Affiliate marketing is nothing new. It’s been around for many years in some way, shape, or form. But to you, it may be the next big thing.
If you’re interested in getting started with affiliate marketing in 2020, there are some key steps you must take to position yourself for success. Without the right setup and approach, you could make poor decisions that hold you back in the early days and scare you away from sticking around until you gain traction.
Before we discuss how to get started, keep in mind that no two affiliate marketing strategies are identical. What works for you may not work for the next person, and vice versa. This is why it’s imperative to formulate your own strategy, based on your experience, knowledge, interests, and goals.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about how to get started with affiliate marketing in 2020:
1. Choose Your Niche
You don’t want to spread yourself too thin early on. It’s best to choose a niche or two – such as travel and weight loss – and learn about them inside and out.
As you gain experience and determine where your interests lie, you can expand into other niches to ensure that you’re using your time wisely and positioned for success.
2. Build a Website
Choosing a niche is just the start. Once you know what you’re promoting, you then need a website that’s designed to attract buyers.
Do it yourself or hire a professional, just make sure you do so with conversions in mind. You can have the best copy and the most beautiful website, but if it doesn’t convert visitors into buyers your affiliate marketing career will be short-lived.
3. Experiment with Traffic Generation Strategies
In a perfect world, you’d score loads of traffic to your website via search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. But in the real world, you know that it takes time for this to happen.
So, while it’s important to optimize your website for the search engines, it’s a must to consider other ways to drive traffic in the short term. Options include:
- Pay per click advertising
- Social media
- Offline marketing and advertising
Don’t hesitate to experiment with anything that could drive qualified traffic to your website. And remember, it’s okay to spend money upfront if it’ll make you more in the long run. For example, this is the backbone of pay per click advertising.
4. Experiment with Different Offers
Imagine this: you’re successful in driving visitors to your website, but your conversion rate remains low.
Yes, this is a problem. However, there may be a solution: experiment with different offers.
Maybe your visitors aren’t interested in weight loss product #1, but fall in love with a similar product. You have to experiment with different offers to understand where you can have the most success.
5. Test Everything
Affiliate marketing is all about testing, testing, and testing some more. If you neglect to do this, you’ll never reach your full potential. For example, test the following:
- The products you’re promoting
- The layout of your page
- The content on your page
- Colors
- The use of images and videos
- The checkout process
Sometimes a small change is all it takes to generate big-time results. This can be as simple as adding or removing an image, moving content above the fold, or swapping out one color for another.
There is no right or wrong way to get started with affiliate marketing. In simple terms, it’s all about diving in, experimenting, and seeing where you end up.
Some people find success on day one, while others have to fight an uphill battle for several months (or longer) until they make their first sale.
While the affiliate marketing industry has changed many times over the years, success is there for the taking. The new year may be the right time for you to make your foray into this industry!
