How to Make Money with Website Affiliate Marketing

How to Make Money with Website Affiliate Marketing for Success

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Are you ready to dive into the exciting world of website affiliate marketing and learn how to make serious money? In this post, I share valuable tips and tricks to help you make the most of your affiliate marketing journey. Explore how to choose the perfect niche, find the right affiliate programs, and create a website that attracts and engages your audience. How to Make Money with Website Affiliate Marketing…

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them and buy something, I might get a small commission. Thanks for supporting my work!

How to make money with website affiliate marketing

To see if your chosen niche has products and services in demand and is a popular marketplace, do the following:

  • Check out Google Trends to see what’s trending in your niche.
  • Look at Amazon’s best sellers; these are the ones with lots of reviews and sales.
  • See what your competition is promoting. They won’t promote products that aren’t profitable.
  • Check the affiliate networks you join for the best-performing products/services.
Amazon Best Sellers in Home and Kitchen

2. Start Your Website

One of the best ways to kick off your affiliate marketing journey is by creating your own website – and WordPress makes that super doable. It’s a flexible platform that lets you build a blog, a full-blown website, or even an online store.

You can customize it to reflect your personality and brand, whether you’re sharing helpful tips, promoting affiliate products, or selling your own digital goods.

The great news? WordPress itself is free, and you won’t be charged commissions or monthly fees based on your earnings. You’ll just need to pay for hosting, which can be surprisingly affordable.

  • I personally use WordPress through my Wealthy Affiliate membership, which includes hosting and training all in one place – perfect for beginners who want guidance and community support.
  • If you just need WordPress hosting then Rocket.net is affordable with lightning-fast performance.
  • If you want all your tools in one place then System.io is perfect with a website builder, email marketing and a funnel builder.
  • Shopify is very popular if you’re leaning toward eCommerce with affiliate products on the side.

Whichever platform you choose, the key is to start simple, stay consistent, and let your website grow with you.

3. Types of Affiliate Programs

There are thousands of affiliate products for you to choose from, which depend on your chosen niche. For example, if your niche is Yoga for Moms, then you could promote yoga mats, yoga workout gear, and yoga tours to Bali.

  • Direct affiliate marketing: This is when you sign up directly with a merchant or brand to promote their products or services. For example, Amazon.
  • Affiliate network marketing: This is when you sign up with an affiliate network, which acts as a middleman between you and the merchants. For example, Flexoffers, Travelpayouts, PartnerStack, and AWIN.

4. Find Affiliate Programs Relevant to your Niche

Affiliate marketing works best when you choose programs that truly align with your niche and audience. for example, if your blog focuses on healthy living then promote wellness products.

Important Tips

  • Find products and services that have a long cookie time and a good commission.
  • A lot of affiliates also look for high ticket items.
  • Look for recurring commissions. These are usually found in the software and online training niche. You earn a commission for the whole time your referral stays a paying member of the service.
Top Paying Affiliate Programs on Flexoffers
Top Flexoffers Programs

5. Solve Problems

Think about the problems people have in your niche, and how your content and the affiliate products solve these problems and help your audience.

Tip: This should be your number one goal and the money-making is secondary. Otherwise, you’ll come across as greedy and your audience won’t trust you. Provide valuable information that people will love! Then they’ll trust your product recommendations and buy.

“Simple Ways to Reduce Stress and Sleep Better”
(Leads to a sleep aid product review, a list of calming teas, or a wellness coaching service)

“Eating Well Over 50: Tips for Better Nutrition and Digestion”
(Points to a digestive health supplement review or a nutrition guide)

6. Keyword Research

Do your keyword research and use targeted keywords in your content to attract relevant traffic.

For the Rose Gardening niche, a common problem for gardeners is poor soil.

Tip: Do Google searches for your niche and look at ‘People also Ask’ for blog post ideas.

So, for Rose Gardening in ‘people also ask’ I see:

  • ‘What is the best rose bush for sandy soil?’
  • ‘How do you make soil acidic for roses?’

So you can create helpful posts about how to grow roses in sandy soil, how to grow roses in clay soil, etc.

I check these keywords on Jaaxy and make sure the wording is a good search term and low competition. You can also use AlsoAsked Keyword Tool which is free for limited searches.

7. Buyer Intent

Choose affiliate products that specifically help solve your audience’s problems.

Focus on buyer intent. This is what your audience is thinking when they’re searching the internet.

Are they looking for a glasshouse for tomatoes, do they want to buy a pair of gardening boots? By targeting buyer intent keywords, you can attract visitors who are ready to make a purchase and increase your chances of earning a commission.

For example, for rose gardening, you’re helping them with their poor soil so you can recommend compost, mulch, and fertilizers to improve the soil.

Other affiliate products for this gardening niche are garden kneeling pads, garden tools, glasshouses, plants, and gloves. Amazon is a good place to start with these products.

Examples of Buyer Intent Keywords for Gardening
  1. Buy garden gates online
  2. Buy garden trowels online
  3. Purchase planters online

8. SEO

SEO is more competitive than ever, but following best practices still gives your content the best chance to rank and be discovered.

Focus on creating helpful, keyword-rich content and optimizing your posts for both readers and search engines.

✅ Link internally from your blog posts to your product reviews
✅ Use H1, H2, and H3 headings to structure your content
✅ Add alt-tags to your images for accessibility and SEO
✅ Include your keywords in the title, meta tag, and meta description
✅ Use an SEO plugin like Yoast (for WordPress) to guide your optimization efforts. This is the one I use.

9. Time to Promote

Don’t wait for people to stumble across your website — get proactive and promote it! You’ve put in the work, now it’s time to drive traffic using a mix of free and paid strategies.

✅ Share your content on social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (Focus your time on one or two)
✅ Create short-form videos for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Instagram Reels
✅ Answer questions on Quora and niche forums to build authority and visibility
✅ Use internal linking from blog posts to product reviews to keep visitors engaged
✅ Consider paid ads on Google, Bing, or social media

💡 Tip: Social media is more powerful than ever, but paid ads work best when paired with strong organic content and a clear strategy. I’ve found Facebook ads most effective when I use them to grow my email list – especially by targeting warm audiences and offering valuable lead magnets. It’s less about selling directly and more about building trust and relationships first.

10. Build your Database

In a world dominated by social media algorithms, your email list is the one audience you truly own.

Having a subscriber list gives you direct access to your readers and helps build long-term relationships based on trust and value. Unlike social media followers, email subscribers are more engaged and more likely to become loyal customers.

You know they’re interested in your niche and products, so you can reach out with relevant content, offers, and recommendations.

💡Tip: I recommend MailerLite for its ease of use, automation features, and generous free plan – perfect for beginners and experienced creators.

SEE MORE

Why are Cookies Important?

affiliate marketing cookies

Here’s how the whole cookie process works. To promote affiliate products you’re given affiliate codes that are specific to you, from the network or merchant.

You place this code as a link within the content on your website. Let’s use the yoga workout gear as an example. If a visitor clicks on your link to yoga pants they’ll arrive on the merchant’s website.

A tracking code (called a cookie) is placed on their computer. Ideally, you want to choose merchants with long cookie times. Let’s say the cookie time is 30 days.

Then if your visitor doesn’t buy straight away but revisits the merchant in 10 days and buys trainers and a yoga mat you receive the commission (thank you cookie!)

Let’s say your commission on sales is 10%. Then a sale of $150 yoga pants is $15 for you. That’s not a lot but as you create more content you get more visitors and more sales. If you have 3,000 visitors per month and you sell 50 yoga pants, that’s $750.00 per month on one product alone.

So, your goal is to create content consistently and often (every day is good) and promote it like crazy on social media!

The Key to Success: Low Competition and Profitable Niches

It’s important to hone in on a sub-niche within a larger niche. For example, yoga for moms is the sub-niche of yoga. Rose gardening is the sub-niche of gardening. Solo adventure travel in South East Asia is a sub-niche of travel.

If you focus on a sub-niche, you’re zooming in on a particular slice of your audience. You target their specific issues and problems and solve them.

You provide valuable information and create a loyal audience. Which also boosts your conversion rates since they trust your advice. Over time Google and Bing trust you too.

Competition tends to be less fierce in sub-niches, and it’s easier to establish a strong presence and gain traction. So you’re more likely to make money with website affiliate marketing.

So let’s look at sub-niche ideas that are popular and lower competition…

Pet Niche

Sub-niche dog beds

The pet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, with high demand for new and innovative pet products. There is also less competition in this niche than in some other niches, such as fashion or electronics.

Sub-niche ideas
  • Grooming Supplies
  • Collar and Leashes
  • Dog Beds
  • Cat Beds
  • Scratching Posts
  • Dog Toys
  • Cat Toys

Home and Garden Niche

Home and garden products are another popular niche with low competition. There are many different types of home and garden products that you can promote, such as furniture, appliances, tools, and gardening supplies.

Sub-niche ideas
  • Hydroponics
  • Organic Gardening
  • Garden Lighting
  • Planter Boxes
  • Growing Cacti
  • Vertical Gardening

Health and Wellness

Health and Wellness sub niche ideas for affiliate marketing

The health and wellness industry is proliferating, with a high demand for products that can help people improve their health and well-being. This is a great niche if you’re passionate about health and fitness.

Sub-niche ideas
  • Healthy Smoothies
  • Vegan Recipes
  • Meal Delivery Services
  • Aromatherapy
  • Natural Remedies
  • Pilates
  • Fitness for older ages

Education

The education industry is also a great niche with demand for all types of educational products, from online courses to textbooks. If you have a passion for learning, this could be a niche for you to pursue. You may also see recurring commissions in this niche.

Sub-niche ideas
  • Personal Development
  • Homeschooling
  • Professional Development
  • Arts and Crafts (ceramics, glasswork, paper art, jewelry making, photography, AI art)
  • Language Learning

Software

Software is a popular product category with low competition. As I said earlier these products can also have recurring commissions and long cookie times. There are many different types of software that you can promote, such as productivity software, gaming software, and security software.

Sub-niche ideas

💡Tip: Check out Capterra and see what software is popular by looking at their Software Categories.

  • AI
  • Cyber Security
  • E-mail Marketing Software
  • Team Communication
High Power Rank Affiliate Programs
Power Rank ShareASale Programs

Wrapping Up – How to Make Money with Website Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a fun way to make money online but it takes time to build a successful affiliate marketing business.

When choosing your niche and products to promote, it’s important to consider your interests and expertise. As well as the demand for the product in your target market. Remember to…

  • Think of helping your audience first.
  • Choose high-quality products or services that you believe in.
  • Use social media and other channels to drive traffic to your content.
  • Be patient and persistent.

With hard work and dedication, you can achieve great success with affiliate marketing and I wish you lots of luck.

Photo by Peggy Anke on Unsplash

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