I need to make money and so do you.

We have built a website or blog and now we want to know how to sell from it.

You may already have a website that allows you to have products listed and that is great. What you now need to do is promote your website so your potential customers can see your wares.

The most obvious place is Facebook and Twitter but do not limit yourself to these. Consider Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin. What you want to do is create a brand for yourself so use your logo to promote on these sites, ensuring you link the image back to your website. If you do not feel as though you have a brand then take a look at my review of fiverr. They can help you to create a brand at very little cost. $5 as the name suggests.

If you don’t yet have a website then you might want to check out my review of Wealthy Affiliate by clicking here. You could have your own free website in the next ten minutes if you want to.

If you have a blog or website about your niche subject but no actual product to sell, then sell other people’s products. This is called Affiliate Marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing on the internet. In simple terms, you refer someone to any product online and if that person buys the product, you receive a commission.

For companies offering an Affiliate program, it is one of the best ways to receive free promotion, and saving substantially on advertising. The commission they pay can vary from £1 to £10,000 depending on what product you are promoting.

Many online companies who sell products such as fashion, web-hosting services, pet products or any other product or service, usually offer an Affiliate program of some sort. You can sign up for their Affiliate program and get your unique tracking link. Now you can either use that link in your post when writing about that product by way of a recommendation or you can use one of their banner links that will also have your unique tracking link attached and put it in the widgets area of your website so it will appear on every page.

If your readers click on any link or banner and buy anything, you will get a commission. If you need some help with placing links please take a look at my post on adding Affiliate links by clicking here   This will take you through the process step by step.

How do I find appropriate Companies and Products?

Most companies will run their Affiliate programs through Affiliate Marketplaces. These are companies that run the whole process for their clients

It is great for Affiliates like us because we may promote many products from one site which makes keeping track of our clicks and commissions much easier.

The ones that I use are  Max Bounty, Shareasale, Clickbank and CJ Affiliates. There are others and it is worth doing some research as to who promotes which customers. They are all free to join but once in, you may have to apply to promote some of their clients especially the big Companies. Be prepared to be turned down especially if your website is new or if you don’t have a large social following.

The good news is many Companies do not have such stringent rules and you will be accepted regardless of where you are in your online career. Another great way to start is by becoming an Amazon affiliate as they have all the products in the world to promote.

Some Companies will run their own Affiliate program and the best way to find these is to do a simple Google search. For example, you would place the following phrase into Google Search: (product name) + affiliate program or (Niche) + affiliate program This should find the independent companies that suit your website.

A word of warning here. Do not advertise just anything. Make sure the products match your website niche. Do your research before promoting. Be aware that they all pay different percentages on what is sold too. Cutting corners just to advertise something will result in no clicks and no money.

What else do I need to know about Affiliate Marketing?

Every Affiliate program will have their own Terms of Service. It is worth your while reading them as some will have rules that will impact you and how you get paid. There are some good rules, for example, many of them offer a 60-day cookie period, which means that if a visitor uses your Affiliate link to land on the sales page and buys something within the next 60 days, you will be entitled to the sale’s commission. Amazon will not only pay out on the product you linked them to but also on anything else they put in their basket and buy at the same time.

All companies pay out in different ways, PayPal, direct to bank or cheque but most pay out after 30 days and will have a minimum payout threshold but it is usually low $25 or so. Some may have higher thresholds so it is worth checking out.

There are also some companies that run 2-tier Affiliate Marketing: This is a great way of making money. With this method, you recommend that others join affiliate programs, and you receive a commission when an affiliate of yours makes a sale. This is similar to MLM (multi-level marketing). This income is known as a sub-affiliate commission.

Some Companies will also allow you to promote discount codes which obviously helps to get your readers to click and buy.

Affiliate Marketing : FAQ

By now you should have a basic understanding of what Affiliate Marketing is and how it works. But there are always more questions.

The most common question is:

How do companies track and record who is sending the traffic to their website and making the sales?

The answer is “with a tracking URL (a unique link given to you by the company or the Affiliate marketplace).”This URL is used to keep track of all the traffic and sales you are making via your website or other promotional techniques.

Is Affiliate Marketing illegal?

No, it is not illegal, as you will simply be using the link provided for you rather than you using a direct link to any site. Which would be pointless for you anyway.

Affiliate Marketing and Adsense: Can I use both?

Yes you can, because Affiliate Marketing does not violate any of their terms of service

How much does it cost to join an Affiliate program?

There is no charge for joining an Affiliate program, however, you may want to use some promotional techniques to get more people clicking and buying. These might cost you something. A blog post will not cost you anything, but PPC ( Pay Per Click) marketing, email marketing, and advertising come with various price tags.

What qualifications do I need to become an Affiliate Marketer?

There is no qualification required to become an Affiliate Marketer, though having a great website that is SEO optimised and some marketing skills will be an added advantage. If you still have a lot to learn and are fed up of searching the web for answers, you might want to check out my review of Wealthy Affiliate by clicking here. Wealthy Affiliate is also known as the Wealthy Affiliate University as it has all you need to know in one place and it is free to join.

How much money can I make from Affiliate Marketing?

There is no limit to the amount of money you can earn from Affiliate programs. It all depends on which program you’re promoting and how many conversions you are making.

I hope this beginner’s guide to Affiliate Marketing will help you to get started. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask me them by using the comments section below.

With Grace and Gratitude

Karen