Creating your first affiliate marketing website doesn’t have to be a struggle, even if you have no idea how to create a website. If you’ve never created an affiliate marketing website before, it can seem so intimidating. Been there, done that.
There are so many questions you are probalby asking yourself. Do you shell out the money to have someone build a website for you? Do you use one of the “drag and drop” website builders out there like Wix or Weebly? Will you need to learn computer code? Is a WordPress website better than other web building platforms out there? These are just a few of the questions that are probably running through your head.
Well take a few deep breaths because I’m going to make this so simple for you. We’re going to walk through this together, step-by-step. If you follow all the steps listed in this tutorial, you’ll be able to create your first affiliate marketing website in about an hour or so, and it’ll be much easier than you think.
Who Am I To Give You Advice?
Hey there, my name is Mike! I’ve been a full-time affiliate marketer for several years now and each year my business grows and grows through residual income. Literally, every morning when I wake up, I check to see how much money I made while I slept. I live and work literally wherever I want, when I want, as long as I want, and I do not sell any of my own products. How awesome is that?! You can read my full affiliate marketing success story here.
While affiliate marketing has been incredible for me, back when I first started in 2009, I had absolutely no idea how to build a website. Even to this day, I am still not the most technically advanced person. That’s why I decided to create this tutorial on how to create your first affiliate marketing website. I feel like if I can just help you to get started, from there, you’ll be off and running. So many people never start just because building a website seems so overwhelming.
What You Should Know Before We Get Started
Before we actually start building your first affiliate marketing website, you should have a pretty good understanding of how affiliate marketing works. Once you have a firm understanding of the affiliate marketing business model and how long it REALLY takes to make money online, you’ll be in a much better position to succeed.
How much will this cost? If you don’t want to spend any money on this right now, I totally understand that. However, if I’m going to give a tutorial on how to build your first affiliate marketing website, I’m going to show you how to do it the right way. In order to build your first affiliate marketing website the right way, you’re going to have to spend a little bit of money on a “domain name” and “website hosting” (if you don’t know what those things are yet, don’t worry because I’ll get into it a bit later). In this tutorial, I will recommend a high-quality service that will set you up with both of those things. It will cost you $2.95 per month in order to get this going. If you feel you can afford that, continue on. Otherwise, this tutorial probably isn’t the best one for you. I will also provide a more expensive option that includes amazing training to help you grow a successful affiliate marketing business. Whatever you decide to go with is perfectly fine.
How To Choose An Affiliate Marketing Niche
Before you can even think about starting your first affiliate marketing website, you need to know what your website is going to be about in the first place. What topic(s) are you going to cover? What services will you promote and sell on your site? For those looking for advanced training on this, you can sign up for a high-quality training course like this one. Otherwise, here is a good video explaining how to find a good affiliate marketing niche:
Still need more help deciding how to choose an affiliate marketing niche? Here is an article I wrote that might help you out. Choosing a good affiliate marketing niche can be overwhelming, so if you’re a bit stuck on what niche industry to go after, rest assured that is perfectly normal. You’ll be spending a lot of time creating content around whatever niche you choose, so really put some thought into it.
Once you’ve chosen the niche you want your affiliate marketing website to be about, we can get into actually building out your first website.
How To Create Your First Affiliate Marketing Website On A Budget
In this tutorial on how to create your first affiliate marketing website, I will show you how to set up your very own WordPress website for cheap. If you’re not familiar with WordPress, it is the World’s largest website builder and it’s totally free. You’ll still need to purchase the following two services through:
Domain Name – Your “domain name” is simply the URL you want to use for your website. For example, the domain name for this site you’re on right now is AffiliateMarketerTraining.com. In order to obtain a domain name, you must register your domain with what is called a “domain registrar”. Don’t get intimidated, it’s going to be incredibly easy to do this.
Web Hosting – In order for your website to be visible on the internet, you’ll need to have a “web host”. A web hosting service allows you to basically rent a web server. That web server is what enables your website to be seen by anyone who visits your site. Again, don’t get intimidated by this. I will set you up with a web host that does everything automatically for you.
These two services are requirements for a successful affiliate marketing website. While there are free options available, I never recommend setting up your first affiliate marketing website on a free platform. For more information about why I do not recommend setting up a free affiliate marketing website, you can read my article about why free affiliate marketing websites are a waste of time.
We will be setting up both your domain name and web hosting using the same service. Both of these services are included for $2.95 per month using this discount link.
If you’re willing to spend a bit more than that and want more advanced training, you can sign up for this service which I’ll get into more detail about later.
How To Choose A Domain Name
Choosing a great domain name can be tricky for someone just starting out with affiliate marketing. I’m going to assume you have already chosen a niche for your affiliate marketing website, so you should already know what your site is going to be about. Now it’s time to find a domain name you like that is also available. This can be a little tricky, but good domain names can still be had!
Want some help choosing a good domain name? Check out this article I wrote on how to choose a great domain name for your website or blog.
In order to search for available domain names, use the tool I provided below. Once you’ve found an available domain name you like, write it down but don’t register it yet! We’ll do that shortly.
How To Choose A Good Web Host
If you don’t know anything about web hosting, that’s ok. All you need to know is this – web hosts are a dime a dozen. There are probably thousands of web hosts you can go with, and quite frankly. they are all about the same. Web hosting has turned into a commodity type of business which is good news for you. Web hosting is cheaper than ever and at the same time, it is better than ever.
The key things you want to look for are ease-of-use (especially if you don’t know how to run a web server), good customer service (you’ll need it at some point), and simple WordPress installation. You should also consider price. When you set up your first affiliate marketing website, you don’t need some crazy hosting plan. You just need something basic and cheap until you start making some money, then you can upgrade if needed.
For the remainder of this tutorial, I will be showing you how to register your domain name, set up web hosting, and install WordPress all from the same service. This service is Bluehost, a very well known and established web hosting company. If you use this Bluehost discount link you will get a discounted price of $2.95 per month and it includes everything you need.
So, let’s walk through this together and set up your first affiliate marketing website!
Visit BlueHost.com
The first thing you’ll want to do is use this discount link for BlueHost.com, then just click the “get started now” button.
Choose Your Hosting Plan
You can make your own decision about which hosting plan to sign up for, but I highly recommend just going with the BASIC plan. If this is your first affiliate marketing website, the basic plan gives you everything you need and you can always upgrade this plan later on. However, if you feel more comfortable with a higher plan, by all means, feel free.
Choose Your Domain Name
Have you been able to find a good domain name yet? If not, don’t even stress about it. You should get a popup that says “choose a domain name later” and you can get started with a free domain to start. Otherwise, enter your new or existing domain name in the relevant box.
Enter Your Account Details
Pretty self explanatory step here. Just enter your account details in this step.
Review Your Web Hosting Package Details & Payment Info
Make sure your personal details are correct and add your payment method.
Check Your Email
Now that your account is all set up, head over to your email. You should have a welcome email that looks a little something like this. Go ahead and click the box to set your password.
Set Your Password
You should then see a screen like this. You can now set up your account password. Don’t lose it!
Log Into Your Bluehost Dashboard!
You’re now all set up for web hosting! Just a few more simple steps until your first affiliate marketing website is live for everyone to see! Go ahead and log into Bluehost to get familiar with the dashboard.
Install WordPress
Fortunately, Bluehost has made it extremely simple to install WordPress. There are hundreds of free WordPress “templates” you can use. These are basically pre-built sites that you can pick from, then customize to make your own. Simply choose a design you like as you can always change it later.
Once you’ve picked a theme, click one button to install it!
Choose Whether Your Site Is For Business Or Personal Use
If you’re building this website to start affilaite marketing, select that it will be used for business.
Get Familiar With Your WordPress Dashboard
Once in your WordPress dahsboard, you can play around or launch it and make it a real, living website! Don’t worry if you don’t really know what you’re doing yet, just click Launch and let’s get this baby out there!
Choose Your Website Title And Description
On this page, you can enter a title and description. The title will show up as a link in search engine results, and the description will be the text under that link describing your site, so make sure it’s accurate.
Learn How To Create Your First PAGE In WordPress!
Congratulations! Your very first affiliate marketing website is all set up. That wasn’t so hard, was it! Of course, you’ll run into many more questions along the way and learning how to navigate WordPress does take time, but look how far you’ve already come!
The two most important aspects of your WordPress dashboard will be Pages and Posts. Pages are generally used for things like your homepage, about me page, site disclaimer and privacy policy, etc. Posts are used for general blog posts and articles that you want to write.
So, let’s start out by creating your very first page – your About Me page! Here’s a great tutorial video on how to create your first page in WordPress.
Learn How To Create Your First POST In WordPress!
As stated above, POSTS are different from pages in that this will be where the majority of your content is written. For example, this page you’re on right now is a post I wrote. Anything you want on your blog feed should just be a post. Here’s a good tutorial on how to create a great blog post.
Growing Your Affiliate Marketing Website
The real trick to succeeding with your first affiliate marketing website is to create a steady flow of content over an extended period of time. If you write interesting, engaging, and unique content for your website consistently for a few months, you will begin to gain search engine traffic. I’ll continue this guide on how to create your first affiliate marketing website by giving some content tips.
An Affiliate Marketing Website Is More Than Just A Digital Brochure
One of the biggest mistakes new affiliate marketers make is they simply create an affiliate marketing website that looks like a digital sales brochure. Unfortunately, the vast majority of new affiliate marketers focus on making money before they focus on providing value to their website visitors. This is a disastrous formula.
Before you can expect to make any sales, you have to build up a valuable website with content that actually helps people (like I hope you’re finding on this site!). Let’s expand on this further.
Your Website Must Provide Value
In order to construct a great affiliate marketing website that attracts tons of free visitors and actually makes you money, there is a process you must go through first. This process is called the CTPM Process. Here is what CTPM stands for:
- C = Content
- T = Traffic
- P = Pre-Sell
- M = Monetize
Notice something interesting here? Monetizing is the LAST part of the CTPM process, not the first! Most new affiliate marketers put the M first and that’s why they fail. Now that you know this, you can avoid making the same mistake.
In short, you must create excellent content, which will drive high quality traffic to your site from free search engines, at which point you can “pre-sell” those visitors by giving them so much awesome information that when you make a product or service recommendation, they are happy to buy. THAT is when you can monetize. I highly recommend you read this full article on the CTPM process as I use this process for ALL of my affiliate marketing websites.
I also recommend you check out this article I created on how to write great content for your website or blog.
Building Your Affiliate Website Is Like Building A Small Business
I wish I could promise you an easy way to build an affiliate marketing website and start making money by tonight. I just can’t. There are plenty of “guru’s” out there who promise get rich quick methods. Of course, 99.99999% of those are scams. If you want to find that needle in the haystack, good luck. Over several years I’m still searching for that get rich quick jackpot.
On the other hand, if you actually want to build a legitimate business, that is entirely achievable as long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort. Easy? No. Doable by just about anyone? Absolutely!
I can also promise you this… Once you see those residual payments coming in, all that effort will be totally worth it. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is check my phone to see how much money I made while I slept. When I go on vacation, I will still get paid, even though I’m doing no work. It’s incredible and YOU can have this lifestyle too. You just need some guidance.
How To Find Products & Services To Sell
Once you have a decent amount of traffic on your website, you’ll want to monetize it, right? So, how do you find great products and services to promote? Just about every industry has affiliate marketing programs you can use to profit by selling other peoples products and services.
Here is a fantastic video by Super Affiliate Pat Flynn on how to choose the best products and services to promote on your website or blog.
Still Feeling Overwhelmed?
Maybe there’s more to this affiliate marketing thing then you were expecting? Perhaps you’re feeling totally overwhelmed right now? This is totally normal.
For those that want a bit more guidance and help, I do have a recommended service for you to check out. This service will walk you through not just how to get your website setup, but also how to truly grow your BUSINESS.
Check Out The Training At Wealthy Affiliate
Many years ago, I was a broke college student in debt up to my eyeballs. I couldn’t even afford my own place. I became a full-time over-the-road truck driver and was working 70 to 80hrs+ per week, away from home for weeks or even months at a time, and was living in a space the size of a walk-in closet. To make matters worse, I was getting paid chump change.
Something had to change.
Like you, I didn’t know anything about building an affiliate marketing website and I had no idea affiliate marketing even existed. But somehow, I found a service called Wealthy Affiliate and my life was changed forever.
So what exactly does Wealthy Affiliate do? They offer step-by-step affiliate training and offer the most amazing support community I’ve ever seen.
From registering a domain name to handling your web hosting to providing research tools and even giving you a super simple drag and drop interface to develop your affiliate marketing website, they have a ton of tools to assist you in growing not just a digital brochure, but an affiliate business.
They also provide hundreds of recorded video training modules as well as new live training sessions every week.
After less than 1 year going through their program, I quit my job as a truck driver. After about 18 months, I was earning a 6 figure income for the first time in my life (more than double what I had ever made before). To say I am still loyal to them is a drastic understatement, and that’s why I recommend their course over anything else out there.
Do yourself a favor and sign up for a FREE account with them. As long as you follow their training and have at least 10 hours per week to spend on your business, I have no doubt you can quit your day job within’ the first year to 18 months.
Get Set Up For Long-Term Success
Are you just “dipping your toes into the water” or are you actually serious about building an affiliate marketing business. If you’re serious about it, go for the long-term strategy, not some get-rich-quick lottery try.
Ever since going through the course at Wealthy Affiliate, my business has grown and grown. Over the years, I’ve learned so much from Wealthy Affiliate such as how to perform keyword and industry research, how to create amazing content that ranks very well in search engines, how to increase conversions rates, etc.
Some Final Thoughts
I really hope this tutorial on how to create an affiliate marketing website was helpful for you. No doubt, running a profitable affiliate marketing website takes more than just having a website. You really need to grow it and nurture it over an extended period of time. But for those that do, the affiliate marketing lifestyle is incredible. Enough waiting, just do it. It may seem overwhelming, but you’ll find all the tools and resources you need as you go along. Just start.
