Unsure how to start affiliate marketing?
Look no further; we’re here to help!
Whether you want to learn how to start an affiliate marketing business or just start a successful side hustle, we’ve collected the fundamentals you need to get started here.
Coming straight from the Zeydoo offices, we’re putting our decade of affiliate marketing experience to work! We’ve curated an extensive list of resources — including articles, ebooks, and webinars—to help you get started with affiliate marketing.
These resources are designed to give you a solid foundation to start affiliate marketing.
So, let’s dive in and begin your journey on how to get started with affiliate marketing.
Table of contents
How can I make money with affiliate marketing?
At its core, affiliate marketing involves promoting products or services from third parties to earn commissions. Your earnings increase with the number of referrals you generate.
As an affiliate, your role is to optimize promotion strategies for what’s known as a “CPA offer,” where CPA stands for “Cost per Action.”
This involves crafting the right message, designing effective banners (also referred to as “Creatives”), creating high-converting landing pages, testing various traffic sources, and establishing an efficient user flow. In exchange for your efforts, you receive a financial reward.
Meanwhile, the advertiser benefits by reducing lead acquisition costs. Essentially, advertisers set the requirements and then assess the quality of leads you generate.
It’s a win-win situation: convenient for them and profitable for you.
4 Steps to become an affiliate marketer
Step 1: Secure a product or service to promote
To begin your affiliate marketing journey, you’ll need a product or service to promote. One of the best ways to find one is to check out networks like Zeydoo, which have plenty of so-called CPA offers to pick from
A CPA (Cost Per Action) offer pays you a commission for each specific action completed by a referral, such as filling out a form or making a purchase, which directly ties your earnings to effective promotion.
Here is an example of such an offer:
Here is what you see in the screenshot:
- The owners of the trading simulator app called Cryptomania want affiliate marketers to promote their app in particular countries (GEOs).
- They are willing to pay for every app install – so they offer CPI (cost-per-install) as a conversion type.
- The price for every install (rate) depends on the country from which this install comes from.
This is how basically CPA offers work.
Step 2: Choose a niche to focus on
Once you’re familiar with the landscape, your next step is to choose a niche or industry known as ‘Verticals.’
Popular verticals include Social (Dating), iGaming, Gaming, eCommerce, Utilities/Software, Sweepstakes, Finance, and Mobile Content.
For beginners, Utilities/Software, Sweepstakes, or Mobile Content are excellent choices due to their lower competition and ease of promotion.
Step 3: Create your first budget
Lastly, it’s important to discuss finances. Understanding the typical costs of launching affiliate marketing campaigns is essential for proper planning.
Starting in affiliate marketing requires some initial investment. Before launching your first campaign, decide how much you can afford to spend in your budget.
Note from Zeydoo: some CPA offers we have in stock don’t require big budgets and allow you to begin with minimum amounts – about $50 or so.
Essential tools for affiliate marketers
Success in affiliate marketing relies heavily on using the right tools. After years of testing various tools, we’ve compiled a list of essential instruments that will help you avoid the trial-and-error phase and get started more efficiently.
Here are the key categories of tools you’ll need:
- AI tools for content creation: Tools like ChatGPT help streamline the creation of engaging content, essential for attracting and converting leads.
- Competitor research tools: Use these to gain insights into your competitors’ strategies and refine your marketing efforts. Great tools for competitor research include Adplexity, Semrush, Adspy, and PowerAdSpy.
- Affiliate marketing tracking tools: These tools are crucial for monitoring the performance of your campaigns and optimizing them for better results. There are plenty of them out there to suit different needs and budgets –– Voluum, AdsBridge, and Binom, to name a few.
- Landing page builders: Effective landing pages are critical for conversion, and these builders offer the tools to create high-performing landing pages quickly. Tools like Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow can be game changers when it comes to making landing pages quickly and effectively.
How can I measure the success of my campaigns?
To effectively optimize your affiliate campaigns, you first need accurate data on their performance. Testing is crucial here, but it doesn’t have to be overly complex, even for beginners.
What should I test, and how?
Testing begins with assessing your CPA offer. If the offer isn’t compelling, your campaign is unlikely to succeed.
Once you’ve established a solid offer, the next step is A/B testing different marketing angles and approaches, including ads, to see what resonates best with your audience.
What data should I analyze in tests?
Understanding which data to analyze can be overwhelming. When you look at your tracking dashboard, you’re often faced with a lot of different numbers.
To simplify, focus initially on key metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition, which provide direct insights into campaign health.
What are the best testing strategies for me?
We recommend adopting different strategies based on your experience level. For beginners, a simple iterative approach to modifying one variable at a time in your campaigns may be best.
More seasoned marketers might employ more complex strategies involving multiple simultaneous tests to compare and contrast different elements more quickly.
Start your affiliate marketing journey today
Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals of how to start an affiliate marketing business, it’s time to put this knowledge into action. Use the tools and strategies discussed to launch your first campaign.
Focus on choosing the right CPA offers, selecting effective tools, and continuously testing and optimizing your efforts. Start small, learn as you go, and grow your affiliate marketing into a profitable venture.
Ready to begin? Your affiliate marketing journey starts now.
