How To Start A Website For Affiliate Marketing

Welcome to modern web design. The days that you needed to know coding to build a website are long gone. Today building a website for any purpose including affiliate marketing can be as simple as drag and drop with the right website builder. And the best part is that you can even do so for free.  In this article we are going to talk about two platforms, WordPress and GroovePages because we are focusing on what it takes to build a affiliate marketing website. You can create a affiliate marketing website pretty easy using these two platforms. Even though an affiliate marketer can have a affiliate marketing business without having a website it is something most should consider as it opens the door for being able to use SEO to gain traffic for your affiliate marketing business.

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Making money for really not doing too much work is the goal for most affiliate marketers. When done correctly, affiliate marketing lets you generate passive income. Affiliate marketing is considered passive because you can theoretically earn money just by adding an affiliate link to your site and earn money 24/7 365 days a year.
Affiliate marketing is popular amongst people looking to start an online business since it is an easy way to build a business where you do not have to actually fulfill orders or purchase products like dropshippers do. It amazes me the number of people however who still to this day open up Shopify stores for dropshipping when they have a limited budget to work with. It is one of the reasons that it is reported that 97% of new Shopify stores fail. Even so, anyone hoping to earn a full-time living with affiliate marketing needs to be prepared to put in the work. It requires a concerted effort in pushing products and services through all possible online marketing means.

If the plan is to earn a living as an affiliate marketer, you’ll need to attract site visitors and email subscribers. We’re talking in the thousands normally. To build this kind of volume takes time, dedication, upkeep, and continual analysis. By investing your time in the right affiliate marketing strategies, you’ll gradually accumulate multiple streams of passive income.

So we know affiliate marketing typically involves three parties: the merchant, the publisher (the affiliate marketer), and the customer. Each time a sale is made, the merchant and the publisher each receive a share of revenue according to their contribution. Let’s take a look at their roles in a bit more detail.

Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are multiple businesses that have affiliate programs. You may or may not be aware that Amazon is the largest affiliate marketing network in the world. Millions of people have signed up as Amazon affiliates and receive a small fee when someone buys from Amazon when they direct their traffic there. An example of an Amazon Affiliate Website is https://hyperxgamingheadsetreview.com/.  It is a site that offers a product review and if someone is interested in the product they simply click through and are redirected to Amazon.

Besides Amazon you can find a lot of digital or physical products that have affiliate programs. Many large companies such as Walmart, BestBuy, Home Depot also have programs. It only takes a simple Google search to find them. Just search for (product or niche) and Affiliate Program and you will find a number of affiliate programs.
There are also Affiliate Marketing Networks that you can use such as Rakuten, Share A Sale, CJ Affiliate, Clickbank and Warrior Plus that you can join and find numerous Affiliate products to sell.

How much does an affiliate marketing website cost?

The cost of building and maintaining your website on WordPress or Groovepages will vary depending on your needs. In this blog we are going to show you the cheapest ways however it can cost you more if you want to spend more for more bells and whistles. So, it will cost anywhere from Zero to about $100 depending on the choices you make. Yes, we said ZERO!!! Groovepages allows you to build up to 3 websites for free and includes free hosting, although you would have to use a Groovepages domain, so for that matter we recommend purchasing your own custom domain URL from sites like Namecheap or GoDaddy. These can go for as little as $5 although you can pay more for better expired domains that may have better sounding names or some SEO built in..

Creating your first affiliate marketing website

As we mentioned above, we will be using WordPress and Groovepages. WordPress is the largest and most popular website builder in the world and most of all it is “free”. WordPress is now the preferred content-management system for over one third of all websites. Groovepages is smaller, newer (still in Beta) and a platform designed by techies for marketers specifically.
WordPress and GroovePages are both easy to set up and start you publishing right away and hopefully making money.
As mentioned above using either Groovepages or WordPress you should buy a domain, this is optional but one that should be considered an essential element. :
Your Affiliate Marketing Domain Name – This is the URL you will be using for the website. For example, the URL for our site is digitalpapercuts.com. No two sites can have the exact same domain name. To obtain a domain name, it must be registered through a company like GoDaddy or Namecheap. When choosing your business name, make it simple and easy to remember if possible. .Some examples of Affiliate Marketing domain names in addition to the HyperX one mentioned above include ones like Tattoo Lovers Blog, Derive  Profit, Best Writer Blog, European Travel Blog, Skateboarders.shop,and one of ours Free Landing Page Builders
Website Hosting – To make your site visible on the internet, it needs to have a “web host”. You can do this for  your wordpress website for free on multiple places including WordPress.com however Groovepages makes it simple to build a site and includes free hosting for life. Other places that you can host a website for free include:

How to create a free website on Groovepages

1. SIgn up for a free Groovepages Account
2. Choose a template OR ѕtаrt from a blank раgе
3. Drag and Drop Blocks and Elements if starting from a blank page
4. Add content to the blocks, texts, images, etc
5. Adjuѕt your mоbіlе lаndіng раgе lауоut.
6. Configure уоur website page settings.
7. Add tracking аnd сuѕtоm ѕсrірtѕ
8. Set уоur landing page URL. Either use Groove Domain URl or if you are using a custom domain redirect your site to cloudflare and point your groovepage to cloudflare. Here are two examples of websites built with Groovepages. https://onlinereputationmanagement.solutions/free-report   and  https://hyperxgamingheadsetreview.com/
9. Prеvіеw аnd рublіѕh.

Installing WordPress and GroovePages

You can easily download and install WordPress from a Namecheap or GoDaddy account. We love the ease of use that Namecheap has installed with their Softiculous plug in. It is possible to choose free WordPress templates even before installing WordPress. If you see the template you like, choose it, if not, then you can skip this step.

From there, you should click the Start Building button to install WordPress.

Using WordPress and Groovepages

Once you get to the WordPress dashboard. The first thing to do is choose if the site is for Business or Personal use. For affiliate marketing, you need to choose business. This is not required for Groovepages.

Now, it is time to familiarize yourself with the WordPress and Groovepages dashboard and settings. From here, for WordPress you can install plugins like the ones mentioned above. Using plugins will make your affiliate marketing website more efficient. With Groovepages there is no need to add plug ins as they have everything built in.

You should also set the Meta title and Meta descriptions of your website. This is how Google and people viewing your site on a search engine knows what your website is about. With a WordPress site you can easily do this from a plug in like Yoast or All in One SEO. With GroovePages you simply do it on the page itself in the sidebar in the builder.
Generally, the two tabs on the WordPress dashboard that you will use the most are the Pages and Posts. With Pages, you will set up things like the Homepage, About Us, Terms of Service, Affiliate Disclaimer and Privacy policy. The Post tab is for all the blog posts and articles that will be added to your site. With Groovepages you will use the page builder and optional would be other features like Groovesell, GrooveKart, Groovemail, GrooveVideo, etc. they have multiple features that you can use for your site. GrooveMail is a great tool for building up a email list. No other website builder includes a free autoresponder like GrooveMail.

Guidelines for increasing Affiliate Marketing traffic to your Website

Know your target audience

Before you have built your website you should have already figured out your websites target audience for your niche. You will want to know your target audience demographics, age, gender, interests. Promoting a product or service to the wrong audience is a waste of money and time. This may take time to dial it in but you should have a basic assumption from which to go off of. One trick we like to do is to look at online reviews. Who are posting them? Are they male or female, do they fall into a certain age group and can you identify their interests?

Be very trustworthy

Make sure the content you place on your website is honest, valid, accurate. You do not want to feed your audience with false info. Provide your readers with useful and unique content and let the audience know that they can rely on you for information. Trust badges can help but aren’t as good as honest content itself.

Make your affiliate marketing website relevant in the niche

You need to make sure that the content you are providing on your website is relevant. For instance, this blog is relevant to our niche-Digital Marketing. Even though we are not an affiliate marketing website it is relevant to our niche as we do help many affiliate marketers set up their websites and help with their marketing. It is easy to copy content but that doesn’t do your readers much good if they see the same content on multiple sites. Strive to help your visitors with useful information. If you are doing a review of a product, do not just copy and paste reviews from Amazon or Aliexpress. You can buy the product, use it and give your thoughts about it. If you are doing a digital product such as software ask the provider if they have a beta version you can use. Your content is what will drive the readers to click on your links.

Let your visitors know you are an affiliate marketer

Be upfront and honest. So for full disclosure if you open a GroovePages account and upgrade to their paid version we will be paid a commission….and a very nice commission it is, as a paid member we receive 40% of anyone who upgrades to a paid plan. It is against the rules to hide the fact that you are an affiliate marketer or that you receive a commission when visitors buy a product you are promoting. Be sure to tell them and let them know that you are not biased when giving reviews.

Choose your affiliate products carefully

Same with the niche you select, make sure that you do lots of research on the products you will be promoting or reviewing. Check the commission rates and know how much you will be getting for promoting a particular product. Do not promote too many random products at the same time because the audience will not trust you. Keep everything relevant. It is better to promote just a few products that you know are good than a bunch of products that aren’t.

Choosing the right affiliate program

Affiliate programs come in all shapes and sizes. Amazon is huge, but it is also one of the lowest paying programs, but what it lacks in payout it makes up for in trust. Make sure you do a lot of research before choosing a affiliate program. You need to know about their terms of use, commissions, payout minimums, and the marketing tools they offer you. Some affiliate programs offer you free customized banners and ads to place on your website which may bring in more traffic. GroovePages does this but we do not post anything on our website, just on blog posts like this one. We like promoting GroovePages because A. We believe in it and B. It allows people to use it for free and only if they are happy with it or want the upgrades only then do they have to pay.

Be patient

Affiliate marketing will probably not make you a millionaire. Sure the internet is full of stories about 20 something kids with no experience all of a sudden driving Ferrari’s overnight. The truth is like any business it takes work. You need to gradually build your customer base and gain their trust. Once they start trusting you, they will recommend you to others, and the cycle continues. All this does not happen in one night. Many marketers place the value of their business based on the email lists they have built. When you build your credibility, you can ask merchants for a better commission amount or in some cases merchants may even approach you to promote their products for higher commissions.

Now, let’s check out some great examples of affiliate marketing sites that have been created and are killing it.

Bonuses

Many times you will need to offer bonuses if you want to compete for affiliate sales. The best tool we have found so far to do this is Stacker which allows yo to create any bonus packages with high converting landing pages as well as the bonus products themselves.

Examples of some of the best affiliate marketing sites

Making Sense Of Cents

Making Sense of Cents is a finance site as you may have guess from the title, it was created and is run by one very successful person: Michelle Gardner.
Michelle writes all the content on her website herself, making the angle more personal advice, and coming from personal experience, than a large site with a team of ‘experts’. And that has paid off for her big-time.
Michelle publishes her income reports on her blog, and as of the last income report, her monthly revenue was $125,000. Not bad for just creating content.

1. Taking a personal angle can help differentiate you in competitive markets. 
2. Have your readers’ backs. A lot of Michelle’s content helps her readers stay out of harm’s way from online scams or even how to make a little bit of extra money.

The Points Guy

If you are a frequent flyer or have checked out credit cards online you probably have seen The Points Guy.
Some of the biggest affiliate marketing websites out there are in the travel and finance niches. This website is all about credit cards in travel. Specifically, it’s about how to leverage the benefits credit card companies and travel companies offer you for taking different actions for frequent flyer programs or frequent traveler programs.
The points Guy is successful because they compare multiple credit card programs to let you know who has the best bonuses and credits. Their focus is on helping people getting stuff for free.

The Points Guy makes money through credit card and travel affiliate programs. The focus is mostly on credit cards that people can use to earn travel rewards.

What You Can Learn From Thepointsguys

1. Solve a problem. Take an angle that actually helps people solve a problem, in this case earning more rewards.
2. Put your favorite products front and center. The Points Guy has a “Top Cards” section in the main navigation menu that simply lists the top travel credit cards. In our case we have something similar. We have a Free Stuff section on our website.

Skyscanner

We could have easily put Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, or TripAdvisor.com in this spot. They are all affiliate marketing websites. They are so successful that some even have their own affiliate programs.
Think of the definition of an affiliate site. None of these sites own hotels, cruise ships or airlines but they all make money by driving traffic and creating bookings on other websites. This makes them a commission-based business, so by definition, they’re all affiliate sites.
Skyscanner and the other travel sites mentioned aren’t just very profitable affiliate sites – they’ve become a trusted brand.

 

What You Can Learn From Skyscanner

1. Think big – air travel is a ridiculously difficult niche to establish yourself in because of the high competition, but Skyscanner did it. True, they’re not a mom-and-pop affiliate site run from somebody’s laptop.
2. Content marketing matters – Skyscanner takes content marketing seriously. And when you look at the backend results you can see why – it drives a lot of free traffic their way.

Building a affiliate marketing website and adding quality content to it is the key to creating a successful business. The amount of time and effort you put in it will reflect in your profits Contrary to popular belief build it and they will come is a myth. It is just the first step in creating an affiliate marketing business. Most of your time will be spent marketing, not building but building it right from the start, and even for free is a great way to start a business. .

Frequently Asked Questions

What does an affiliate marketer do?

An Affiliate Marketer earns a commission by promoting other people’s (or companies) products or services. They do this by paid advertising or by creating content and promoting it online via Social Media, SEO or Paid Advertising means.

Is WordPress or GroovePages better?

WordPress is more established and is the largest CMS platform for website development. GroovePages is a complete marketing platform and website builder that has a lot more tools that people can utilize. WordPress requires extra plug ins to work effectively, GroovePages is an all in one Website Builder with marketing tools included.