There are a few tools that are essential for any online marketing business to be a success. Once you've set up the basics, many of which are free affiliate marketing tools, there are many more tools and resources that will make your life easier every day, and help your business to be a success.
In this page I will share you the essentials you'll need. These are the essentials that I use, and thousands of other successful marketers use.
If you're new to affiliate marketing, I would suggest just starting out the with the basics and becoming very familiar with those tools before getting into the others.
The basics for all affiliate marketers
There are some basic key elements that all affiliate marketers need to get started, and they include:
- A website, including training and support for your website
- A keyword research tool so your content gets noticed in search engines
- Access to affiliate programs so you can make commissions through the products you promote
1. A website builder with hosting: SiteRubix
SiteRubix offers a platform for you to build and host your WordPress websites. You can build a website in a few minutes with SiteRubix, and you don't need to know how to code to do it. In fact, anyone can do it.
SiteRubix have some of the most useful and integrated tools for website analysis, management, ranking, and security including SiteSpeed, SiteProtection, and free SSL.
The SiteRubix platform was created by the founders of Wealthy Affiliate.
Training and support: Wealthy Affiliate
Whether you are new to affiliate marketing or are experienced, the extensive training and support provided by Wealthy Affiliate is second to none. Wealthy Affiliate is the platform that taught me everything from the beginning. The training is suitable for beginners and experienced marketers alike.
There are many benefits of being a part of Wealthy Affiliate. The key ones are:
- The step by step training using a variety of different techniques that suit a range of different learning styles
- The suite of tools are everything you need to get your websites up and running, ranked and monetised
- The support provided through the SiteSupport team 24/7, with access to the founders
- The community of like minded entrepreneurs who help and support each other every day
2. Keyword research: Jaaxy
Relevant keywords are critical for getting people to your site. Keywords drive traffic and therefore sales, so it's important to get it right.
Jaaxy is my 'go to' keyword research tool. There is a free version of the tool that is integrated within Wealthy Affiliate. In my view, it is the best keyword research tool available.
Jaaxy also has a paid version that can be used as a stand alone keyword research tool that makes the life of a marketer more streamlined and simple, and is appropriate for more advanced marketers.
3. Affiliate programs
There are lots of affiliate programs out there. I find that affiliate networks are the best to find relevant products for you to promote on your website. It is always free to join affiliate networks, all you need to do is create an account.
Here are some of the larger affiliate networks:
ClickBank (digital products)
CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
In addition to these, there are thousands of niche related affiliate programs, and all you need to do is a quick google search of your product + affiliate program (e.g. pet products + affiliate program) and you'll be amazed how many results are returned. The sky is the limit when it comes to products to be promoted.
Tools to improve the look and functionality of your site
Canva
This is a FABULOUS tool with awesome features that are free. Make beautiful infographics and images for your websites, and share them on social media. Websites need to be visually appealing, and Canva can help you do that. You can upload your own images into Canva as well as use their existing images. I encourage you to invest some time working with Canva, I know you'll love it. There are paid options within Canva, but the free version has plenty of features and templates.
Thrive Themes Membership
Thrive Themes offer WordPress themes and plugins designed for maximum conversion and ease of use. The themes are simple, uncluttered , and built for readability and clear navigation.
I am a Thrive Themes member which means I have access to the full suite of themes and products. You can also purchase individual product licences if you don't want the full suite.
By purchasing the Thrive Themes Membership, you have access to the full range of training and support. The training is great, and is in walk through video format together with a knowledge base of articles as well as technical support.
Thrive Architect
Thrive Architect is the drag and drop visual editor that makes the creation of your content a breeze. Thrive Architect offers many features that don't come standard in WordPress, like tables of contents, testimonials, count down timers, pricing tables and many, many more. Thrive Architect helps you to create professional looking pages and posts designed to exactly how you want them to look.
The have the ability to change every detail until your posts look perfect such as sizing, margins, fonts and spacing. You just can't get this level of customisation with WordPress. You can also preview your pages on different screen sizes, and tweak the layout and position of elements to be different on different screen sizes.
Creating beautiful, engaging and visually impressive content and layouts in WordPress is much easier with Thrive Architect.
Free stock images
Whilst the Wealthy Affiliate SiteContent platform has access to 1,000,000+ images that are ready to use on your websites, there are some other key sites that have free stock images available for anyone to use without restriction.
The best ones are:
It always pays to be careful with images. On other sites you may need to provide attribution, or there may be limitations with their use.
Lumen 5
Lumen 5 is a great little video tool that creates videos for you based on your content. Simply enter a link to an article or blog post and Lumen5 will automatically fetch the content and populate your storyboard. Lumen5 easily transform articles and blog posts into video content. The free version is an excellent introductory tool and is all you need to get started and make some videos to add to your content and share on YouTube and other social media channels.
Bitly
Bitly is a popular URL link shortener, but it does a few more things than that. It's a tool used to track clicks, see site referrals and get an idea of which geographical locations most clicks are coming from.
Tools to help you manage your online business
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool offered by Google to help you analyse your website traffic and track your digital marketing effectiveness.
The tool allows you to find out how much time your visitors are spending on your site, the pages they are visiting, when they visited, and where they are from around the globe. It is a critical tool to highlight which pages are getting traffic and those that might need to be improved in order to get more traffic, and therefore more money.
Are you ready to start your own affiliate marketing business at no cost to you?
Honestly speaking this is the best blog post about Affiliate marketing website building tools have seen in ages. I can be familiar with siterubix and jaxxy but I’m just seeing the video editing tools and canva. And I’m trying them all immediately, because I’m convinced that all these tools will help buida a better site for my Affiliate marketing. Thanks for post.
Hi Salim,
Thanks so much! And when I discover any new tools I’ll be sure to add them to the page too.
You’ll fall in love with Canva once you try it 🙂
Cheers
Melissa
Thank you for sharing with us this great review on best affiliate marketing tools.As a webmaster it is very important to use best marketing tools to succeed in this business.
Siterubix is very good when it comes to build a free website and I was very happy to use it when I started building my first website and it went well until I bought my own domain.
Jaaxy is amazing tool when it comes to keywords search because it helps in choosing rankable words in search engines.
Hi Julienne,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here and I wish you all the best 🙂
Cheers
Melissa
Hello Admin! Affiliate marketing is a nice way of making money online when one joins the right program. Often times, it is ideal for newbies to have mentors in order to succeed. Like you rightly said, every affiliate marketer needs to have a website and other training tools for successful marketing. Thanks for adding tools that can assist one in improving the functionality and look of one’s website.
Hello Gracen,
You’re most welcome! I hope you found the post of value and I wish you all the best.
Cheers
Melissa
I agree a good training program is essential. I am part of some affiliate networks, including CJ. I admit, I have an extremely hard time using CJ. It just does not seem user intuitive to me. Every time I FINALLY figure out how to request to join a program through them, I seem to get denied. I don’t have this problem elsewhere. Do you have any trainings on CJ?
I rely heavily on Canva, but I have not heard of Lumen 5! Definitely checking this out today. Thanks!
Hi Holly,
I don’t have any training on CJ, and I think it’s worth you reviewing their FAQs and/or contacting their support team. Both are at: https://www.cj.com/support
Lumen5 is fun, I hope you get some value from that.
Cheers
Melissa
I love the way you started your review; Your creative writing attracted me to reading every bit of the article and i must tell you i read every single word from begining to the endWealthy affiliate has been the best thing that has ever happened to me in affiliate world. i have never regretted my actions ever since i joined the community three months ago. The comment 2.0 can never be compared to any other community in the world. The siterubix is an eye opener to blogging. Thanks for sharing
Hi Ola,
Thanks for your kind words! I’m so glad to hear you’re part of Wealthy Affiliate too, and are happy about your choice to do that.
All the very best to you Ola.
Cheers
Melissa
Hello Melissa,
you take on the best affiliate marketing tools is amazing. I have been in the affiliate marketing game seriously for two months now and I am a little bit familiar with some of these tools, just got on canva yesterday and i am loving every minute of it.
this is a great post not only for newbies but anyone who needs to try new things with their online business. Thanks for such a great write up.
Hi affiliate_ghost!,
Glad you’re loving Canva and I hope things are going well for you 2 months in.
All the very best to you.
Cheers
Melissa
I have use this platform, the experience for me is heavenly. I felt bad when I realised that the platform have been existing for over a decade and I never heard about it.Siterubix is the best means of start a blog or website, I pretty much appreciate the fact that it allow users to build standard website without having domain name yet, it can be transferred to new domain at any time.Jaxxy tool? It is my favourite SEO and Keyword research tool.Thanks for this step by step guide on best affiliate marketing tools. With right tool set, earning potential is limitless.
Hi Autofreak,
I only found Wealthy Affiliate in 2017 and like you, wished I’d found it sooner.
I’m glad you’re getting value from siterubix and Jaaxy so far. They’re brilliant tools.
All the very best to you.
Cheers
Melissa
Hi! This is a very interesting topic. So much has been said in this post. And I really appreciate your experience as an affiliate marketer (and your success) to hear from you on this matter. i have been using the siterrubix platform and i can confirm that they are top notch. The fact that Jaaxy keyword was introduced on wealthy affiiate makes everything much more easier. Thanks for the eye opener
Hi Hussaain,
There are certainly many ways to make money online, and some are better than others. It also depends a lot on individual preference, and time to dedicate.
I too love the Jaaxy integration with Wealthy Affiliate. It has make keyword research and writing content SO much more streamlined. One of the many awesome things about Wealthy Affiliate is that they are always adding new and improved features to the platform without increasing the cost of membership.
Wishing you all the best.
Cheers
Melissa
That’s one of the best sites for tools that I’ve seen. I’m only hoping I can write one just as good. You have lots of points to click so one can join and you outline the best tools. You should do well with this site! Of course, I love the topic!
Best wishes! Marsha
Hi Marsha,
Thank you so much! I build on this page all the time – whenever I come across a site that is legitimate and worthy of mention I review it and add it here. I love the topic too 🙂
Thank you for stopping by and I wish you every success.
Cheers
Melissa
Hello Melissa, I absolutely love what I read in this insightful article because it is full of great information. This is fascinating and interesting to me.
As a newbie in affiliates marketing, I started my research till I stumbled on wealthy affiliate program, siterubix is best in creating and building a free blogsite. Jaxxy also is a good tools that helps in searching for a good keywords. I also make use of bitly for shortening of link. Thanks for the review, it’s highly educative.
Hi Whitedove1,
Thank you very much. I’m glad you this useful. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment here.
All the very best to you in your affiliate marketing journey!
Cheers
Melissa
Honestly, even though I am a premium member of the world best Affiliate community, Wealthy Affiliates, I still freaked out when I think of setting up my Affiliate marketing business. I needed an outlined list of what I need to set the ball rolling until I came across this amazing article, listing bit by bit all I need and how to go about them all, ranging from website building to google analytics. I’m very grateful for this eye-opening piece of work.
Hi Chidiking,
Hope you’re doing well with Wealthy Affiliate. Just take it slowly and go through all of the training and you’ll be fine. I’m glad this post has been helpful to you and I wish you the best.
Cheers
Melissa
Honestly, this is the most insightful piece I’ve read concerning how to get started with affiliate marketing. It is very explicit and well laid out. The description of the various tools to get started and running to ensure optimal progress with affiliate marketing.
i also fancy your selective and professional descriptions of each tool selected for discourse.
I’ve just had a look at your Thrive themes review and it requires paid membership. Is there a way to make use of the themes for a test run before payment?
Hi RoDarrick,
Thanks for visiting and leaving me a message. Yes Thrive Themes is a paid membership. I don’t believe you can test them out prior to purchase.
All the best to you.
Cheers
Melissa