How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business

Part 1 - How to start an Affiliate Marketing business - Background

Affiliate marketing is the art of turning fame into a business. People who have managed to attract an audience are paid to endorse related products or services on their public platform. For example, if a popular nutritionist blogger endorses a new line of supplements.

You may also be interested in additional online business ideas.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start an Affiliate Marketing business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening an affiliate marketing business?

Costs are relatively low to get started in affiliate marketing, depending on what a person hopes to do. A blog or social media platform are excellent places to get started, and they don’t cost a thing.

What are the ongoing expenses for an affiliate marketing business?

Most affiliates won’t increase their expenses much as they start to take off in popularity. You may choose to invest in more professional equipment, or to hire people to help manage your business affairs.

Who is the target market?

Companies with a primarily consumer audience are the biggest market for affiliates, but they’re certainly not the only option. Political candidates or other celebrity figures may turn to affiliates for endorsement, as will commercial or private entities that may want to boost their reputation to the public.

How does an affiliate marketing business make money?

The most traditional way an affiliate makes money is by receiving a certain commission or fee each time their partner receives a click or sale. For example, if a blogger mentions Product X’s company in a post, and Product X receives 1,000 click-throughs from the blogger’s site to theirs, then the blogger will make a certain amount of money off each click. The amount the blogger will make is based on their following and perceived credibility in their niche. However, some affiliate marketers will choose to be paid a flat rate for dropping the name into the post.

How much can you charge customers?

Kim Kardashian can charge brands $250,000 or more for a single post on Instagram, so it’s clear that companies are willing to pay for affiliate marketing. When you’re first getting started, you can negotiate either a flat fee, a cost-per-click arrangement, or a commission fee. For example, you’ll receive 10% on every sale generated from your posts.

How much profit can an affiliate marketing business make?

There are some affiliate marketers pulling in $2 million a year, so it’s clear that affiliates can turn their popularity into a business. However, realistically speaking, most affiliates will make a modest supplementary income until they can fully build up their client base. The biggest income bracket for affiliate marketers in $20,000 or less a year.

How can you make your business more profitable?

Affiliate marketers need to be in the public eye as much as possible. You may want to consider public engagements, speeches, or a larger website presence to accomplish this goal. You can also consider developing your own line of products to generate additional profits for yourself.

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at an affiliate marketing business?

Affiliate marketers make their name based on a specific talent or niche, so the majority of their time will be spent concentrating on the skills that have initially attracted their audience (e.g., blogging, YouTube videos, etc.). However affiliate marketing may also include the following:

• Blending product names into their content

• Updating social media for affiliate purposes

• Negotiating payment with business partners

• Finding new affiliate companies to work with  

• Ensuring legal compliance of all posts

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful affiliate marketing business?

People become successful in affiliate marketing by approaching the problem from a number of different angles. For example, some are great writers while others are comedians or pundits. Some give relatively uncontroversial advice to people via video or blog. Others take a hard stance against a hot button issue in the media to build up their audience.

No matter what, you have to establish trust with their audience before becoming successful at affiliate marketing. The key is to be consistent about your point of view, and to speak to your following without trying to control them.

What is the growth potential for an affiliate marketing business?

It may be difficult at first to work your name or cause into the public eye. There are a lot of people (both online and off), who are trying to become public personalities in practically every given industry. However, there are also a number of people who eventually drop out of the public eye or move onto more straightforward endorsement deals. This leaves a vacuum for up-and-comers  to edge their way in.

What are some insider tips for jump starting an affiliate marketing business?

Hopeful affiliates may want to try paid advertising if they’re hoping to speed up their influence. While organic content is always better — because you’re building up an audience based purely on your words and talent alone — it will take longer to do. Facebook and Google ads can be expensive, but they’re typically the fastest way to get a new venture off the ground.

Affiliates should utilize cross-channels as a way to build up their audience. For example, having a website following as well as an active email list. People who choose this career path must be relentless about creating content that is unique and eye-catching. But they’ll have to do it such a way that doesn’t overwhelm or frustrate their audience.  

Affiliates should also be careful about who they endorse and why. This is especially true at the beginning when it will seem like the right move to say ‘yes’ to any potential partner. But selling or endorsing a problem just for money will may cause your audience to lose respect for you. The same could be said for selling too many products, or for endorsing a product that has a tarnished reputation.

There are also strict federal rules affiliates must follow regarding disclosure, so you will need to understand the most current FTC regulations to avoid repercussions.

How and when to build a team

Affiliate marketers typically won’t need a team unless they’re extremely popular and juggling several major endorsement deals. In this case, you’ll need to hire assistants who can ensure all legal and business obligations are being met.

Part 2 - Is an Affiliate Marketing business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Affiliate Marketing business in 90 days