I am painfully aware of how difficult it is to live on a fixed income. I am managing that obstacle myself. If you decide that you want to earn money online to supplement your income, there are things you really should know first.
These are things I have learned over the past eight months as a Wealthy Affiliate member. I hope that by sharing these tips with you, you will be a little more prepared when searching for the best way to earn income online.
What is Affiliate Marketing and How Can You Make Money?
Affiliate marketing is almost one of the most recommended ways to create your online business around. But what is affiliate marketing and how does it work?
I understand that it can seem extremely confusing. But in reality, it is amazingly simple, and you should not be confused with all types of explanations out there.
In this article, I decided to explain the definition of affiliate marketing in simple words so anyone can understand. But not only that.
I will also tell you how affiliate marketing is used as a tool to create various online businesses – so keep on reading!
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a marketing process where a large company or a business rewards their affiliates for bringing in visitors or customers to their store.
In other words – affiliate marketing is a process of earning a commission by referring people to a store or to a specific product page on the internet. It is that simple.
Affiliate marketing has been around for decades now, almost since the beginning of the internet and it is still one of the strongest online business models. Why?
Because there is not just one way to take advantage of affiliate programs, yet anyone can take it into any direction they desire and still earn a commission for the process. But how does affiliate marketing work? Keep on reading to find out!
How does Affiliate Marketing Work?
In order for affiliate marketing to work – there are 3 things required:
- Company or a product that has an affiliate program
- An affiliate marketer who joins the affiliate program
- Customers who click on the affiliate links and purchase a product
Here I will focus on the way affiliate marketing works for you, as an affiliate.
The first thing you do is join an affiliate program. Do not have any ideas? Are you familiar with Amazon? One of the biggest internet stores has its own affiliate program anyone can join.
Once you join an affiliate program – you find products that are relevant to your site and audience. Once you find them – you get your own affiliate links that you can place on your site/blog/YouTube channel.
When your audience clicks on your affiliate links and they purchase a product – you earn a commission. How much can you make? It all depends on the affiliate program you join, the products you promote, and the size of your audience.
Can You Really Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?
Personally, I know of people who are able to make a full-time income with affiliate marketing. Even though I am nowhere near that success – I am still doing alright with affiliate marketing. But how do you do it?
You join the best affiliate marketing educational community you can find out there. My favorite is Wealthy Affiliate which is the go-to place to learn everything there is about affiliate marketing.
It teaches people how to create a blog around a specific topic of interest, rank it, acquire traffic, and make money through affiliate marketing. But do you want to hear the best thing about it?
Anyone can join Wealthy Affiliate for free! Yes, you have read it right. You do not even need to input your credit card information.
Of course, there is a premium part of the site – but you can still get up to 2 sites running, enjoy the first phase of training, and be inside the community full of affiliate marketers from beginners to the most successful people.
Also, you will have access to all tools required to run a successful affiliate marketing business online, so you will not have to gather a bunch of sources and tools.
And since you can do this around any topic of your choice – you will actually enjoy what you are doing which makes it a lot better, right?
What is a Keyword Research Tool?
If you ever tried making any money online – whether it was through making a blog, niche site, or starting your own YouTube channel – chances are you have come across keyword research. But why do you need to do a keyword research and what is a keyword research tool?
This is something that will help you give your site a potential to a free organic audience of your choice. Sounds too good to be true. Keep on reading to learn everything there is about keyword research, but also how you can do your own keyword research today for free!
What are Keywords?
Keywords are phrases that people like you and me search for using search engines (Google, Yahoo) to find something specific on the internet.
As we all know, the internet is a sea full of information and without search engines – we would not be able to find needed results in seconds.
Therefore, keywords are simple words that are put together into a phrase. I have recently searched for “best food for a Pomeranian dog”. This itself is a keyword. It is as simple as that, and therefore, it is nothing you should be afraid of!
So, Keyword Research is…
Now that you know what a keyword is – what is actually keyword research? Let us say you have your own blog and you post about your wonderful Pomeranian dog but also tips and information on how to properly maintain their fur.
How do you reach a specific audience who possibly has a Pomeranian dog and would like to learn the information you provide?
One way is to find how many people are looking for phrases (keywords) related to your blog. Then all you have to do is choose the best ones and put them into your post.
Search engines such as Google will notice this, and after some time, your post (and blog) will start ranking for certain phrases (keywords) you put into your post. But how do you do your keyword research?
The simplest way is to start typing words into Google and pay attention to autosuggestions provided by Google. These suggestions are generated based on something people are looking for.
But other than popular phrases looked for in search engines – you will not get much information on the volume, competitors, and traffic your site could benefit from. This is why you need a keyword research tool.
What is a Keyword Research Tool?
The keyword research tool is a simple tool that is most of the time available in a browser and it allows you to type and phrase (keyword) you have in mind and then it gives you a bunch of information.
Therefore, a keyword research tool will give you more ideas on popular keywords, but it will also give you the most important information:
- Traffic your site can expect if you reach page #1 for the specific keyword
- Number of competitors trying to rank for the same keyword
- Quality rating for the selected keyword
Jaaxy is my favorite keyword research tool because it is amazingly simple, does not require a download, and you can even test it out for free.
It is extremely easy to understand how it works but it also features training inside the tool that is helpful to everyone who is new to keywords. But do you want to hear the best thing about Jaaxy?
You can try it out for free (without having to add your credit card information) and do 30 keyword searches that will help you discover up to 100 keywords for free.
Do You Now Understand What a Keyword Research Tool is and Why is it Important?
Keywords can feel overwhelming at first but take it easy and you will get the hang of it.
What is SEO and Why is it Important?
You have created your own blog, website, online store, or even a YouTube channel – but how do you reach out to your desired audience?
Your site can be a masterpiece – but if there is no one consuming your content, you will not be able to progress and move forward.
If you were looking for a way to gain exposure to a specific audience, you’ve most likely to come cross SEO.
But what is SEO and how does it work? That is exactly what you will find out in this article so keep on reading!
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization, but I am sure that this does not clarify its purpose, right? Search engine optimization is a simple process of optimization for sites that helps owners feature specific keywords, rank their sites, and gain free organic exposure.
Who does not want free traffic, right? Anyone can achieve free traffic from search engines such as Google. It can take a lot of time – but it is really worth it. So now once you know what SEO is – we can agree that it is not something to be afraid of, right? There is still a lot left to learn so keep on reading to find out more about the exact process used to optimize a site properly.
How SEO Works?
Since SEO is a process of optimization that helps you rank your site and gain free organic exposure – there are things you should do.
These things include:
- Sitemap
- Adding your site to Google Search Console
- Doing basic on-page optimization for your site
- Doing keyword research
- Optimizing the content, you write
Sitemap
A sitemap is easily created with one of the free SEO plugins and it is basically a simplistic list of all pages your site has in one file. This file helps search engines such as Google crawl your site, find updates, find your new content, and index it to search engines.
Google Search Console
Once you have created your sitemap – you should add your site to Google’s Search Console. It is a place where you can keep track of statistics of your site such as impressions, click, traffic, queries you rank for, and a couple of other things.
By adding your site to Search Console of one of the largest search engines out there (Google), you can rest assured Google will recognize your site and will constantly crawl it for updates. As time goes on – if Google believes your site is valuable and it helps others, you will receive great rankings. It takes time, but it is definitely worth it since you will have a way to acquire free traffic.
Basic On-Page SEO Optimization
Even though you might not know a lot about SEO optimization – everyone can optimize their site for basic on-page SEO. How? All you need to do is install one of the free plugins for this such as All in One SEO or Yoast SEO Plugin. They will sort everything for you and will help you understand what you need to work on.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is important because it is a way you can ensure each post ranks for a specific keyword and that it reaches a specific audience who is already looking for the information you are sharing. Does this make sense?
Therefore, spend a bit of time in any keyword research tool and come up with more ideas for your content, but also find more keywords you could target and rank for.
Content Optimization
Every piece of content you write needs to provide value. But other than that, it needs to be well optimized. This includes things such as:
- Great readability
- Great use of subheadings
- Great use of media (images, videos)
- Great keyword placement (2-3 times only throughout the article)
- Short URL
- Great meta description
- Optimized images
- Short yet catchy title
There are a couple of other things – but these are the most important ones. As you continue learning about SEO, you will master every aspect of it and ensure that your site is great for both readers and search engines.
Can You Make Money Blogging?
I am a strong believer that everyone should have their own blog. Why? It allows you to express your thoughts, connect with other people that share your interests, feel like you have something of your own – and it can even help you make money online. Yes, that is right. In the modern world we live in – you can make money blogging.
But did you ever wonder how to make money blogging for free? If yes, this is the right article for you.
I will not only tell you how to make money blogging, but I will also direct you to a couple of resources and tools that will help you along the way!
How Does Someone Make Money Blogging?
Once you have an established blog that has been around for a quite some time and you have your own audience – there is dozens of way you can make money blogging.
You can promote products you believe in and earn a commission for each sale you generate. You can also post related ads to your blog and earn money this way.
If your audience consists of people who are recurring visitors (fans) – you can even create your own merchandise to sell.
I am a strong believer in helping others succeed as well, so giving affordable guest post opportunities at your blog post is another way to make money from your blog.
Once you feel like you are pretty experienced and an expert on one topic – you can create your own digital products that will help others.
There is a number of ways one blog can make money. I am sure you are happy to hear this – but here is what most people do not realize.
Having so many ways to make money from your own blog helps to create a steady online business that could even allow you to do it full-time.
Did you ever hear about a saying – do not put all of your eggs in one basket? That is exactly what you will not be doing by monetizing your blog. If one or two income streams fail, you will still have at least 2 others to fall back on.
How to Start a Blog?
We live in a very modern world and with technological advancements – there is no need to spend 100+ hours to code your own website. Instead, you can utilize platforms that automate this process such as SiteRubix or WordPress.
With just a couple of clicks, you can create your own blog. My favorite way to start a blog is SiteRubix. It is a part of an affiliate marketing educational platform known as Wealthy Affiliate.
Therefore, you get to learn how to create your blog, optimize it so you can rank it well, learn how to gather an audience, and most important – learn how to monetize it.
Plus, with SiteRubix, you will have all tools necessary included so you will not have to end up looking around for everything you need. And the best thing is that with SiteRubix, you get to create up to 2 blogs for free!
Creating a blog is simple. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to work on it to get it to a level where you can earn through various monetization ways.
This takes anywhere from a year to a couple of years. At first, this might seem long. But let me ask you – what is a couple of years in return for an online business that could possibly free you from a 9-5 job?
How to Make Money Blogging for Free
Start! It is important to start. You will figure everything else along the way. But once you start – stay persistent and dedicate your time to your blog.
After all, consider it a business rather than a blog – because this is something that it will become eventually!
So, What Comes Next?
I have provided a great deal of beneficial information for someone to consider when deciding on whether to earn money online or just stick to trying to making ends meet with you current income. I look at it in a few ways.
- Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you never try you will never know.
- If you could make a few hundred dollars a month extra, wouldn’t you want to give it s shot?
The tips I provided will help you get started. I covered a lot of material in this article, so if you have any questions at all you can leave them in the comments section below, and I will be happy to respond.
All the best!
Barbara
Founder/Creator: Living On Lean Means 💰
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