Affiliate marketing for beginners can seem quite daunting and several people I know have recently asked me questions like “What is affiliate marketing?” and “How do you go about setting it up?” – both excellent questions. With these queries in mind, I found this great article which outlines how you go about setting up your own affiliate marketing operation. I hope you find it as useful as I did, so please enjoy.

Have you ever wondered why most affiliate marketers never earn a full time living, let alone make 6 figures per year?

The 10 Step Affiliate Marketing Plan to Build a 6-Figure Income

I have to think it’s because they are missing some of the basics to affiliate marketing, as well as never discovering the ‘secrets’ to taking their income to the next level. This is what I’m proposing you try to greatly increase your affiliate income:

Doing the work up front to get it right, so that sales come in like clockwork, rather than ‘winging’ it and hoping you get a few sales.

If you lay a good foundation, then you lose the struggle of trying one thing after another to make it work. You won’t need gimmicks or shady sales tactics. Sales will come almost effortlessly because you’ve laid the groundwork for a thriving affiliate business.

These tips aren’t super exciting because there is no magic formula such as, “Go to this secret website and post this 10-word magic message to make massive commissions.”

Yes, I really did see those exact words in a sales letter once. No, I didn’t buy the product, so I have no idea what the supposed “secret site” or “magic message” was. Although now that I think about it, maybe I should have, just for a laugh.

I’ll be candid with you - these steps are more work than some wannabe affiliates are willing to do. Sure, it sounds great to just post some stuff and lead traffic to buy products, and occasionally that still works. But if you want to build a long-term viable business that will take care of you for years to come, then you’ve got to build a solid foundation first.

Treat your affiliate business as a REAL business and you’ll build massive trust with your audience, leading to a good income, some super large paydays and a stable, reliable business you can be proud of.

So, let’s get started…

Step 1: Choose your niche c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y.

This is the most elementary and basic step of all but be aware it can make a H-U-G-E difference in your results. If you choose a niche that doesn’t have a lot of demand or many products to promote, you may find your income ceiling is much lower than you would like.

Ideally your niche is something you and your tribe are passionate about. There must be a demand for products in this niche, as well as a good supply and variety of products you can be proud to promote.

If you find you must choose between passion and demand, then choose demand and leave your passions for your personal time. You can’t expect others to get excited about something and pay money for that thing if they are not interested in it, but you can work and make substantial money in a niche that does not excite you. Just focus on how you are helping others and let that be your passion and motivation, and the money will come.

Step 2: Build a solid brand.

It's important to consider what your brand will be and to have a professional and consistent brand image across all your online platforms. This helps build trust with your audience and makes it easier for them to recognize you.

Branding is important, so here are a few more branding tips:

First, define what your brand is all about. What are your values, your mission, and your unique selling proposition? Who is your target audience and how will you relate to them?  What makes your brand different from your competitors? When you’ve clearly defined your brand then you can create a consistent message and visual identity.

Next, develop a strategy for building your brand that includes creating your visual identity, developing a content strategy and deciding which channels to use to reach your audience. (Hint: Find out where your audience hangs out.)

Create a consistent brand message. Your goal is to make your messaging and visual elements consistent across all your channels, including your website, social media, and any other marketing materials.

Notice how big brands do this, and then do it on a much smaller scale for yourself. And you don’t necessarily need to brand a business name. In many cases your own name will also be your brand.

Monitor and adjust your strategy. Building a brand is an ongoing process, and you need to be willing to check your progress and adjust your strategy as needed. Pay attention to what is working and what isn’t and be willing to make changes to your strategy based on your results.

Overall, building a brand takes time and effort, but with the right strategy and a commitment to consistency and engagement, you can create a brand that resonates with your audience and helps you achieve your business goals.

Note: It takes time and work to build a great reputation. Never do anything to sully your brand or associate it with something negative, such as promoting a lousy product.

Step 3: Offer v-a-l-u-a-b-l-e content.

People come to your website or social media to learn something new or to be entertained. That’s why by creating valuable content that adds value to their lives, you’ll be attracting them and warming them up to whatever offers you might be making.

I know some new affiliates will ask why they need content of their own. Can’t they just post an affiliate link? Of course you can, but if your visitor doesn’t trust you, why would they trust your recommendation?

Your goal is getting your audience to know, like and trust you. And when they do, you can sell them something not just once, but over and over again.

And the way to begin building this relationship is with great content.

Step 4: Be honest and transparent.

Always disclose your relationship with the brand you're promoting. Your audience will appreciate your honesty and transparency, plus it’s the law. “Links on this site / in this article may be affiliate links and help to support this site.” You don’t need to plaster this everywhere, but it must be somewhere near the top where people can see it.

Don’t worry, most people aren’t bothered by it and frankly by the time they’re clicking on a link it’s already flown out of their head because they’re thinking about what’s truly important to them – themselves. I hope that didn’t sound derogatory because the fact is everyone’s favorite subject is themselves, including me.

That’s why a sales message that focuses on the buyer will do 10 times better than one that doesn’t.

Step 5: Optimize your campaigns.

There are many tools available that can help you track your links and optimize your affiliate marketing campaigns. Some popular options include Google Analytics, ClickMeter, and Bitly.

Test and track everything: Keep track of your campaigns and test different strategies to see what works best. This will help you optimize your campaigns for better results. Even a small improvement in conversions can result in a large difference in income over time.

Step 6: Build an email list.

Building an email list is a great way to continuously connect with your audience and keep them engaged with your content as well as seeing your offers. Use a combination of interesting, entertaining and helpful content as well as affiliate offers to keep them interested.

Step 7: Choose the right products.

Make sure you're promoting products that are high quality, relevant to your niche and convert well. If possible, promote products that offer a monthly residual income instead of a one-time commission. And don’t be afraid to promote high priced products, too. A 50% commission on a $1000 product means you only need one or more sales to make it worth your time.

Step 8: Remember your SEO.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for driving organic traffic to your website. Make sure you're using the right keywords and optimizing your content for search engines. Check online for tutorials on how to do this for long tail keywords that are easy to rank for.

Step 9: Engage with your audience.

Building a relationship with your audience is key to your success as an affiliate marketer. Make sure you're engaging with your audience on social media and responding to their comments and questions.

Keep a close eye on what’s currently important to them as well as the latest news in your niche and respond accordingly, creating content that is designed to start a conversation, and asking for feedback from your audience.

Step 10: Build relationships with product creators.

Sometimes you can get special deals for your customers, or even a higher commission rate if you have a friendly relationship with product creators in your niche.

It’s also possible you can get your posts published on their blogs, thereby increasing your own audience and driving traffic to your landing page. And should you ever create your own products, these product creators may become your first affiliates, too.

Building a truly successful, profitable affiliate business really isn’t all that different than building your own information business, and it’s a great way to get started making money online.

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If you’d like to find out more about how to set up and run your own affiliate marketing business as a beginner, then click the button and download your own FREE copy of the “Affiliate Marketing Blueprint” where it shows the secret to creating multiple streams of evergreen passive income. It assumes no prior expertise or subject matter knowledge – even if you’ve “tried everything” and are about give up.