Learn How to Do Affiliate Marketing for Beginners Free – Get Started Now!

Are you looking for reliable and actionable information on how to do affiliate marketing for beginners? Tired of all the hype? So are we and that is why we created this 100% free course designed to help you get started with affiliate marketing at your own pace and for a minimal cost. We’ll cover the basics, and guide you through each step so you can feel confident as you begin. No pressure, just clear, easy-to-follow information to help you build a solid foundation and learn how to do affiliate marketing step by step.

Best of all we will show you how to get started for less than $45 per year in business, including domain name and one year of website hosting from Shock Hosting.

Before we get started, we want to be honest and transparent from the start. Affiliate marketing does work and it can indeed lead to a significant full time income, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme and takes time to work!

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate performance marketing business model that will allow you to make money online from home, however and just like any legitimate business, it requires time, effort, and dedication. Success does not happen overnight, or realistically even in the first 60-90 days.

In fact, if we are honest, you will more than likely not make six figures your first year and the probability is that you will not make six figures for several years. While this does happen and there are many successful affiliates that make six figures per year; it is rare that it happens to a new affiliate.

My first four sites never made a dime. My fifth site made about $85 in the first year. It was not until my ninth site and niche before I was able to consistently make money with affiliate marketing. I grew that site to a consistent $3000 per month and held the top spot in a niche financial site for over 3 years until I lost it to Nerd Wallet. That was 2 years and 9 sites in.

There’s no magic bullet, no special sauce, and no shortcut to bypass the work! If you are tired of the hype and empty promises and are looking for solid information on how to do affiliate marketing, you have come to the right place.

What we’re offering you at Affiliate Sprout is different. We are offering you a totally FREE learn how to do affiliate marketing for beginners course with realistic, actionable info that will help you start your affiliate marketing journey with the right mindset and expectations.

So, if you’re ready to put in the work and learn how to build a successful affiliate business the right way, let’s get started.

What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does it Work?

If you are not exactly sure what affiliate marketing is, in the simplest terms, it is a way for you to make money online with a website by promoting other peoples products. You earn a commission every time someone clicks your affiliate link and makes a purchase. Think of it like you are a commission only sales rep. The only time you make money is when your customer take a specific action, like making a purchase, signing up for a trial offer, entering their zip or postal code, etc.

What Affiliate Marketing Is Not!

Before we get started, we want to help get rid of some of the hype and empty promises that make affiliate marketing look like a get rich quick scheme. This is often done to get you to buy overpriced how to do affiliate marketing courses that is often filled with rehashed or outdated methods that no longer work. Thus leaving the customer feeling like they have been scammed and giving affiliate marketing in general a bad name.

Stop buying into the hype often heard on YouTube & TikTok videos. Yes affiliate marketing is legit and you can make a decent side income and some people are even full time affiliates, but there are a lot of misconceptions out there. Here are some truths that often get overlooked or overhyped:

You Do Not Have to Have a Website: Technically, they are right, you can promote just an affiliate link on social media, whatever. Realistically, most, if not all affiliate networks require at least a bridge or landing page to be approved for their program(s). Seriously, get a domain and the low shock web hosting plan from Shock Hosting for less than $45 and get started the right way.
Anyone Can Do It Without Any Skills: While you don’t need to be a tech expert, understanding things like HTML, CSS, marketing and SEO really helps and will significantly shorten the time to success, but if you are willing to put in the time, it is awesome and could pay off nicely in the end.
It’s Not Truly Passive Income: While affiliate marketing can and normally does generate income over time, it requires ongoing effort. You will always have something to do like updating content, building backlinks, and driving traffic. You got people wanting your position in the SERP’s, Google updates to contend with and way more. Seriously, there is always something that can and should be done! And if your really crushing it, you are maintaining multiple sites while you are building out your next affiliate marketing website.
You Don’t Have to Care About the Products You Promote: While this is true, you should at least care about your visitor enough to care about the product you are promoting. This will end up biting you in the end. It’s important to promote things you believe in and would or have used yourself. It shows in your recommendations and reviews as well as builds trust and rapport with your audience. It lets them know they can book mark your site for future reference, because your are a reliable source of information to address their needs.

Key Players in Affiliate Marketing: Who Does What

Affiliate (You): Promotes the product or service.
Merchant: The creator or seller of the product.
Affiliate Network: An intermediary that manages the affiliates and tracks their commissions (e.g., ClickBank, Amazon Associates).
Customer: The end user who buys the product or service through your referral.

1. Choosing Your Affiliate Marketing Niche

Choosing a niche in affiliate marketing is an important first step in building a successful business. It’s worth taking the time to choose a niche that allows you to focus on a specific audience, build credibility, and create content that truly connects with people.

Think about areas that match your interests, knowledge, and what the market is looking for. It’s important to find a balance between your passions and what’s in demand, while also making sure there’s room for affiliate products that your audience needs.

Take the time to research trends, see what your competition is doing, and understand the potential for profitability in a possible niche. By picking the right niche, you’ll be able to create meaningful content that speaks to your audience and, over time, supports a steady stream of affiliate income.

Tips to Help You Choose Your Affiliate Marketing Niche:

Turn Your Passion into Profits

Passion: Choose a niche that you’re truly interested in and, ideally, have some experience with. Your passion will keep you motivated, especially on days when creating content feels tough or when results take time to show up.
Profitability: It’s important to make sure your niche has a real audience and offers affiliate programs that pay well. You can use free tools like Google Trends and the Ahrefs free keyword generator to get a sense of interest and competition in your chosen niche.

Affiliate Marketing Niche Research

Brainstorm Ideas: Start by listing topics that you’re passionate about. What Problems Can You Solve?: Think about the problems your audience is facing. Look for ways you can help solve those problems with products and services that are well-researched and relevant.
Check the Competition: Look at the other businesses in your niche. High competition might mean there’s good money to be made, but it can also mean it’s harder to stand out.
Check Difficulty: Use free tools like Ahrefs to find niches that are easier to rank for, with over 100 monthly searches. These niches tend to have lower competition and clearer search intent, making them easier to target.
Evaluate Monetization Potential: Look for niches with products or services that people are already willing to pay for. Areas like health and wellness, personal finance, tech gadgets, and online education tend to have good opportunities for affiliate marketing.

Here are Some Good Affiliate Marketing Niche Ideas

Not sure what to pick or worried that your passion might not be financially worth it? Here are a few affiliate marketing niches you might consider for your first site. The key is to choose something that you’re either passionate about or have enough interest in to stay motivated, even if things take a while to get going.

Health & Wellness: This includes supplements, fitness programs, and mental health services. While the competition can be tough, targeting specific products and focusing on reviews can help you rank more easily.
Finance: Think credit cards, investment platforms, and financial planning tools. Like health and wellness, it’s a competitive field, but if you use the right strategy, you can still do well with this niche.
Technology: Software, gadgets, and tech tutorials. SaaS offers are especially popular and tend to convert well.
Hobbies: Photography, DIY crafts, and outdoor activities. If you’re into these, they can be a great way to connect with an audience while sharing your knowledge.

Don’t Pick a Niche Just for the Affiliate Commission or Structure.

Choosing an affiliate marketing niche solely based on commission can lead to unsustainable efforts and just bad results. While earning more due to the high commissions may seem like the best way to go, it often comes with challenges that could slow your success. It’s important to consider factors beyond just commission when selecting a niche. Here are some reasons why:

Lack of Passion or Expertise: If you’re not experienced or genuinely interested in the niche, it can be difficult to create engaging content and maintain motivation while your waiting for the $$$ to roll in.
Increased Competition: High-commission items tend to attract more affiliates, making it harder to stand out and requiring more marketing effort and resources.

At the end of the day, the best thing to do is stick with what you know or are interested enough that you can do this when the money is not there. This will take a few weeks to months to start makin money, so be prepared to put some free time in to get started.

Don’t Promoting Products or Services That Are Scams

Seriously bad. Please do not promote products that do not work or tie your customers up in a hard to cancel subscription or with hidden fees or upsells that are hard to avoid. You will get a bad name and these affiliate offers tend to get lots and lots of chargebacks. So best to avoid at all costs.

Do Not Lie to Get People to Buy

Do not promote under the guise that it did something for you when you have not even ordered and tried the product yourself. Seriously, if you want to promote a weight loss product, them purchase the product and try it before telling someone that the product works. Most people do not think of things like this, but lying and saying something works when it does not to get someone to purchase a product that you have not used could be considered fraudulent.

We recommend Shock Hosting, because this site is hosted on Shock Hosting. We recommend Known Host, CrocWeb, MDD, PorkBun and all the other products and services because we use them and trust their products and services.

Honestly, I would make far more promoting HostGator, but HostGator sucks and so does BlueHost, GoDaddy, and most other hosting companies promoted online. They are promoted simply because the pay the most, not because they are the best.

2. Build an Affiliate Marketing Website

A lot of people get tripped up with this, but it is not that hard to create an affiliate website. Below is some solid info and resources to help you get started and make it as easy as possible.

A. Domain Name & Hosting

Domain Name: Choose a domain that reflects your niche and is easy to remember.
- Opt for .com, .net, and .co domains. The sound better and are easier to remember. If available and you have the extra cash, protect your brand and buy all 3!
- Use tools like WordHippo and ChatGPT to help come up with domain ideas.
- Get your domain from Porkbun, Cloudflare, or register with any hosting company for ease.
- Make sure all domains have privacy protection turned on.
Hosting: Webhosting is the life blood of your business. If your site is down, you cannot make money. This is why I always recommend premium web hosting that offers speed, security, and scalability.
- Check out smaller webhosting companies such as ShockHosting, CrocWeb, KnownHost, or MDD Hosting as the tend to offer better services and support than those hosting companies owned by EIG/ Newfold Digital or GoDaddy.
- If you have the cash, opt for plans that allow for hosting more than one domain. This will allow for future growth when you decide to work on the next project. Trust me, once you get this going, your going to be addicted to affiliate marketing. To me, it is just fun and has the benefit of being able to make some money while doing it.

B. Affiliate Website Design

Use WordPress: WordPress is the most popular CMS for building affiliate sites due to its ease of use, flexibility, and extensive plugin ecosystem. Most if not all hosting providers have one click install for WordPress, making it extremely easy to get started.
Themes: Choose a responsive and SEO-friendly theme. GeneratePress and Astra are two of the best themes, they have a free version and paid versions. If you can afford the cost, I highly recommend the upgraded version of each. The premium versions will allow you to remove branding in footer and open up a lot of customization options.

Keep your end user in focus with a simple design that allows your reader to get the information they need with needless distractions. Here is a good video to learn GeneratePress and this one for Astra

Essential Plugins: Install plugins for SEO, caching and contact forms, etc.
- RankMath and SEOPress are best plugins for SEO – Free version of both are just fine
- LiteSpeed – If you are being hosted on servers with LiteSpeed, use this plugin for best performance (ShockHosting, CrocWeb, & MDD offer LiteSpeed servers)
- Contact Form 7 + hCaptcha plugin stops most spam
- Classic Editor
- Classic Widgets
- CookieYes | GDPR Cookie Consent
- Loginizer

These will take care of your most basic needs and I generally don’t worry with anything else unless it is niche specific, like a job board for example.

C. Content Creation

Use ChatGPT and Claude for content research, guidelines, articles, etc. However, take the time to write the content yourself. While it can be really good, there are too many ways to identify AI generated content and while the search engines say they have no issues with it, my AI generated sites do not rank nearly as well as when I take the time to write the content myself. I will use AI to research, but write as much content as I can myself.

Pillar Content: These should be in-depth articles that serve as the foundation of your site. These should address the most critical aspects of your niche.
Cluster Content: This is a group of articles based around your pillar topic. Make six to eight blog posts related to each pillar topic and link to each other and then to the pillar article it supports. This builds internal link and helps search engines crawl your site and show what is important.
Product Reviews: Write honest and detailed product reviews, including pros, cons, and your personal experience.
Tutorials & Guides: Offer how-to guides that solve specific problems for your audience. Link to the pillar and cluster posts above as well as reviews and comparisons.
Comparison Articles: Compare similar products to help users make informed decisions. Link to product reviews, guides, etc.

Do not make this part to be worse than it is. Anyone can do this and once you learn, you may find it fun. If you still cannot stand the idea of this, you have the option of paying someone to make a site for you on Fiverr or buy a premade site on Flippa.

If you feel this is a better option for you, expect to pay $150-$250 for a premade site and then pay for the hosting annually of about $100 per year

3. Monetizing Your Affiliate Marketing Site

Once your site is up and running, it’s time to turn your incoming traffic to money in the bank. Here is what you need to do to make this happen:

A. Sign Up for Affiliate Programs

Amazon Associates: Ideal for beginners due to the easy approval process, vast range of products, low payout threshold and quick payments. However, the commissions paid are low and you can do better. Start here, get some income coming in, build out your affiliate site and then move on to other affiliate networks.
ClickBank: Offers high commissions but is better suited for digital products and weight loss products. Some good stuff here, but also a lot of pure junk. Promote something that you would use yourself and avoid promoting products that appear shady, have unethical rebill options, etc.
CJ Affiliate & ShareASale: Great for accessing a wide range of merchants in different niches.
OfferVault: An awesome resource for finding affiliate offers

B. Place Banner Ads & Text Links in Your Content

By strategically placing the banner ads and text links in your comment, or product recommendations; you can catch the attention of visitors and guide them toward making a purchase. The way to do this is to balance visibility without overwhelming the user experience. Well-placed ads should feel natural and relevant to the content, ensuring they add value rather than detract from the overall site experience. When done right, ad placement can significantly increase affiliate earnings.

In-Content Ads: Integrate naturally into the content, making them more likely to catch the eye of users actively reading. Try placing them at natural break points, like after the first few paragraphs or between sections of the content making sure to match the tone and context of the article.
Banner Ads: Place them strategically above the fold and in high strategic areas such as navigation and sidebars as well as between blog posts to keep them visible without interrupting the readers flow.

C. Email Marketing

Here is the thing with email marketing, most people have a standard fake email address to get freebies, coupons, etc. So they confirm, get the freebie, and then unless you have something really, really good; the chances are converting after the freebie are slim to none. Not my thing, but you could rock at it, so go ahead and try. You never know!

Build an email list using lead magnets (e.g., free eBooks, checklists).
Promote affiliate products to your subscribers through newsletters.

D. Keep it Legal

Federal and some state laws as well as Amazon require you to notify visitors of affiliate links.

Include a disclaimer in a easily viewable place on the page, such as: “Your Website Name is Reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more. ” where learn more links to your affiliate disclosure. Per the FTC, this needs to be easily viewable by all visitors of your site. Read more here.
Amazon requires statements on your website and social media accounts. Click here to see current Amazon Associates link placement requirements.

Be Careful Working with Companies that Just Pay Via PayPal

I know times are hard and companies need to cut costs, but be careful doing business with any company who only pays through PayPal. PayPal is not a payment process or federally regulated and has been known to freeze accounts for various reasons and it takes a long time to investigate and release your funds. Sometimes, funds are not released at all and sent back to the sender. So, do not put your eggs in this basket without some real due diligence to make sure your legit earnings do not get frozen.

4. Driving Traffic to Your Affiliate Site

No traffic, no sales. Driving targeted traffic to your website is crucial for your success.

A. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is often considered the free but slow method. However, it is free in the beginning because you can build the initial foundational links yourself at no cost. However, at some point you will need to get other backlinks and they cost either through a service or building your own PBN (preferable method). So expect to pay money at some point.

On-Page SEO: The practices you implement directly on your website to improve its search engine rankings. This includes optimizing content, images, meta tags, URLs, internal linking, and page structure.
What You Need to Know: Keyword usage, content quality, title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and internal linking. Use RankMath or SEO Press to help you take identify and resolve these issues.
Technical SEO: The technical aspects of your website to ensure search engines can crawl and index it efficiently. It helps improve site speed, mobile responsiveness, and site structure.
What You Need to Know: Website speed, mobile optimization, XML sitemaps, structured data, SSL certificates, and fixing crawl errors.
Off-Page SEO: The strategies used outside of your website to improve its authority and search engine ranking. It primarily focuses on building backlinks, increasing social signals, and establishing online relationships.
What You Need to Know: Backlinks from authoritative sites, your own private blog network, social media activity, guest blogging, influencer marketing, and brand mentions. The only thing you have control of here are the links you own and why I mentioned PBN links. Your going to have to eventually spend money, so why not invest in your own properties that you control outgoing links on. However, do not sell these links. They cease to remain private the moment you start selling links.

B. Social Media Marketing

This can be an excellent source of traffic and provides social proof for your site. It takes a while to build followers, so do not expect fast results.

Leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Pinterest to share your content and engage with your audience. This has honestly been the best route for a lot of people. Build a Facebook and/or Reddit community around your niche.
If you have or can build a solid following, drive traffic with YouTube and TikTok vids to a landing page with your offer.
Utilize services like the $19 Social Signals service from SirLinksAlot.co to build some social signals to your site.

C. Paid Advertising

Instant traffic, but cost per click can be very expensive. Not for the weak of heart or those with shallow pockets. However, the power of paid ads comes from their ability to target specific audiences, track results, and scale up as needed. This means you can tweak your campaigns in real-time based on performance data to get the best possible return on investment.

Google & Bing Ads: Target specific keywords to drive instant traffic through a pay per click model. Clicks can get very expensive, so you need to be very targeted to get the best return on ad spend. Here is an awesome video to get you started.
Social Media Ads: Facebook and Instagram are popular choices for social media ads. Check out this video for Facebook Ads training and here for Instagram ads training.

5. Tracking & Analyzing Your Success

Now that you have your site online and ready to make money, start immediately utilizing the tools below to help you see where your efforts are working and where they need improving so you are not wasting your time.

A. Analytics Tools

The tools and resources below will help you track your site and how well you are doing and show you what needs to be improved. Also, you can use the analytics and to help monitor the accuracy of your affiliate networks and their tracking systems.

Google Analytics: Track traffic, conversions, and user behavior on your website. You can set up goals to monitor affiliate link clicks and sales.
Google Search Console: monitor, maintain, and optimize their site’s presence in Google search results by providing insights into search performance, indexing, and potential issues.
Google Data Studio: Visualize your affiliate performance data and create custom reports for a better overview of your results.
SerpFox: Monitor your search engine results position or SERP with a free account from SERP Fox.
Affiliate Networks: affiliate programs and networks, like Amazon Associates and ShareASale, offer their own reporting tools to track clicks, conversions, and earnings directly within their platforms.

B. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your affiliate site is essential to assess its effectiveness, track progress toward your goals, and optimize your marketing strategies.

Traffic Volume: The number of visitors to your site.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who take the desired action (e.g., making a purchase).
Earnings Per Click (EPC): How how much money you earn for each click on your affiliate links?
Traffic Sources: Identify where your traffic is coming from (social media, organic search, email marketing, etc.).

Regularly review your content, SEO strategy, and monetization methods. Identify what’s working and what needs adjustment. Get rid of efforts that do not produce results and double down on what works.

6. Rinse & Repeat

Once your site gains traction and you are starting to make some income, then its time to do it again. Pick another niche or better yet, pick another product or service in the same niche with another related offer from another affiliate network and build your own PBN of affiliate sites.

Diversify Income Streams: Expand into multiple niches or create additional websites targeting different audiences.
Outsource Content Creation: As your business grows, consider outsourcing content writing, SEO, and marketing tasks to focus on strategy and expansion.
Invest in Paid Traffic: Reinforce your organic efforts with paid advertising to drive more targeted traffic.
Automate Processes: Use tools to automate social media posting, email marketing, and other repetitive tasks.

Learning how to do affiliate marketing is an awesome side business that almost can start and with time and dedication; make a decent side or even full time income. By choosing the right niche, building a helpful and user friendly website, creating valuable content, and implementing effective SEO techniques, you can establish a thriving affiliate marketing business.

At the end of the day, keep perspectives and goals in check. Remember, learning how to do affiliate marketing for beginners doesn’t happen overnight. It is going to take some time, patience, persistence, and your willingness to continuous learning. But with the foundation laid out in this affiliate marketing for beginners guide, you’re well on your way to growing a successful affiliate side hustle and maybe even a full time business.

Get Started Now – Why wait? Seriously, get started now and build your first affiliate site now for less than $45!