Have you ever read a blog post that recommended a product, saw a small note saying “(Affiliate link)” and wondered what it was? Or maybe you’ve watched a YouTube video where the creator mentioned their work is supported by brand partners? These are all glimpses into the world of affiliate marketing, a powerful and legitimate way that people earn money online simply by recommending products and services they trust.
For many people, the idea of making money online can feel intimidating or reserved for tech gurus and famous influencers. But affiliate marketing is one of the most accessible business models for beginners. At its core, it’s about sharing helpful information and building trust.
At Remitly, we believe in empowering people with financial knowledge and opportunities. This guide will demystify affiliate marketing, breaking down exactly what it is, how it works, and the steps you can take to get started on your own journey to earning online.
What is affiliate marketing?
At its simplest, affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where you can earn a commission by promoting the products or services of another person or company. It’s a revenue-sharing model that benefits both the business doing the selling and the person promoting it.
The core concept: earning by recommending
Let’s say you recommend a fantastic new money transfer app to a friend because it saves you time and fees. Your friend signs up and loves it. Now, what if that app had a formal program that paid you a small thank-you fee for sending them a new customer? That’s affiliate marketing in a nutshell.
You find a product or service you like, promote it to others, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you drive. You’re essentially acting as a freelance salesperson for the company, and you get rewarded for your successful referrals.
The key players: the merchant, the affiliate, and the consumer
To understand how it all works, it helps to know the three main parties involved in the process:
The merchant (also known as the brand or seller)
This is whoever creates and sells the product. It could be a large company like Amazon, a small business selling handmade goods, or a software company selling a subscription service. They have a product to sell and they’re willing to pay others to help them sell it.
The affiliate (also known as the publisher, or you)
This is the individual or company that promotes the merchant’s product. Affiliates can be solo bloggers, large media websites, YouTubers, or social media influencers. Their job is to persuade potential customers of the product’s value and convince them to make a purchase.
The consumer
This is the end user who sees the affiliate’s promotion and decides to click the affiliate link and buy the product. The entire system only works if consumers are buying.
Affiliate marketing vs. other online models
It’s easy to confuse affiliate marketing with other online business models, but there are some key differences.
MLM (multi-level marketing)
Affiliate marketing is not an MLM. In affiliate marketing, you earn money only from your own direct referrals and sales. There’s no complex downline, no recruitment requirement, and no need to buy the product or service yourself.
Dropshipping
In dropshipping, you create your own online store and sell somebody else’s products, and they handle the inventory and shipping. You’re still the seller in the customer’s eyes. In affiliate marketing, you’re not the seller; you’re simply the referrer. You don’t handle transactions, customer service, or shipping.
Influencer marketing
This is the most closely related concept. Many influencers promote products or services as one of their income streams. Influencer marketing can involve being paid a flat fee just to post about a product (a brand deal), regardless of sales.
Affiliate marketing can also be purely performance-based; meaning you only get paid if you generate a result (like a sale or a lead). So, understandably, a lot of influencers’ marketing is very positive of the product or service, even if they never use it or actually don’t like it.
How does affiliate marketing work? The step-by-step process
Affiliate marketing involves a clear, repeatable process that takes a potential customer from your content to the merchant’s checkout page, all while tracking your referral.
Step 1: Choosing your niche
Before you can promote anything, you need to decide what you want to talk about. A niche is simply a focused topic area. It could be anything from personal finance for immigrants, to learning a new language, to cooking traditional recipes from your home country.
The best niches are topics you’re genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about. This authenticity is what will build trust with your audience.
Step 2: Selecting a platform
Next, you need a place to share your content and recommendations. This is your platform. Common choices include:
- A blog
Starting a simple blog is a popular way to create detailed product reviews, how-to guides, and tutorials. - YouTube
If you’re comfortable on camera, a YouTube channel is a powerful platform for product demonstrations, reviews, and educational content. - Social media
Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook can work well, especially in sectors like fashion, beauty, or home goods, where it’s really helpful if the audience can actually see the product in use. - An email newsletter
Building an email list allows you to communicate directly with your most engaged followers and share recommendations. Remember though that, while email is still very popular, you need to know who you’re talking to, and how to talk to them, to use it effectively.
Step 3: Finding and joining affiliate programs
Once you have a niche and a platform, it’s time to find products to promote. You can find these through affiliate programs or networks. We’ll cover specific networks later, but the process generally involves signing up and being approved by the merchant.
If you build a committed following and a good reputation for credibility in your niche you might find some merchants approach you to do affiliate marketing for them. But this isn’t going to happen straight away—they need to know they’re getting seen by enough of the right people, and that takes time.
Step 4: Creating valuable content
This is the most important step. You don’t make money by just spamming links. You earn commissions by creating high-quality, helpful content that naturally incorporates your recommendations.
This could be a blog post titled “The 5 Best Apps for Sending Money Abroad” or a YouTube video showing “How to Set Up Your First US Bank Account.” Your content should solve a problem or answer a question for your audience. Either that, or you need to be so engaging that they watch your content just for you!
Step 5: Sharing your affiliate links
Within your content, you’ll place your unique affiliate link. This is a special tracking link given to you by the merchant. When a reader or viewer clicks on this link, it places a small tracking file called a cookie on their browser.
Step 6: Earning commission
If the consumer who clicked your link goes on to make a purchase on the merchant’s website, the merchant’s system will see the tracking cookie from your affiliate link and credit you with the sale. You then earn a predetermined commission, which is usually, though not always, a small percentage of the sale price.
Affiliate links explained: how the tracking works
The magic of affiliate marketing is in the technology that ensures you get credit for the sales you generate. This all comes down to your unique affiliate link.
What is a unique affiliate link?
When you join an affiliate program, you’re assigned a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that’s unique to you. It looks like a normal link but has extra characters at the end, such as ?id=yourname or &tag=youruniqueID-20. This unique identifier tells the merchant that the traffic is coming from you.
When a user clicks your affiliate link, a cookie is stored on their web browser too. This tells the merchant that you were the one who sent the customer their way.
These cookies will have a duration, which is the length of time you’ll receive credit for the sale after the initial click. Durations can range from 24 hours (like Amazon’s program) to 30, 60, or even 90 days for other programs.
This means if someone clicks your link but doesn’t buy immediately, you can still earn a commission if they return to the site and purchase later, as long as it’s within the cookie duration period.
Understanding commission structures
Not all affiliate programs pay in the same way. The most common structures are:
Pay-per-sale (PPS)
This is the most standard model. You earn a percentage of the product’s price every time you generate a sale.
Pay-per-lead (PPL)
You get paid when a customer you refer completes a specific action, like signing up for a free trial, giving the merchant their contact details, or subscribing to a newsletter. You get paid even if they don’t buy anything.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
This model is less common. You earn a small amount for every single click on your affiliate link, regardless of whether a sale or lead is generated.
There are others, too, like Pay-per-install for mobile apps or even Pay-per-impression where you get paid according to how many visits to the merchant’s website you generate. But these three are probably the most common.
How to make money with affiliate marketing: strategies for beginners
Simply having an affiliate link is not enough. The key to success is integrating your links into content that genuinely helps your audience. Here are some proven strategies.
The product review blog post
This is a classic for a reason. Write a detailed, honest review of a product or service you have used. Discuss its pros and cons, who it’s best for, and your personal experience with it. For example, a detailed review of a small-business accounting tool would really help budding entrepreneurs like you in the early days of their own venture.
The “How-to” tutorial or guide
Create a comprehensive tutorial that shows how to accomplish a task, and recommend products that help with that task. For instance, a “Step-by-Step Guide to Filing Your US Taxes as a New Immigrant” blog post could recommend a specific tax software you found easy to use. The affiliate link feels like a natural, helpful suggestion within the guide.
The resource page or “Tools I use” list
Create a single page on your blog or website that lists all the products and services you use and recommend. For a blog about adjusting to life in the US, this page could include links to your preferred bank, cell phone provider, credit card, and, of course, a money transfer service like Remitly. This becomes a go-to resource for your audience.
Using video content
Video is incredibly powerful for demonstrating products. You could create a YouTube video showing a side-by-side comparison of two different online learning platforms, or an unboxing and setup guide for a new piece of technology. You can then place your affiliate links in the video description.
Affiliate networks
These are large marketplaces that connect affiliates with merchants. They’re a great place to start because you can find thousands of products or services to promote in one place, so there may well be something relevant to your niche.
- Rakuten Advertising
A large, established network that works with many major global brands. - Impact
A modern and growing platform that’s popular with many software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies and direct-to-consumer brands. - CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)
Another one of the oldest and largest affiliate networks in the world.
In-house affiliate programs
Many companies run their own affiliate programs directly.
Amazon associates
This is the most popular program for beginners. You can earn a commission on almost anything sold on Amazon. The commissions are small, but the sheer volume of products makes it very flexible.
Remitly partners
Remitly has a partner program where you can opt to promote the brand via multimedia channels like blogs, social media, etc., and earn commissions, which are paid via bank transfer.
Other individual programs
Many of your favorite brands likely have a link in their website’s footer that says “Affiliates” or “Partners.” You can apply directly through their site.
The ethics of affiliate marketing
Success in affiliate marketing is built on a foundation of trust. If your audience doesn’t trust your recommendations, they won’t click your links. Following ethical guidelines is not just an unwritten rule; it’s the only way to build a sustainable online business. Influencers who are just “shilling” a product they don’t actually use or care about often get called out about it online, and that can be really damaging.
The importance of disclosure
In many countries, including the US, you’re legally required to disclose that you may earn a commission from your links. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that this disclosure be clear and conspicuous. This means placing a simple statement like “This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a commission if you make a purchase” near the top of your content. Again, honesty builds trust.
Promoting products you genuinely trust
Only recommend products and services that you have personally used or thoroughly researched and believe will benefit your audience. Your reputation is your most valuable asset.
A single bad recommendation for a quick commission can destroy the trust you’ve spent months or years building, because users of the product will absolutely let everybody know with comments or their own, negative reviews.
Focusing on your audience’s needs
Always put your audience first. Your goal should be to help them solve a problem or make a better decision. When your primary focus is on helping people, the commissions will follow as a natural byproduct of the value you provide.
Good luck with your affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a real, beginner-friendly way to begin earning an income online. It’s a business model that rewards authenticity, passion, and a genuine desire to help people. By choosing a niche you care about, creating valuable content, and building a relationship of trust with your audience, you can create a sustainable source of income that’s built on your own unique voice and expertise.
It’s not about being a slick salesperson; it’s about being a helpful guide. And for anyone looking to build something of their own, that’s a powerful and rewarding place to start.
FAQs
Do I need a big following to do affiliate marketing?
Not necessarily. While a large following can help, what matters more is having an engaged audience that trusts you. A blog with 1,000 dedicated monthly readers who trust your advice can be more profitable than an Instagram account with 100,000 passive followers who don’t care about your recommendations.
How much money can I make?
The earning potential is unlimited, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It can range from a few dollars a month to a six-figure annual income. Your earnings will depend on your niche, the size and engagement of your audience, the quality of your content, and the commission rates of the products you promote.
Is affiliate marketing the same as an MLM or dropshipping?
No. As we explained earlier, they’re different. Affiliate marketing doesn’t involve recruiting others, holding inventory, or handling customer service. You’re simply a referrer.
What’s the best platform for beginners?
A blog is often considered the best platform for beginners. It’s a digital asset that you own and control completely (unlike a social media account). It’s also the best platform for search engine optimization (SEO), which can bring you free traffic from Google over the long term.