We all know that affiliate marketing works. We know that affiliate marketing is a legitimate work from home career. Notice that I say ‘career’ rather than ‘job’ – you can build this into something long term and sustainable. It is one of the real ways to make money from home, and once you get it right it will earn you money while you sleep.
If you have taken the plunge and decided it’s for you, you may be wondering how to get started in affiliate marketing, and you will want to set yourself some goals.
You should also congratulate yourself because making the decision to become an online entrepreneur as an affiliate marketer is a smart move!!
If you think about your goals in terms of hoshin kanri, you will have your:
- high level, short term initiatives
- annual objectives for this year
- critical metrics to improve
- long term objectives (3-4 years)
High level, short term initiatives
Consider what you tangibly want to achieve in the next 12 months. Make these succinct and measurable.
You may want these to be SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed)
Examples may include:
- Choose your niche – one that you are passionate about and happy to keep working on
- Purchase your domain
- Set up your Privacy, About Me, and Affiliate Disclosure pages
- Work through the certification training
- Become familiar with Jaaxy (or another keyword search tool) and its importance
- Set up social media accounts, and learn how you can use them with your niche
- Set up Google Analytics
- Set up Google AdSense
- Develop out the pages of your website using keywords
- Brainstorm 20 posts using keywords
- Develop your own system to help you with writing content
- Sign up to 10 affiliate programs, ensuring you record all of the relevant details for future reference
This year’s annual objectives:
Consider what you want to master this year. Set yourself some objectives that will be achievable, but will still stretch you.
Examples may include:
- Master …. SEO? Writing content?
- Ensure I understand what’s happening in my niche, and stay on top of new developments
- Understand Google Analytics, and make changes to my sites based on analysis
- Become part of a mentoring group?
- Help mentor others?
- Reduce full time job to x days per week
- Earn $$ per month, by xx
- Deploy a pay per click (PPC) campaign and assess its value, review and improve
Critical metrics to improve:
Consider what you want to measure. Note, these may change over time as you become more proficient.
- X posts per week
- X% of posts are shared on all of my social media platforms
- X number of page views
- X number of conversions
- X number of social media posts to relevant niche groups per week
- X number of comments
- Respond to site comments within x days
Long term objectives (3-4 years out):
Really think about where you want to be on your affiliate marketing journey in 3 to 4 years time. Do you want to:
- Earn full time income from working online home?
- Be an authority in your niche?
- Train others in affiliate marketing?
- Consider additional forms of e-commerce?
- Other niches?
What would you be satisfied with?
Are you still thinking, “How can I start in affiliate marketing?”
How to get started in affiliate marketing
The very best place to start is with Wealthy Affiliate. The training will take you through, step by step:
- understanding how to make money online
- choosing a niche
- building your own niche website
- setting up your website
- getting your site ready for search engines
- creating your initial website content
- creating custom menus on your website
- understanding keywords
Find out more about Wealthy Affiliate here. Joining Wealthy Affiliate will remove the guess work and any fears you might have about how to get started in affiliate marketing. Wealthy Affiliate make an online career from home attainable for everyone regardless of skill level.
Don’t overthink it. Just MAKE A START. It will fall into place.
Remember that nothing happens overnight. You will need to build your website from the ground up, and follow everything that will be taught to you in the training. Owners Kyle and Carson know how to make you a success, you have to be willing to put the work in and follow their tried and true techniques.
Tell me about your affiliate marketing journey, and whether you have had any experiences with Wealthy Affiliate. Alternatively, leave me a comment or question below and I’m happy to help.
As a member of Wealthy Affiliate, I have to say that it is one of, if not the greatest resource for aspiring affiliate marketers. They not only teach you everything about affiliate marketing, but also guide you through the process of creating your own business step by step.
They also provide the tools necessary to do all of this within the WA community, which is always there for technical and moral support. Current response time I think is under a minute? I always get really fast help!
If you’re interested in affiliate marketing, this is definitely the way to go! I started as a complete beginner, and now have 2 fully functional, monetized websites.
Just thought I’d leave my 2 cents!
Isaya
Thanks Isaya for stopping by and leaving your $0.02!! I couldn’t agree with you more, and I just want to share it with everyone so that more people can change their lives and do exactly what you and I are doing. Thanks so much and I’m sure I’ll see you within the WA community.
Best, Melissa
This is an awesome list that shows how to get started in Affiliate Marketing as well as things we should be focusing on long term. There are many things here I had not thought about. I especially like the long term objectives and the critical metrics. I definitely am bookmarking this and I hope you write similar posts in the future. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Nate for your feedback. I think setting objectives is crucial when you are your own boss to ensure we stay on track, and make sure we are always measuring and reviewing for continuous improvement.
Best, Melissa
This a great and detailed overview on how to get started in Affiliate marketing.
I too have found success with your recommendation at Wealthy Affiliate. It’s a stella community and the best place to learn and earn. I went from no online income to monthly payments in 4 months.
I hope your visitors listen to your wise words Melissa if they want to be successful.
Thanks so much for your comment Vince. I’m glad that you’ve found success with Wealthy Affiliate. I would love for others to find Wealthy Affiliate too so they can build a long term and sustainable career for themselves from home.
Best, Melissa
Brilliant post! This has given me some food for thought. I have much to master being new to affiliate marketing myself. Thank you for this comprehensive post. I’d be interested to see more posts on the elements you’ve included here.
Thanks Lace. The learning curve in affiliate marketing is substantial, but it all comes together! I will certainly be writing more on all of these elements over time.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish you all the very best with your affiliate marketing journey,
Melissa