A lot of people who view my blog are interested in affiliate marketing. If you're not, you probably shouldn't be here anyway. I do my best to give people useful tips and information about succeeding with their first few websites, and today I'm going to cover how to start affiliate marketing for free.
Yes I have my own services and it might be counter-productive to teach you this. However some of you aren't going to be ready to spend money straight away, and others just want to know if it's for them. This post is for you guys!
I have to assume that you already know about making money online with affiliate promotions and all that. If you don't, you can take a look at my page: affiliate marketing beginners.
Three Things You Need To Start Affiliate Marketing
There are going to be so many things that people tell you are essential to succeeding with a niche website. You'll be exposed to a lot of offers and promotions. That just happens.
Really though, there are only a handful of things that are essential. Things that you absolutely need if you want to make money online.
Here they are:
1. A Website.
Your website is your business. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't need a website to do affiliate marketing. If you want to SUCCEED with affiliate marketing you definitely need one.
The good news is, you can get one for free in many places. The place I recommend is Wealthy Affiliate, since their websites and training is all catered around affiliate marketing. It doesn't make sense to go anywhere else.
2. Keyword Research Tools.
When it comes to choosing a niche (topic) for your website, you're going to need to do a lot of research. There are “free” tools like Google Adwords tool, or even Google Instant, and then there are tools that actually help you, like Jaaxy or Long Tail Pro.
Luckily for you, both of them have a free trial. I recommend Jaaxy to get started, it's the most beginner friendly.
3. Training.
As I said earlier, I assume you already know why you want to get involved with affiliate marketing, but do you really know how to do it and how to find out more?
Again I'm going to recommend Wealthy Affiliate to you here, because it has a free starter membership where you can learn the basics without spending a penny. It fulfills the criteria of this post perfectly.
You can also find a lot of great training at the following sites:
HumanProofDesigns (Gotta include myself!)
Getting Started
When you first start out, it's very easy to enter into the wrong niche. You'll hear all sorts of people telling you to go with your passion, or go with what you know. This is great advice, but it's not the be-all and end-all of niche selection.
Spencer from Nichepursuits has written an excellent guide to the importance of keyword research for niche selection here. Get yourself a free Jaaxy trial and head over to read more.
Equally, joining Wealthy Affiliate will get you started on the right path as well.
Is It Possible To Succeed For Free?
This is a question I see a lot. Many people are willing to spend money on their busienss, but they want to make the money first. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation really. Can you make money without spending money? Yes, but it might take a while and there's no guarantee.
So will you make money if you spend money? Not necessarily!
The best approach is to “get started” for free. Learn as much as you can and see if this is the type of business for you. When you're ready to take things to the next level, spend some more money. Let me build a site for you, upgrade your site to an owned domain, join the premium membership at WA, or simply buy some more training.
There are plenty of options, but I'd advise you to get a basic education for free first.