Last updated on 11.7.2024
I want to share with you a plan to make money online with a $100 budget. We will focus on affiliate marketing using a content-based approach. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to get started!
Step 1 - Choose a niche and conduct thorough research
The first step in our strategy is to choose a specific niche that interests you and has a realistic demand. When picking a topic, be sure there are items or services linked with it that have affiliate programs you can join. As an example, we can choose “home workout equipment” as our niche.
Conduct extensive study to determine the likely target audience’s pain points and specific concerns. This research will assist you in tailoring your content to resonate with your target audience and deliver solutions through product suggestions.
Techniques that will help you gain valuable insights
- Keyword research: Utilize tools like SEMrush, Ubersuggest, or Ahrefs to discover popular search terms, keyword ideas, and trends related to your niche.
- Competitor analysis: Examine the top sites in your niche to see what kind of content they publish, what items they sell, and what methods they use. This can help you understand the competition and identify market gaps that you can address with your unique strategy.
- Join communities: Participate in niche-specific forums, Facebook groups, and Reddit communities to learn about the preferences, questions, and problems of the target audience.
Engage in discussions, ask questions, and receive useful information to inform your content production and promotion plans. - Follow industry influencers: Keep up with industry influencers and experts who share valuable tips, insights, and trends related to the choosen niche. This will enable you to stay updated on the latest developments and tailor your content accordingly.
- Analyze trends: Use tools like BuzzSumo or Google Trends to monitor the popularity of the niche over time. This will help to determine if it’s a growing market with long-term potential, or a declining one that may not be worth pursuing.
After extensive research, you will be equipped with the information and insights need to establish a successful affiliate marketing website in your chosen area.
Step 2 - Join an affiliate program
This is a critical step in the process, sign up for an affiliate program that sells products or services in your chosen niche. Examine popular affiliate networks such as: Amazon, Ebay or Aliexpress. They provide a diverse products ranging from home fitness equipment to a variety of other categories. Compare the programs and select one that offers attractive commission rates, solid reputations and a large selection of products that match your plan.
In our example, you may sign up for the Amazon program, which sells home gym equipment such as treadmills, elliptical machines, yoga mats, and weights. You may earn up to 10% income as an Amazon associate by advertising their products. simply sign up for a free account, get your unique affiliate links and place them in your content and on your site. When someone clicks your links and buys products from Amazon, you earn a commission.
Most affiliate programs are free to join and easy to get started. However, make an informed decision based on the products, commission rates, payment methods, reporting tools, and affiliate support provided. Before you begin, spend some time researching several possibilities and determining the best program for your needs.
Step 3 - Buy a domain and hosting
Domain name is the address for your website, such as “home-equipment.com” in the example. Choose a right domain name that is easy to remember and relevant to your niche. Domains can be purchased for $10-15 per year from companies such as Namecheap, GoDaddy, and Google Domains.
Select a hosting plan – Hosting is a service that stores your website files on the internet and makes them available to everyone who visits your site. To get started, select a basic shared hosting package, which normally costs $3-10 per month (for a single website). Popular hosting firms include Fastcomet, HostGator, and CloudWays. These plans will provide you with adequate storage and bandwidth to run an affiliate marketing site.
Step 4 - Set up your website
Now that you have your name and hosting, it’s time to get your site up and running. This is an important step since having a professional, user-friendly website will help you build trust with your audience and encourage them to interact with your content.
Let’s break down the process of getting your website up and running:
- Install WordPress – Most hosting companies offer one-click WordPress installation, making the procedure quick and simple. Log in to your admin dashboard after installing WordPress to manage your website.
- Choose a theme – Browse the WordPress repository for a large selection of free and affordable themes, or consider purchasing a premium theme. Look for affiliate marketing-specific themes, which often contain features such as product review templates and built-in schema markup for improved search engine visibility. You could use a theme like Astra or GeneratePress for our “home workout equipment” niche, as they are both lightweight, customizable, and well-suited for an affiliate site.
- Customize your theme – Make your website stand out by customizing the theme to match your niche. Changing the colors, fonts, and layout, as well as adding your own logo and header graphics, are all possibilities. Most themes have a customization panel that allows you to make these adjustments without any coding experience.
- Install plugins – Plugins can help you improve the functioning of your website. Yoast SEO (for search engine optimization), Akismet (for spam prevention), and a social sharing plugin. Thay are all vital plugins for an affiliate marketing.
- Create important pages – Your website should include crucial pages such as a “About”, “Terms of service”, “Contact” and a “Privacy Policy”. These pages increase the trustworthiness of your site and provide important information to your visitors.
- Create your menu – Organize your content using a simple, easy-to-use menu. Include links to your main categories, as well as important pages that I mentioned before.
After you’ve finished setting up your website and making it look professional, you’re ready to move on to the next step: generating content that will drive visitors and earn affiliate income.
Step 5 - Create content
This step is focusing on writing high-quality, informative articles related to your chosen niche. Product reviews, comparisons, and how-to tutorials should be the focus of your material. If your specialty is “home workout equipment,” for example, you could post articles like “Top 10 Home Workout Equipment for Small Spaces” or “How to Set Up a Home Gym on a Budget.” It’s essential to include your affiliate links within these articles, as this is how you will earn commissions from your users purchases.
Creating excellent content is critical for attracting and retaining your audience, and it has a big impact on the search engine rankings. By offering valuable, educational, and entertaining content, you boost the likelihood of potential clients discovering your site and raise your credibility within your niche.
High-quality content also encourages social sharing, which can boost the exposure of your website and generate more people to it. Remember to update and refine your content on a regular basis based on the data you collect from tracking your success, as this will help you build your online visibility and affiliate profits.
Step 6 - Content promotion
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the promotion step, by implementing the next promotion strategies, you can increase your website’s visibility, drive more users to your site and ultimately boost earnings.
Search Engine Optimization
Optimize your content for Google by using relevant keywords, proper formatting, and high-quality backlinks.
Paid advertising
If you have some budget available, consider investing in paid advertising, such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or sponsored posts on social media platforms. This can help drive targeted traffic and increase your affiliate earnings.
Participate in online forums and communities
Find forums and online communities related to your niche and become an active member. Introduce yourself, participate in ongoing discussions, and provide valuable insights. Include a link to your website in your signature, if allowed, or share your content when it’s relevant to the discussion.
Email marketing
Build an email list by offering your audience valuable resources, such as a promo-code or a newsletter, in exchange for their email address. Send regular updates, promotional offers, and new content to your subscribers.
Leverage social media platforms
Use popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tik-Tok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to share your content. Create a dedicated account for your niche website, post regularly and engage with your followers.
Facebook
Join relevant groups and share your content there. Participate in discussions and provide helpful answers to questions within the group (avoid spamming and always follow the rules).
Twitter
Use relevant hashtags when sharing your content on Twitter. Engage with influencers in your niche by retweeting, replying to their tweets, and mentioning them in your content.
Pinterest
Create eye-catching pins for your articles and share them there. Join group boards in your niche and share relevant pins there as well.
Instagram
Create visually appealing images or short videos related to your products and share them (remember to use relevant hashtags).
LinkedIn
Share your content on your profile and in relevant groups. And just like on Facebook: engage with your connections and participate in group discussions.
Guest posting
Reach out to other websites and blogs in your niche and offer to write guest posts for them. This not only helps you establish credibility within your niche but also provides valuable backlinks which can improve your search engine rankings.
Collaborate with influencers
Identify influencers in your niche and collaborate with them to promote your content. This can be in the form of sponsored posts, product reviews, or joint ventures.
Step 7 - Track your progress
As I began my affiliate marketing journey, it was important for me to consistently monitor my website’s traffic, affiliate earnings, and overall growth. I made it a habit to check my site’s traffic, using tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar and Yandex metrica, to understand which content was performing well and driving most of the traffic.
By doing so, I could identify areas for improvement and optimize my content and promotion strategies based on the data I collected.
Here are 5 key metrics to keep an eye on:
- Checking traffic: Use the tools that I mentioned before to track your traffic and identify which pages are performing well and which ones need improvement. This data can help to optimize your content and promotion strategies.
- Click through rate (CTR): Monitor the CTR of your affiliate links to see how effective they are at driving traffic to the merchant’s site. If the CTR is low, consider adjusting the placement or wording of your buttons and links.
- Conversion rate: Keep track of how many of your website visitors are converting into customers for the merchant. If your conversion rate is low, review your content and promotion strategies to see how you can improve them.
- Earnings: Track your affiliate earnings to see how much money you are making from your project. This data can help to determine if you need to adjust your promotion strategies or if it’s time to reinvest some of your earnings back into your site.
- Engagement: Monitor your engagement with your audience on social media platforms. Engage with your audience by answering their questions and providing valuable information to build trust.
Furthermore, I set achievable milestones and goals for myself, which aided me in staying motivated and measuring my progress. For example, I aimed to reach a certain number of monthly visitors or earn a specific amount in affiliate commissions. By setting these goals I could celebrate my small wins and adjust my strategies accordingly.
Regularly monitoring my progress not only provided me with valuable insights into my performance but also helped me stay focused on my ultimate goal of building a profitable online business.
Step 8 - Reinvest your earnings
As you start making money from the affiliate, it’s crucial to reinvest a portion of your earnings back to facilitate growth and long-term success.
I will share some areas where you can reinvest your earnings:
- Upgrading your hosting plan – As your traffic grows, you may need to upgrade your hosting plan to accommodate the increased demand. Better hosting plans typically offer faster loading times, improved security, and better uptime, all of which contribute to a better user experience.
- Purchasing premium WordPress tools – Investing in a premium theme can give your website a more professional look and provide additional features to enhance user experience. Premium plugins can also provide advanced functionality, such as powerful SEO tools or ecommerce capabilities.
- Content creation – High-quality content is the backbone of any successful affiliate marketing website. As your earnings increase, consider hiring freelance writers or editors to help you create more content.
- SEO services – Search engine optimization is essential for driving organic traffic to your website. You may choose to invest in SEO services or tools to improve your website’s ranking on SERP.
- Paid promotions – If you want to drive more traffic to your website quickly, you can invest in paid promotions. These can help you reach a larger audience and increase your chances of making more affiliate sales.
- Buy courses – Invest in your own knowledge and skills by enrolling in courses or attending conferences related to affiliate marketing, SEO, or content creation. This can help you stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends.
- Outsourcing tasks – As your project grows, you might find it challenging to manage all aspects on your own. You can reinvest your earnings to outsource tasks such as website maintenance, social media management, or graphic design.
Step 9 - Scale up
Create more content
The more content you have, the more opportunities for affiliate links and the higher visibility in search engines. Make new posts, videos, podcasts, guides, reviews, etc. Aim for publishing new articls on a consistent schedule.
Expand into complementary areas
For example, if you have a parenting blog, you could create content for pregnancy, babies, toddlers, education, and more. The more verticals covered, the more affiliate products can promote.
Optimize your affiliate links and landing pages
Make sure your links and any pages leading to affiliate offers are highly optimized to generate the most clicks and conversions
Negotiate higher commissions
As the audience grow, you have more leverage to negotiate higher affiliate commission rates with brands and networks. Some programs offer commission tiers where the more you sell, the higher your commission.
Step 10 - Diversify your income streams
Once you’ve success in affiliate marketing, consider branching out to other niches or exploring other online money-making opportunities to increase your income streams.
In addition to affiliate links, look for other ways to monetize your audience. You can sell your own digital products like ebooks, online courses, memberships, etc.
Another good option is paid sponsorships, coaching programs, and various advertising like Google Ads. Diversifying income leads to greater financial stability and earning potential.