How to Do Affiliate Marketing Step-by-Step
Welcome to the Affiliate Marketing Guide for Beginners at Affiliate Savant.
In this free affiliate guide, you'll learn how to plan and build your own affiliate website. I'll guide you from niche selection to content creation to earning your first commission online.
Your Guide
My name is L.E. McArthur, and I've been running a successful affiliate business for nearly twenty years. I love what I do, and want to help other independent entrepreneurs create their own success stories.
This guide is free because I am not a course creator, nor do I sell my own products. I'm a proud affiliate marketer and this is what I do best.
I believe that the best way for me to teach affiliate marketing is by example. So this website, Affiliate Savant, is an affiliate site in itself. And I'll be building a second affiliate website in the open to share real-life examples as you work through the guide.
Sound interesting? Let's get started.
How to Use this Affiliate Marketing Guide
If you're still a bit hazy about the big picture of affiliate marketing and how it all works, give yourself a quick overview by reading my introduction to affiliate marketing:
What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does it Work?
Once you've got those basics down, chapter one will answer important questions you might have when considering getting started with affiliate marketing.
By the end of chapter one, you'll either be thinking, "Hell yes!" or "Hell NO."
If you decide to proceed, look at the list of chapters below for your roadmap to affiliate marketing success.
The Affiliate Guide: Chapter by Chapter
May 2022
Please note that this affiliate guide is currently a work in progress and is being released chapter by chapter. If you would like to receive an email as each chapter is published, please subscribe to Affiliate Savant.
1. Affiliate Marketing Questions and Answers
Chapter one of the affiliate marketing guide for beginners is dedicated to you. Before leaping into the unknown of building and promoting an affiliate website, you should know what you're getting into!
Cover the most common questions people ask about creating and running affiliate sites. Get the low-down from an experienced affiliate and decide if affiliate marketing is right for you.
2. How to Choose a Niche for Your Affiliate Website
Get ready for some brainstorming. Choosing a niche for your affiliate marketing site is one of the most important steps you'll take on this journey.
Chapter two takes you through niche selection considerations and how to choose an affiliate niche using research and best practices.
3. How to Choose a Domain Name for Affiliate Marketing
Before we start building, your affiliate website is going to need a home address. Your domain name is not only where people can find your site, but is usually the site name, or brand, as well.
In chapter three you'll learn how to choose and buy the best domain name for your affiliate project.
4. How to Build Your Affiliate Marketing Website
You've done your research and now it's time to put a website plan into action. Prepare your early website content and get ready to build.
Follow step by step as we acquire hosting, install WordPress, set up a theme, and get your first pages published.
5. Affiliate Marketing Content Strategy
Congratulations, you now have your own affiliate niche site. Are you excited to get writing and publishing? Or overwhelmed?
Before diving in let's make a website content plan. Learn how to use keyword research to identify topics, how to structure your content, and how to write affiliate content in chapter five.
6. How to Find and Join Affiliate Programs
Did you know almost every product or service sold online has an affiliate program? There are many choices for affiliate bloggers to choose from.
In chapter six, learn how to find and evaluate affiliate programs within your niche and ensure you get accepted.
7. How to Set Up Your Affiliate Links
Once you've joined affiliate programs it's time to add affiliate links to your content so you can start earning.
Chapter eight of the affiliate guide explores the best ways to set up affiliate links in order to track results and optimize for success.
8. How to Get Traffic to Your Affiliate Site
You've got an affiliate site with some content, and now it's time to learn more about increasing your traffic. After all, we need visitors to make sales.
In chapter nine, you'll learn about different traffic sources for affiliate marketing, with a focus on SEO and other "free traffic" sources.
9. How to Improve Your Affiliate Conversion Rate
Chapter ten of the beginner's guide to affiliate marketing delivers the strategies needed to unlock your website's full earning potential.
We'll look at on-page, on-site, and off-site factors that affect your conversion rate and what you can do to maximize sales.