I am going to get right to the point in this article. If you want to know how to learn affiliate marketing for beginners you need to be really careful whom you take advice from.
I have learned this the hard way over the years. Here are the main things I have learned.
Well-intentioned people will try and pass themselves off as experts for a variety of reasons.
1. They get the helpers high. There is a great feeling people get from helping others.
2. They have something to sell you.
It is so easy to get started in affiliate marketing. Making money is a little harder.
So, what happens is someone earns their first commission. In their excitement, they decide they are now an expert and go off on a journey to earn money by presenting themselves that way.
Who does that hurt?
The beginner who is genuinely interested in learning how to do affiliate marketing. More specifically how to do affiliate marketing without a website. That is a real drawing card for the newbie affiliate marketer who does not have a website and is not wanting to learn how to build one yet.
So…
Be careful who you take advice from. Trust and verify everything. Do not spend any of your hard-earned money hoping you are making the right decision.
In business, we call this doing your due diligence. Very simply this is the detailed examination of a company or opportunity.
Affiliate marketing is a business model. To learn how to make money in affiliate marketing as a beginner you must get good advice from people who are having success with it. That is why I strongly suggest you join a community and the end of this post to help you along the way.
Here is what I suggest!
What Is Affiliate Marketing Exactly?
The simplest way to think of affiliate marketing is where you earn a commission for promoting somebody else’s product. Back in the 1990s, Amazon paid commissions to affiliates to sell books.
Since then affiliate marketing has grown as you would expect any successful industry to do. However, just keep it simple and know that if you are promoting something for somebody you can earn a commission as an affiliate.
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How Exactly Do You Earn A Commission?
As an affiliate marketer, you’re basically getting paid to drive traffic to your website. When your visitor performs the specific action required on that website you earn a commission. Basically, this can be done in three ways.
1. Pay per click. You are not going to make any money without a website with this business model.
The reason is you have to place code on a webpage somewhere because Google is not going to give you an affiliate website to promote with.
2. Pay per lead. With this type of affiliate marketing, you’ll basically be promoting landing pages.
You do not need your own website because as an affiliate you will get the landing page to promote. It is coded with your identification number so you get credit when somebody fills out the lead form.
3. Pay per sale. This is going to be the most common type of affiliate marketing you can do without your own website.
The affiliate merchant will give you a sales page to promote. Again that sales page is coded with your identification number from the affiliate merchant you have joined the program with.
You will spend all of your time trying to get traffic to come to that page. At this point, it’s a numbers game. A certain percentage of people will buy the product you’re promoting and you are in a commission.
There Is A Lot More To Affiliate Marketing Than Meets The Eye
I wasted years of my Internet marketing life trying to figure out how to increase my sales so I could earn enough money to quit my job. This is not always a goal of everybody who gets into affiliate marketing, but I think eventually everybody does consider this.
The problem with doing affiliate marketing without your own website is very simple you cannot influence the sale. The reason is you’re promoting a replicated affiliate website that every affiliate in that program is also promoting.
Every sales page looks exactly the same as the other sales pages. The only difference is your identification number is hidden in the HTML code so you get credit when somebody actually makes a purchase.
The Importance Of Pre-Selling
This is really why you want to learn how to do affiliate marketing, but learn how to do it with a website. Pre-selling is where you are given the opportunity to influence your website visitor.
You’re still spending the same amount of time and money driving traffic as other affiliate marketers. The big difference is you spend your time driving traffic to YOUR website.
You create pre-sale web pages where you talk about the product. What you’re doing is educating your visitor.
If you’re driving traffic that’s really interested in the product that you’re promoting you have a great chance to convince that visitor to click on the link that sends them to your affiliate sales page.
How Is The Best Way To Influence Your Visitor?
Buy the affiliate product and then review it. Don’t write rehashed reviews based on what other people have already written. There are literally thousands if not millions of those online already.
You can spot them a mile away because everybody is basically saying the same thing. What makes you different is you review the product based on personal experience.
You list everything good and bad you can find about that product and then come up with a conclusion as to why somebody would want to click on a link over to your sales page where they can learn more.
The affiliate website is generally written by a professional copywriter. These are people that get paid to convince somebody to buy the product you’re selling.
You are actually making their job easier because you’ve sent that visitor to your affiliate sales page in the buying frame of mind. You’ve already done passive selling by just listening to all the good and bad things about the product based on your personal experience.
What Is The Best Way To Learn Affiliate Marketing As A Beginner?
It took me years to figure out that you need to spend money on education. However, don’t just keep buying new books, or going to another room webinar and spending thousands of dollars.
I think a better way is to join Wealthy Affiliate as a free member. Take as much of their free training as you can.
Decide if affiliate marketing is something you really want to do. Learn about the pros and cons of trying to do affiliate marketing without your own website.
Then if it makes sense upgrade to a premium member which will cost you $49 a month. This is what I did and have continued to be a premium member now for many years.
I don’t do affiliate marketing without a website. I blog and provide free training to people such as yourself. But there are ways where you can learn affiliate marketing fast if you have limited time.
Out of this training, a certain percentage of people will join the Wealthy Affiliate community for free. Approximately one out of 10 free members will see that this business is a good fit and decide to move further into the training.
I earn $23 a month in residual income for every premium member I attract. I feel good about this because I know this is the elite affiliate marketing training program on the Internet today.
It’s perfect for beginners who want to learn how to do affiliate marketing without a website. I think you’ll find as I did that ultimately you want to start your own website or blog. Do affiliate marketing with a website so you can influence the sale of any affiliate product you’re trying to sell.
What Exactly Does Wealthy Affiliate Teach?
You are a beginner. You do not know anything, or maybe you do not know as much as you think you do.
Let me ask you a question. How much money are you making online right now?
If it is zero, or not enough to achieve the income goals you need to learn more. Wealthy Affiliate is a take-you-by-the-hand program to do just that.
I am going to log into my member’s area right now and go over what I see that you may be interested in.
There are several tabs on the right-hand sidebar. The one we are most interested in is Training. I click on it and am taken to a web page for an Online Certification Program. This is comprehensive and for premium members.
When you start as a free member you get access to 10 introductory training lessons, 2 free websites with free web hosting, free keywords tool, 7 days free premium, and unlimited community support.
Online Entrepreneur Certification – Getting Started Level 1
Here is where a free member can take a 10-part training course. Wealthy Affiliate describes it as a 10-lesson course that is part of the Wealthy Affiliate Online Entrepreneur Certification. It will walk you through the steps of creating a successful online business that generates revenue. This Getting Started Course is your first step to realizing your potential as an online business owner.
To me this is great and I think you will learn a lot if you go through it. The 10 lessons are…
- 1. Getting Rolling.
- 2. Understanding How To Make Money Online.
- 3. Choose A Niche.
- 4. Building Your Own Niche Website.
- 5. Setting Up Your Website.
- 6. Getting Your Site Ready For Search Engines.
- 7. Creating Your Initial Website Content
- 8. Creating Custom Menus On Your Website.
- 9. Understanding Keywords, The Start Of Your Content.
- 10. Congratulations And Your Next Steps.
This is really good for a beginner. Why?
The 2 Key Takeaways From The Wealthy Affiliate Free Training
To me, this free 10-lesson training on setting up a profitable online business signifies 2 things.
1. WA is pre-selling.
2. You do need your own website.
First of all, how is Wealthy Affiliate pre-selling you? They’re giving you an inside look at their membership platform for free. Ultimately their goal is for you to upgrade to become a premium member. They know that one out of 10 free members will automatically do this.
The second thing as it pertains to this article is a good portion of the free training talks about setting up your own website. You’re going to use the affiliate business model to make money, but it’s all done from your own website.
Today many of us have a blog and use it as our website. However, there’s no getting around the fact that you need to learn how to do affiliate marketing with a website and not without one.
Are You Sure You Need A Personal Website?
After reading this whole article I know that you still wonder if you really need a personal website. The reason I know this is because it took me several years to finally decide I needed a personal website.
Let’s just say that you don’t need a website, how could you do affiliate marketing without a personal website?
Very simply you’re going to have to spend a lot of time and maybe even money driving traffic to your affiliate sales page. Because you can not influence the sale in any way you’re going to just strictly play a numbers game.
You can never build an email list like you would if you had your own personal website. I really haven’t even talked about that, but it is one of the staples of doing affiliate marketing. An email list gives you more opportunities to pre-sell prospects until they’re ready to buy from you.
However, again if you just want to promote your affiliate sales page then, by all means, you need to learn how to drive traffic to it. Wealthy Affiliate can help you because a lot of effort is put into various traffic generation methods.
If you’re going to spend any time on how to learn affiliate marketing for beginners without a website focus 90% of your time on driving traffic to it.
If you need help on how to get started with affiliate marketing, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, personal private assistance, my personal help, and much more.
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I have read about so many scams from people who look like they are trying to help. I am so glad that I found Wealthy Affiliate. You are absolutely right that in order to grow in affiliate marketing, you need to educate yourself. Really that is true no matter what profession you go into. At Wealthy Affiliate, the training that you get is top-notch and I don’t regret my decision one bit. Thanks for writing this post and pointing people in the direction of one of, if not the, best online business building sites out there!
When you think that you have gone through the entire training, Wealthy Affiliate is still releasing new platforms to enhance your business to take it to the next level. After 14 years you have seen where they have brought this business thus far, only to find out, that they are about to release new innovative platforms to make our training and community more interactive for the next 14 years.
When a company has your interest at heart, it is very comforting to know that you are a part of a growing platform who are always making and adding new strategies to your online business. Learning Affiliate Marketing here at Wealthy Affiliate is the best service that anyone can be a member of to find success and know that they would be around for a long time. Thank you for confirming this service.
All the best!
Hello! Thank you for such a thorough overview of affiliate marketing. Everything you mention is true. I can say that because much of what you noted has happened to me. I’m new at this, but with the help of Wealthy Affiliate, I now have 2 websites up and running! I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn so much in the free training, which ultimately led me to upgrade to a premium membership. I’m not looking back now – full steam ahead! Thanks again for this well-researched post! If I wasn’t already a member of WA, I’d be taking your advice! Cheers!
Happy that you are reaping the benefits on what Wealthy Affiliate training has to offer. If you haven’t started already with the weekly training with Jay on Friday’s webinars, you should. These classes have taken my business to another level and it will do the same for you.
If you have any questions or concerns on how to maximize these training and boost your website, please let me know. I take this business seriously and I will do what it takes to see others have the same success. Thank you for the feedback on how to learn affiliate marketing with Wealthy Affiliate.
This is an interesting topic. I agree that doing affiliate marketing without a website is hard, so I choose to build a personal website and drive traffic to it. It is easier although more time-consuming. I heard we can drive traffic with ads, but I don’t have that much budget, to begin with 🙁 I’ve heard about Wealthy Affiliate before, so I will check it now. Thanks for the information.
Hi Alblue, I am happy to speak about affiliate marketing because it has changed my life and is doing the same for others here at wealthy Affiliate. It is really a learning platform for beginners and seasoned marketers.
Paid advertising is a good way to drive traffic to your website but it is a learned strategy if you want to maximize its benefits, and this will also be part of your training here atv Wealthy Affiliate. It is one of the fastest ways to get results with your business while you focus on content marketing which is free but more long term.
Looking forward to seeing you inside WA, where a community of people is eager to help you build your business. And I am eager to show you what is working for me as well. Talk to you soon!
Hello there thanks for this really educational post. I have only recently retired from the job and have been in search for a really cool online business to get involved with which can help me out with keeping up with my regular lifestyle and I made the decision to go into affiliate marketing, but I have little knowledge about it. However, reading through this post has given me a lot of knowledge about what affiliate marketing is. Thanks for the suggestion you have given me about joining wealthy affiliate, I’ll make sure I do that. Thanks for the information.
Dane, I am happy I was able to help, and when I join Wealthy Affiliate back in 2013, I had no experience with affiliate marketing. But the training help me get my website up and running and I was able to target a niche, monetize it, and now I am making sales on a continuous basis.
The same will happen for you as well as you go through your training. I will be there to help you along the way, plus a whole community of people at your disposal. looking forward to working with you and help you accomplish your dreams. See you inside.
You have explained well the ways on how we can earn commissions from affiliate marketing. It’s true, beginners like me are easily enticed from promising tools and programs. If I had enough funds, I would probably end up purchasing a lot of this, with hopes that it will do the work for me. Sadly, some of it doesn’t really help at all.
There’s no more prominent Affiliate Marketing program than Wealthy Affiliate. For many years, it has provided premium members with essential tools and programs that you won’t have to pay because everything is already included in the membership fee which you can choose between monthly, every six months or annually.
I’m just a new member so I do not yet finish covering the training. Do you get a commission of $23 per referral? Is it a one time commission or are you paid monthly as long as your referral keeps the membership? Thanks for covering matters about affiliate marketing. This has been very helpful.
Well, you are on your way on an exciting journeyin affiliate marketing with Wealthy Affiliate. I commend you for being a premium member and reaping the full benefits.
They do have all the tools to get you up and running and the platform is the best in the industry. as you go through your training and complete the tasks in each lesson, you will begin to see your website coming alive and eventually begin to make sales.
for their affiliate program, their commissions per premium membership are 23.50 which is ongoing as long as your referrals remain a premium membership. Most members choose the Amazon affiliate program cause it is widespread and lots of products to choose from, but it is entirely up to the member.
Thank you for the feedback and all the best with your business. If you need a hand with any part of your business, please feel free to contact me. I am always willing to lend a hand. Talk to you soon.
Thank you for such a thorough overview of affiliate marketing. I believe that having your own website is crucial if you are are going to run your own business as an affiliate marketer (and for other online business as well of course). I think many beginners come in thinking that it will be easy and don’t want to set up their own website as they believe that it will be difficult. But it’s necessary. You have to be willing to put in the time and effort.
Back in the days if you had no knowledge of coding, it was difficult to build a website from scratch. But with new technology, building a website is very easy with just a matter of a few clicks your WordPress website can be up and running within minutes.
Going through the training at Wealthy Affiliate simplify the process by step by step videos from building a website, monetizing it and driving traffic to that website to earn revenue. it is definitely the right approach because the search engines love authority website with the right information. Happy to see that you are on the right path.
To do affiliate marketing without a website might not be the best thing to do from my experience. As an affiliate marketer, you get codes to place somewhere and drive traffic to it. It is better the codes are placed on your own website, so as you said, the person can influence the sales this way.
Since wealthy affiliate will show you, step by step, all that you need to do, making your website and driving traffic to it, I’ll say, its the best place for a beginner to get started.
Thanks, David.
You hit the nail on the head, it is better to build a website and you have all rights over that website, and when that website has aged, it may worth a fortune if and when you ready to sell. So is good yo build an asset for yourself that your family may reap the benefits down the road.
WA is a great platform to take you through the process and you have the ability to build many websites targeting different nice once you start to work full time from home. The good thing about this is that you can get family members involved to make the journey an interesting one, and help your loved ones along the way. Thank you for the insight.