5 Things To Know To Master Affiliate Marketing

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to some of the products I use and love. When you click these links and make a purchase, I may get a small commission. It won’t cost you anything, but it helps me to run this site. Find out the disclaimer here.

[This article was originally published in August 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.]

Okay, this is going to be the first time we talked about affiliate marketing. I have mentioned this on how to make money blogging. If you have been blogging for a while or even if you are new, maybe you are wondering how to start earning from your passion. In my two months of blogging, I share that I make money in different ways.

I’ve been blogging for three years now and trust me, it’s not easy to make income through affiliate marketing. It’s going to take strategy, trial, and error, and of course, will take time as well.

I won’t make a post of my blogging income as it is not much and I’m still figuring out my strategy to increase my sales. So, today I am sharing with you everything you need to know about making money through affiliate marketing and some strategies to join their programs even when you’re a newbie!

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a program that allows a business to pay commissions to an outside party that promotes its products or services. And the outside party is YOU.

So, when you sign up to become an affiliate of a company or brand, they will give you affiliate links to their products. You add these links to your blog content, email marketing, social media posts, etc. When someone clicks your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you will get a commission (a percentage of the sale). And this commission varies depending on the company.

This is a great way for bloggers to earn money through their passion! And a great way to make a living!

When is the Best Time to Join Affiliate Marketing?

Some of you might be wondering, when can I start applying for affiliate marketing?

Many would say that you need to have a lot of blog traffic to apply and make money through affiliate marketing. That’s not ENTIRELY true, tho.

Of course, you need to have some blog traffic in order to get your links trackable, BUT it doesn’t mean you need to have 50,000 monthly blog views!

For example, I currently receive around 2,000 – 2,500 monthly blog views a month and I still could make money through affiliate marketing. My followers on social media and my subscribers are not much but I still can make sales. Not much but I can say it supports my daily expenses.

How to Start Joining Affiliate Marketing?

Before joining affiliate marketing, I would like to say that I know some people out there take advantage of others through affiliate marketing. This means some are using affiliate links in a way that isn’t genuine and spammy.

Only use affiliate links when you use and love the products you are recommending. For example, I love using Canva as their services are really great and there are so many templates of graphics to choose and easy to use! I won’t recommend you to use it if I find that they’re not good 🙂

If you are not genuine, your audience will know, you will get a bad stamp, and you will not succeed in affiliate marketing and grow your blog to make money!

How To Become An Affiliate?

There are two ways to make money with affiliate marketing. You can join an individual affiliate program through an individual company or join an affiliate network and connect with several companies on that network’s platform.

Individual affiliate programs work directly with their affiliate (YOU), they create their own terms, and they pay you directly. The best part is? Most companies have an affiliate program. If you want to find out which company has an affiliate program, simply search on Google for the company name and add an ‘affiliate program’ to the end of it. Example: Bluehost affiliate program.

If you want to start making money blogging, but you’re tired of trying to figure it all out on your own and you’re ready to conquer Affiliate Marketing (once and for all), you’re in the right place!

This Affiliate Marketing Training Bundle was specifically created to help bloggers monetize their online presence (no matter what your blogging niche is) and get started with affiliate marketing – the right way.

From teaching you the foundational strategies that lack free content out there, to helping you make affiliate sales in your sleep (literally!), this training is an invaluable resource for bloggers who are struggling to make their first affiliate sale or who are stuck under $1,000 in earnings and want to grow their income.

The affiliate network is like the bridge that connects the company you want to promote and YOU (the affiliate). This network gathers several companies into one platform and they act as the middle part between the company and their affiliates.

So, when you sign up for an affiliate network, such as Awin or CJ Affiliate, you’re joining a platform that works with many companies doing affiliate marketing. Most of the time, you will have to join the network and also apply to the individual companies you want to work within that network.

The best thing about affiliate networks is they have a lot of affiliate programs in every blogging niche! So no matter what your blog is about, you can always find and join affiliate programs that fit with your blog.

Which Affiliate Marketing is Worth Joining?

Here is the part that makes you wonder, which affiliate marketing should I join? There are so many affiliate programs out there. I am going to list some of my favorites ones:

1. Bluehost: If you are self-hosted and love your self-host, check if your host has an affiliate program. Most have affiliate programs. It is a better way to earn money by recommending a self-host that you love!
2. Creative Market: I love the creative market as this is the best platform where graphic designers and creators sell their digital products. Here you can get social media templates, media kit templates, unique fonts for branding, Instagram presets and so much more! All the products I’ve purchased from here have always been awesome. PLUS, they provide a feature where you can promote their products on Pinterest! 
3. Convertkit: When it comes to blogging, you definitely need to have email list management. Check your platform to see if they have an affiliate program available! From the very beginning, I used Convertkit. They are free up to 1,000 subscribers and really easy to use, even when you’re not tech-savvy.
4. Ivory Mix: To make your blog stand up and able to compete with your competitor, you definitely need stock photos. Ivory Mix has over 4500 styled stock photos images currently in the membership and each month they add 100’s more, so there are always photos you can use to make your blog stand out.
5. Amazon: Even though some bloggers mentioned that they couldn’t make much money from Amazon if you think about it, there are so many products on Amazon you can promote. The list is endless – PLUS, all niches can join the Amazon affiliate program. Here is my tip, read their requirements thoroughly. You have to make a sale pretty quickly in order to stay on their affiliate program. So, if you love shopping on Amazon and have a solid strategy where you believe you can make sales, why not give it a try?

There are tons of affiliate marketing you can join out there. Depending on your niche, some of my favorite lists might not be for you. Think about your niche, the products, and the services that you have, and figure out if they have an affiliate program available.

If you don’t even know where to start looking, allow me to save you hours and hours of research and give you access to 770+ high-paying affiliate programs to choose from.

How Do You Add Affiliate Links To Your Post?

Be sure to properly disclose your affiliate links.

When using affiliate links you MUST always disclose. If you write a blog post that contains affiliate links, you should state that your post contains affiliate links (see the top of my content). I also put a link back to my disclaimer page.

Before joining affiliate marketing and making money blogging, it’s really important to have a disclaimer page. What does a disclaimer page consist of? What do I need to include on the disclaimer page in order to be accepted as an affiliate? Can someone make it for me? Or can I find it and copy it for my blog?

So, here’s the thing. I found out that there are so many free generators for making the disclosure. To be honest, I never wanted to use it as I didn’t want to spend money. But, from my research, I learned that this will bring harm to my blog and will put my biz at risk!

Then I met Amira, a lawyer who explained why legal pages are really important for my blog and that free generators will not protect my blog! You can read and learn how to protect your blog legally here.

Since then I switched to legal pages that were drafted by a lawyer. These legal pages (terms and conditions, privacy policy, and disclaimer) make sure that my blog is protected! You can get the legal pages + bonuses templates here if you are in need of legal pages for your business!

And, when you disclose your affiliate on your post, you MUST always add it before the affiliate link. Don’t disclose it at the end of the post, it should always be at the beginning of your post before the affiliate links appear.

Pro tips: To make it easier for you to disclose your affiliate, you can use reusable blocks to add your disclaimer/disclosure text automatically. Write your disclosure then save it to a reusable block. The next time you write your blog post, you just need to find it and click the ‘disclosure’, then it will be added to your post automatically. Without you need to type it down again or copy-paste from your note.

Text Links or Banners?

Which performs better between text links or banners?

For me, text links perform way better! I do have some banners on my blog but not much, banners tend to look like ads so people don’t want to click. Text links are opposed and people are more likely to click a text link.

BUT, some affiliate programs provide banners only, in this case, you can add one to the end of your post or add it on your sidebar. Keep in mind not to be spammy and sound salesy. Don’t add your banners in every part of your blog, people may hate them and choose to not come again to your blog.

month’ or ‘best blogging courses this month’, etc. You can mention the products you used in these posts!

Keep in mind that everything takes time and hard work. As I always said, you need to be patient and consistent. I believe making money blogging is the goal for most bloggers, but don’t stress it too much!

Always remember your WHY, blog with your passion, give a lot of dedication, and be patient, and the money will come.