How to Create a Website for Affiliate Marketing (In 8 Steps)

13Dec 2022 by Moonthemes 78 Comments

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money online 💸. As an affiliate, you’ll advertise a brand’s products and earn a commission on each sale. Before you start reaping these benefits, however, you’ll need to learn how to create a website for affiliate marketing.

Fortunately, anyone can build an affiliate marketing website. 🧰 Once you choose a niche and set up WordPress, you can sign up for an affiliate program and start promoting products.

In this post, we’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to create a website for affiliate marketing using the free WordPress software.

This way, you’ll have a solid platform for recommending products and earning a passive income. Let’s get started!

How to create a website for affiliate marketing in 8 steps

👉 Here’s the full guide for how to create a website for affiliate marketing:

Step 1: Pick your affiliate niche

When you become an affiliate, you’ll earn commissions by recommending products or services on your website. To be successful, it’s important that you choose a niche for your blog.

Although you might be tempted to find the highest-paying blog niche, we recommend that you think about your interests. Since you’ll have to produce a consistent stream of content, you’ll want to write about a topic that you’re passionate about.

For example, if you enjoy gardening, you could promote outdoor furniture and tools:

An example of a website for affiliate marketing

Once you come up with a topic, you’ll want to evaluate its popularity. Using Google Trends, you can search for relevant keywords and make sure the interest over time is fairly steady:

Google Keyword Planner is another useful tool for refining your niche. This shows you the number of monthly searches. Other keyword research tools can go further and give you rough estimates for how difficult it is to rank content in Google for those search queries:

In general, the best niches have consistent demand and low competition. Creating content about these topics can help you increase organic traffic to your site, which may lead to more sales.

Step 2: Sign up for web hosting and a domain name

Once you have a niche, you’re ready to move into the technical part of how to create a website for affiliate marketing.

To start creating your affiliate website, you’ll first need to find a web hosting provider. This will give you the server space to host your website on.

Bluehost is a cost-effective and beginner-friendly hosting provider that offers automatic WordPress installs, which means you can be up and running with your website right away:

Since you’re new to affiliate marketing, it’s also important to find an affordable hosting solution. At Bluehost, WordPress hosting starts at just $2.75 per month. This also includes a free domain name.

Essentially, your domain name is the address that users will type into a browser to access your website. Once you sign up for hosting, you’ll be able to register a new domain:

As an affiliate, it’s best to keep your domain simple, memorable, and relevant to your niche. Plus, using a popular extension like “.com” or “.net” can boost your credibility. Check out some other tips to choose a domain name.

If you purchase a WordPress hosting plan, your provider will often install WordPress for you – you’ll just need to create your login credentials. Then, you can sign into your admin dashboard and start creating your affiliate website!

Step 3: Pick a WordPress theme

Once you have WordPress set up, you’ll need to install a theme. This will determine the design and user experience (UX) of your site.

Fortunately, WordPress has thousands of free themes available. To choose one for your site, go to Appearance > Themes > Add New in your dashboard.

If you want a theme that can work well for affiliate sites in any niche, you can consider the free Neve theme.

Neve offers dozens of importable demo sites for different niches, along with full support for the native WordPress editor or page builder plugins for code-free customization. For even more code-free customization, you can also use Neve’s many built-in options:

Plus, it’s fast and lightweight. This means it can provide a smooth user experience for your visitors, which may help boost your conversions.

Step 4: Plan your blog posts

Next, you’ll want to publish some content in your niche. This way, you can start driving traffic to your blog and increase your chances of getting accepted into affiliate programs.

An effective way to establish credibility is by doing product roundups and reviews. Before a customer buys an item, they usually want to see if it’s the best option. To help them with their purchasing decisions, you can review a list of different brands or styles:

An example of a blog post that promotes affiliate products.

Here are some more content ideas for your affiliate blog:

In-depth product reviews and comparisons
How-to guides
Gift guides
Seasonal must-haves
Packing lists

When writing these posts, it’s important that you provide honest opinions. Although your goal is to drive sales, you’ll also want to help visitors make the best choices for their needs.

Step 5: Apply for an affiliate program

Once you’ve published some posts on your blog, you can start applying for affiliate programs. While there are many options available, we recommend that you look for programs in your chosen niche. This will help you promote the right products to the right audience.

Amazon Associates is one of the go-to affiliate programs for beginners. As an Amazon affiliate, you’ll earn commissions on product sales made through your affiliate links:

Amazon can be ideal for virtually any niche. This marketplace sells a vast selection of products, from furniture and home decor, to clothing and tech gear. Depending on the product category, you could earn up to 10% in commissions.

To help you get started, we have a guide on how to become an Amazon affiliate.

When looking for affiliate programs to join, it’s important to consider the commission rate, cookie window, as well as terms and conditions. You wouldn’t want to put a lot of effort into creating high-quality content only to get a tiny percentage from your sales.

Step 6: Install affiliate plugins

As mentioned earlier, your theme is responsible for the look and feel of your affiliate website. To add new functionality, however, you’ll need to install plugins.

Affiliate marketing plugins can make it easier to add affiliate content to your site. You’ll be able to easily populate posts with affiliate links and perform other necessary tasks.

For example, ThirstyAffiliates is designed to optimize affiliate linking. It enables you to add affiliate links to pages and blog posts, create redirects, and track clicks:

Meanwhile, our Otter Blocks plugin can help you display your affiliate links in a more engaging way. Using the pricing and review comparison blocks, you can give visitors more information about your products:

As an Amazon affiliate, you may struggle to consistently update prices and product information. With AAWP, your links will automatically be refreshed to display new products, prices, and discounts. Plus, the plugin includes support for product boxes and best-seller lists:

Although it’s possible to insert and manage links manually, WordPress plugins can automate the process for you. This will help you stay more organized and focus on other important tasks.

For some other options, check out our full collections of the best affiliate marketing plugins and the best Amazon affiliate plugins.

Step 7: Find products to promote

If you’ve signed up for a program like Amazon Associates, you might feel overwhelmed by the number of products available. However, you’ll want to prioritize items in your niche.

For example, if you have a fitness blog, you can browse the Health & Wellness category on Amazon:

You’ll also want to make sure that you only recommend high-quality products with good ratings. Often, the best items to promote are the ones you use in your daily life. This way, you can provide a more honest review.

You might also find relevant products with keyword research. For example, “best fitness products” will show you popular items that users are searching for:

If you want to promote these products, you could search for them on Amazon. Then, you can simply create affiliate links for these items and insert them into your content.

Step 8: Promote your content

In order to increase affiliate sales, you’ll need to promote your content. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. Essentially, this will help push your content to the top of search result pages.

You can gain this visibility by going through an SEO checklist. By using the right keywords, integrating engaging visuals, and increasing your site speed, your post will start performing better in search engines.

Additionally, you may want to consider promoting your content on social media. Using a plugin like Revive Old Posts, you can automatically schedule and share affiliate blog posts across different platforms.

Combining social media and SEO strategies can help drive more visitors to your affiliate website. This way, you won’t waste time creating content that never generates sales!

That’s how to create a website for affiliate marketing

By becoming an affiliate, you’ll advertise the products you love to your online audience. Once a visitor uses your link to make a purchase, you’ll earn a commission. However, you’ll first need to learn how to create a website for affiliate marketing.

📌 The first step is to establish your niche. Then, you can select a hosting plan, set up WordPress, and start creating content. Once you’ve published a few blog posts on your site, you can start joining affiliate programs, promoting products to your audience, and making money from your website.

Do you have any questions about how to create a website for affiliate marketing? Let us know in the comments section below!