Table of Contents
Understanding the Basics
If you are new to making money online it can be intimidating figuring out where to start. The internet is full of scams and new ways promising to make you money. It’s important to educate yourself on the basic business strategies people are using to make money online today
In all online businesses you earn money by providing or creating some sort of value. This can be selling physical products and merchandise or digital products and services. All business owners understand the importance and value of quality referrals. These online referral process is known as Affiliate Marketing and it is done through specialized links which earn you commissions.
Affiliate Links are one of the most common ways people monetize their content. You can often see these links in a channel bio and in comments sections. This is what allows the affiliate marketer to track their referral traffic and earn commissions when these visitors make a purchase.
Low Cost
Affiliate Marketing is great for beginners due to very low investment startup costs. It costs nothing to create your own affiliate links and start earning money. You will only need some basic software and tools to build your own platform to promote your affiliate links.
Compared to other online business models such as drop shipping or e-commerce, affiliate marketing can be done on the smallest budget. We will be discussing how to harness free traffic to build a long term sustainable business.
Basic Tools and Software
Domain and Hosting
You will need to purchase a domain name that you will use to create your website. These can be purchased for less than $9 per year. Many hosting providers will offer a free domain name with a purchase of their hosting plan. If you need to purchase multiple domains, NameCheap is one of the best options on a budget.
For hosting I recommend using HostGator’s shared hosting plan. This will allow you to host multiple domain names as you create different businesses. As your business and traffic needs grow you can expand your plan for more bandwidth.
Hosting your own website will give you the maximum amount of control over your brand. You won’t have to worry about getting banned off any social media channel. All of your different free traffic platforms will direct visitors to your site where you can collect emails and earn money.
Web Design Tools
WordPress
WordPress offers one of the best ways for beginners to build a professional looking website quickly. Many top brands use WordPress for their websites and online stores. Thousands of plugins enable advanced integration with email autoresponders and other tools.
Elementor is one of the most popular WordPress development tool available. The upgrade version of Elementor PRO will enable full design customization for every aspect of your website. This will enable you to create submission forms that easily integrate with your email tools.
Elementor PRO is also one of the best value tools available at $50 per year. This is a fraction of the cost of other popular online business platforms like Shopify and ClickFunnels. Elementor PRO will enable you to create a highly professional online business.
E-Mail Auto Responder
Your email autoresponder will be your primary money making tool. This is where you will send out broadcast emails to your email list audience. You will be able to create fully customized automated sequences that educate visitors about your brand. Your emails will provide value and different offers.
Active Campaign is a popular option for Affiliate Marketers on a budget starting at less than $20 per month for less than 500 email entries. As you grow your email list you should be making enough to cover the pay for expanded email services.
Minimal Risk
Like any business activity, affiliate marketing has some risk. In this case your only expenses are your basic website and auto responder services for less than $100 per month. You will be selling other people’s products and earning commissions. Avoid the hassles that come with providing things like customer support, and returns.
This article will be focusing on using free traffic instead of paid ads to further reduce this risk. For most beginners spending money on paid ads will be a complete waste. More importantly is creating quality content that will naturally attract viewers long term and earn money. The conversion rates on organic search traffic are much higher than paid ads and interruption marketing.
You will have the highest degree of control over your online business on the website you own. Any social media website can remove any channel at any time for any reason with no recourse or explanation. When you acquire a visitors email address that becomes your full intellectual property.
High Profit Margins
With the rise of e-commerce, selling physical products online is highly competitive with shrinking profit margins. Things like inflation, lost items, rising shipping costs and delays can be difficult challenges for a beginner. Customers may also requests refunds or make claims against your business.
After paying the product costs, shipping costs, and other expenses it can often be more trouble than it’s worth. This is another example of the importance of building an email list. Selling physical products and starting an e-commerce businesses would be much easier with a built in audience to advertise to.
The commissions on selling digital products are usually very high, up to 100%. Digital products can be sold an infinite amount of times for pure profit. Affiliate marketers will also gain email addresses they can offer additional products and services.
Recurring Income
Some affiliate programs offer recurring commissions on their services. This means that if your visitor makes a purchase from your link, you’ll earn money as long as they stay a customer. Having monthly recurring income can greatly grow your business by providing consistent income.
This will allow you to focus on creating more content, which will grow your audience and create a positive feedback loop. This can overcome much of the self doubt beginners have and grow their confidence. When you earn profits that is the market responding by encouraging you to produce more.
The profits you make from your email list will also be re-occurring. You will be sending out weekly broadcast emails full of valuable content and offers. This will give you a chance to gain the trust of your audience and earn their business. If you provide great value, they will likely remain a customer.
Scalable Growth
Affiliate Marketing allows you to scale your business without increasing the other problems that come with running a business. You will avoid dealing with customer support related issues, refunds, and many others. This will allow you to focus on marketing related activities which will create long term profits.
Your email list will become your most valuable asset that earns you money. The average return on email marketing is approximately $1 per month, per email. Its easy to see how growing an email list can quickly start earning thousands of dollars per month.
As you start earning your first commissions you will get a huge boost to your confidence that will motivate you to continue taking more action. You will be creating a real business you will be proud to share with friends and family. You will become an authority figure in your niche that people will trust for advice and reccomendations.
Building a Real Business
Affiliate Marketing should be treated like a real business, because it is. You will be responsible for things like paying taxes and other legal requirements. You should contact a tax professional and lawyer for questions regarding laws and taxes in your area.
You should be proud of all your hard work creating an engaging brand. This will be a bit of a mindset shift for beginners, who most likely have always been employees. Earning money from an online business isn’t based on the number of hours worked, but rather the amount of value you can provide.
The downside is that you must first provide value by creating content before you will ever earn money. The upside is that when you do start earning money, it will likely keep coming and growing. Your website will be working for you 24/7/365 generating income.
Creating Your Own Affiliate Offers (Advanced)
In future articles we will cover how you can take your affiliate marketing business to the next level by creating your own affiliate offers. This will allow other people to promote your products so you can grow your business even more. You only pay a percentage after each sale.
Other internet marketers will send your offer out to their lists of hundreds of thousands of emails in the hopes of selling your product. This will create a tremendous amount of traffic and new customers for your business. All of the content you produce will help new visitors find your different offers.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.