How to Start Affiliate Marketing for Your Business

If you’re looking to expand your business and reach new audiences, affiliate marketing could be the perfect opportunity for you. Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing where an organization rewards affiliates for directing prospective customers their way.

In other words, if your website visitors take some type of action following viewing one of your ads (let's say they click on an Amazon link from your site), you get a commission.

Affiliate marketing is not just limited to ecommerce sites. You can set up an affiliate program for almost any kind of business – even if it’s not directly related to your company. To help you get started with this new venture, here are seven tips that will help you succeed in affiliate marketing as well as some great examples of brands who have been successful through it.

What to know before getting started with affiliate marketing

Before you invest your time and energy in affiliate marketing, there are a few things to know first.

Affiliate marketing is a long-term investment. You can’t expect to see results from this type of marketing in just a few weeks or even months. It may take years before you see a significant return on your investment, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it.

Quality, not quantity. When thinking about how many ads to create, remember that quality is better than quantity. You want to come off as trustworthy and authentic in your approach, so only create ads that you truly believe in.

Choose the right niche. Selecting a niche is important if you really want to succeed in affiliate marketing. Ideally, you want to select a niche with lots of potential customers and low competition.

Decide on your ad network

There are many different ad networks you can choose from, but the first step in creating an affiliate program is deciding which one to use. You can’t just create and manage your affiliate ads on any network. You need to find an ad network that’s willing to partner with you and help you create your program. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re deciding which network to work with:

•  Ease of use: Make sure the ad network you choose is easy to use and navigate. You don’t want to be spending so much time fussing over your ad creatives that you don’t have time to create more.
•  Affiliate programs offered: Not all ad networks offer affiliate programs. If yours doesn’t, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
•  Program type: There are two main types of affiliate programs: tiered and retro-commission. Tiered programs pay a set percentage of each sale whereas retro-commission programs pay a percentage of sales generated from your ads over a set period of time.

Create your ad campaign

After you’ve chosen which ad network to partner with, it’s time to create your ad campaign. This is the first impression your prospective customers will get of your affiliate program, so it’s important you create the right impression. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re creating your campaign:

•  Offer something of value: The main goal of your affiliate ads is to direct people to your website. If they end up on another site, there’s a good chance they’ll just leave without clicking on anything.
•  Keep ads short and to the point: You don’t want to bloat your ad with tons of information that no one cares about. Keep it short and sweet with just enough information to inform prospective customers and direct them to your website.

Find the right affiliate partners

One thing to keep in mind when creating your affiliate program is that you’re going to have to pick which products you’re going to promote. You can’t just link to anything with your affiliate links. Instead, you want to find products that are relevant to your business and have a good chance of converting.

After you’ve found a few products to promote, it’s time to contact the companies behind those products and ask if they have an affiliate program. If they do, great! If not, you might want to reconsider promoting their product with your affiliate links. Here are a few things to keep in mind when reaching out to potential affiliate partners:

•  Know your numbers: Before contacting any companies, make sure you have your numbers and potential earnings figured out. This will help you make a stronger case when reaching out to potential affiliate partners.

Write great ad copy

Your ad copy is what will actually convince your prospective customers to click on your links and make a purchase. If your ad copy is weak, you may not make any sales. Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your ad copy:

•  Be descriptive: Don’t just come right out and say “buy this product.” Instead, give a short overview of the product and why someone would want to buy it.
•  Be honest: Affiliate marketing is all about trust. You want to build trust with your readers by being honest and upfront about everything in your ad copy.

Decide on a tracking platform

Affiliate marketing is all about following those who follow you. So how can you track how many sales you’re generating from your affiliate links? You need to use a tracking platform. This will help you keep track of which ads are performing the best and which ones need improvement. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re deciding which tracking platform to use:

•  Choose a platform that’s compatible with your existing website and ad platform. Ideally, you want everything to be as seamless as possible.
•  Make sure the platform you choose is reliable. There are a lot of different tracking platforms out there, but not all of them are reliable. Make sure you choose one that is trustworthy and reliable.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to grow your business and reach new audiences. However, it’s important to know what you’re getting into before diving in head first. Affiliate marketing is a long-term investment that may take years to see significant returns. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it, though. With the right ad network, product, ad copy, and tracking platform, you can see great results from affiliate marketing.