How to Start an Affiliate Blog and Earn Passive Income Just by Writing

Having a blog in this day and age is surely one of the wisest decisions you will ever make. It can not only become a productive outlet, but it can also help transform you and your business to greater heights. Take it from me, a certified blogger even before blogging became the norm.

I started my blog in (2007, check the last posts). At the time, I was one of the few who really leverages its power. I used and still use it both as a creative outlet and a tool for me to market my business.

Pros of an Affiliate Blog

• Great way to build up trust and a good reputation which is the easiest way to promote affiliate products.
• Allows you to easily build an email list that you can use to further grow your business by sending traffic back to your site and promote to.
• Through actionable content, case studies, and reviews you can make affiliate commissions with relative ease.
• Blogs are easy to draw traffic to – you'll pick up Google traffic, referrals from other bloggers, mentions on forums, social media shares and so on assuming your content is good.

Now, if you are reading this, I want you to consider doing the same, and trust me, blogging will help you and/or your business tremendously.

For starters, I had my own blog in (2007). Obviously, this goes way back. I established this primarily because I want to just log my failures and success, a journal. Over the years, my following grew tremendously – way beyond my expectations. 

Personally, this has also helped me in terms of my finances and made me experience stuff like traveling and speaking at some major conferences in the world. 

It’s now time for you to start your own affiliate blog in just a couple of minutes. Just follow the tutorial below.

Coming up with a blog is not really that complicated. Currently, there are over 440 million blogs in cyberspace and thousands more are being created each day.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be having your own today?

Whatever topics or themes you want to cover, you can do it all in the blogosphere. Whether you want to tackle personal matters or general issues – politics, news, entertainment, and lifestyle – blogging is the perfect platform for you.

But how can you do that if you don’t have an account yet? To achieve this, of course, is, well, simply by starting now.

Now, let me walk you through the process. I made sure that this is going to be simple and even non-techie people will have no trouble following this.

Creating your own affiliate blog – the steps

To begin, you will need to do the following:

1. Pick a Niche, Important
2. Register a domain name for your blog. 
3. Set-up web hosting to host your affiliate content. 
4. Install a free copy of WordPress to run your blog. 
5. Find Affiliate Offers

Let us get started...

Step 1: Find a Niche You Want to be Involved In

A niche is very important before starting a blog. You want to choose a niche that you will be familiar with because you will need to write a lot. It is important to choose something you will have an interest in or at least some curiosity in. This allows you to put in the research on the affiliate offers or topics you will be writing about.

In almost every case, you’ll use that content to point people towards products within that niche, for which you’ll get paid a commission. That’s what affiliate blogging is all about.

With that in mind, here are some tips to help you choose:

1. Look at your hobbies and your passions, it will be easier to write about things you enjoy
2. Check out fields with little competition for niches that are easier to break into.
3. Target niches with depth so you won’t run out of topics to write about.

Step 2: Register a Domain Name for Your Blog

Now, when it comes to selecting your own domain, you may have to be creative about this and select one that really means something to you or to your brand or business. Think about your niche from Step 1. This is important as your affiliate blog is a brand and an asset.

It is also advisable to have more than three choices as the internet tends to get overpopulated and chances are, they may no longer be available.

Contrary to what non-technical people think, a domain is quite easy to register. Usually, it costs around $10-$35 per year depending on where you register it and the plan you are selecting. Normally it is also renewable for a year or two, depends on your hosting company.

Now, shall we proceed? To see if your domain name is available, you can click here. 

Step 3: Setup Web Hosting for Your Affiliate Content

Right after you secure a domain name, the next step for you is to set up your web hosting. For starters, a web host is a company that stores all of your site’s data and files and makes them accessible to your site visitors.

A typical web hosting can range from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per month depending on the type of site they are hosting and also on your chosen web hosting company. I will introduce you to a solid hosting provider.

Most blogs will be absolutely fine with shared hosting, which usually costs just under $10 per month. You are not most blogs, I recommend a more WordPress specific hosting.

I am recommending a more sophisticated hosting provider because if you are serious then you want to get hosted on the best platform. This will also allow you to understand your investments in yourself and the things you are utilizing for your affiliate blog.

Treat your blog as your business, do not go mediocre or halfway.

But first, head over to SiteGround by clicking here.

Next, you will want to choose your hosting plans. I highly recommend Tiny because this is your first affiliate blog.

Step 4: Install a Free Copy of WordPress and Go Live with Your Blog

Once you have your domain name and web hosting both in place, it’s time for you to install the free WordPress content management system. You are going to do this to run your blog. WordPress is free so you don’t really have to worry about any payment or fee as there aren’t any. Siteground will install if for free!

Here are my reasons why WordPress is my personal recommendation as an experienced affiliate blogger:

1. It’s free! All you need is a web host and a domain name, and you can start right away.
2. Make it your own by using custom/pre-made themes and plugins.
3. There’s a massive community built around the platform, so you can find help if you run into a problem.

Step 5: Find Affiliate Offers to Talk About

As you might expect, not all affiliate programs are made equal. There are so many types, CPA, CPL, CPS, Revenue. I break these down in my Incomplete Affiliate Guide. Here are some networks that I first started out with.

1. Amazon Affiliates - With a huge database of products to talk about, this is the easiest place to find something in your niche to discuss.
2. eBay Partners Network - In combination with Amazon, I first combined both eBay and Amazon in comparison when I wrote or created stores online.
3. ShareaSale - If you’re looking for more targeted affiliate offers, marketplaces such as ShareaSale.com has a good list.
4. OfferVault - List tons of affiliate networks and their offers. It aggregates them into one portal.

If you can’t find the right offers for your affiliate blog on those portals, don’t worry. There are affiliate programs for almost everything and most of them are only a quick Google search. For example, if you wanted to look into barbecue grill affiliate programs, I would try something like "barbecue grill affiliate program".

The hard part is done. Now you should start writing, do not worry about writing about an affiliate offer just yet, provide some information and feedback to the internet - the end user. You want to fill your blog up with solid content, so readers will always come back.

Eventually, they will convert from one of your affiliate posts.

Let's recap on what you need to do today to start your first affiliate blog.

1. Pick a Niche, Important
2. Register a domain name for your blog. 
3. Set-up web hosting to host your affiliate content. 
4. Install a free copy of WordPress to run your blog. 
5. Find Affiliate Offers

The name of the game is consistency. Keep at it. Write. Leave questions below for me to answer!