Building an Affiliate Website

A Guide for Beginners to Navigate Digital Marketing

What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does It Work?



The clue is in its moniker and affiliate marketing—it describes a strategy that involves collaborating with like-minded brands, influencers, or other authoritative affiliates to promote products or services in exchange for a commission. 

You can be the one to hire an affiliate who is interested in showcasing your products or services, or you can act as the affiliate and work with a trusted brand to build awareness for your start-up while boosting sales. It’s not necessarily a primary tactic in one’s marketing arsenal, but it’s a great channel to use in conjunction with other advertising methods for enhancing your profitability. 

How Does Affiliate Marketing Build Momentum For Your Website? 

Affiliate marketing campaigns can generate a high ROI for your bottom line, but what makes it such an attractive option for enhancing your brand and sales performance is the following benefits: 

• Low cost of start-up
• Low ongoing costs
• Low risk
• Highly-targeted traffic
• Flexible

Now that you understand the basic idea behind affiliate marketing websites, here are some simple ways to get you started leveraging affiliate marketing:

How to Build an Effective and Engaging Affiliate Marketing Website

Step #1: Looking for a Niche Affiliate that Suits Your Website 

Collaborating with random brands won’t enrich your brand or shape a communal vibe for your website. You’re still catering to a specific audience, so it makes sense to look for niche affiliates relevant to your branding in some way or form. 

While there’s no hard or fast rule on what type of niche would work for your brand, it’s good to look into affiliates that spark your curiosity in the first place. Some great pointers to consider include the following qualities:

• The affiliate should offer products that people are willing to buy regularly; 
• The affiliate should offer products or services that remain relevant and valid throughout the year, so try to steer away from seasonal affiliate programs; 
• The affiliate should offer products or services that align with your target audience’s passions, problems, hobbies, needs, and more;
• The affiliate should offer products or services that align with your brand identity;

Whether it’s to help teach your consumers how to invest in money by affiliating with financial companies, explore the wonders of traveling, or go for fitness tips, the right topic is the one that truly captures your interest and can be helpful to your market. 

Step #2: Choose the Right Platform For Creating Your Affiliate Website

The next step is the biggest one yet, which is all about selecting the best platform to build your online empire from the ground up. You’ll need a website builder or a content management system (CMS) to get your site up and running, but you have plenty of options. 

Beginners can kickstart a strong website without breaking the bank by choosing a self-hosted WordPress site, for instance! WordPress makes it easy to insert plugins and customize every element in your website to make it truly unique to your branding, making it the perfect choice for start-ups. 

It’s best to use Multisite if you’re using WordPress to run your affiliate website since it builds a network wherein you can easily manage updates and ensure brand consistency across multiple digital platforms. Speaking of staying true to your identity, this step also involves playing around with different themes and staple plugins that suit your site’s needs and goals!

Step #3: Create Personalized Affiliate Dashboards 

Once the skin and bones of your affiliate website are solid, it’s time to integrate a dashboard where you can insert, control, and manage all your affiliate partners. Think of this as a social hub where all your collaborators can monitor your progress as a whole. Some key features every affiliate dashboard needs include the following:

• Features that allow everyone in the affiliate program to track CTRs, sales, and commissions;
• Features that allow everyone in the affiliate program to view payment histories; 
• Features that allow everyone in the affiliate program to download or copy banners, links, and more;

Bridging the gap between your business and your affiliates ensures everyone in the party has the right metrics to enhance their campaign.

Step #4: Create Links and Shareable Banners

You need something to catch people’s attention and direct them to your website or your affiliates, so sharing links and banners are the perfect tools to connect different businesses. It’s also a great way to shape a seamless browsing experience for your consumers, allowing you to increase brand awareness while giving a helping hand to your partners.

You need something to catch people’s attention and direct them to your website or your affiliates, so sharing links and banners are the perfect tools to connect different businesses. It’s also a great way to shape a seamless browsing experience for your consumers, allowing you to increase brand awareness while giving a helping hand to your partners. 

The Bottom Line: Boosting Your Sales Using Affiliate Marketing

Working with any affiliate won’t guarantee a win for your campaign. Whether spearheaded by a start-up or an established enterprise, every successful affiliate site needs to offer something in demand no matter the season. After all, working within an evergreen niche means you can always stay relevant in your market. 

It also needs to address your target audience’s pain points and passions on top of the affiliate’s offers since modern consumers no longer hold any value for cold, complex sales. While affiliate marketing aims to make the most of your website and skyrocket your sales, as a result, its essence still focuses on creating an engaging community around your site. 

Are You Looking for a Web Design Company Who Can Help Build a Successful Affiliate Website For Your Business?

Seeing its importance today, hiring the right web design company is crucial to ensure your business keeps up with the times. Speaking of which, our expert and family-run digital design and marketing agency in Agawam, Massachusetts, can help enhance your website and put your brand on the map in more ways than ever. 

The Stack Group is a web design and marketing agency specializing in numerous digital marketing services — from web design, SEO, and social media management.