This post may contain affiliate links for more info visit my disclosure page.
Looking for ways to learn how to sell affiliate products online? You’ve landed at the right place! Selling affiliate products is essentially affiliate marketing because you’ll be in the business of marketing affiliate products.
Hope I didn’t confuse you too much there but I’ll explain everything, don’t you worry!
It’s not hard to learn affiliate marketing and you can get started in a very short time! There are a few things you will need to know:
- What is affiliate marketing?
- Who can learn how to make money selling affiliate products?
- Where do you find affiliate products?
- How do you start selling these affiliate products?
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Putting it simply, affiliate marketing is the promotion of other people’s products or services using your own marketing efforts and you earn a commission, a percentage of sale or fixed rate, if someone purchases that affiliate product or services through your affiliate link.
An affiliate link is the link you will get from the company you’re promoting the product or service for to put on your website to track those customers going from your website to their website to buy the product or service.
Affiliate marketing is the best way to sell products without having any inventory or making any huge investments yourself. It’s one of the best forms to make money online and certainly many has made lots of money doing just this, so can YOU. 🙂 I have more information on this topic and a more detailed analysis of affiliate marketing HERE.
Who Can Learn How to Make Money Selling Affiliate Products?
As long as you can read this post and are willing to commit to learning the steps it takes to do it, then anyone can!
Whoever is wanting to make money online promoting affiliate products can learn how to do this. You don’t even have to do this full time so if you have a job, you can start doing this part time when you’re not at work.
If you’re a college student, you can definitely do this when you don’t have tons of homework and make money online while studying.
Stay at home moms and dads can do this, and in fact, I’m a stay at home mom doing this too! 😉 If you are in this category, you must take advantage of being at home already and picking up some extra cash building this kind of website!
Even retirees or people who are about to retire and want to build a passive income to supplement your retirement income stream can be an internet marketer.
The internet does not discriminate and anyone willing to commit to this and learn the steps to succeed will achieve success in due time!
Where Do You Find Affiliate Products?
There are several options to finding affiliate products to promote. First you need to figure out what kind of products you’re interested in promoting, this is called picking a niche.
Your website will be specializing in one topic, you don’t want to be all over the place, because you want to be a service to a target audience. This will generate the best traffic for your website.
If you don’t know what niche to pick yet, take a look at my post on How To Find the Best Niche.
Once you find your niche, let’s say treadmills for this example, here are three ways you can find affiliate products:
1) Directly from Companies – You can go on Google and search “treadmills + affiliate program” – this your first easy way to start. With this way you can see if treadmill companies directly have an affiliate program.
If they do, that’s great, you will want to see if they have a vast variety of treadmills for you to choose and promote with.
You will also want to see how much commission you will get and when you’ll get paid – this may play a factor on which company you end up going with.
Although, you can choose to work with all companies available and you do not have to just choose one.
2) Shopping Networks – One of the biggest shopping networks is Amazon.com and they have an affiliate program that’s very popular called Amazon Associates.
Their interface is very easy to navigate and they have a tool you can install that lets you create an affiliate link from any page on Amazon. It’s a great program and I highly recommend it.
Other shopping networks like Target.com, Walmart.com, and Overstock.com all have affiliate programs that you can join that will offer you lots of different products to choose from.
3) Affiliate Networks – Companies who do not want to run their own affiliate program join an affiliate network so the network can help them run their program for them.
The affiliate networks essentially brings affiliate marketers and companies that offer affiliate products together in one place. Some popular affiliate networks are: ShareASale, ClickBank, WarriorPlus, Commission Junction, MaxBounty, and JVZoo.
All the affiliate programs you find should be free to join and you should always check how much you’ll earn and the payment schedule to know how often you’ll get paid.
Also be ready to fill out W-9 tax forms, they will need it in order to pay you. As well, be ready to let them know how you’ll get paid, either by check or PayPal, etc.
How Do You Start Selling These Affiliate Products?
In order for you to start selling affiliate products, you’ll need a website where you’ll talk about the products you’re promoting and where people can surf on to read about your recommendations.
The website will be in a blog format, run by WordPress, which I recommend is the best blog platform, and installed with your web host.
As you write about the products, you’ll add affiliate links to your words or pictures for your readers to click on.
Once they click on the links, they’ll be directed to the company’s website who’s selling that product. If they buy at that point, you’ll get a commission! Yay! 🙂
Your next question may be how do you get a website or how do I learn how to build one? There are actually two ways you can get your blog started:
1) Do It Yourself – a choice I don’t recommend, especially if you’re serious about this and want to create a recurring passive income stream.
Many fail when they do this on their own because they won’t know a lot of the steps it takes to build out their website properly, get their website ranked on search engines so it gets organic traffic, or how to get answers when their stuck on something.
If you’re still wanting to check out how to do this on your own, I would highly recommend you reading my How To Build A Blog page as it details out everything you’ll need to get started!
2) Do It With Wealthy Affiliate – This is my highest recommendation! While you can get two free websites there, your websites will be hosted on there for free as well!
In addition, they have ALL the training you will need to build your website step-by-step into a money making machine!
I am a Premium member there and you can see my profile HERE.
There’s absolutely no better place to learn about how to build your website out and start making money with your affiliate products than to be at Wealthy Affiliate!
You will not find another platform that have hours and hours of training, webinars, courses, lessons, and tasks for you to become an expert at this!
They have two main courses to choose from, Online Entrepreneur Certification (5 courses, 10 lessons each) and Affiliate Bootcamp (7 courses, 10 lessons each), and the outline for each are shown below:
The difference between the two? Online Entrepreneur Certification course is for any niche you want to choose for your website and the Affiliate Bootcamp is specifically for the make money online niche.
There are 13 Classrooms in all available to us to learn on various topics as seen in the image on the left.
The two courses mentioned above make up the first two Classrooms in this series and the remaining 11 Classrooms specialize in many other topics you’ll be interested to learn to optimize your website.
Another great perk about Wealthy Affiliate is that there’s a community of people waiting to help you! You literally never have to be stuck on any task for long when you have such a support system there.
There are over 800,000 members there so at any time there are people that can help you in Live Chat or answer a question you submit. They also have a separate SiteSupport to help you with anything technical with your website and hosting issues.
You will also have access to the owners Kyle and Carson! They are often on the platform and still very involved with their members. Coaching with them is another feature Premium members get!
Finally the best feature about Wealthy Affiliate is that you can join for FREE with their Starter Membership! It’s a great way to check everything out yourself and, if and when you’re ready, you can upgrade to the Premium Membership, which I have.
The Premium membership opens up the rest of the courses for you as well as many other features. To see a side by side comparison and more details on this platform, check out my full review HERE.
If you’re ready to start selling affiliate products, sign up now:
- Starter Membership – $0 (no credit card needed) HERE!
- Premium Membership – $19 for the first month, $49/month thereafter or $359/year and save HERE!
There’s literally no better way to get started than joining Wealthy Affiliate! You need support, you need training, you need education!! Start your website on the right foot and join the Wealthy Affiliate community. 🙂 You really won’t regret it!
Let me help YOU build your online business and start selling affiliate products!! Sign up above and I’ll see you on the other side!
Let’s make money online!
I like how you sell the WA product! I can see the positives on using wealthy affiliate and how they can guide you to a better successful route! One question is how do we know which affiliates can be scam or not?
Hi Lorenzo,
Thanks for your thoughts! In general, affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme or any kind of scam at all. It’s the most legitimate way to make an honest online income stream.
The products come from real legitimate businesses who services thousands and millions of people on a daily basis. These are the companies that offer affiliate programs for me and you to join so we can promote their products (whether directly or through shopping networks like Amazon.com and Target.com as mentioned above).
Like at Wealthy Affiliate, it’s free to join, you can start promoting their product (the online training courses) immediately, and earn commission if you get referrals. You are only paying for the education and tools on how to set up such a website to promote affiliate products.
It would be a scam if a company asked you to pay in order for you to promote their product, it should all be free to join.
Hope this helps!
Grace
Very informative on how to be an Affiliate Marketer. Unlike getting a job, Affiliate marketing never discriminate anyone.
Thanks Arthur, Yes that’s how I feel too. Anyone can do this if you have the commitment and drive to build the site for it, which is all taught at Wealthy Affiliate. Just go through the lessons, learn, and apply!
To much success to you!
Grace
This is a comprehensive post on wealthy affiliate which i think is very informative for all beginners who wants to learn to make an online income from selling affiliate products. I am on WA for 2 months now and I am really loving it. Awesome program!
That’s great to hear Will that you’re also a member at Wealthy Affiliate!! I’m glad you are enjoying it and learning lots! It’s the best way to start an online business!
Best to you,
Grace
Thanks this is very helpful. I joined WA recently and was very worried and apprehensive – its hearing from those already doing it that helped make the decision to join, it is a lot of hard work and you do have to put in the effort as you say, but knowing it is in fact real and possible is very encouraging. Thanks for this information and for sharing.
This is great to know you’re a new member! Wealthy Affiliate teachings work!! Their training is the best in the business, my only regret is that I didn’t find it 5 years ago, when I tried doing this on my own before and was a disaster.
You’re at the right place so have fun while you learn!
To much success to you!
Grace
Excellent post Grace. Affiliate marketing is such a great business strategy. It has a high chance of working as well. Of course, since it takes so long,so many people quit. Very unfortunate.
I’m also with WA, and I can say that I only wish I had found it a long time ago. It’s the single biggest factor of whatever success I’ve had so far. They give you everything you need, and you just have to be willing to learn. Your post sums the whole thing up perfectly!
Thank you Mohammad!
Yes affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme at all, it takes a lot of hard work and consistency in writing valuable content for your audience.
I feel the same about Wealthy Affiliate, I totally wished I found it 5 years ago when I started my first blog and failed! I do owe all my successes so far to Wealthy Affiliate, they have taught me so much!
Thanks again for kind words! To much success to you!
Grace
Thanks Grace, for such an informative look into the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. I love that you mentioned not having to keep an inventory and no up front investment. I have done both in the past and there were lots of headaches involved. Affiliate marketing is personally my choice for making an income online, the only downside is the small amount of advertising fees many pay – it can take a lot of sales to make a decent income. That said I recommend looking for programs that offer a nice pay out so you don’t have to work so hard to get paid 🙂 Curious, what are your thoughts on this?
Hi Jess,
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words about my post.
So happy you shared your experience with inventory and up front investment! I couldn’t agree more that affiliate marketing is the best way to make a passive income. You definitely need to check out the programs you sign up for to see how much you can make and see what’s worth your time. Some people concentrate on high ticket items so that your commissions are bigger, but risk less people buying. I think a good mix of both will allow you to make cover your bases.
Also, you need to be comfortable with the products you promote. I know with Uber, you can earn $1K commission if a driver signs up and drives a certain amount of miles. Sounds great but I’m not about to promote Uber, you know?
So it’s a balance you have to find. 🙂
Hope this helps a bit!
Grace
I love the look of your site. Very informative. Can you run an affiliate program along side a full time job?
I am hoping to do this until i am earning enough to leave my job and work full time as an online marketer.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your kind words! Yes you certainly can run an affiliate marketing business while having a full time job! However, don’t work on your site while at work. 😉 You can use your evenings and weekends to work on your site and the great thing about Wealthy Affiliate is that you train at your own pace. Therefore, until your site builds up bigger and start making the money you wish, you can keep your full time job til then.
Hope this helps and thanks for stopping by!
Grace
Very helpful post. I wasn’t sure I would have what it takes to be successful with an online business but the more I learn from Wealthy Affiliate the more I know I absolutely can be. The premium membership is worth way more than the rate charged and more informative than some college courses I’ve taken. Keep up the good work!
Hi Keith,
Thank you for your comment! I absolutely agree with you. There’s so much to available to you once you’re a Premium member. If you want to be serious in making money online, you need to educate yourself on how to build out your site properly so you can get traffic to your site and thus, make money! Appreciate your input here Keith!
Best wishes to you!
Grace
Totally agree with you Grace and doing it yourself is definitely not the right route to take. All that will do for you is frustrate you and get you more confused than anything. Find a solid program and maybe even get a coach, but don’t try doing affiliate marketing by yourself or you’ll end up quitting.
Thanks John for your input!
I’ve been frustrated before and now I don’t need to be because I get answers every time I’m stuck on something and I get those answers fast! The community at Wealthy Affiliate is so responsive and quick when you have a question. I have really enjoyed my time there and I know others will too!
Wish you the best success!
Grace
You explained this in a very easy to understand way. You did a wonderful job in letting people know what Wealthy Affiliates can do for them and I agree 100%. To be successful in affiliate marketing you have to get training and WA is the best place online to get it. I have been working online for several years now and have never been involved with such a wonderful community. The people at WA are the best!
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for stopping by! Yes the community at Wealthy Affiliate just amazing and everyone I’ve come across has been super helpful. I’ve never seen anything like it either in all the years I’ve been working online.
Any beginner should not go into affiliate marketing on their own, it’s best to partner up with a training platform like Wealthy Affiliate because you want to build your website properly from the get-go. It’s the best platform there is and soooo much to offer there. You really get your money’s worth and more!
Wish you all the best Cathy!
Grace
Hi Grace,
That is a great post on affiliate marketing, thank you for sharing it with us.
I can also personally vouch how good the training at Wealthy Affiliate is. I started off as an engineer with little experience in marketing.
Moving forward a couple of months I now have website that is getting high Google rankings and generating some traffic.
Thanks again for your hard Work!
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for your kind words, really appreciate them! That’s great news you’re at Wealthy Affiliate too! Yes the training is remarkable and I love it.
You’re well on your way to great things to come!
Grace
Grace ! By far i found your article the most simple and understandable . About WA ,the best and concise description landed here. I am also mum at home and I am fan of ur’s.
Hi Arooj,
Thanks so much and glad you’re a fan! I appreciate your kind words and glad you found this article helpful. 🙂
Best to you,
Grace
I have learned something again! Affiliate networks! I have never thought about them. Going to check out. I saw you have one page about Commission Junction. Can’t wait to read about that.
How on Earth you know all of these??? I get, you know from your previous experience before you joined the Wealthy Affiliate. But still.
Ok back on the topic. I am signed up with Amazon for now and made my first income yay! 🙂
P.S. I feel like I’ve been talking to you the whole this evening since I went through all your posts, which I recommend to all your readers. Did I already tell you to write a book?!
🙂
Sunny
Hi Sunny, you’re so funny! Thanks for reading all my posts!! You’re so awesome!
I’m happy you can learn from me. 🙂 Yes I’ve blogged before so I know about affiliate marketing and networks before I joined Wealthy Affiliate. However, back then I didn’t do anything great with that blog and I’ve since let it die as I let that domain go and went into the handmade businesses.
Now I’m back to affiliate marketing because I know I can make it work this time especially because I found Wealthy Affiliate just after I set up this blog and so happy I did!
I hope you can learn much more on here! 🙂
Grae
Thanks for this awesome guide, I was looking to setup affiliate business and your post helped me a lot to set up a blog for affiliate, I have set up now and I was looking for best affiliate products to sell, [link removed] Hope it will help your readers as well.
Sorry, I don’t allow your links on my posts. Thanks for your thoughts and visiting my post! 🙂