Last Updated on November 11, 2022 by Andre

Affiliate Marketing for The Beginners is your model for success online. Learn what it is, understand the concepts, and find out How To Get Started Now.

 

This Guide is for beginners who want to learn how to start their own affiliate marketing business online.

There will be many areas covered here to give you the basics of what you will encounter when building your online business.

Several people have created their own website, yet may still be a bit lost or confused about where or how to improve further to be successful as an affiliate marketer.

Mainly because they have not received the proper training or been left out in the cold by others, promising them the world but only get a plot to stand on with no solid foundation to build on.

This Guide will give you the necessary knowledge of what Affiliate Marketing is for the beginner, how to get started now, and allow you to be successful in affiliate marketing online.

Here you will receive a heads-up and a foundation to start with to continue to build online.

When you have finished reading the Guide, you can make an informed decision if Affiliate Marketing is for you, along with where and what is the best place to start.

An important note to remember, you are taking a decisive leap forward in life.

Your future online business starts here, which can help you gain financial independence and freedom either for you and your family.

Now you will find what you have been seeking in your life, finding financial freedom and independence.

I would not advise you to quit your day job just yet, as this is not an overnight quick rich money-making scheme.

To be successful online, you need to take action, believe in yourself, and follow the training I will provide you with later on.

First, learn; second, apply what you have learned to build a solid foundation, and from there, the world can be your oyster.

One where you can learn how to work from home, have more family time, work your hours, and gain that personal independence.

Learning about Affiliate Marketing can feel a bit daunting at the start, especially if you have never done this before.

As you become involved, you will soon learn to love what opportunities are available for you and one that can undoubtedly earn you income along the way.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

The Definition of Affiliate Marketing, according to Wikipedia: 

“Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.”

Who are the players in Affiliate Marketing?

There are generally four parts to Affiliate Marketing.

• The merchant: (Other names are the retailer or advertiser who has the products or services on offer)

• The Network: (The Network is the intermediary, which acts on behalf of merchants and publishers mentioned in the next part.

The Network connects the dots, provides you with the affiliate link (more on that later and controls the payments made to both the merchant and the affiliate (that is you)

• The publisher: This is you (also known as the affiliate)

• The Visitor/Customer:

The visitor comes via your website, reads what is on offer, and interests them.

Should they purchase via your affiliate link, they become a customer, and you get a commission.

The image below will show you how it works.

How does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Once you have created your website and become an affiliate, you begin to promote the products on your website.

See how Affiliate Marketing Works in the image below.

We have just covered the basics of what is affiliate marketing, who is involved, and how the structure works.

Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam?

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate business, and you certainly can make money online, not just a few dollars, but if you put in the effort and have the right attitude, you can earn a good living.

However, some have tainted affiliate marketing by taking advantage of many beginners who have been deceived by various scammers.

Here are just some of the types to avoid and be aware of.

1) The Quick get rich scams

Have you seen those ads with the fancy cars, yachts, mansions, telling you how they got there and saying you can do the same by doing the same way they did?

These are total lies; I call them “Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing.”

They play on your emotions, knowing your needs, or want to find that financial opportunity and freedom for a better life.

As a result, many have fallen prey to these scams.

They will tell you to buy this or join that, and within a week or month, you will make thousands.

Many will even say you can earn on Autopilot, only with the push of a button and earn thousands by the end of the month.

If you see these, stay away, DO NOT click, join, or even give your email, especially any banking details.

They will start to con and try to convince you into buying more opportunities in the form of upsells and then some more.

In the meantime, you pay for their offers to spend thousands and get nothing in return.

Having fallen for such spam in the past, I do not want you to fall into their trap.

I found a dependable platform that will teach you the right way to earn online (more on that later).

2) Pyramid Schemes

Once very popular; however, those at the top were making money; you will find many MLM groups who operated like this.

Now illegal, yet many still try to deceive you under fake pretenses to get your money so they can get rich rather than you.

You may have seen some online where they ask you to join and invest in them; they get you to recruit others under you, and so on.

The money made goes to the top of the chain, everybody else is losing out and not making any money at all, and if they did, it would be far less than what you put in.

3) Fake training programs

There have been many so-called training programs over the years.

Some ask you to join a certain program (normally this will cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars), promising to teach you all there is to know about how you can make money online instantly.

Most are full of rubbish and many do not explain how you actually can earn money unless you purchase more upsells (more cost to you) and still do not give you anything in return. 

Sometimes they will offer you a free PDF to download, loaded with the same rubbish again.

Many times they can be old and outdated that do not teach you anything

Normally at the bottom, get you to click to join, and you are back where you started, no better off.

Many still teach false ways; even now, on YouTube, some will give you old techniques and tactics that are now considered illegal (this is known as Black Hat SEO) or so outdated they don’t work anymore.

One huge trap with the promise of making huge amounts of money just by doing nothing.

True Affiliate marketing has nothing to do with making money overnight or getting rich quickly. Click To Tweet

Affiliate marketing has been around for a very long time and is a genuine way to make passive income; many have failed, yet many have succeeded in creating this as their full-time job and a very lucrative one at that.

However, like any business online or offline, you need to put in the effort to make it happen.

Here are just some of what you should learn with the proper training in affiliate marketing.

• Learn new skills.

• How to choose a Niche.

• Creating your first website based on your niche selected.

• Understanding how to create content for your reader

• Learning the meaning of Keywords, how to research along with what is Long Tail Keywords and how to use them.

• One thing that may seem strange to state when you start, don’t think about making money; instead, think about building a solid foundation to help your visitors to come through you.

If you feel you are just looking for overnight success, then you might as well stop reading, continue working for someone else, and put up with what your boss tells you to do.

However, if you want valid reasons to be successful in the long term, please continue, and I will show you the best and right way to become a successful affiliate marketer.

No fluff, No BS but authentic ways to learn online; you will find out how to earn while still learning and growing along the way.

Standard terms you will find in affiliate marketing.

You will find these terms as you begin to learn and build your online empire along the way.

Therefore, when you are starting to build your website, you will be ready and have some basic concepts of what they mean.

I have already covered four such terms, such as Merchant, Network, Publisher (which is you), and Customer/Visitor, so rather than repeating this, you can go to the top if you need to.

Affiliate Link

When joining an affiliate program, you will have your affiliate link to promote the products or services.

You place the link within the content on your website, and when a visitor clicks on this, it will take them to the retailer’s site for that particular product or service.

Once they decide to purchase, your affiliate link already contains your affiliate code built-in and is recorded internally with either the Network or merchant.

Once the sales have been finalized, in turn, they will send you the commission for that sale(s).

Affiliate Program

Affiliate Programs are where you can join to promote the product or service available.

The majority of online retailers go through the network organizer, as it is easier to monitor and record all the affiliates they may have.

Working with the Network is more cost-effective for the retailer.

They do not have to collect all the information relating to the affiliate, where the purchase came from (affiliate link), and who needs to get the commission.

It allows the retailer to focus on its business.

Much like a business would hire an accountant or bookkeeper to oversee the company on their behalf.

Above the fold:

Above the fold is the visible portion you see when you visit a website before scrolling down.

Advertiser

The advertiser is also the retailer or merchant.

The advertiser is the one who is selling the product or service.

Alt Text

A short line of text describing the image provided

You will learn more as you begin to build your website.

It can also be part of the next term relating to anchor text.

Anchor Text Anchor Text

A clickable portion, which takes you to another place like the Hyperlink described a bit further below.

It could be a word or words and, when clicked, will either take to your other areas on your website, another website or directly to the advertiser selling the product or service.

Banner Ad

These are new ads added by an affiliate to promote a particular product or service, as you can see on the right-hand side of this website.

Black Hat SEO

This old method was used to get a website ranked up on the top pages of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Today, it is illegal if used; search engines can ban your website. Besides, you can quickly lose all credibility you have worked for doing this.

So please do not try it.

Commission

When a visitor clicks your affiliate link, the customer will purchase the product. Once the sale is completed and verified, you will get a commission on the sale.

The commission will depend on the affiliate program you joined; some can be as little as 3% some can go as high as 50%.

Disclosure

In 2009, the FTC required that all websites provide full disclosure of earnings made.

There are various types of disclosures; this requires many laws to be visible on your website for the visitor to read.

What type of disclosures you need to add to your website depends on your promotion or a statement made on the Niche you have selected.

For example, an “Affiliate Disclosure” would state that this website contains affiliate links to products. “We may receive a commission for any purchased made via these links at no cost to the customer.”

Domain

A domain is the name of the website.

For example, the website you are reading now, successfulaffilaiteru.com (my domain).

Duplicate Content

You are writing content about a particular topic that is unique and original; you cannot copy and paste someone else’s work and claim it as your own.

Search engines will penalize website owners for duplicate content.

As a result of this can be the following, you may get your website demoted via the search engines or even banned entirely depending on how bad the issue is.

HTML

HTML Stands for Hyper Text Mark-up Language.

HTML is a “structuring language” giving the browser “instructions” on how the content is structured.

It helps text documents to show how it looks on the website, such as bold headings and paragraphs.

Hyperlink

Similar to the Anchor Text above, when clicked, it will take you to another area.

It could also be the same website, on a different page, the same page, or to the advertiser’s site.

Inbound Link or Backlink

This link comes from another website that is outside your website.

Please Note:

Although some backlinks can be beneficial to give your website a bit more authority, however, if misused, it can create more problems, which at times can be borderline Black Link SEO.

Therefore, use caution with getting backlinks.

Internal Linking

Here an Inbound link is your internal link that can link to another page or post on your website (This is also an excellent SEO Tool).

The search engines love these compared to backlinks.

Backlinks are another way to use Hyperlinks.

Keyword

They say that content is King, yet keywords are Queen.

An essential aspect when creating content on your website is keywords and is the backbone of ranking on various search engines.

Keywords can be anything.

For example, when you search for something on the internet, they are keywords you are typing.

Google has millions of keywords that people search for every day; that is why the search engines can answer your question based on what you type.

Keywords are essential in affiliate marketing. They assist your websites, pages, and posts to be located online.

It is also a part of search engine optimization (SEO).

Keyword Research

Keyword research is a vital and crucial aspect of your online success.

When creating a post on your website, you will need to do some added research to get the best keyword with the lowest competition.

Choosing the correct keyword will help you rank higher on the search engines giving you a better opportunity to be seen online and make that sale.

Here is an example of the power of Keyword Research in the Jaaxy Research Tool.

Long-Tail Keywords

Although keywords can be one word, however, they can become hard to rank.

The best way is to use Long-Tail Keywords.

The best is a group of about 4-5 words and must make sense.

Meta Description

The Meta description is the short paragraph of text placed in the back-end section of a webpage that describes its content.

You will find this appears under the title of the search you are looking at, and it is a small snippet of the description of the content.

Meta Tags

Again a back-end task, which is essential and can help your SEO.

Meta Title

The meta title is the title of the webpage found on the search engines as someone looks for something specific to what they are seeking.

For example, the Meta title of the webpage you are reading now is “Affiliate Marketing for Beginners.”

Beneath this, you will find the Meta Description as mentioned above.

Niche

The meaning of a Niche is someone looking for something specific to his or her needs or wants.

Therefore, if you are looking for skincare products that are a niche, something someone is looking for, the more specific the Niche, the more focus you can give to those looking for that particular topic.

You can read more on this with “The Niche Definition” here but do not forget to come back when you finish reading that.

You will also notice that when I mentioned “The Niche Definition,” the wording is highlighted differently.

Here is an example of an internal link that will take you to another post on this website.

SEO

There are many techniques to help improve your SEO, which can help you rank higher with the search engines.

Some I have mentioned above, like keywords, Meta tags internal links.

These are a series of various techniques that help your website be found online and help improve your ranking online elsewhere.

You can also read more regarding the (SEO On-Page Optimization Checklist Here).

Outbound Link

Similar to backlinks or external links mentioned above, just another alternative name.

Pages and Posts

You will come up with this when you create content on your website.

Pages are generally static, meaning they usually stay as-is.

Such examples are you’re About Me page, affiliate disclosures, and privacy policy, as they are generally not going to change that much.

On the other hand, posts related to the regular content you create will see this in chronological order from the newest to the oldest.

PageRank

Based on the algorithm that search engines use, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo to help rank your site and is determined by many factors, algorithms are only known to the search engines.

However, some standard techniques can help improve your ranking and website presence.

Some are the proper use of SEO; for example: using high long-tail keywords, creating effective and regular content, internal and external links, and adding specific plugins can help as well.

These are just a small aspect of SEO, and if you use this correctly, your website can rank higher, which is the aim online.

Payment Threshold

A payment threshold is the minimum accumulated commission an affiliate must earn before receiving payment from the affiliate program.

Plugin

A plugin is an add-on with internal coding and, once installed on your website, to enhance its capabilities.

Plugins make life easier for website owners without the need to understand coding.

Caution:

Some plugins are powerful, and some clash with each other or plugins with bad internal coding that can harm your website.

Publisher

The publisher is the affiliate who promotes the products or services on their website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

As mentioned earlier, there are various methods to improve your website.

The main aim of SEO is to have your page ranked high, preferably on the search engines’ first page.

Search Engine

You have heard me mention the word search engines; these are your go-to places when searching the internet.

There are many search engines, but the main ones you main are familiar with are Google, Yahoo, Bing, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Some are more specific to individual countries, but the ones above are the most important and most respected ones to use.

Site map

Site maps are within the back-end section of your website.

All websites must have a sitemap for the search engines to find your website and know what it is about and what is within.

Spiders

No, not those creepy crawly ones, although the search engines that crawl your website use them and identify any new content you have created.

They can come at any time, but you can also let the search engines know that when you have created new content, they can check it out quicker than usual.

It is also known as Web Crawling.

Subdomain

As mentioned above, under the domain, which is the leading website you have.

The subdomains would have a special section, for example, your website’s name followed by say siterubix.com.

Subdomains can also be a new website under the main domain.

However, having a higher domain (TLD) is better than a subdomain, yet both can do well, depending on how you use your SEO and create excellent content with powerful long-tail keywords.

Super Affiliates

These are the elite group of affiliates within an affiliate program.

In the one I belong to, anyone can become a super affiliate.

These super affiliates also receive gift rewards for their hard work and effort.

As a gift, for achieving this level, they get to go to Las Vegas for free regardless of where they live in the world as all expenses are paid for by Wealthy Affiliate.

Their rewards include paid accommodation, airfares, food, and even some extra cash to spend along with meeting and holding conferences with the Co-founders who provide all this for the Super Affiliate.

Although this is not your common way to reward your achievers, the Co-Founders certainly go out of their way to reward those that work hard and achieve great results.

Text Link

Text Links help to link directly to the advertiser’s website.

Top-Level Domain (TLD)

The top-level domain is the portion of the domain address that generally ends after the dot.

There are three considered the best to use worldwide such as .com .net or .org being the main and most important ones.

As compared to the subdomains mention above.

It is always best to purchase one that you own yourself, which would include the TLD.

Traffic

Traffic indicates the number of visits your website gets and can be found usually with Google Analytics or Bing Webmaster Tools, free to use and connect with once you have created your website.

Traffic is only visible to you which can help you see where the traffic is coming from and how many are visiting your site.

With Google Analytics, you can see this daily.

More training within the training platform is included, along with more in-depth details for those with some further knowledge.

URL

URL is an acronym, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator.

In simple terms, this is your website address, which is at the top of the search engine browser you are on one now.

Web Hosting

Web hosting is a service provider that allows your website to be stored on its servers to be visible on the internet.

Many may charge you for this service, but shortly I will discuss a bit further down one that is included free with many added features that you may need to pay elsewhere.

White Hat SEO

White Hat SEO is the opposite of Black Hat SEO.

Here the correct methods are used to help improve your search performance on search engines.

This is by no means a detailed list of terms used as some are more advanced in their actions, which you will become aware of as you learn and grow your website later on.

However, you will most likely come across it at the beginning stage when you create your website.

Where can I learn all of this?

In two words: Wealthy Affiliate.

Primarily a training platform that will teach you many essential elements required to learn how to build a solid foundation for your website and the right way to succeed online.

However, it has become more than a training platform in the 17 odd years since it first started.

Here you will learn not only how to build a solid foundation for your website, but you will also get many other features free as part of your membership.

Many other places will charge you separately for some of the free benefits you get as a member, which adds to your cost.

Types of memberships available.

There are 3 forms of memberships available within Wealthy Affiliate which are as follows.

Starter membership (Free to Start)

The free starter membership gives you two separate courses containing ten lessons in each.

This is a test drive feature that will give you an insight into some premium features as well as a bonus.

As a starter member, you have 1 free subdomain SiteRubix website to test the waters with free hosting to see if this is for you.

You can choose to stay as a free member with just the two courses available, or you can take the second option and upgrade to the next level which is.

Premium Membership

This is the Second and very popular Premium Membership.

Once you become a premium member, you automatically unlock so much more training and resources now available to you.

Instead of two separate training levels as with the Free Starter membership you now have over 120 lessons from the two courses shown below.

Plus you also have Free hosting with your premium membership with up to 5 websites along with an additional 52 Live training classes on top of the two courses given.

As a bonus for joining Premium, you also get free credits to purchase your own top-level domain (value at $15) with many additional extras you would normally have to pay elsewhere.

The first Course called Online Entrepreneur Certification

Here you will learn how to create a website along with getting an understanding of your Niche.

Refer to the Level One Image below.

The second course is Affiliate Bootcamp, where you get Phase 1 again 5 lessons within as shown below.

This second course is for those that wish to promote Wealthy Affiliate, but not just that you will get more advanced training in other areas to take you further online.

Not to mention the regular monthly commissions you received when you refer a new premium member along the way.

Starter members can promote Wealthy Affiliate and should their referrals go premium, the commission is usually half of what a premium member would receive.

But it gets better with the final membership where the commissions are so much higher.

Premium Plus Membership

This is now becoming the fastest and most popular membership now.

As a Premium Plus member you will get not one but 2 free top-level domains (value $30) as part of your package deal and again all additional benefits that you may need to pay extra elsewhere.

You can also host up to 10 domains for free as a member. That alone can save you hundreds elsewhere.

Here you get all that Premium has to offer but in addition to the two courses and the 52 classes per year you also received an additional 200 live video training.

All the live video training is recorded, and due to time zones worldwide if you are unable to catch it live you can see the recordings anytime and as often as you want.

Kyle and Carson, who are the co-founders of Wealthy Affiliate, are also the same as I mention above who give their super affiliates that bonus gift to Las Vegas.

That way, if you feel you cannot be successful online and live your dreams, you can opt out anytime you wish with no pressure to become premium.

The training platform teaches members how to become affiliate marketers and be successful online and be part of a community with over 2,400,000 members.

On top of all I have already stated, the Premium Plus members have more added training from the Super Affiliates giving their views and ways that got them to the top of the ladder again recorded live and available when you wish to see.

You will also find a live chat room in which you can ask questions if needed, also note it is 24/7 as members are from all around the world.

There is so much to cover on what you get, too much to state here so click this link which will show you the differences between the three.

When you are motivated and inspired by what you receive you can simply fill in the details and get started straight away.

Therefore, what is the cost to join Wealthy Affiliate?

For starter members, as I said, it is free to join no credit card is required either.

To join, follow the prompts given to you from the link above.

All you do to join is, fill in a username, create a small profile about yourself, and add an image of yourself along with an email address.

Only Wealthy Affiliate will know your email address and any other private details when you fill in the details.

The starter membership is free, and the aim, as I said, is for you to see if this is for you.

For the premium version, you will only pay $49 per month or if you go yearly it would be $497 saving you a further $91 which works out to be nearly 2 months’ savings from the monthly cost.

For Premium Plus it is $697 yearly or $99 per month

By going yearly you are actually saving $491 per year compared to the monthly cost of

$99 per month.

The best method to pay is to create a free PayPal account then link that to your bank.

Once set up and you have completed all your details, payment is automatic via PayPal, so you do not have to worry about when your membership is due.

Yearly best Option

As you can see, going yearly is the cheapest method, and by going annually, you tend to be more committed to making your dreams come true.

Who knows, you could be the next super affiliate earning that trip to Las Vegas free.

Nevertheless, as I mentioned initially, this is not an overnight quick rich scheme to make money.

Dedication, focus, and forward action on your behalf, along with some hard work, primarily at the beginning stage.

As you apply this and follow the training, you can become successful online. How much you can earn is up to how much effort you put into your website.

Remember, it is up to you how far and successful you become.

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.

Although the training is at its highest, it is your action and responsibility for your success online.

Help is always there from the community members, along with the co-founders.

There is also a 24/7 real support team for premium members that generally respond within minutes of your request should you required added technical support.

Therefore, if this is for you and you want to become a successful affiliate marketer and find that financial freedom working from home online, this is for you.

To take action, refer to the last point below.

How to Get Started Now

I promise you will learn a lot; you have support and assistance from the members here and the super affiliate as well, and there is a lot to learn and a lot to gain.

Many members have also created some training of their own for you to benefit from, along with their experiences of how they became successful.

The choice is yours

What you need to think about is why and the reasons you want to be successful online.

Yes, having that added money is excellent.

Still, if you are only thinking about money, you will struggle.

The best way is to think of how you can be of service to others by promoting your website and offering your visitors; the money will come later.

The first point is to gain credibility for your website and then be found on the search engines for your future customers to see you.

If you cannot do that, the money will not happen; that is why we need to take out the money thinking; regardless of how important it may be and why we want it.

Focus on building a solid foundation to create great content for your readers and offer the best way to want your readers to want.

All else will fall into place.

Wishing you much success in all you do, and always remember to believe in yourself, enjoy what you do and keep going forward.

Giving up is not an option, but a choice that will determine if you are three feet from gold or give up when you are so close.

So if you are ready to learn, earn, and grow online, here is your opportunity to join now.

I will be on the other side to welcome you, and there will be an additional bonus for you should you take my offer and become a premium member within the first seven days.

The best way to get started here is within Wealthy Affiliate.

Be the success that you deserve to be