Hey there Sea Changers and welcome to my series of affiliate marketing 101 how tos as we explore how to find affiliate programs for your niche. For many new affiliate marketers, one of the biggest dilemmas on not only when to load affiliate links onto their site, but also how to find them in the first place.
Now, when to add affiliate links to a new website is a matter of opinion for sure. Some recommend doing it immediately whilst others are more interested in waiting until the site generates some traffic – which is actually a pre-requisite to acceptance into many affiliate programs as well.
For the purposes of this post however, we are going to leave that argument for another day and simply focus on the process of finding, and applying for, affiliate programs that are most suitable for your website and your niche.
That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!
You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!
How to Find Affiliate Programs For Your Niche
Ok, so here are things I recommend you take into account as you start to look for new affiliate programs for your affiliate marketing website.
1. Know Your niche
This first step might seem a little obvious, but as we run through this post, keep in mind that one of the biggest mistakes that many new affiliate marketers make is choosing programs that don't exactly match their niche.
For example, say you are in the dog grooming niche and talking about hair clippers etc. A site related to horses that happens to sell clippers that can be used on dogs is close, but not a really great match for you.
So, as you run through the steps below and start to find programs, make sure you go back and check that:
- The subject of the site matches the topics that you create content about.
- The site matches your target audience (if you don't know this, go back and work that out first).
- The products on the site can match the problems or desires that your audience has
Once you are clear on your information, you can start to tailor your search for relevant affiliate programs.
2. Clarify the products or services you need
In a further step to above, next it is time to think about the products or services your audience would naturally be interested in. i.e. What do they need or want?
Knowing this information allows you to scroll through potential affiliate programs a little faster as you know what products you are looking for. And if you are like me, it also stops you wasting time falling down rabbit holes looking at all the pretty stuff as well – haha.
Again we can use our dog grooming example and come up with products such as:
- Dog clippers
- Shampoos
- Creams
- Baths
Additionally, this information will also give you a list of blog post ideas too.
3. Search for affiliate programs
Now that you have a clear idea of your niche and potential products, it’s time to find affiliate programs. There are of course a number of way that this can be done with the main options as below:
1. Use Google Search
Google is a powerful tool for finding affiliate programs and probably the most effective. And as with any search you do, you can narrow it down depending on the products or services you are looking to promote as we discussed above.
So, as an example, let's do some searched based on our dog grooming niche:
- “Your niche + affiliate program” (e.g., “dog grooming affiliate programs”)
- “Product name + affiliate program” (e.g., “dog clippers affiliate program”)
- “Best affiliate programs for [your niche]” (e.g. Best affiliate programs for dog grooming”)
Below is an example of the first search above
As you can see, search results here will show you a number of options such as lists of programs, direct links to affiliate pages, and reviews from other marketers allowing you plenty of research opportunities to ensure that you have chosen the right platform to apply to (we will discuss application below).
2. Explore Affiliate Networks
In short, affiliate networks are platforms that serve as intermediaries between marketers and merchants, providing the infrastructure and tools to promote products or services and earn commissions.
Popular networks include:
- Amazon Associates: Great for physical products across nearly every niche.
- ShareASale: Offers programs for fashion, home, tech, and more.
- CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction): Features a wide range of brands and services.
- ClickBank: Focused on digital products like eBooks and courses.
- Rakuten Advertising: A reliable platform with established brands.
Affiliate networks offer significant benefits to both affiliates and merchants. For affiliates, these networks provide a centralized platform to access numerous affiliate programs without the need to individually negotiate with each merchant. For merchants, affiliate networks simplify the recruitment and management of affiliates by offering a streamlined process.
Additionally, these networks generally offer valuable support through tools like banners, text links, and marketing materials to help affiliates optimize their campaigns. With easy-to-use dashboards, affiliates can efficiently manage their campaigns, track performance, and monitor commissions in one place.
To sign up, affiliates will generally need to demonstrate that they have a working website that meets pre-determined criteria (i.e. no adult or violent content etc.).
3. Check Competitor Websites
If you are really looking to focus down into a good affiliate program, why not check out what other affiliate websites within the same niche are using? This is because bigger affiliate marketing sites tend to be a bit more picky as to the programs they use meaning if they are using a particular program, it must be pretty good.
Look at their blogs, YouTube channels, or social media accounts to see not only what products or services they’re promoting, but also how they are promoting them (text links, banners etc.). Often, you can reverse-engineer their strategy by identifying their affiliate programs and how they use them.
4. Reach Out to Brands Directly
And finally, if you really feel that a particular product or service would really resonate with your site or your readers, then maybe you can reach out to that particular merchant directly. Your first step is to Visit their website and check for an “Affiliate” or “Partner” page (often in the footer) as many companies that offer affiliate programs but don’t heavily advertise them.
If however you can’t find a program listed, you can always email them and ask if they have an affiliate program, or if they are willing to take you on as a partner for a commission. When doing so, ensure that your email includes:
- Introduction: Briefly introduce yourself and your business. Mention your website, blog, social media channels, or any relevant platforms.
- Why you're reaching out: State your intention to become an affiliate and why you’re interested in their products or services.
- Highlight your value: This is your sales pitch, so be clear on how you can help them make sales with such information as your audience size or engagement metrics (e.g., monthly visitors, email list size, social media followers etc.), your niche expertise and how it aligns with their product. If you have any sales results with previous affiliates, that would help here too.
- Request consideration: Don't beat around the bush but politely ask for details on their affiliate program (or if they could work with you) and how to proceed.
That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!
You too can start your very own online business here that can make you money from anywhere in the world!!
Applying for Affiliate Programs
As you search through program options using any of the options above, it is again important that you find programs that:
- Relate to your niche/problems that you are solving.
- Have quality products – your brand can be severely damaged if you promote poor quality or unthoughtful products.
- Have solid payment and customer service arrangements.
- Pay decent commissions.
- Have good testimonials covering commission payouts and quality of product.
- Whether they have high ticket items you can promote on the side.
In most cases, you will then need to apply for the program before you are allowed to promote their products – don’t take this step lightly or you will be rejected. Affiliate programs will generally want to know:
- Your website name.
- Traffic levels.
- Why you want to join – (“so I can make money by selling your stuff” is unfortunately not generally a good enough answer).
- How you plan to promote their products.
And the final thing to be aware of here I guess is to keep in mind that at the end of the day, you need to make sure that the programs you choose can be trusted and that the consumer is comfortable that they have recourse if something goes wrong.
Conclusion
And there you have it – how to find affiliate programs for your niche. I hope it has been helpful and as usual, please do not hesitate to comment below if you have any questions, need some advice or have any experiences to share.
Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own affiliate website?
Are you looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step training, 24/7 support, tools to develop and host your very own website, ongoing assistance with SEO and social media and access to some of the best online marketing minds on the planet, then click on the following link to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.
Until next time
Have fun
Paul
Introducing Wealthy Affiliate, My #1 Recommendation for Setting Up Your Own Online Business
When I started, I knew I wanted to work online, but had absolutely no idea where to begin! You see I had watched friends of mine run a sales party to sell essential oils and someone asked if they could just sell them online?
Then, as I sat on the bus heading into my office job, I started to wonder if I could do just that, sell essential oils online.
Anything to stop having to catch this bus to and from work every day right!
The trouble was, as I mentioned above, I had no idea how to even start.
So of course I started to look around online and found all these courses! They all promised me riches then took my money but left me with no riches!
Then I stumbled across the program that didn’t promise me riches, but told me it could help me get started even with no experience!
So I did that, joined Wealthy Affiliate that was it, and the rest as they say, is history!
But it doesn’t come without work!
That is the key here! I began on their starter membership and did the training! I then joined as a member and did some more training!
Each night after work, I would do a little more, then a little more.
And to cut a long story short, after 10 months I realized I didn’t really like writing about essential oils, so I sold the site for about $2000. But I had learned so much that I started another – about fishing and camping!
Then, after 18 months (by which time it had earned me close to $10k), I was offered $17k for the site, so I sold it too.
Now, through my travel blog, I’ve been able to fund my passion for travel and explore different places around the world.
In the past few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing destinations, including Bali, Los Angeles, Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas.
The success of my travel blog has allowed me to fully fund my travels and explore new destinations with my family.
Try the Wealthy Affiliate as a Starter Member and Build your First Hub!
As you start your journey, Wealthy Affiliate is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And as I have mentioned, I have used a few in my professional career trust me.
To get you started, Wealthy Affiliate has recently introduced the Hub.
The Hub
The hub is an AI based niche and website creation tool that will get you up and running with the foundation of your OWN business in just a few minutes. This includes:
- Your website – hosted and inclusive of a WordPress editor
- Your brand
- Your ‘done-for-you’ research
- Your blueprint
- A task list that is going to help you drive the creation and growth of your business moving forward.
The hub makes the website creation process simple which allows you to get started on the training with a solid base and understanding of the processes.
All you need to do is choose your subject – which is known as your ‘niche’ – and follow the steps on the screen.
Oh, and as you run through the training below you may realize that what you created above is not exactly what you want. That’s ok, you can just create a new hub!
Wealthy Affiliate Training
Then as you continue your journey, the Wealthy Affiliate Hub is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And I have used a few in my professional career trust me.
Above we discussed the use of the Hub to set up a website. Once you have done this, you will be able to access the “Step-by-Step Core Training”.
This is available to all members including starter members and will give you everything you need to know to continue to create your online business.
Member Training
There are also Live weekly classes taught by REAL industry experts on a range of topics like artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, YouTube, WordPress, PPC marketing and more.
Great, What Else Does Wealthy Affiliate Have To Help You?
So, let’s keep this short, Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop-shop platform that provides:
- The Hub – this is the starting point and uses AI processes to assist you in determining your niche and creating your brand.
- Complete training programs to assist with the development of your own affiliate marketing website in your own niche.
- Website creation and publishing tools including access to WordPress editors and themes.
- AI Content article design and content creation
- Domain name purchasing (you get a free domain when you upgrade to the Premium membership).
- Website hosting, security and backup.
- Online help and chat forums.
- Weekly live training events.
- 24/7 support.
- Keyword access tools.
- SEO assistance.
The platform has been active for over 15 years with the original developers and owners, Kyle and Carson, still extremely active in its day to day operations – especially as they rollout their AI capabilities.
You Can Try it Yourself For Free
Now of course I can tell you all about how Wealthy Affiliate works (because it does) until I am blue in the face. But every other program out there – including the shams and scams – will tell you the same thing!
So how about you just try it for free yourself. The Wealthy Affiliate Starter membership is free to join and gives you access to everything you need to get started – all without the need to spend a cent!
With the starter membership, you get:
- 1 Limited Business Hub
- 1,500 AI Word Credits
- Try the AI Author Platform (BETA)
- 1 Practice Website
- Jaaxy Starter
- Limited Help & Support
- Core Niche Training (8 Classes)
And of course I will be there to help you every step of the way as well!
Look, in the interest of transparency, whilst Wealthy Affiliate does offer a free starter membership, this is designed to give you a look around, have a practice and see if it is worthwhile for you – which is a really great option.
However, as with all new businesses, you will need to make some investment so if you are serious about making money online , you will need to upgrade to a premium membership as this will give you access to all the tools you need in the one spot to succeed!
Afterall, every business needs tools to grow!
So How Much Does This Really Cost?
Wealthy Affiliate does not use upsells once you join – but as I mentioned in the video, to succeed here you will need to invest in a membership. There are a couple of options that provide access to all the tools, training and assistance that you could need – and a free domain as well.
Wealthy Affiliate offers a trio of membership tiers, as detailed on their pricing page.
You can opt for the Starter membership at no cost, the Premium membership for $49 per month or the Premium Plus+ membership for $99 per month. That’s the full extent of it – and you can absolutely build your website without having to spend another cent.
You won’t encounter any unexpected additional charges or covert fees and as a Premium member, you’re equipped with all the essentials to initiate, develop and expand a thriving online enterprise.
Those who opt for the Premium membership are provided with
- Hosting for their websites
- A complimentary domain name
- Access to hundreds of hours of current expert tutorials
- Various marketing and research tools
- Personal guidance from seasoned professionals in the field
- And much much more
And for those of you who want to make a serious investment into your future, there are some yearly options as well below to give you peace of mind that you have a whole year ahead of you to get stuff done!
And Don’t Forget the Personal Coaching
Once you join, not only do you get plenty of assistance from me, but you also have access to expert coaching, support and mentorship from real industry experts.
I mean, you can have access to all of the top-tier affiliate marketing training in the world, but inevitably, questions arise, particularly during the initial stages.
With an exceptionally dynamic and engaged community that boasts over 2.7 million members, Wealthy Affiliate offers an environment where you, as a member, can fully immerse and leverage this network.
You’re never alone; you have the collective wisdom of an entire community at your fingertips, ready to assist at any moment.
Plus, there’s always-on, rapid-response website support to handle any technical queries you may encounter.
Wealthy Affiliate Works: Real Results From Real People
As I have mentioned a number of times, Wealthy Affiliate has helped me make real money online though its training and tools.
I have made money each month as well as a sale for $17,000.
But again, those promoting other programs will tell you the same thing!
So let’s get away from me and see what others are saying:
To start with, Wealthy Affiliate has a 4.9 out of 5 Star TrustPilot rating, which is a remarkable accomplishment in any industry, let alone the online business industry.
And here are some of those reviews:
And this is what people are saying within Wealthy Affiliate as well:
So, Let’s Make a Decision!
Let’s be frank, you have read this far so why not go all in, click on the button below to get started on the way to your very online business.
And once you are in and have had a play around with the hub, look for the little envelope on the top right and there will be a message from me. It is of course automated so respond to let me know you are there and we can start this journey together.
(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)
See you there
Paul
