Define your goals. 

The first step to any process is finding out exactly what your goals are. Defining your goals gives you a bigger picture to look at. This can be a difficult task, but it is important to start with a clear understanding of what you want. Once you know what you want, you can start to look for ways to achieve it.

There are a few things you should keep in mind when defining your goals:

• Goals should be S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time sensitive). 
  • An example of this would be a goal to write 4 blog post within 2 days to bulk create content for the month. This would be a relevant and attainable goal to most if not all bloggers. 
• Goals should lead to a bigger purpose. Meaning, goals are stepping stones you must cross to reach your higher purpose. 
  • For example, someone who wants to become an affiliate marketer would have a goal to get accepted by a program.
• Lastly, goals are meant to motivate you to keep going, so don’t make goals that deter you in any way. 

Determine how you will achieve your goals. 

Great! Now, that we have our goals we have to make a plan on how we will achieve them. Goals without work are dead. 

How you achieve your goal is heavily influenced by what your goal is. If your goal is to make a certain amount of money in a certain time frame you would conquer your goal by selling high ticket items, but if your goal is to sell a certain amount of items within a short period of time, then it would be best to advertise a low ticket item on several platforms.

In essence, make sure you create your plan so it makes reaching your goal easy. Making $1,000 is harder when you’re selling several $1 items than one $1000 item. 

Create a Plan. 

After you’ve determined your goal write it down to make it a plan. During this step you should also be logging everything you have done/ plan to do. 

This way, after your time period is over you can evaluate how successful (or unsuccessful) you were. 

Plans can be created digitally with platforms like google docs and microsoft word or physically with a pen and paper. It all depends on what you are most comfortable with. 

Research Affiliate Marketing Programs. 

There are many affiliate marketing programs out there, but the one I recommend for beginners is Clickbank, because there are so many resources available on the internet.

Clickbank is a free affiliate marketing site that allows you to pick any product you want from several categories. After you pick your product, they will give you a link that you can use on content to promote said product. 

I’ve mentioned in another article that Clickbank is also great as a beginner low cost business. If you decide to try it out please let me know in the comments below. 

If you do not want to use Clickbank, there are several other programs that you can find on Google. 

Set up an Account. 

Setting up an account is easy and intuitive on almost all websites, but it is extremely important in the case of Affiliate Marketing, because your account is how you see your earnings and receive your personalized link. 

Please do not forget to create an account on whatever program you pick!

Pick your product(s). 

Picking a product can be difficult, but it is always suggested to pick a product that you would use yourself. Why? Because it becomes easier to market and you have a level of expertise that will shine through in your ads. 

On Clickbank, the best way to find products is by choosing your category and then arranging the products according to “gravity”. Gravity means that product is popular and profitable. Which is why it’s suggested to pick your product that way. It can cut down on some of the beginning frustration of trying something new. 

Monitor and manage your accounts. 

Last but not least, be sure to monitor your accounts. This is similar to when I said to make a plan earlier. You have to monitor your accounts, because they will tell you how successful (or unsuccessful) you are at meeting your goals. 

Once you monitor your accounts, be sure to write them down in your plan for future reference when you decide to create another goal. This way you learn from your mistakes immediately and ,therefore only make them once.