Affiliate Marketing 101

You have heard me talk about affiliate marketing in previous posts and on my socials. Maybe you have seen others rave about affiliate marketing, but at this point you actually are not completely certain what all the hype is about. In this blog I would like to explain more about affiliate marketing and why I feel this is such a beginner friendly side hustle or even a business model to replace your 9-to-5 all together.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

In short it is that you promote products/services from companies and once somebody buys a product through your link, you will get paid a commission on that sale by that company.

Here it gets interesting with affiliate marketing as you don’t have to invent/produce and keep stock of any products. You don't have to ship products and you don’t have to deal with customers yourself.

<WOW> This business model is something you literally can start with your phone, laptop and a decent internet connection from your kitchen table and in your spare time. You don't have to make big investments and there is no need for a special degree or certificate.

Why would a company pay you?

Well they could hire a marketing company that would make a super sly marketing campaign for them and let them pay a hefty price for that service. Or companies can start an affiliate program and pay the “common folks” to promote their products. Usually that will give a more authentic customer-like experience when somebody talks and promotes a product that they really like. And the product will be promoted where potential customers are right now(Hint: they are looking at their phone!)

And the companies have to pay you once a sale is done and settled instead of paying upfront to a marketing company and without knowing it will be effective in selling their product.

How to start with affiliate marketing?

I would say there are 4 steps in doing affiliate marketing

Step 1 Find your Niche

First think of a niche that you are really interested in.. It helps if you look into something you like or maybe are already familiar with as it helps you to make content about that niche in one of the next steps.If you found a niche, you have to scale down in that niche, so you have a specific as possible niche.

To help you along the search to find your niche remember that the biggest niches are:

• Health
• Wealth
• Relationships

{ Let's say I chose Health as my niche.

In that niche, the most obvious one is Diet and how to lose weight. I would focus on women of a certain age where it makes it harder to lose weight.}

Step 2 Solve a problem within your niche

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want! -Zig Ziglar

Once you have found your niche do some research within that specific niche and maybe you can find a common problem within that niche. Once you have identified that problem, search for a solution(product/service with an affiliate program) that can help with solving that problem.

What makes a perfect product that you would offer as a solution?

A> Monthly recurring affiliate products.

This means you found a product that somebody needs to have every month. This could be a software product like, mail or website host.Or a service with a monthly fee. Think of a gym membership or a certain insurance.

B> Low Ticket vs High ticket

You have products that have a relatively cheap price and therefore the commissions are low, but you are able to sell those products many times over or there are products that are more expensive, and the commissions are also high.

Say you want to make an extra $1000 a month.

A low ticket commission is $5 ->so you have to sell 200 times that product

A high ticket commission could be $500 -> so you only have to make 2 sales.

Remember that one sale takes about the same time for a low ticket or high ticket products.

Find a product that has a value ladder.

Help people with a sufficient solution for their product and once they try that product, and like it, there are more options for them available.



{I chose health as my niche and I found out that a lot of people, specifically women, who have reached a certain age are looking for a way to lose weight especially around the belly. There are so many diets and products but i found a product that specifically helps women to lose that belly fat and retain their youthfulness }

Step 3 Create your online (automated) business

You have found your specific niche and product. Now you have to get ready to build your online business where you can automate as much as possible.

Create a two page website. This is most likely a sales funnel where you offer a free item(this could be a free ebook, an educational video or something else you can think of. If a person wants that product they only have to give you their email address. This is big, because now you have the email address of somebody who is really interested in this product (AKA Lead) and through an (automated) email follow up you can inform them and eventually get that sale. The email list is so important as that is what you have and nobody can take that away from you! Accounts on social media are fragile and you never know if they will stay online.

{ I would offer a PDF with free recipes and lifestyle advice that would help women to help loose that stubborn belly fat! }

Step 4 Get your solution out there!

Okay you know your specific niche and have a specific group/person in mind, you have your awesome product and build your business. Now you are ready to get out there and get noticed! But where is out there? Well in this time of age there are so many online social platforms you can use. Start with making TikToks. You can use those videos on other platforms, like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. You can even post those videos on YouTube as Youtube Shorts. Be creative and be consistent. You have to post regularly and find ways to shine in your niche, so people will get to know you and eventually trust you as an expert in your niche. Direct those people to your site and free offer, so you can build your email list.

Now as you have read this, this sounds possible to you right?

If you are enthusiastic and want to start immediately without spending money, start with a free membership with Groove.cm You can start with a free blog, or if you happen to own a domain name you can start a legit website for free. They have tools to build a salesfunnel and a way to collect email addresses. I built my business in Groove.cm and you don't need to be tech savvy to build your blog or website on Groove.cm.

Have fun and be authentic and who knows what will happen then!

Maybe you want to take a look at the YouTube affiliate marketing 101 video I made:

If you want to know more about making money online, why not subscribe to my newsletter so you won't miss out!

KJ