The great thing about affiliate blogging is that the initial costs are very low.
Still, some paid tools are needed to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
Here’s a list of the main resources and tools you’ll need as a beginner affiliate blogger and even some that you advanced affiliate bloggers will want to take a look at.
1. Domain Names
I get all of my domain names from Namecheap because they are the cheapest around and have proven to be very reliable in my experience.
There are a lot of registrars out there, but make sure you are buying from only one of them (to keep yourself from getting confused where everything is) and you pick one that has been around for a long time.
2. Web Hosting
This is something to be really careful with because it is about the safety and reputation of your site.
Never pick a host because they are the cheapest.
Pick a host because they are the best.
I have had some serious issues with hosts (even losing entire businesses because of issues), so this is an important decision to make.
3. WordPress
WordPress is a script that you install that will allow you to have your affiliate blog setup and running.
It’s an industry standard and there is absolutely no other blogging system that I recommend.
Just use this from the start, and you’ll thank me later.
Moreover… WordPress is free!
4. WordPress Plugins and Themes
“Out of the box” WordPress is just a simple blogging platform, but there are thousands upon thousands of plugins and themes you can use to make your blog look about any way you want and/or do just about anything you want.
There are just too many plugins and themes to recommend here, but I do suggest you do a Google search for affiliate marketing WordPress themes and affiliate marketing WordPress plugins to see what’s available for your use.
5. Analytics
Tracking everything in your affiliate marketing business is incredibly important.
You need to track many different metrics like clicks, where your traffic is coming from, bounce rates and more.
If you’ve installed your blog using WordPress, you’ll be able to find plugins that allow you to easily track all kinds of different metrics.
Do your research and find the best one for you.
Personally, I use the LeadsLeap link tracker, which is free and collects a lot of data on clicks on affiliate links.
By the way, if you want to read my full review on LeadsLeap, it’s here: LeadsLeap Review.
6. Keyword Research Tool
Keyword research is vital to the success of your blog. You have to know what your audience is searching for and give it to them in order to be successful with your affiliate marketing.
I use and recommend Jaaxy. I recommend it because not only can you do all the keyword research you need to do, but you can also discover niches that have virtually no competition.
This tool does all kinds of things related to research and is my top recommendation for the price.
You can try Jaaxy for free here: Try Jaaxy
7. Check Your Writing with Grammarly
You don’t have to be a perfect writer to find success as an affiliate blogger, but you do need to have correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar for the most part.
Grammarly is a tool that will allow you to make sure all of your content is at it’s best in many different ways.
8. Autoresponder
It is essential that you start building a list now. This way, you can contact your readers whenever you want.
As soon as you make a blog post you could email your list about it and have a ton of traffic to your new post immediately.
There are many different services out there and you need to make sure you pick a good reliable one. The one I recommend is Aweber because of the ease of use and the reliability.
Imagine building a list with a service that isn’t reliable? Your emails may never get delivered to your readers and/or you could lose your list at any time.
This is why it’s so important when making your decision on what service to go with.
However, if you want to get started with list building, you can start with SendSteed, a free autoresponder that is part of the LeadsLeap ecosystem (yes, them again!).
It’s perfect newbies, and you can also create landing pages with another free tool provided by LeadsLeap, and connect them very easily to your autoresponder.
9. Page Builder
While you can easily build pages with your blog in WordPress, there are going to be certain pages you want to build that you can have total design control over.
That’s where a page builder comes in.
For example, I’ve built a landing page to collect signups for my marketing list.
With the standard WordPress pages that can be hard if you’re not really techy.
I use LeadsLeap’s Page Builder to build any kind of marketing page I need in my affiliate marketing business.
10. Video Equipment and Software
One of the best tactics you can use in your affiliate marketing is to incorporate video.
Be it you doing screencast videos where you’re just showing your computer screen to doing videos with you actually in them.
Videos make for great content and amazing for pulling traffic in via different strategies.
To do this though you’re going to need some equipment such as Camtasia for screen recording, a good camera or a good cell phone with a camera, video editing software, etc.
My advice is to define your video strategy, and then determine the equipment you’ll need to carry out that strategy.
It’s going to be different for every person and every strategy.
So... Let's Go to Work!
Now I’ve only given you 10 resources here, but almost all 10 of these are vital to your affiliate blogging success.
My biggest piece of advice is to start from the top and work your way down over time.
If you’re just getting started don’t worry about advanced stuff like doing video marketing. Focus on getting your blog setup correctly, work on finding good topics to create content around, work on creating high quality content, and what you can do to get traffic to your blog.
Don’t get lost in what tools you’re going to need. That’s the downfall for most people who are trying to get started with their affiliate blog. Focus on doing and as time goes on you’ll know when it’s time to start looking for additional tools.
Tools Image by free stock photos from www.picjumbo.com from Pixabay
Hi! I’m the proud owner of this blog. I started to take an interest in affiliate marketing in 2012, and over the past few years I have decided to take it seriously. My knowledge is not yet infinite, but I learn a little every day and I hope to be able to share with you my passion for this art: to earn money by writing about the things that we love!