How to Start Affiliate Marketing in Nigeria [Beginner’s Guide]

I guarantee this will be the last post you’ll read on how to start affiliate marketing in Nigeria because I’ll be breaking down everything there is to know about this topic.

I’ll be truthful with you, the kinda feeling you get making money from affiliate marketing is out of this world! Trust me, there’s nothing compared to it.

One of these feelings is waking up in the morning to several notifications of incomes you’ve made overnight!

This simply means you’re making money even while you sleep. Passive income isn’t it?

Oh… Yeah!

Trying to learn affiliate marketing in Nigeria means you’ve seen the potential of this business or you’ve probably seen success stories of others.

Like mine here! 

But this you must know, to truly make that passive income happen, you seriously need to put in some work. There are various steps you need to take before you can actually make your first income.

And trust me… these steps are not so passive!

However, if you’re determined to put in the effort just like I did, you’re already on your way to success. I mean, if I can do it…

What then is stopping you?

I’ve written this article “How to start affiliate marketing in Nigeria” for those seeking better ways to make money online in Nigeria.

Most especially for beginners who are with little or no knowledge about affiliate marketing and really want to make money online.

But before we get started, here’s a summary of what we’ll be learning and a quick jump link to give you a head start.

let’s get started, shall we?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission or make money by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products.

You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.

Let me break it down a little further…

There are 4 different parties involved in affiliate marketing:

• The Merchant,
• Network
• Publisher and
• The Customer.

I will explain all 4 parties in a bit, just keep reading…

However, when it comes down to the actual marketing, there are 2 sides of an affiliate equation: the product creator(Seller) and the affiliate marketer(You).

Therefore, affiliate marketing can be seen as the process of spreading product creation and product marketing across different parties, where each party receives a share of the revenue according to their contribution.

Let me break it even further!

How Affiliate Marketing Works In Nigeria

For example, I want to sell a car so I list the car on an affiliate network hoping I’ll see an affiliate marketer that will sell it for me based on the percentage agreed by me and the network.

If you been an affiliate marketer, then choose to market the car and sell it through your link. You’ll get a commission based on the agreement I had with the network earlier.

Mind you, I can choose to create my own personal affiliate program myself, and if you register for my affiliate program and market the car directly you’ll still get your commission based on the percentage I stated on the car that you will make.

The advantage of joining affiliate networks instead of a direct affiliate program is that it’s safer than dealing directly with the creator of the products.

He or she can wake up any morning and choose to close the affiliate program.

But that doesn’t mean individual affiliate programs is not safe, on rare occasion will such happen. I personally have affiliate programs that I do promote directly.

Now let’s look at all parts of a successful affiliate marketing system. (What makes Affiliate Programs complete)

#1: The Merchant: (Seller)

Sometimes also known as the creator, the brand, or the vendor. This is the party that creates the product.

Anyone could be the merchant behind an affiliate marketing program.

They don’t even have to be actively involved. They just have to have a product to sell then make it available for affiliate networks so affiliate marketers can sign up and promote the products.

#2: The Affiliate: (You)

This party is sometimes also known as the publisher. Affiliates can also range from single individuals to entire companies.

This is where the marketing happens. An affiliate promotes one or multiple affiliate products and tries to attract and convince potential customers about the value of the product so that they can end up buying it.

#3: The Consumer: (Buyer)

The customer or consumer makes the affiliate system go ’round. Without sales, there won’t be any commission and revenue to share.

The affiliate will try to market to the consumer on whatever channel they see fit, whether it be a social network, digital billboards or through a search engine using content marketing on a blog.

#4: The Network: (Escrow)

Only some consider the network part of the affiliate marketing equation. 

But, I believe that an affiliate marketing guide needs to include networks, because, in many cases, a network works as an intermediary between the affiliate and the merchant.

Sometimes, affiliates have to go through an affiliate network to be able to promote the product for more security reasons.

Or if the merchant(Seller) only listed their product on a particular affiliate network.

The affiliate network also serves as a warehouse for lots of affiliate programs, out of which the affiliate marketer can choose which to promote.

Differences btw Affiliate Marketing and CPA Marketing

Chances are you’ve heard about CPA Marketing and you wonder how it relates to Affiliate marketing. Well, I’ll also be doing justice to that so as to give you a better understanding of how they both works!

CPA Marketing

CPA Marketing is a bit different from affiliate marketing because in CPA you get paid to complete an action.

This could be as simple as getting a potential customer to fill up a form or any other specific action.

But in affiliate marketing, you’re going to get paid after the potential customer actually make a purchase.

CPA may be considered easier to affiliate marketing but the commission is usually very low while affiliate marketing commission can be very high.

CPA payout as low as $0.10 while affiliate marketing pays up to $1k as a commission on a single sale.

Most of the work done in CPA is to send leads, the work of the affiliate company is to convert the prospect into their actual buyer.

Other Affiliate Terminologies & Programs

There are several other affiliate programs out there under the term “Affiliate Marketing”. Let’s explore some of them.

CPC Affiliate Program

CPC (Cost Per Click) or PPC (Pay Per Click) Affiliate program is an affiliate model whereby you get paid based on the clicks you generate to your affiliate merchants.

This is quite similar to Google AdSense, but this time around you’ll be paid by an affiliate network. Most people prefer this because it’s quite easy to start.

You just need traffics to click on your links and you’ll get paid for that, quite interesting if you think about it. It’s however, not so popular around here, most especially in this side of the world, Nigeria to be precise.

PPL Affiliate Program

Pay Per Lead Affiliate Program is also similar to CPC, however, this time around you’ll get paid for generating leads.

These could be emails or phone numbers. Here, all your referral needs to do is simply enter their email address or phone and you’ll get paid for it.

Some affiliate programs pay around $1 to 50usd for just acquiring leads. The downside to these affiliate programs is that they are prone to fraud.

What I mean is, affiliates could decide to enter fake leads in the name of making money. These are also some of the reasons why they are not so popular in countries like Nigeria.

PPC Affiliate Program

PPC is also known as Pay Per Call affiliate program is also one of my favorites. I haven’t fully explored this, but they are top on my list.

Pay per call affiliate program is an affiliate marketing system whereby an affiliate gets paid by generating calls.

Like the usual affiliate programs whereby you’ll be given affiliate links when it comes to Pay per call you’ll be given affiliate phone number instead of affiliate links.

Cool isn’t it.

This way, you’ll be paid a certain amount of money for every customer that calls your merchant company via your affiliate phone number.

Now, let’s talk a little bit about the benefits of Affiliate Marketing

Advantage of Affiliate Marketing

Below are the reasons and benefits of starting your own affiliate marketing business right here in Nigeria, Ghana or irrespective of your location.

#1: Passive Income

This is one of the best parts of affiliate marketing. The fact that you don’t need to work always before you make your income. Affiliate marketing has given me the luxury to do so many things…

I can travel in my leisure time without having to worry about my work or any boss. Best part? there are months I don’t work and I still get paid for the previous works I’ve done.

Below is a screenshot of one of my earnings…

Affiliate marketing is like an income funnel that makes you money for a very long time even after you’ve stopped working.

If you would like to make money the exact way I do with affiliate marketing, I have a video tutorial I’ll suggest you check out.

#2: Highly Scalable

This is another interesting part of affiliate marketing. You can easily scale up your income by being consistent. My first affiliate income was $169 (N61,685) but now I earn millions.

This is because I was consistent with what I am doing.

Affiliate marketing also makes it easy to make more money by investing in it for you to get a higher result. This could be spending money on adverts and various other ways.

#3: Multiple Income Source

As an affiliate marketer, you can work with as many affiliate programs as you want because you’re the boss of yourself.

I have various affiliate programs I’m promoting and they’re all paying me well.

This kind of makes me get paid all around. That is, I don’t have to be dependent on one particular network before I get paid.

I have several of them and this makes me get paid on a weekly basis.

#4: No Limit to Your Income

There’s no limit to how much you can make as an affiliate marketer. The sky is always your limit. There are various affiliate marketers that are killing it already.

A good example is Pat Flynn of “Smart Passive Income” who has generated over $3 million dollars from affiliate marketing.

Even in Nigeria, we have several guys who are not popular but make millions every blessed month with affiliate marketing.

#5: Low Start-Up Cost

Unlike other business that requires huge startup cost, affiliate marketing is exempted. Your only cost is likely going to be for creating your blog website.

And with less than $4/month for your web hosting and $10/year for your domain name, you can have your website up and running.

Here’s a detailed article on how to start a blog website that generates income through affiliate marketing or any other means.

Now that we understand the basics and benefits of affiliate marketing lets go in-depth on how to start the actual business.

How to start affiliate marketing in Nigeria

I’ve broken it down to make it a step-by-step guide for beginners trying to learn how to start an affiliate marketing business in Nigeria.

If you stick to this guide, you’re on the right course to earning your first affiliate income in no time. Read and come back to read again.

That’s how you’ll make it stick.

Steps to start affiliate marketing in Nigeria:

1. Choose your affiliate niche
2. Start a blog
3. Create contents
4. Monetize your content with affiliate programs
5. Promote your content

Step 1: Choose Your Affiliate Niche

Recently I was chatting with a guy that wants my affiliate marketing video tutorial. We were discussing niche selection when he told me nothing interests him, that all he wants is a niche that will make him money quick.

What he failed to understand is that affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s a business you have to nurture.

Mind you, if interest and passion are out of a business, what you get is frustration. Likewise affiliate marketing.

When starting an affiliate marketing business in Nigeria or any part of the world, you need to choose a specific niche that you find interesting to yourself.

Or at least passionate about.

I know it could be difficult finding a specific niche that you think is interesting to you or something you think you’re passionate about.

However, there are a few ways you can discover that faster than you can imagine. But before we proceed, what is a niche?

I’m sure you might be used to the word “find your niche” already while some of us don’t even understand what a niche is!

So, what is really a Niche?

Let’s ask Google:

A niche is a highly specialized market. For example, a niche product could be diabetes products. Generally, we have a much larger market under the health product section.

But choosing to promote diabetes products is a smaller market compared to general health products. Mind you, there is plenty of markets too for diabetes product for people trying to get better health.

But there will be less competition.

Back to ways you can easily spot your affiliate niche:

Is There Money in Your Niche?

Before you choose any niche you’re passionate about, do your findings well enough to know if you can easily monetize the niche and make money from it.

When I started my affiliate journey, my passion has always been about making money and teaching people how to set up a business.

However, it took me a while before I accept that. But seriously, I’m really passionate about making money online.

Then to narrow it down, I choose e-commerce as my make money online niche. As you already know there are various ways to make money online.

What Topics Are You Passionate About?

This is another way you can easily spot your niche. Ask yourself what topic I’m I passionate about? This could be sport or something else.

I have a friend that is passionate about food and she’s willing to write about food. It is easier for her to monetize her blog on affiliate marketing because she loves that topic already.

And mind you a food blog is very lucrative so it’s a win-win for her.

Are There Plenty of Affiliates Promoting the Niche?

We have various niches that are saturated already by various affiliates marketers. Do your research very well and be sure there is enough room for you in the niche you want to join.

Popular Niche like weight loss is already saturated. What it means is that the competition for this is going to be very high.

You being new might not do well enough because you don’t have much experience yet.

So, try as much as possible to go for something less competitive. It’s better to be a big fish in a small pool and vice versa.

Step 2: Start A Blog

Now that you’ve done your research on your affiliate niche. The next thing you have to do is set up a blog to promote your affiliate programs.

Building a blog around your affiliate business is what makes it a recurring income. A blog makes it possible for you to make money from the previous works you’ve done even while you’re not working again.

Building a blog is now somewhat easy unlike before, you don’t even need to know any coding to set up a blog successfully. Just make sure you’re using WordPress.

To have your blog site up and running, you need to follow these few steps:

Get A Domain Name

First on your list should be getting a domain for yourself. Your domain name is going to be the name of your website.

A good example is mine (www.smartbizfreedom.com)

Try and look for a catchy name and mind you, the first name on your mind might have been taken already so make sure you have several alternatives.

There are various places you can get a good domain name like Bluehost.

I’ll suggest you go with Bluehost because it comes with a free domain name and free SSL certificate.

Just in case you have a domain name in mind… you can check if it’s available here and secure it before other people do!

Buy and Set Up Hosting for Your Website

Just like a domain name is the address of your website, hosting is like the actual house your website is living. If you don’t already have one, the best I can recommend is Bluehost.

A good hosting determines how your website is going to respond on the internet and they are also responsible for how fast your website loads.

If you must get anything right it should be your hosting company because a bad hosting can cause downtime for your website at any moment.

WordPress Installation

After you’ve set up your web hosting with your domain name, the next thing in line is to install WordPress on your website.

The good thing is, if you’re using Bluehost, WordPress is pre-installed. So you won’t have to bother yourself with the installations.

I’ve written a more elaborate and detailed article on how to start a blog from scratch. It comes with picture descriptions for you to see what will be required of you.

You can also check out the video set up on my YouTube channel.

Step 3: Start Creating Content on Your Blog

Now that you’ve set up your blog the next thing is to start creating content for people to read on your blog.

Writing your first article might be scary but trust me the first one is always the hardest. Be consistent with your writing.

The more you write the better you get. That’s just how it works.

For you to create good content you need to do extensive research. You need to constantly read for other blogs similar to your niche.

But that doesn’t mean you should copy them word for word else you’ll face a penalty from Google.

If you’re thinking you are not the writing type, don’t worry, you can get your article written using HIREWRITERS. You can get your article written with as low as 3 – 5 dollars.

What are the things you can write about? It could be the following:

#1: Reviews

You could talk about a product or service that is in line with your blog niche. A perfect review shouldn’t be less than a thousand words containing the pros and cons of the particular product or service.

This way your audience will have a better understanding of the product and at the same time trust you for your review. These will make them always want to come back to read on your blog because you didn’t bias with your review.

Here’s an example:

• Techno 212 Reviews & Prices in Nigeria/Ghana
• Hp Pavilion Reviews & Price in Nigeria
• Etc

Just make sure your affiliate links are included in the articles lead to the affiliate products

#2: “How to” Articles

“How to” articles are usually articles on how to do or start something. A good example is the particular one you’re reading now. “How to start affiliate marketing in Nigeria”

If you’re knowledgeable in your chosen niche these should come in handy to you.

These kinds of articles usually attract traffic and if you’re getting traffic then this means more money for you if your blog is well monetized.

#3: “Tips and List” articles

This is another article that also generates more traffic and what you can easily write as a newbie.

Don’t be bother if you’re not good enough to write or you don’t have enough knowledge in your chosen niche.

What you need to do is to be willing to get better and ways to do this is by doing more research. Follow blogs in your chosen niche and gather knowledge from what they’ve written to create your own content.

Once again, don’t be tempted to do copy and paste… you’ll surely be tempted but don’t fall for it.

Step 4: Monetize Your Content with Affiliate Programs

This is the part that defines you as an affiliate marketer where you get to promote affiliate offers on your website.

However, you shouldn’t rush this by trying to skip steps 1 – 3 and jumping straight at 4. It’s going to set your business apart, so there is a need to follow every step through.

Once you’ve been able to create valuable content in your chosen niche the next thing will be to start promoting products or services that will be helpful to your audience.

Few of the most common ways to promote your affiliate products and services include the following:

Banner Ads

You can display banners of products and services you are promoting on your website. The good news is that most affiliate program usually provides a set of banners for their affiliates to promote their products.

This way you won’t have to worry about creating your personal banner.

But if your affiliate platform has no banners, you can easily take advantage of this banner maker to create banners for you affiliate products.

Contextual Links

The contextual link method is a very common way to promote affiliate offers. You’ve probably seen a blog post with a link to another website selling products or services.

If the reader went through to the site after clicking the link and he or she makes a purchase the blog owner with the affiliate link is going to make a commission.

Email Promotion

This will be a better advantage for those that have email subscribers. This way you can easily set up emails with contextual links to affiliate offers.

If they end up clicking the links and make a purchase on the affiliate website, you’ll get a commission on everything they buy.

I use Getresponse for my email promotion you can equally check them out, plus it comes with awesome training on how how to master email marketing.

Product Reviews

Writing reviews about affiliate offers is another good way to promote affiliate offers on your website. But most time people usually get this wrong.

Don’t because of the commission you want to earn and write a biased review on a product or service by only emphasizing the good part only.

Your readers can easily know what you’re up to if you’re doing it this way. A good and standard review should contain both the good and bad sides of the product. This won’t stop them from buying the product or service if they want too.

It will only make them trust your site and be more willing to come back and read from you. This will help grow connections and trust with your readers.

Step 5: Site Promotion

As a new blog, you won’t generate much traffic except if you’re willing to put in some hard work.

The truth this is going to require much of your time but if you’re willing to follow through, you’ll definitely see the result.

There are various ways you can promote your blog.

Mind you, promoting your blog is for the purpose of generating traffic and the more traffic you get equates more money for you.

The following are ways you can use to promote your blog:

• Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc)
• Guest Posting
• Paid advertising
• Sending emails to subscribers

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make countless recurring income online. But trust me, it won’t come easy at first.

You need to be committed and consistent and after you’ve pulled off the hard part, you can then relax and enjoy your hard work.

Once you’ve made your first income the rest will come flowing, affiliate marketing has really changed my life.

I started from my service year and after my NYSC I had to quit the job I got to focus squarely on affiliate marketing.

The rest now is nothing but stories because I can easily call myself a millionaire and this is all from affiliate marketing.

If you want, I CAN GIVE YOU A HEAD START HERE! 

Over to you now, let me know what stage you’re in your affiliate marketing journey and what you think about this post.