Course Book
Table of Contents
Introduction. 3
Module 1 – Affiliate Marketing 101. 8
Module 2 – Get Started in Affiliate Marketing. 18
Module 3 – Choosing Products and Services to Promote. 25
Module 4 – Build Your Web Presence and Create Valuable Content 32
Module 5 – Conclusion and Next Steps 47
Introduction
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners are intrigued by the concept of passive income – an income that takes little to no effort to earn. Beyond the initial setup, much of the business is automated, allowing you to “make money while you sleep.”Though there are many ways to earn passive income, affiliate marketing is one of the best and most popular methods.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an arrangement where a business (the merchant) pays an individual or company (the affiliate) a commission for sales, clicks, or leads that the affiliate generates through their own marketing efforts. Affiliate marketing is performance-based: If you don’t ‘sell’, you don’t earn.Affiliate marketing is all over the Internet, from multi-billion-dollar companies powered by affiliate marketing like Amazon and eBay, to blogs with affiliate links in their posts, to review sites centered around a specific topic or niche. But no matter how modest or massive the example is, what fuels all affiliate-merchant relationships and allows interactions to be tracked is the all-important affiliate link. This link contains a unique code that identifies the affiliate, so when a customer clicks that link and performs the required action (purchase, install, call, etc.), the affiliate receives a commission.
As you progress through this course, you will see how you can capitalize on this relationship and start earning income, even if it isn’t completely “passive.”
“Passive” Income
Being a successful affiliate marketer requires effort and commitment. Much has changed since the early days of affiliate marketing. Before Google updated its algorithms, even hobbyist bloggers could share links to products within their content and a simple organic search on Google would direct people to them. But even this wasn’t truly passive income, as these early bloggers put in hours creating relevant content that their audience loved and trusted. For many of them, the link income was just an unexpected bonus.Now it takes more effort to earn income with a blog, niche website, review site, or social media post that contains affiliate links. You must establish a niche, build your target audience, continuously create valuable content, drive traffic to your site using SEO strategies, find products that people will want to click on, and then maximize the number of clicks that convert to sales.
But if you do take these steps, affiliate marketing can present you with the opportunity to earn a ‘semi-passive’ income by promoting other people’s products and services.
The Benefits of Becoming an Affiliate
Low Startup and Operating Costs
If you were creating and selling products yourself, the initial startup costs would be significant: production of goods, labelling, advertising, shipping, hiring employees, etc. To launch an affiliate business, all you need is a computer, Internet access, and content. As you build, if you want to include a website or blog in your affiliate marketing plan, you may need to pay for a domain, web hosting, Google Ads etc., but overall, compared to other businesses, your initial investment is minimal.This streamlined, low-cost business model extends into your day-to-day operations too. You can produce the content, set up free social media accounts, join forums, and build an email list all on your own. And there is generally no fee for affiliates to set up on affiliate networks or join affiliate programs.
The Ability to Earn Day and Night
People will click links while you are asleep, so in this sense, yes: affiliate marketing can be an example of passive income. Everything is automated, so once you place the affiliate link in your content, you don’t have to monitor it 24/7.Exposure to a Large Audience
By establishing a web-based affiliate marketing business, you aren’t limited by geographic location – you have a much larger audience base and therefore more opportunities to earn commissions.Whether you are a blogger looking to monetize your audience, or a marketer who wants to create a niche review website, or a small business owner who wants to integrate affiliate marketing into their existing business, this course will give you all the tools you need to get started.
Here is your roadmap through the course:
Learning Objectives:
By the time you complete this course, you’ll be able to:Recognize what it takes to be a successful affiliate marketer, so that you can position yourself to maximize your affiliate income.
Establish a niche you are passionate about, giving you the drive to continuously generate more commissions.
Identify the products and services that your target audience will be most interested in, so you can choose affiliate marketing programs that are worth spending time promoting.
Build your web presence with valuable content that’s relevant to your target audience, so you can build the relationships that result in people trusting your recommendations.
Learn how to analyze the performance of your affiliate marketing, so you can build your audience, increase conversions, and continue to grow your affiliate marketing income.
This course is broken down into 5 modules to take you step-by-step through Affiliate Marketing for Beginners.
The modules follow a logical order, so while you can skip around if you want, it’s best to work through them one at a time.
As you go through each module, use your Action Guide to help you complete the Action Steps at the end of each.
Expectations
Before we start the course, take a minute to think about what you want to get out of it.In the Action Guide, write down three skills you expect to gain.
Now that you’re clear about what you want this course to deliver, we can get started.
