. Locate AI Content Creator on the upper left side of your screen.
3. Choose the content type, tone of voice, and length.
4. Describe what your content is about in detail.

5. Enter the focus keywords for the blog post.
6. Click Create content.

Once the initial draft is ready, edit the content and add your own perspectives to make it more unique.

Remember to add your Amazon affiliate links in areas where they make sense. That said, avoid stuffing the article with too many links, as this can lead to a poor user experience.

For transparency and legal compliance, also include an affiliate disclosure. It’s basically a message stating that you earn commissions whenever people purchase through your links.

Besides publishing content on your blog, there are other methods to generate traffic to your affiliate business site:

• Write guest posts. Creating articles for more established websites enables you to “borrow” some of their readers. Simply list all relevant sites in your industry, reach out to them via email, and offer a guest blogging partnership.
• Start an email campaign. Send newsletters from your business email address to communicate product recommendations, limited offers, and regular updates. Email marketing helps nurture leads and gently nudge them toward a purchase.
• Use social media marketing. Consider your audience demographics when choosing the right social platform. For example, TikTok is perfect for targeting the younger generation, as most of its users are between the ages of 18 and 24.
• Participate in online discussions. Forums like Reddit and Quora are great for connecting with your target audience and promoting your brand.

Keep in mind that content marketing is a long-term game. For example, it took FinlyWealth 10 months to go from zero traffic to over 1,500 visitors per month.

5. Track your content marketing campaigns

Monitoring your affiliate site’s performance enables you to assess what type of content works and which areas need improvement.

For example, low traffic signals that you have to adjust the WordPress search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Meanwhile, if your site generates a lot of visitors but no one clicks the affiliate links, then it’s a telltale sign for a full content revamp.

There are a lot of tools that help you track website traffic and user behavior, with Google Analytics 4, MonsterInsights, and Amplitude being the most popular.

However, once visitors click your affiliate links and leave the site, it’s a whole different story. You need to rely on the reports provided by each advertiser or affiliate network to see whether users actually make a purchase.

For instance, as an Amazon Associates member, you can access the Reports dashboard to find your affiliate site’s key performance indicators, such as clicks, ordered items, shipped goods, and conversion rates.

Unfortunately, most affiliate programs and networks don’t tell you exactly which content brings traffic and sales. Did visitors click a button on your landing page? Or did they made a purchase through your banner ad?

To track the exact CTAs, images, pages, and blog posts that generate the most revenue, you have to add a SubID to your affiliate links. A SubID is basically a unique identifier that tracks and records data like:

• Link placement on the page, such as top, middle, or bottom.
• Affiliate link format, including button, image, and banner.
• Source of traffic.

While you can create and track SubIDs manually, some level of technical knowledge is required. Investing in paid tools like Affilimate can make the process a lot faster and easier.

6. Boost your affiliate income

After you identify low-converting content pieces, the next step is to optimize them for better results. Conducting A/B testing is an effective way to compare two or more web pages to discover the best-performing one.

Here are some elements you can tweak to trigger more clicks and sales:

• Headlines. A great headline draws the audience’s attention, making them more likely to read the rest of your content. Split your site traffic into two groups, serve different titles for each, and find out which one converts better.
• Images. Compared to stock photos, incorporating custom images on your posts will make your affiliate website appear more professional. Even better, take real photos of the products you’re promoting to build credibility.
• Comparison tables. Instead of long blocks of text, comparison tables for product features and prices are easier to skim. Try using this strategy for low-performing articles and see if it makes a difference.
• Call-to-action. Using time-related words like Shop Now, Limited, or Last Chance helps create a sense of urgency. You can also experiment with different CTA designs, colors, and formats.
• Exit intent pop-ups. If you want to reduce bounce rates, show a pop-up offering an exclusive deal or free eBook when users are about to leave your website. You can install a WordPress plugin like OptinMonster to incorporate such functionality.

Giving freebies or discounts to your customers is another excellent method to encourage purchases and boost your affiliate revenue.

FinlyWealth achieves massive success by sharing a portion of its commissions with users, in the form of cashback.

Why should you start affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing offers a fantastic opportunity to earn money online without the need to develop and store your own products.

Here are some compelling reasons to dive into this lucrative venture:

• Low startup costs. Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, affiliate marketing requires minimal upfront investment. You don’t have to hire staff, pay store rent, and buy office supplies.
• Easy to start. Most affiliate programs are free, and you can easily create a website and social media accounts to start promoting products. You also don’t need specific expertise to be a successful affiliate marketer, although product knowledge certainly helps.
• Flexibility. Affiliate marketing allows you to work from anywhere, at any time. It’s a great career path if you want to spend more time with your family or travel the world while making money.
• Diverse products. You can promote various products or services across multiple niches. Plus, your income potential is virtually unlimited – the more referrals you get, the more money you make.
• Passive income. Once you’ve built a successful affiliate marketing platform, you can earn money even when you sleep.

Mistakes to avoid as an affiliate marketer

While it’s a relatively simple and lucrative business model, affiliate marketing is also highly competitive.To thrive in the industry, you should aim for a failproof strategy. Knowing what not to do as an affiliate marketer is the right step in that direction.

Here are some affiliate marketing mistakes to avoid:

• Lacking product knowledge. If you simply repeat what other articles say without actually trying the products, your content will sound generic and less credible in the minds of readers.
• Neglecting site performance. A slow or poorly functioning website frustrates visitors, negatively impacting your affiliate marketing efforts. To ensure the best speed and performance, consider buying a cloud hosting service.
• Overlooking the importance of SEO. Optimizing your pages with the right keywords is key to ranking higher on search results and driving qualified leads to your website. Ignoring SEO means missing out on this opportunity.
• Producing overly salesy content. Avoid over-promoting products because people can smell a sales pitch from a mile away. Instead, create informative, interesting, and engaging content that actually helps the audience solve their problems.
• Relying on one advertiser. Diversify your affiliate programs and networks to mitigate risks and increase potential revenue streams.
• Not including an affiliate disclosure. Failing to disclose your affiliate partnerships can lead to legal issues and loss of trust.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing enables you to make money online with a minimal budget and technical know-how.

However, since it’s easy to break into, the affiliate marketing industry is also highly saturated. If you want any chance of ranking high on Google and driving organic traffic, you have to start with a narrow niche.

Building partnerships with brands that don’t have an affiliate program will also help you avoid stiff competition. This way, you can promote products or services that are not accessible by thousands of other affiliate marketers.

Last but not least, create original and helpful content by trying the items you want to sell. It also helps with credibility if you take the product images yourself, instead of using photos provided by the merchant.

Affiliate marketing success doesn’t happen overnight. But with consistency, determination, and the right strategy, anyone can build a profitable affiliate business.

How to start affiliate marketing FAQ