The Most Authentic Way to Get Into Affiliate Marketing as a Blogger

If you’re a new blogger, you might hear everyone talking about (and monetizing with) affiliate marketing.

Here’s my take on it.

For a start, affiliate marketing isn’t the best or only way to make a living as a blogger. There are many ways to make money from your website. Each income stream takes time to build, and not each will be consistent or work for you and your niche and audience at all.

Next, if you do decide to get into affiliate marketing, you can do it as soon as you want. You can literally monetize from day one.

You may think that trying to sell to people or creating promotional content isn’t a good practice. That it’s not what people want. That it will hurt your reputation. That you may never make a sale, and will end up feeling bad about it.

If that’s what’s on your mind, this post is for you. There’s a way to stay true to who you are and still earn commissions from affiliate products you promote naturally. Here’s how.

Examples from My Business

It’s simple!

Join the affiliate programs of tools/products/services/etc. you use and love. Here’s an example from my business. 

Example #1

I began doing a content audit a few months ago. I wanted to check what content is AI and what is original. 

For that, I needed an AI content detector so I did a bit of research to find the right one. I saw that Originality.ai is a great tool to scan content and signed up for it. I then became a paying customer and started using it right away. 

I loved the ease of use and that it shows more accurate results than other free tools I’ve been using. 

Next, I joined the affiliate program (saw it in the dashboard there) and got my affiliate link. Now I can mention this tool when applicable and use my link.

Simple, right?

You don’t need to feel anything negative about it because you’re helping others in the same situation. In my case, if any other blogger is looking for an AI tool and wants to see if an article is AI-generated, then they’d love to hear a recommendation. 

And when I mention mine, I’d also say I researched other tools but this is the one I picked, started using and even paid for.

And it’s not even about the commission. You can join the affiliate programs of so many companies, brands, people and products.

You can write reviews, round-up posts, comparison posts, and be honest, transparent and authentic.

Whoever feels like this is the right fit for them can click your link and make a purchase. 

Let me give you another example.

Also read: Boost Your Income: Top 5 Affiliate Programs You Can’t Miss

Example #2

I invested in a business program for course creators many years ago. It’s called Business by Design by James Wedmore, and it opens its doors once a year. 

It’s a transformational program and James is my business mentor. I keep coming back to the content, and I’m a raving fan.

So when I was invited to become an affiliate, I jumped on board. During his launch, he releases many freebies and provides a lot of value, and I like sharing that with my audience.

I am giving them free stuff by a fantastic entrepreneur who knows this business model inside out, and he can take it from there. He has the sales funnel and email sequences and extra incentives, so that can make someone buy.

I don’t need to push it.

Actually, this year I decided to go all in on this affiliate campaign and make it my main one for the year.

I’m already planning it (and will be sharing my preparation process with members of Fearless Bloggers) and many of my next newsletters will be dedicated to promoting James’ wonderful free trainings (like this one on creating your first digital product) .  

Then, Business by Design only opens for a few days in June, and that’s when I’ll promote it directly to my email list. By then, they will know about it and James and will have probably gained some value from his work already.

Final Words

All this is a fun experiment as affiliate marketing isn’t my main revenue stream. But when there’s a product you believe in and you know inside out, share it with the world in any way you can.

That’s the most authentic way to do affiliate marketing.

It feels good, it feels right, you provide value to your audience, you stay true to yourself, and you can earn a lot.