Affiliate Marketing For Dummies

Get Your Piece of the Hottest Business Online Today! 

Affiliate marketing is your route to earning some serious bucks. Thousands of companies both large & small like Amazon, Sears, Best Buy, Overstock, Lowe?s, Priceline & others have programs so you can profit from the thousands of products they offer.

Affiliate marketing is ideal for bloggers looking to monetize their work. This is a multibillion-dollar market, and there are 10+ million people involved in the biz worldwide. There?s always room for more because the opportunity keeps growing as more and more companies offer affiliate programs. Affiliate Marketing For Dummies shows you how to get a slice of the pie! 

• Choose the right affiliate product or service for you
• Find the best affiliate programs for you
• Find the best affiliate marketing strategies

Affiliate Marketing for Dummies is your friendly step-by-step guide to getting in on this moneymaker?big time.  

Introduction 1

About This Book   1

Foolish Assumptions   2

Icons Used in This Book   2

Beyond the Book   3

Where to Go from Here   3

Part 1: Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing 5

Chapter 1: What Is Affiliate Marketing?   7

Getting a Handle on How Affiliate Marketing Works   7

Profiting from Internet Promotion   8

Multiplying opportunities   9

Automating the money flow 9

Distinguishing affiliate marketing from other internet businesses   11

Preparing to Start Your Affiliate Marketing Business   12

Setting expectations   12

Laying the groundwork   13

Walking through the process   14

Chapter 2: Why Should You Be an Affiliate?   17

Surveying the Requirements of Starting a Traditional Business 18

Assessing the Advantages of Affiliate Marketing   19

You can start your business instantly   20

You can choose your own path and lifestyle   20

You can offer a diverse range of products   21

You have no product development and fulfillment   21

You don’t have to be a technical genius   22

Payment and accounting are automated 23

You get company-supplied marketing materials   24

You can take advantage of tax deductions   24

Setting Expectations   24

Chapter 3: Pitfalls and Risks for Beginners   27

Looking Out for Personal Pitfalls   27

Lacking focus   28

Managing time poorly   29

Making few (if any) content updates 32

Avoiding Internet Risks   32

Stay away from instant businesses   33

Don’t fall for the next bright shiny object 34

Don’t follow others too closely 34

Chapter 4: Steps to Take Before Becoming an Affiliate   37

Setting Your Goals   38

Assessing the Skills You Have and Need   38

Where are you now?   39

How do you move ahead?   40

Strengthening Your Ability to Focus   40

Deciding what is (and isn’t) important   40

Setting your priorities   41

Seeing the magic of massive action   43

Making time to play   43

Ridding yourself of time wasters   44

Chapter 5: Surveying the Affiliate Landscape: Programs and Networks   49

Digging into Affiliate Programs   49

Assessing the advantages of affiliate programs   50

Finding and evaluating affiliate programs   51

Joining an affiliate program   54

Looking at Affiliate Networks   56

Checking out the advantages of affiliate networks 56

Finding and evaluating affiliate networks   57

Joining an affiliate network 58

Understanding the Dangers of Getting Banned   59

Part 2: Building on the Basics 61

Chapter 6: Keyword Research and Product Selection 63

Combining Passion and Profit   64

Analyzing Product Keywords   65

Looking at long tail keywords 66

Golden keywords   70

Sifting through Keyword Analysis Tools   71

Market Samurai   72

KeywordRevealer   74

Google Keyword Planner   75

Examining Markets   76

Focusing on evergreen markets   77

Sizing up seasonal markets   77

Chapter 7: Using a Website for Affiliate Marketing   79

Beginning with the Benefits of a Website for the Affiliate Marketer   80

Establishing a Domain Name for Your Website   81

Choosing a name   81

Using a registrar 82

Checking out the aftermarket   83

Comparing Self-Hosting to Free Hosting   84

Self-hosting   85

Free hosting   87

Going with WordPress Software   88

Installation   89

Themes   90

Plug-ins   91

Monitoring Your Website   94

Totaling the Costs of Starting and Running an Affiliate Marketing Website 95

Asking a Few Important Questions about Websites 96

Chapter 8: Niche Marketing   97

Understanding the Basics of Niche Marketing   97

Finding Your Niche 99

Following the head and the heart   100

Considering market size and competition   100

Reviewing Keyword Analysis Tools for Niche Marketing   101

Market Samurai   102

KeywordRevealer   103

Google tools   104

Keywords Everywhere   104

Spying on the Competition 105

Surveying Seasonal Niches 107

Chapter 9: Affiliate Marketing Without a Website   109

Getting Started When You Have Followers (And When You Don’t)   110

Leveraging the followers you already have   110

Taking action when you have no social media presence 112

Surveying Strategies for Different Social Media Platforms   113

Facebook   114

LinkedIn 115

YouTube   115

Instagram   116

Reddit 117

Quora 117

Guest blogs   118

Checking Out the Cons of Affiliate Marketing Without a Website   119

Your web presence is limited   119

You’re not building asset value   120

You don’t own the ground you’re building your business on   120

Your content doesn’t last long in front of your followers   121

You’re always fighting the competition 121

You have to adjust your approach for a different audience   122

You must keep on top of social media limitations and restrictions   122

Social media isn’t necessarily less complicated than having a website 123

Having a website isn’t as expensive as you may think   124

Chapter 10: SEO: Search Engine Optimization   125

Taking Care of Some Issues Before You Focus on SEO   126

Selecting the right niche   126

Understanding the elephant in the room: Google   127

Distinguishing On-Page and Off-Page SEO Factors 130

On-page SEO factors   131

Off-page SEO factors   138

Setting Up Your Site to Be SEO Friendly   139

Tags and categories 140

Posts and pages   140

Building a silo   143

Trying Out SEO Tools 144

Yoast   144

Market Samurai   144

Google Webmasters   145

Chapter 11: Email Marketing   147

Assessing the Advantages of Email Marketing   148

Building Your List with Different Types of Email   149

Marketing emails   149

Autoresponders   149

Transactional emails   150

Email campaigns   151

Hosting Your Own Emails   152

The pros of hosting   152

The cons of hosting   154

Playing by the Rules 156

Can-spam 156

The opt-in   158

The double opt-in 158

Unsubscribing 159

Understanding Email Screening   159

Soft bounces and hard bounces   161

Beware of buying a list of emails 161

A risk of probation if email addresses aren’t checked   161

Email throttling 163

Considering Different Email Senders   163

Sendinblue   164

Amazon SES   164

SendGrid   165

Mailchimp   165

Constant Contact   166

Part 3: Advanced Affiliate Strategies   167

Chapter 12: Multitier, Passive, and Other Offbeat Commissions   169

Getting a Handle on Multitier Affiliate Marketing   170

Trying two-tier marketing   170

Watching out for the third tier and beyond   171

Finding affiliates for your multitier program   172

Picking Out Passive Income Opportunities   174

Profiting Even When No Sale Is Made 175

Cost per action/pay per lead   175

Cost per click 176

Cost per view   177

Chapter 13: Affiliate Platforms, Directories, and More   179

Assessing Affiliate Platforms   179

JVZoo   180

ClickBank   181

CJ Affiliate   183

Amazon Associates   184

Digging into Affiliate Directories   185

Checking Out CPA Networks   186

Looking at Advertising Networks 187

Chapter 14: Opt-In and Landing Pages   189

Examining the Elements of an Opt-In Page   190

Videos versus text   190

The layout   192

Other considerations for success   192

Checking Out the Elements of a Landing Page   193

The visuals: Colors and images   193

The headline and the subheadline   193

Ad/sales copy   194

Testimonials   196

Bonuses 197

The “what’s inside” element   197

The bio 198

Payment buttons   198

Guarantees   198

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) 199

Legal notices and disclaimers   200

Focusing on Other Factors for Success 200

Testing with the A-B split   200

Considering SEO 201

Using an exit pop-up   201

Benefiting from others’ wisdom   202

Trying landing page templates and software   202

Judging results   202

Chapter 15: Sales Funnel Strategies   203

Selling Your Prospect on Multiple Offers   203

Starting with the front end   204

Moving to the main or core offer 206

Continuing with the back-end offer 207

Using upsells and downsells   207

Putting everything together   208

Setting Up Your Sequence of Offers   210

Looking at the tools you need   210

Modeling a merchant funnel   211

Assessing an affiliate funnel 212

Building a structure for passive income   213

Part 4: Going Professional 217

Chapter 16: The Legal Stuff 219

Following the Federal Trade Commission   220

Knowing the main guideline 220

Avoiding unrealistic claims   220

Retaining records about testimonials 221

Watching your language   222

Keeping your pricing consistent   222

Having a clear refund policy 222

Being aware of the rules about business opportunities   223

Getting the Scoop on the General Data Protection Regulation   224

Safely Using Images and Other Content 225

Getting permission in writing 225

Understanding special content rights 226

Addressing Legal Matters on Websites 227

A privacy policy 227

Disclaimers   228

Terms of service   228

Other sites’ rules   229

Chapter 17: The Merchant Side of Affiliate Marketing   231

Knowing Whether You’re Ready to Be a Merchant   232

Is your product conducive to an affiliate marketing program?   233

Is your compensation plan attractive?   235

Can you service affiliates? 236

Becoming an “undercover affiliate” 236

Choosing Your Technology 237

Considering an in-house affiliate program   237

Using an external affiliate platform 238

Outsourcing   239

Recruiting and Working with Affiliates   239

Knowing where to find affiliates   239

Making offers they can’t resist   240

Providing affiliate tools   240

Chapter 18: Taxes for the Affiliate Marketer   245

Setting Up Your Business for Taxes   245

The simplest business structure: You!   246

The second simplest business structure: The DBA 246

The next level: LLCs, corporations, and partnerships 247

Handling Taxes on Affiliate Marketing Commissions   247

Federal income taxes   248

Federal self-employment taxes   248

State and local taxes   249

Sales tax 249

Digging into Powerful Tax Deductions   250

Deducting home office expenses   250

Looking at the most common affiliate deductions   251

Checking out other common business deductions   252

Keeping Good Records   253

Researching Pension Tax Benefits 253

Reviewing Resources to Help You with Your Taxes   254

Part 5: the Part of Tens   255

Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) of the Biggest Pitfalls for Affiliate Marketers   257

Looking to the Next Bright Shiny Object   257

Battling a Lack of Focus 258

Not Investing in Yourself and Your Education   259

Making the Transition from Content Consumer to Content Producer   260

Having Unrealistic Expectations   260

Spreading Yourself Too Thin   261

Not Sticking It Out Until You Achieve Success   261

Not Spending Money to Save Time   262

Not Protecting Your Trust Flow and Reputation   262

Chapter 20: The Ten Best Free Tools for Affiliate Marketers   267

WordPress 268

Elementor   268

Yoast   269

Keywords Everywhere 270

SpyFu   270

Blog Ideas Generator 270

Market Samurai   271

GTmetrix   271

SimilarWeb   272

Buffer 273

Chapter 21: The Ten Best Paid Tools for Affiliate Marketers   275

Market Samurai   276

Keyword Revealer   276

SpyFu   277

Elementor, Astra Pro Theme, and Ultimate Addons 277

Content Samurai   278

WP Robot 280

CleanTalk 280

Sendinblue   281

Amazon SES   281

Mailster   282

Chapter 22: The Ten Best Marketing Strategies for Affiliates   285

Guest Blogging   285

SEO Strategies   286

Social Media Marketing 286

YouTube Marketing   287

Email Marketing   288

Content Marketing 289

E-book Publishing   289

Joint Ventures   290

Media Interviews   290

Smartphone Apps   291

Appendix: Tools and Resources for Affiliates   293

Index   307

Ted Sudol is a longtime affiliate marketer who has developed and sold several affiliate marketing websites over the years. His current sites focus on affiliate marketing and precious metals investing.

Paul Mladjenovic is the bestselling author of StockInvesting For Dummies. He’s a Certified Financial Planner as well as a national speaker and home business specialist.