What Do I Need To Start Affiliate Marketing?
What do I need to start affiliate marketing and does it work? A two part question. I’m gonna go ahead and answer the second part first because it will be short and sweet. Fair warning: You might not appreciate what I’m about to tell you. Like the title states, affiliate marketing does not work.
Bet you didn’t expect me to say that now did you? Heh heh. Oh alright. Can’t just say something like that without explaining. now can I? Listen carefully(or you know, read)and I’m going to tell you exactly why affiliate marketing does not work
Saying affiliate marketing does not work is literally like saying the word literally. Nobody ever really uses that word correctly. You see where I’m going here? No? Alright, please allow me to elaborate. The answer is much simpler that you probably expect, and likely not the truth you expect to hear,
Affiliate marketing does not work because…you will actually be the one doing all the working. Don’t expect to get rich quick.(or ever) This isn’t a “fool proof” system that will make tons of money fall from the sky almost immediately after you buy it. “Systems” like that never last long because pretty soon everybody catches on and the(imaginary)money from the sky dries up.
If you’re going to do this, you might as well do it right.
Affiliate Marketing
Simply put, affiliate marketing is advertising products and/or services provided by a third party. If the company. or whoever you advertise for, generates a sale based on a referral from you, a percentage of the proceeds, or commission, of the sale is paid to you. The more sales referred, the larger the commission will be. Affiliate marketing online is advertising products/services other than your own on the internet.
Affiliate marketing online is the wave of the future. Why? Take a good look around the world we(mankind in general) live in.
We have the latest interactive communications technology available to us at the touch of a finger and the world is a smaller place because of it. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to know over 4 billion(yes billion) people access the web everyday.
Recognizing the potential of the virtual shopping arena, thousands if not millions of business owners, have established an online presence by designing and operating websites offering their products and/or their services online.
The development of affiliate programs along with the participation of affiliate marketing websites increases exposure exponentially while eliminating expenses normally incurred by expansion efforts. It’s like the difference between a small town mom and pop store, with a limited customer base and a large corporate chain store with locations in every city all over the world.
All the action these days is on the web. If you want to be in the business of affiliate marketing and become a part of the action, you’ll need to build a website of your own.
How Do I Get Started?
The first thing you need to do is decide what your website is about, or your theme. You want your theme to be something you have more than a passing interest in. It also helps to choose something you know a lot about. This is a very important step because you’ll need a domain name(which I will discuss shortly) which reflects or describes your site. So take some and think before you decide.
It could be anything. Maybe a hobby you love enough to spend long hours engaging your passion without feeling the slightest boredom. Or maybe you participate in a particular sport or physical activity you enjoy and excel in.
Perhaps you are a deep thinker with definitive ideas and philosophies that are the foundation of your very existence. Philosophies you can and will discuss at great length for hours on end to anyone and everyone willing to listen.
Now imagine immersing yourself in this favored activity or talking about it non-stop all day everyday. No pressure. Take your time and make that picture as vivid as you possibly can. You got it now? Excellent!!! Add this thought to the mix; Not only are you doing something you are absolutely fond of… you are being paid to do it. Accomplish this and you’ll never work a day in you life.
Websites, Domain Names, Hosting And You
Websites are digital space on the world wide web most commonly referred to as the internet. Back in the day(or so I’m told)websites had to be built using code. Not everyone can use code to build a website. WordPress changed all that with their ready made website themes.
Just as our earth is host to millions of buildings, homes and businesses, millions of websites populate the internet. Like their analog counterparts, the location of each and every website is unique and designated with an address to assist in finding it’s specific location
A website address is known as a domain name. Picture a neighborhood. Picture yourself living in that neighborhood. Out here in the virtual world, the most popular neighborhood would be the .com or dot com hood
There’s also .net, .org., .uk, the list goes on.. All web addresses with .com attached @(get it?) the end, live in the .com hood. For example; I am a .com hood rat myself. My “address” is freehelpmakingmoneyonline. Ergo, I “live” @(get it?) https://freehelpmakingmoneyonline.com.
Once you have that together, you’ll need Website Hosting. Hosting provides your website with a domain name server or DNS for short. Usually, the place where you purchase your domain name also provides web hosting(for a fee of course).
The Next Step
Owning a website is merely the cornerstone of affiliate marketing. An affiliate marketing website is based on commissions received by sending visitors to another website using special links unimaginatively dubbed affiliate links. Before that can happen, the website needs to attract visitors by providing interesting, helpful and original content.
Your website will be one among the millions of websites operating online. If you have any hope of attracting visitors your site, it’s important to learn the techniques used to achieve high rankings in the search engines for maximum visibility.
Obviously there will be some cost involved in getting started online. A domain name, website and hosting along with the education necessary. The idea is to minimize expenses and learn to maximize profits.
I don’t know about you but I didn’t have money to waste, and I was wary of investing any amount over the internet. I learned the hard way about the dangers of the various digital products that are guaranteed but must be purchased sight unseen. Once is all I needed to learn that lesson.
There were also “free” trials available but it wasn’t really free because you had to give up credit card information so they could bill you once the free trial has ended. I needed to find something I could try for free that didn’t require a credit card as a hostage. A real free trial. I searched high and low before I finally(accidentally)discovered Wealthy Affiliate. 
I signed up for the free trial which consisted of two free websites and the first ten lessons in the Online Entrepreneur Certification course. After seven days, I was the choice to join for an initial fee of $19.
I took them up on that offer and I can honestly say to you that in addition to providing everything I need to get started online(i.e. domain name, website, hosting)Wealthy Affiliate provides all the training and support needed to become successful as an affiliate marketer.
I’m not exactly independently wealthy, but I do earn enough of a reliable income to raise the comfort level of my mom’s retirement years and myself. I’m not greedy, I just want to be able to work from home so I can stay home with my mom. Working online as an affiliate marketer allows me to do just that.
So do yourself a favor, sign up for the free trial and investigate Wealthy Affiliate for yourself. You need only an email address and a user name to get started.
If you have any questions or just want to tell me something, leave a comment and we’ll talk. Take care,
PollyB
Affiliate marketing is so great because of all the benefits that are involved like working from home and making a good income, working at our paste, spending time with family and all of that good stuff.
What you have written will help direct those that are thinking of getting into this line of work, tons of good information.
Yes. The benefits of affiliate marketing are outstanding. I really enjoy sharing this information and helping others get started in the right direction Take care Norman.
Affiliate marketing does work and it can be very luccrative but it’s not for everyone and you really hard to put a ot of work for it to work. Following a mentor or people who knows what they are doing is the key to success. To succeed in affiliate marketing you need a proven strategy and method in marketing, especially online marketing. Very nice and informative post.
You are right. It isn’t for everyone. but you’ll never know until you try right?
Affiliate marketing really works. There are so many ways we can become affiliate marketer. Some include promoting products via paid advertisement such as display network or social media ads. Another one that I do is via creating good content on my blog and work on getting the post ranked on Google. It takes more time this way but earning passive income with affiliate marketing is really possible.
Ah, ah, ah Florence. Affiliate marketing isn’t what works. Heh. True there are many ways, social media(if you’re into that sort of thing)and ads. But I am like you…I use my blog for affiliate marketing. I like creating original, helpful content for others to read.\It does take a little time, but everything worth working for takes time.
I sure am pleased to meet a fellow affiliate marketer. Drop by anytime.
You definitely had me worried when you said that affiliate marketing doesn’t work. Fortunately, I kept ready to see the deeper truth.
I really quite like the idea of being a deep thinker on the internet, but I doubt that I am famous or important enough to draw many readers. Maybe one day.
I have started affiliate marketing for myself and am very happy with Wealthy Affiliate. They have been a big help to get me started. I am even making a little spending money after six months.
Definitely got your attention huh? See, now that’s what I like to hear. Somebody(besides myself)working on the internet. And successful at that. Listen Peter, learning how to write and rank articles can get you in front of your audience whether you’re famous or not. And Peter, famous or not you are definitely important. Thanks for dropping by. tell all your friends.