No one person follows the same path. So answering the question “how to become an affiliate marketer” will be different for each person. Some people unknowingly choose to go about things the hard way. While others, through their own smarts or plain luck, take a smart shortcut.
Today we’ll go over an affiliate marketing business plan so you can take the shorter route.
The Hard Way to Become an Affiliate Marketer
The hard way involves a couple of classic mistakes
- Waiting for the perfect plan
- Trying to start for free and not having the right tools
- Doing everything on your own and not listening to the experience of others
- Blindly copying others
- Starting and stopping again
The end result is that this type of person either quits before they can see success, or they require years to get started. They dip their toe in every now and again, trying something new and when they don’t see immediate results.
The Shortcut How to Become an Affiliate Marketer
The alternative way is much quicker and more satisfying thanks to the great clarity you will experience along the way.
A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future. – General Patton
The only downside is that you need some planning, some help and you will have to invest some money upfront.
If you want to quit your 9-to-5 soon, then this is the only option available to you.
How to Become an Affiliate Marketer in 5 Steps
1. Do your research
It’s important not to go into any situation blind. You need to know what you’re facing and what results you can expect. That’s where research comes in to play.
Before you start, you need to make sure you know some fundamentals like
- What affiliate marketing is
- How affiliate marketing works
You also need to learn some of the common mistakes beginners make and so basic information including best practices like
- Why you should track your campaigns
- The basics of how to optimize an affiliate campaign
You can find this information from
- Blogs (especially this one;))
- Courses
- Forums
- Online groups (such as affiliate marketing facebook groups)
A word of warning. While research is good and important, you shouldn’t do too much. There comes a point when you can feel overwhelmed from learning too much and learning can be an excuse from taking action.
At some point, you need to stop thinking and start doing.
2. Make a plan
Once you’ve finished your research, it’s time to assemble your plan. This should contain
- What type of offers you will focus on (app downloads, eCommerce, betting)?
- What ad formate(s) you will start with (pop, push, native)?
- When you will work on your business (If you are balancing a 9 to 5, family, and social life; time won’t find you)?
- What are your success criteria and checkpoints (How do you know how you are progressing)?
Your plan is essential for your success. If you don’t have a plan then you are more likely to get distracted or disappointed when you don’t see immediate results. Having a plan helps you get through a difficult period where you are still learning and might not see obvious progress.
But remember, as general Patton said you don’t need a perfect plan. You will make mistakes at the start and learn from them. You need a “good enough” plan and action.
3. Plan your finances
Related to your plan are your finances. At the start, you will need to invest some money to get started. After all, you need to buy some traffic and set up your technology to host landing pages and track everything. You need to make sure you have enough cash ready to carry out your plan.
If you want to run high event traffic with landing pages and track but you don’t have the cash to cover those needs, then you need to adapt your plan.
4. Get your offers and traffic sources ready
With your plans all set up, it’s time to take action. You need to sign up to some affiliate networks so you can find good affiliate offers to promote. It can even be a good idea to get the same offer from different networks (this is a really simple AB test that you can do and is a great way to start A/B testing).
Once you’ve got your offers ready, you need to find a traffic source that will bring the right type of visitors. Check out our guide to finding the right traffic source.
When you’ve found a suitable traffic source, you need to sign up and make a deposit which you can use to buy traffic. Here, again, your plan comes into action. Knowing your finances and budgets will help you invest the right amount as well as responsibly respond to how well or poorly a particular offer or traffic source does.
5. Get your technology in place
Once you have an offer ready and credit in at least one traffic source, you should get the various pieces of technology you need together. That includes
- Technology to host landing pages
- Technology to track your campaigns
But it might also include a computer and reliable internet connections so you can run your campaigns.
Now you should have
- A plan
- An offer or two to promote
- Some traffic sources to provide traffic to your offers
- The tools you need to do the work and track your offers.
All that’s left is to get started. Once you do, you will learn what you could never have from reading online. That will help you improve your plan and action steps.
Start Your Affiliate Marketing Business Today
When you sign up to Voluum, not only will you have all your tracking needs immediately met, you’ll also receive over 2,000 hours of educational materials and customer support. It’s the perfect way to start your affiliate business.
Get the best Affiliate Tracker to start your business
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