Author: Eddy Ballesteros

Have you ever wanted to start an affiliate marketing business but had no idea where to start? Are you tired of promoting affiliate products that don’t yield a high return and get awful affiliate marketing tips from others?

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably realized that becoming an affiliate marketer is a great way to make money online, even in your spare time. And you’re right.

However, starting with this side hustle or business is not always easy. Why?

Many fake affiliate marketing gurus are outselling you a $1,000 course to have you sell the same or similar products.

You don’t need to spend much money to get started with this online business model. You can start for free. In this blog post, I will show you 51+ tips on affiliate marketing in 2024 from a full-time affiliate marketer.

By the way, my name is Eddy, and I’ve been able to generate traffic and revenue through this affiliate blog you’re reading.

Here’s proof of my affiliate income from one program:

What Are The Best Affiliate Marketing Tips? 

Let’s get straight into the golden nuggets of this post and go over everything I have learned in the past few years doing affiliate marketing.

Here are the top affiliate marketing tips for beginners and seasoned marketers.

1. Setup A Blog

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when trying to become an affiliate marketer is not having their own blog or website.

Just promoting on social media platforms is enough, but that will not work.

An affiliate marketing website can help you in many ways, such as making you look like an authority in your niche and having relationships with products and services you want to work with. 

This is one of the best types of marketing anyone can do, so make sure you start a blog.

I even get emails for product placement agreements with a company I constantly blog about. This is one of the best affiliate marketing strategies for promoting products online.

So, a blog will also help you build an audience of people interested in what you say and those searching for an answer.

This is important because you can promote affiliate products to this group and make sales.

2. Write list posts and product reviews

These two blog post types are the bread and butter of my affiliate marketing strategy. As you start affiliate marketing and promoting products with SEO, you’ll agree with me on this.

List posts are simply blog posts containing items like “The 9+ best Link Tracker Software” or “The 42 Best Blogging Tools To Use.”

Product reviews are exactly what they sound like. Your goal in online reviews is to satisfy user searches and write in-depth product reviews.

You genuinely want to ensure that the articles presented offer valuable information to your readers, as this will make them stay on your site, come back for more, and maybe even buy something from you.

3. Add An Exit-intent Pop-Up Form

One of my favorite methods and affiliate marketing tips for bloggers is to use exit-intent pop-ups.

This code you add to your blog triggers a pop-up when the user’s cursor is about to leave the web page.

This is necessary to capture the user’s attention because they were about to leave without taking action on your site.

For example, if you are doing paid advertising or generating traffic from other sources, including pop-up forms is important.

I recommend Thrive Leads or Convertbox since these affiliate tools allow you to create pop-ups and gain your visitor’s attention without annoying them.

After adding a pop-up, I’ve seen an increase in link clicks, which makes me more money for my blogging business.

4. Add A Sidebar Banner

One of the simplest ways to get visitors to click your affiliate link is by adding a sidebar with a CTA (Call-To-Action).

A sidebar can be an effective marketing strategy if you place the best-performing affiliate program’s banner.

For example, I use a sidebar on my blog promoting Jasper.ai or my mini lead magnet course.

You want to ensure the CTA stands out and is relevant to your blog’s topic.

Again, a sidebar product placement aims to bridge the gap between your blog content and visitors so you can start bringing in sales.

5. Add An Affiliate Disclaimer on Every Blog Post

I see many new affiliate marketers mess this up, so I wanted to include it in this post. Having an affiliate disclaimer on every blog post would be best because you don’t want to get sued for not disclosing that you’re an affiliate.

The best way to do this is by adding a simple sentence at the beginning or end of each blog post. 

You comply with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines by adding this simple sentence and creating a separate page to a disclaimer page.

And trust me, you don’t want to be on the bad side of the Federal Trade Commission.

6. Use Affiliate Tracking Software

You need to start tracking your link clicks if you’re earning affiliate sales but need to know where they’re coming from.

You can use free tools such as Google Analytics and Thirsty Affiliates to track your web traffic if you are on a budget.

But if you have a budget, you can use something like Affilimate or Clickmagick which are link tracker software.

These tools tell you exactly where each sale comes from, so you can optimize your strategies and make more sales.

This helps further understand where you should place each affiliate program in certain areas of your articles, as Affilimate uses heatmaps to know the exact location of a click on-page.

This seriously makes your marketing efforts easier without working blindfolded.

7. Write Product Alternatives

If you match the search intent correctly, writing alternatives to two or more products can lead to potential sales. 

These posts are commonly searched for on Google with phrases such as “Best WordPress Alternatives” or “Best Gumroad Alternatives.”

The goal is to write an article comparing your favorite products in the same niche. You will want to add affiliate links to both products you’re promoting.

Be sure to be neutral, as the idea is to give the reader a fair comparison of all the relevant products and help them decide what they want.

So as you create great content and offer product recommendations, you can make money as an affiliate marketer.

8. Sign Up With High Ticket Affiliate Programs

Since ranking content or creating videos is the same for every program you promote, you can generate revenue faster by signing up with high-ticket affiliate programs.

High-ticket affiliate programs pay you higher commissions for the same effort you would spend on a lower ticket item.

So all you need is a few affiliate links from a high-ticket program that can earn money monthly.

For example, you could get paid $500 per sale for promoting an online course that costs $1,000.

You only need two monthly sales to make $1,000 in affiliate commissions.

Most of these offers will be online marketing instead of physical products, so look for that.

9. Sign Up With Recurring Commissions

Like any other business, affiliate marketing requires time and effort to make it work.

The best way to ensure long-term success is by signing up for programs that offer recurring commissions.

Recurring commissions are when you get paid a commission every time someone pays their monthly subscription.

For example, if promoting a software tool costs $49/month with a 30% commission split, you will get paid $14.70 per month per person you refer as long as they stay subscribed.

This is a great way to build a passive income stream because you can earn monthly affiliate commissions without doing extra work.

10. Supplement Your Income With Display Ads And Sponsored Placements

Even if you are doing well with an affiliate marketing program, I recommend signing up with ad networks such as MediaVine or Ezoic Premium.

This will help supplement your affiliate marketing efforts and reward you by sharing some of their ad revenue.

Your earnings will depend on the traffic you generate to your website.

But if you need examples, you can always watch Mediavine’s case studies or Ezoic Levels to get inspired.

I recommend waiting once you have at least 10,000 monthly visitors through organic search since you can earn more from the start.

11. Make Sure Affiliate Links Are Always No-Follow

Ensure your affiliate links are no-follow so search engines don’t crawl that link and penalize you.

A no-follow link is an HTML attribute that tells search engines not to follow or crawl that specific link.

You can easily add the no-follow tag with WordPress or other blogging platforms. I personally use Thrive Suite.

12. Track Metrics Using Google Analytics 

When understanding KPIs (key performance indicators), Google Analytics and Search Console Insights are the best free tools you can use.

This will help you track how much traffic comes from each referring page, what keywords they used to find your site, and how long they stayed on your affiliate site.

I use it to understand my organic traffic and optimize for the keyword users search for, aka matching the search intent.

Once you know that, you can improve the quality of your already existing content or old content and answer the questions your target audience is looking for.

13. Rank For Long-Tail Keywords

Have you ever visited Google and seen the same media sites or websites ranking on the first page?

This is because they are ranking for short-tail keywords for which they had to establish backlinks and authority.

Try ranking for long-tail keywords to stand out and still get a piece of the pie.

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases with low competition and are more accessible to rank, which I add to my affiliate marketing strategy for blogging.

For example, “best affiliate marketing programs” is challenging to rank, but “best affiliate marketing programs for credit repair” is a long-tail keyword with low competition.

It’s also something people are more likely to type into Google if they are starting based on niche-related products. 

14. Build A Strong Relationship With Affiliate Managers

If you genuinely want to become successful with seasonal affiliate marketing campaigns, you need to build a strong relationship with your affiliate managers.

Your affiliate marketing success manager is the one who will approve your application to join an affiliate marketing program, and they can also help you with content marketing ideas.

They are also the ones who will be promoting new affiliate offers and marketing campaigns to you, so it’s important to stay in touch or at least let them know about your content creation strategy. 

15. Create Product Comparison Posts

Writing comparison articles is a great way to start making money by comparing two products or services.

For example, you could write a post comparing the best landing page builders or Jasper AI vs. Copy AI.

This is a great way to start writing helpful content give you experience or understand the products you are promoting.

Comparing products also helps your readers decide which product is best for them and can help increase conversions. 

16. Stay Updated With Trends In Your Niche

My favorite tip for newbies just starting their affiliate business is to stay updated with current trends in their niche.

Following and researching new affiliate marketing trends or trending topics, in general, will also give you ideas on what content to create and how to stand out from the competition.

The best way is to sign up for newsletters, follow blogs, or set Google alerts for your niche keywords.

Another freemium way would be to use exploding topics or meetglimpse to look for trending topics in different niches.

17. Shorten Your Affiliate Link URLs

If you’re like me, then you probably won’t click on a URL that looks like this:

https://www.example123.com/dp/B07D4F2PYH/?tag=example123-affilate-eddy

It looks spammy, and I’m unsure what to get myself into. This is why it’s essential to use a URL shortener like Bitly or Getlasso when creating affiliate links. 

This is one of my biggest affiliate marketing tips for beginners you start to promote your links online.

You can also use a WordPress plugin like Pretty Links or thirsty affiliates to manage and cloak your links easily. 

18. Use Sales Funnels

Creating landing and sales pages is a great way to increase conversions by pre-selling the product or service you’re promoting.

If you don’t know how to create sales funnels, I recommend using Clickfunnels or any sales funnel software.

Creating a sales funnel can be as simple as creating a landing page and thank you page and adding your affiliate links to the pages. 

19. Build An Email List

No matter what social media platforms you gain traction on or how much traffic you get on an affiliate website, you never know when those platforms or websites will disappear.

This is why it’s essential to always focus on building an email list from your traffic sources and learn email marketing strategies.

You can do this by offering a freebie in exchange for an email address or using an email capture form on your website.

Once you have a list of emails, you can start promoting products without spending more money on other tools.

20. Join Multiple Affiliate Networks

When starting, I always recommend focusing on one or two affiliate products to promote, but once you understand how affiliate marketing works, you can begin to join multiple affiliate networks.

Some of the best affiliate networks are:

• Partnerstack
• ShareAsale
• Rakuten
• CjAffiliate
• Digistore24
• Rewardful
• Amazon associates

Joining multiple affiliate networks will give you various products to promote and also help you diversify your affiliate revenue.

The common network would be Amazon associates.

21. Offer Bonuses

The best affiliate promotes with bonuses always win, in my opinion. This is known as a bonus stack in the affiliate marketing sphere.

No one likes feeling like they’re being sold to, but everyone loves getting a good deal.

This is why offering bonuses or an offer stack is a way to increase conversions while promoting the products you love.

For example, if you’re promoting a web hosting company, you could offer a free website template or a course on teaching them how to set up their blog.

I offer bonuses and provide my email so they can send me their proof of purchase to get the bonuses.

22. Create Courses That Solves A Problem Using An Affiliate Product

A marketer dreams of having multiple income sources while solving people’s problems. Well, you can add two to that list of goals.

You can sell online courses as low-ticket items and show them how to do something with your affiliate product.

For example, if you’re promoting AI writing software, you could create a course on how to write blog posts faster and use the affiliate product as an upsell.

This would work perfectly as a sales funnel because you’ve already solved their problem of not knowing how to write quality content faster, and they see the value in the product.

23. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Higher Commission Rates

If you’re doing fantastic and bringing in traffic for brands and services, it’s time to use your leverage to get better commission rates.

This is why tracking your progress is essential so you can show them exactly what you’re doing and how much revenue you’re bringing in.

Once you have the data, contact the affiliate manager for a higher commission rate.

You’d be surprised how often they say yes because you’re already doing the work and generating revenue for them.

When they see that you are directly contacting and doing the work, they can get instant access to new features or insider scoop on a brand’s product before anyone else.

24. Improve Your Existing Affiliate Content

One major affiliate marketing tip for bloggers is to take a step back and improve your existing affiliate content.

You can use an AI text generator to help you create high-quality content for your sales pages and SEO content.

You can add new images and videos or even update the text to make it more relevant. This helps you gain more traction within the search results.

This is called search engine optimization, and you can do this by performing an SEO audit

If you improve the content, you can typically see a jump in organic traffic, leading to more eyeballs for the affiliate program you’re promoting.

25. Network With Other Affiliate Marketers

Building relationships is one of my favorite tips for brand new affiliates as it can offer many opportunities.

Start joining different communities or member-based sites related to the niche that you are in.

This can lead you to find affiliate partners or learn how a top affiliate promotes its products and services.

I’ve found much success in Facebook groups because you can get instant feedback on what’s working and what’s not.

You can also collaborate with other affiliate marketers to help each other out.

26. Start A YouTube Channel 

YouTube is a powerful platform that continues to grow every single year.

This is the perfect place to start building an audience because you can show them your face and build trust quickly.

Hence, perfect for affiliate marketers that want to create valuable content.

People buy from content creators they know, like, and trust.

The great thing about YouTube is that you don’t need fancy equipment to create a youtube video that ranks on YouTube.

You can even use tools like ChatGPT to come up with video topics and scripts.

27. Add Affiliate Links In Your YouTube Description

An affiliate marketer should add links in their description because it’s an easy way to make money.

When people see you’re an affiliate for a product, they are likelier to click on it and buy it.

The best thing you can do is test out different products and services to see which ones convert the best.

But of course, you will want to ensure it’s related to the video so it matches the user’s search intent.

It would honestly be a waste of word count in your description box.

28. Repurpose Everything

Creating an Omni presence is vital with affiliate marketing, and you want to ensure that everything you make can be repurposed somehow.

This means creating articles, YouTube videos, and social media posts that can all be used for each other.

For example, you can turn an article into a video or podcast episode.

Then when you make the video, you can repurpose it on any other social media channel. This can easily be done with video captioning software like Veed or Zubtitle.

29. Create A Bridge Page

If you want to bridge the gap between your blog content and the products you promote as an affiliate, consider creating a bridge page. 

This is a staple for content marketing when you want to make affiliate commissions for yourself.

These landing pages send the user to the next affiliate website or program you’re promoting.

A bridge page is essentially a way to “pre-sell” the product or service before the user clicks on the affiliate link.

The added benefit is that you are also growing your list of email subscribers and sending email sequences to those that didn’t purchase.

30. Start A TikTok Account

Affiliate marketing on Tiktok is a great way to increase your marketing efforts. You can also make a lot of money on Tiktok as an affiliate marketer.

Since TikTok is about creating short videos, you can quickly create engaging content promoting your affiliate products.

The best thing about TikTok is that you can match trends with education and create content for your target audience.

31. Start An Instagram Page

Like TikTok, affiliate marketing on Instagram can become very viable, especially if you do Instagram reels.

Reels are short videos that are categorized under disruptive marketing.

So long as you stay consistent on IG, you can row a huge brand for yourself and master mobile marketing.

32. Add Your Referral Link To Your Instagram Stories

Did you know you can add referral links or discount codes to your Instagram stories?

You can use the sticker feature to add links to your story and have your followers click on the affiliate product.

This is a great way to get more clicks and conversions because it’s placed right in front of their face.

Just make sure you are not using a direct link, but instead using a link cloaking tool.

33. Use Pinterest Idea Pins 

There was a time when doing interest was better than Google SEO, but nowadays, it’s not as easy to scale.

But with Pinterest Idea pins, you can grow your interest profile by adding short-form content.

The only problem with this is that you can’t add links to the idea pin, only the option to get followers.

34. Create A Recommend Resources Page

You should create a page where your best-performing products are to earn affiliate income semi-passively.

This is common with bloggers because they want to send their blog traffic to other sites that will convert.

You must only put the best-converting products on this page, so you don’t lose out on any commissions or lose the trust of your raging fans.

35. Build Internal Links

Having internal links throughout your site establishes authority and boosts your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

But it would be best to use internal linking to support your affiliate content.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post about “How To Start A Business,” you can link to your transactional post called “Best affiliate marketing tools.”

This will help boost your conversion rates because you’re providing more value to the user.

36. Always Disclose Your Affiliate In Your Videos

You must disclose affiliate links in your Youtube video descriptions as an affiliate partner.

The easiest way is by adding “*Affiliate Link” to the product you’re promoting in the description box.

It would be best to put a disclaimer at the beginning of your video saying you’re an affiliate for the product you’re about to review. 

37. Reinvest Profits Into Ads

The sad truth is that when an affiliate earns their first commission, they cash it out and never reinvest it into their business.

As an affiliate marketer, you always need to think about how to scale your efforts.

One of the best ways to do this is by reinvesting your profits into digital ads.

This will help you reach a larger audience and increase sales with targeted global online shoppers.

38. Reverse Engineer What’s Working (With A Twist)

If you’re having trouble finding content to create, try reverse engineering your competitor’s sites.

I love reviewing company sites and competitors’ keywords or backlinks for inspiration. The twist is that you don’t want to copy what they’re doing. You want to improve upon it.

This way, you can come out on top and be the authority in your niche.

39. What To Do If You Still Have A Pending Affiliate Application

When you haven’t heard back from an affiliate marketing program, a smart move is to email them.

Most likely, your application is in a queue, and someone just hasn’t approved it yet. A gentle reminder email could push you to get accepted into the program.

40. Don’t Troll Online Communities

Have you ever seen people write “valuable posts” on their Facebook page but sneakily try to get sales?

These newbie marketers are called trolls and can get annoying in the online business industry. Not only do they not get conversions, but they also get banned from most online communities.

The key to success is providing value without overtly selling to the community.

41. Create Comparison Tables

Creating comparison tables is one of my favorite affiliate strategies because it’s versatile.

You can use them in your product comparisons, landing pages, or pages within your website.

They are helpful because they show your audience different options for products they might be interested in and can drive sales.

I love using affiliate plugins like thrive architect or Getlasso for this feature. But there are other tools you can try out as well.

42. Add Product Display Boxes

One of the most significant pieces of affiliate marketing advice I can give you is to add product boxes to your product reviews, best-of, and how-to guides.

This can show the pros and cons of a product with a call-to-action at the end and here’s a great example of one below.

You can see that I add affiliate links and an internal link to a review post to keep up with on-page search engine optimization.

It’s also an effective way to increase conversions without being too salesy and a great tool I use for creating boxes is thrive suite or Lasso.

43. Use A Facebook Profile Funnel

Affiliate marketing on Facebook is very doable, and the best way to do it is with a profile funnel.

This means you create a Facebook profile for your brand/business and then use that to drive traffic to your website or landing pages.

Many affiliate marketers love this strategy because it’s free traffic.

44. Here’s What To Do If A Product Doesn’t Have An Affiliate Program

So what happens if a business doesn’t offer an affiliate program? Here are three things you can try to do.

The first would be to encourage the product manager or head of content to start an affiliate program using software.

The second thing you can try is to secure brand deals instead of joining their affiliate network. You can also find backup affiliate partners instead of trying to work with a specific brand.

45. Offer Private Coaching As A Bonus

Similar to bonuses, you can provide free coaching with an affiliate program.

This could be a live Q&A, a video call, or written content.

I offered this when I was promoting Credit Repair Cloud, which is a credit repair software program. This was an excellent way to keep churn rates low.

46. Use Influencer Marketing To Attract New Visitors

Getting popular influencers in your niche to promote your affiliate products is a great way to attract new and repeat visitors.

When their followers see that they’re using and loving your products, they’ll be more likely to buy them.

So again, this is geared toward businesses selling digital products or even physical goods such as clothing brands.

47. Combine YouTube And Blogging

So many brand new content creators argue whether they should start a YouTube channel or a blog.

The answer is you should do both. But how does that work with affiliate marketing? Well, it’s simple. You can promote your affiliate products on your blog and your YouTube channel.

This way, you can reach a larger audience and make more sales by pairing the two together.

48. Check Your Emails

Always check your emails for a couple of reasons.

The first is to see if new companies send you messages about promoting their offers. This happens more often than you think.

The second reason is to see if any of your current referral companies have sent you new information or resources.

They might have updates on their products or changes in their commission structure.

49. Follow Up With Social Media Followers

Trust me when I say I wish I had known about this affiliate marketing tip sooner.

You should always follow up with your social media followers and review your private message requests.

Many new followers typically ask about a product or service before purchasing, so you could quickly close the sale through direct messaging.

The best way to do this is with an automated message through a tool like ManyChat or Chatfuel.

50. Track All Of Your Earnings

It’s important to track your online income from affiliate marketing.

You can do this manually with a spreadsheet or use a bookkeeping app like QuickBooks Online.

This will help you keep track of your spending, income, and profits to make informed decisions about your affiliate marketing business.

51. Find low competition keywords with a transactional value

Finding low-completion keywords with high transactional value is one of the best ways to succeed in affiliate marketing.

I like to use a combination of Google search, lowfruits.io, and Ahrefs to find these keywords.

Once you’ve found a few good keywords, create content around those keywords and promote your products within that content.

But even with all the tools in the online world, you need to do your research and be willing to put in the hard work.

52. Use Brand Assets

Most referral dashboards offer brand assets, and you might as well use them to your advantage. A brand’s content will almost always convert better than yours because people trust the brands they know.

Plus, you don’t need to go through the hassle of creating your images or graphic design.

53. Leverage Social Proof

You will significantly increase conversions if you can leverage social proof such as online reviews or video testimonials.

People want to see that others have used your product or service and loved it before purchasing.

This is why user-generated content is so important.

You can do this manually or use video testimonial software to collect testimonials for your marketing campaigns.

54. Focus On One Business Model And A Few Affiliate Marketing Products

It’s essential not to get FOMO and stay focused to make affiliate marketing work.

Whether you see a new shiny course on a dropshipping business or a new side hustle idea, resisting the urge to jump ship is essential.

You need to focus on one business model and manage affiliate marketing campaigns to see it through before moving on to something else.

55. Start Selling Digital Products

The easiest way to promote affiliate links is by creating a digital product that solves a solution with the product that you are affiliated with.

This makes it easy to make more money with valuable content that the user is looking for.

56. Learn Storytelling

As an affiliate marketer, it’s important to start learning how to generate stories that sell.

You can use an AI story generator to help you develop an amazing pitch for your landing pages or blog articles.

As you start crafting compelling stories, you can use this skill in your emails, videos, and affiliate bridge pages.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is where a person promotes a product or service in exchange for a commission.

If that person can generate sales or leads for the company, they will receive a percentage of the total sale.

For example, if you refer someone to purchase a pair of shoes from Amazon, you would earn a commission on that sale.

This business model is a popular way to make money online because it requires very little upfront investment and can be done by anyone with a website or blog.

It’s also a flexible way to earn an income since you can choose which products or services to promote and how much effort you want to put into your campaigns.

How To Become The Best Affiliate Marketer

To become the best affiliate marketer, you need to create automation and put in the work to scale your business.

Use these tips to build a successful affiliate marketing business:

The critical factor in this is to be consistent and never give up. The clicks and revenue will come. I’ve always told people that affiliate marketing takes time and is one of the best one-person business models to try out. 

Since you don’t need a team of customer support people or sales reps, affiliate marketing can be done all on your own.

How Much Do Beginner Affiliate Marketers Make?

After doing 800 coaching calls with other bloggers and affiliates, the average I see most newbies make is around $200-$1,000/month.

This is a great starting point after 3-6 months of work. You can reinvest that money into scaling your business to make even more money.

How Long Does It Take To See Results With Affiliate Marketing?

When I started this journey, it took most people 3-6 months, including myself, to see results. 

My Personal Story As A Successful Affiliate

When I first started trying to make a living online, I spent $2,500 on a Legendary Marketer program.

Sadly, I didn’t do anything with it and felt like a failure after borrowing money from my parents to purchase it.

I was so close to giving up but decided to give it one last shot.

I started a blog, implemented some affiliate marketing strategies I learned, and finally started seeing results after three months.

Today, I make over $15,000 per month through my online businesses, live on my own, couldn’t be happier.

If you’re struggling to make money online, don’t give up. It takes time and consistency to succeed, but it’s worth it in the end.

My Final Affiliate Marketing Tip

The most important thing to remember is to stay consistent and in touch with your affiliate partners.

Results take time to happen, but if you consistently promote products daily, you will eventually see a return on your investment. 

I hope you enjoyed all the affiliate marketing tips I shared today.