If you’re trying to learn affiliate marketing from scratch, you might have already stumbled upon one of the prominent names in the AM industry. Even though media buying often starts as a solo, part-time project, those who really made it have often turned their businesses into something much bigger.

That’s why affiliate marketing veterans often share their success stories, case studies, and strategies on various platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or personal blogs. If you want to learn from their mistakes, it might be worth following their entries.

So, if you’re wondering who are the best affiliate marketing influencers to follow in 2022, read on and find out how to learn from the best!

Is affiliate marketing the same as influencer marketing?

Even though these two terms are largely overlapping, it’s good to know the difference between influencer marketing and paid self-serve marketing. 

Online advertising takes on many forms. You can create a website and optimize it for SEO. You can use social media channels and promote affiliate links in a form of recommendations. But you can also join a CPA affiliate network, pick an offer, choose a traffic source, and promote it whichever way you feel works best.

The difference is simple. In affiliate marketing, you choose when, what, and how you’re promoting. You follow the trends and it doesn’t matter who you are as long as you learn the basic principles of media buying and have a budget to invest in.

Influencer marketing is based on popularity – you need to have a prosperous social media presence or a popular, high-ranking blog. That way, you can either choose to sign up to an affiliate program or you can enter into a partnership directly with a brand. This is how content creators get to make money by earning a commission every time they successfully market a product or service to one of their followers.

Which is better blogging or affiliate marketing?

Blogging can be a form of affiliate marketing in which affiliate marketers generate a passive income by producing content and promoting products and services in exchange for a commission. If you’re already a blogger or a social media enthusiast with a large following, you might want to reach out to affiliate programs to start monetizing your content.

However, blogging, despite having the same potential for making money, requires a lot of slow-paced work which cannot be fast-tracked. That’s why if you’re considering becoming a blogger to make money, you might want to think about how much time and effort you are willing to put into that project.

Blogging also involves search engine optimization which forces the owner or the contributor to pay close attention to changes in the Google algorithm. While there are many affiliate programs that have a high success rate for website owners and content creators, keeping your website relevant is an important ongoing task that will be the driving force behind your earnings.

Earning through blogging = blog + content + SEO optimization + affiliate links

Vs.

Earning with affiliate marketing = affiliate network/affiliate program + offer + traffic + tools

Simply put, if you are already a blogger then earning an affiliate commission from promoting an occasional offer here and there will be perfect for you. Signing up for affiliate programs such as Amazon Affiliates can give you a low-effort passive income.

However, if you are starting from scratch, affiliate marketing through an ad exchange platform is your best bet. It requires an investment but the learning curve isn’t steep and you should be able to start turning profit within the first couple of weeks as compared to months in the case of blogging (and the SEO that comes along with it).

Additionally, you’ll need ideas for your blog posts. And the time to create content. You might be wondering why so many affiliates who made it big have their own blogs and websites. It’s because sharing their journeys and creating training programs is not only a great way to share the news about affiliate marketing and train the future generation of media buyers but also to earn some extra bucks.

How to learn affiliate marketing?

Luckily for you, there are tons of free content about affiliate marketing on the internet. You can pick a traffic source or affiliate network and learn from their blog. Or you can visit YouTube and search for relevant tutorials. You can join a community and learn together with other beginners. If you have no idea what affiliate marketing even is, Google will help you with a number of quality search results.

Lastly, if you feel like it would be best to learn from someone who clearly knows the ropes, there are a lot of affiliate marketing pros turned bloggers/coaches. And apart from the free resources they offer, you can often find more exclusive, paid programs. If that’s your preferred way of learning then you are certainly in the right place.

Best affiliate marketing coaches and bloggers 

Not every affiliate marketer has a successful career. Beginners who get started hoping for quick and easy results end up quitting before they get any return on their investment. Making money with digital marketing is easy to learn but that doesn’t mean you’ll just magically know what to do. When a language is easy to learn it doesn’t mean you’ll start speaking it right away, it just means it’s doable for anyone who is willing to put in the effort.

Many people who made it in affiliate marketing have decided to share their strategies online. Hence, you can find an affiliate marketing course with no hassle. As long as you have the money, of course. People with limited budgets, however, can find plenty of value in free PDFs, open Facebook groups, or blogs. 

Without further ado, here are the affiliate marketing gurus who chose to share their affiliate marketing strategy online through various mediums. We’ve asked some of them questions on what resources they used when they were just starting.

Read on to find out!

Attila O’dree

Attila O’dree, also known as iAmAffiliate, became a full-time marketer in 2008. Since then, he’s not only had a diverse and successful career but he’s also built a large affiliate marketing community and become Amazon’s best-selling author. He specializes in Facebook, Google, Native, and push ads and frequently produces up-to-date valuable guides for the most lucrative verticals.

iAmAttila site with a blog lies at the core of his business. While the website provides an overview of Attila’s career, achievements, and affiliations, the blog is where you can find the content. The blog posts range from basic tips on making money online to niche-specific guides that focus on earning with a particular affiliate program, network, tool, ad format, or traffic source.

Additionally, you can find plenty of recommendations on affiliate marketing services including translation services Transey and lander building services Banners&Landers, both founded by Attila.

Additionally, the iAmAffiliate forum has many perks, including weekly spy sessions which bring you the hottest creatives and angles available at a given moment. iAmAffiliate subscription for individual members costs $49.95 paid monthly or $495 when paid yearly.

Lastly, the I Am Affiliate Facebook group, apart from being a sneak peek of what’s going on in the forum, provides an overview of the newest guides, trends, and discussions happening in the world of affiliate marketing.

We’ve asked Attila two questions:

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

The biggest and best resources for me personally were affiliate marketing forums.  I remember thinking whether I should spend $99/month to get an account on IMGrind. It seemed like such an expensive investment at that time, but now looking back it’s the BEST DECISION I EVER MADE.

I met my first affiliate marketer buddies through that forum (HI GREG!) that I still keep in touch with today. It’s been 9 years… Later I went on to join STM Forum, and then I created my own community named iAmAffiliate to help pass on knowledge and give back by providing people the chance to get 1 on 1 help from me and my top affiliate friends with their campaigns.

– so most def, COMMUNITY continues to be my #1 resource!

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

Get ready for a roller coaster ride. Expect to lose money in the beginning.  This jack of all trades career is super competitive and very hard.  BUT!! It has AMAZING returns. I’ve made over 3 million dollars in PROFIT in the past 5 years. Usually, each profit surge came from just 1 campaign that I scaled up BIG and FAST (like someone opened up a fire hydrant) that’s how it goes.

Luke Kling

Luke Kling is a programmer and web designer who has spent over 10 years working for PeerFly – a no longer existing but almost legendary affiliate network. Before it shut down, he brought all of his experience and skills with him to his new project, the affLIFT forum. Although you can find Luke on social media, the best way to reach him and learn from him is through the forum.

The affLIFT community is the most affordable and beginner-friendly affiliate marketing forum on the market. Being only $20 per month, it’s not only accessible for everyone, regardless of their budget, it also doesn’t offer any less than the competitors.

Guides, case studies, follow alongs, and a helpful and responsive community are the biggest benefits of the platform. Additionally, Luke frequently hosts affiliate marketing contests with cash prizes for any affiliate who is willing to take on the challenge.

One extra benefit of joining that community is that the board of moderators and community leaders consists of many big industry names and pro affiliates. Hence, by joining one forum you can reach a whole committee of talented marketing gurus.

Here’s how Luke answered our questions:

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

The resources I used would be extremely dated by now (20 years later) 😃  But seriously, it’s very important to stay up-to-date with affiliate marketing. Things are changing all the time. I would not necessarily use the resources that someone used 3 years ago starting affiliate marketing.

The best resources will be the ones that are recent and update-to-date. I recommend checking affiliate marketing forums like affLIFT and industry blogs like this one.

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

There are 3 things that are critical for being successful with affiliate marketing:

1. A good tracking tool.
2. Access to good affiliate offers.
3. Understanding the fundamentals of how to run an affiliate campaign.

The tracker is critical because without it you are just wasting your money buying clicks when you should be focused on the data. The offers are critical because if you are driving traffic to a crappy offer you are not going to see conversions in your tracker. Understanding the fundamentals is how you are going to turn those clicks into profit.

The most important thing for someone learning affiliate marketing to know is that the only way to really learn is to take action. You can read great content like this article, but you will learn a lot more simply by setting up your own affiliate marketing campaign and learning through your own experience.

Good luck! Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions 👍

Colin Dijs

Colin Dijs is a super affiliate and the founder of one of the most popular affiliate marketing courses in the industry. He has immense knowledge and experience running CPA offers with Facebook, Native, and push ads. You’ll have no problem finding his content as he really uses nearly every platform available.

Colin Dijs’s website provides an overview of Colin’s content. Apart from the news from the affiliate marketing industry and the freshest up-to-date guides, you can find very detailed articles on running offers with a particular combination of affiliate networks, traffic sources, and additional affiliate marketing tools.

Dijs University offers people affiliate marketing courses on how to get started from the very beginning. Besides the basics, you get advanced and detailed tips on how to set up and optimize your campaigns. Additionally, you can count on special promotions and discounts from the brands included in the courses.

A complementary part of the course is ColinDijsUniversity Forum. In short, it’s a community for people who chose to learn with Colin Dijs University but also for those who are looking for beginner advice and tips (and maybe considering joining a paid course).

Another component of Colin’s empire is the Affiliate CPA Marketing for Beginners with Colin Dijs Facebook group. Apart from posting about the newest content and upcoming courses, you can ask a simple question and have Colin himself give you valuable advice.

Moreover, Colin Dijs YouTube channel is undoubtedly one of the best YouTube channels for affiliate marketers. Full of tutorials and video explainers, it allows you to learn marketing strategies from videos for free.

Lastly, the Deberoo suite is Colin’s most recent creation. The platform consists of all the affiliate marketing tools necessary to get started. Although the suite is on the pricier side (197 per month for the discover plan, or $497 for the professional plan) it provides you with everything you need as a beginner – landing page builder, tracker, affiliate marketing training courses for Facebook, Native, and Push ads, a cashflow manager app, and a community. 

Curious about Colin’s answers to our questions? Wonder no more:

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

I always liked, and still like to keep things as simple as possible. Therefore I might not use as many tools as other affiliates do. I use a landing page builder and a tracker, apart from that of course the affiliate network and the traffic source and that’s pretty much it.

Consuming content can be a blessing but a curse at the same time as paralysis analysis occurs quite quickly. In addition, you might have so many great things to do (shiny object syndrome) that you end up hopping from one traffic source to the next and achieving nothing in the meantime.

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

Keep it simple and start with the basics. I believe there’s too much focus on spy tools and “quick implementation methods” that people forget that running a business requires crafting a skill, something that takes weeks, months, or even years. It’s not easy but it’s a great experience so be patient and everything will work out as long as you stay dedicated to the project.

Sources like Youtube videos are a great source of free information but always take the presented content with a grain of salt. The same thing goes for paid courses, they are usually quite expensive and might not be able to deliver on what you’re exactly looking for as they cater to a large audience of online entrepreneurs.

There’s no better time to start and learn affiliate marketing than today, the opportunities are everywhere. Choose a traffic source and a vertical, stick with it for the long term, and get the results you oh so desire.

Ian Fernando

Ian Fernando is one of the affiliate marketing influencers who are not afraid of stepping on a stage and speaking in front of hundreds of people. Known on the forums as @Ianternet he’s one of the best media buying strategists out there.

Ian’s website gathers together all the resources in one place. If you want to find his content, that’s the place to look. An affiliate marketing course, a blog post on investments, an affiliate program review, and a list of social media channels where you can reach him are the core of his site.

Apart from his personal website, Ian is one of the head affiliates in the Affiliate Business Club networking community. If you want to reach out to him, he’s the leader of ABC’s Slack group where he frequently engages in conversations and strategizing with other members.

Here’s what Ian had to say:

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

When I first started there weren’t many resources besides forums and the basic world wide web, remember this was 15 years plus ago. The internet was young and I was just starting to just buy media on Google and Facebook. I learned from the old heads in internet marketing, but forums have helped me a lot in the past, and I think they are still a huge resource especially all the old content they have.

Nowadays which forums can you trust? There is more information nowadays than there was when I first started, you have access to Udemy, more bloggers than ever, and chat communities. Affiliate Business Club is a community chat and forum we operate that helps with direct content and video access from summits and events, think of us as the app sumo for affiliates.

Besides our community, multiple private Facebook groups are a great place to start and read up on what affiliate marketing is, then there are chat communities where you can directly ask questions, receive a direct answer.

The best is utilizing video content and just consuming it all, this is the best way I learn and absorb information in a faster manner.

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

Start a campaign, fail at a campaign. Simple but truthful. A lot of started think affiliate marketing is easy, in concept it is, throw up a website send traffic profit.. but there are multiple attributes you need to understand and they are variables. They all range from website speed to colors on your landing page. The best way to understand each segment is to do it and then fail at it.

Create a website, send traffic, then ASK WHAT IF. This is critical because it opens your mind to creativity, which is important in marketing. What if I change the color of the landing page? What if I speed up my website? What if I shortened my funnel? What if I change the ad to a video ad instead? etc. These are important as it allows you to expand and understand your demographic more.

Servando Silva

Servando Silva started out as a blogger and then moved on to affiliate marketing later in his career. Apart from blogging and dropping knowledge gems on his affiliate marketing blog, he is also a community leader on the affLIFT forum. He is a humble expert on mobile traffic and despite being very successful, he didn’t choose to become a coach and launch a paid training course. All the knowledge he provides is free and easily accessible and therefore ideal for every beginner.

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

When I started affiliate marketing my main resources were blogs and forums in the space. There was a ton of info available, mostly in forums such as STM or AffiliateFix, but also in some great blogs that don’t exist anymore or were abandoned. Many blogs are kind of dead now but forums are still vibrant as you can see with Afflift 🙂

Other than that, a few FB groups also helped me back in the day but most of them are dead or hard to navigate due to the lack of organization.

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

I think it pays a lot to join a forum and commit for at least 3 months. Also, one of the best recommendations every affiliate does is to keep focused on 1 traffic type and preferably 1-2 traffic sources and networks as well. Don’t spread too thin or you’ll eventually give up.

Set up realistic expectations because this business requires effort as any other and it’s not a 3 click solution to a gold mine. If you come with unrealistic expectations you’ll think this is a scam and quit.

Nick Lenihan

Nick Lenihan is an expert affiliate marketer and a community leader on affLIFT. On his website, supplemented with a blog and a section on affiliate marketing tools, he offers all kinds of internet marketing knowledge bits and plenty of solid recommendations. Additionally, as an expert on push ads, he offers paid comprehensive affiliate marketing training on running sweepstakes offers with push. 

On top of that, if you choose to share your email address with Nick, you can gain access to additional affiliate marketing training materials.

Here are Nick’s answers to our questions:

What resources did you use when starting affiliate marketing?

When I first started affiliate marketing I used the bare minimum – a tracker. I quickly found out that wasn’t enough so I caved in and got a spy tool. Many people make this mistake; don’t be like me.

Another great investment I made was in private forums. I’ve learned so much in them when first starting out that I recommend everyone joins one.

What are some tips for learning affiliate marketing you could give to beginners?

I think one of the most important things as a new affiliate is that you have focus.

Instead of using your small budget testing many things, you’ll be much better off if you:

• Pick 1 vertical
• Pick 1 traffic source
• Pick 1 traffic type (push/pop/etc.)
• Pick 1 (max 2) affiliate networks

Also, make reasonable goals when you’re just starting out. For example, at the beginning aim for $5/day, then $10, then $50 instead of starting off saying you’re going to make $10k/month. Reasonable goals will keep you motivated and in the game… instead of getting discouraged after a couple of months when you’re still not even close to $10k/month.

Charles Ngo

Charles Ngo has been a part of the affiliate marketing industry since 2007. After all, his Ultimate Guide to Affiliate Marketing is one of the best resources a beginner can read. Although there is a whole team of affiliate marketing enthusiasts behind the Charles Ngo website, the content is always top-notch expert tips that can be useful to affiliates on any level.

The Charles Ngo website is a hub for all of his content. You can find freebies or free samples of anything that comes to your mind. Courses, books, and recommendations are the gist of what he and his team have to offer.

Also, the CharlesNgo YouTube channel is a source of all kinds of affiliate and lifestyle information. From tool recommendations to affiliate marketing coaching to life hacks and vlog-style videos, you can watch and unwind and learn something interesting in the process.

His Facebook profile is a mix of blog post announcements, tips, and links to useful resources. And if that’s not enough for you, you can connect with Charles on Snapchat to hear more of his tips.

John Crestani

John Crestani is a veteran affiliate marketer and the creator of the Super Affiliate System, a comprehensive affiliate marketing course for beginners. He specializes in many forms of online advertising using Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, YouTube Ads, and Native advertising networks.

Although John Crestani’s website looks like it hasn’t been updated in a while, it still contains useful information and tutorials. It also acts as a hub for all the other resources so if you like the way John presents the information, it’s worth starting from there. 

Furthermore, his YouTube channel is packed with tips on how to make money with affiliate marketing. As one of the biggest and most popular influencers in the world of affiliate marketing, many of his videos are more general and feature talks on success, achieving your goals, and growing a business. Lastly, you can also hear John talk on his podcast or find him on Twitter.

Erik Gyepes

Erik is a super affiliate with years of experience in internet marketing. Although his blog is not as active as it used to be, it’s filled with still relevant reviews, guides, and case studies. The best place to find Erik nowadays is the STM affiliate marketing forum where he holds the position of a moderator. Apart from sharing his knowledge with beginners asking the community for help, he still produces content in affiliation with various networks.

Duston McGroarty

Although Duston’s blog and YouTube channel have slowed down a lot in recent times, his free book still provides insightful information on various ways to make money online. Apart from focusing on Google advertising, lead generation, and email marketing as means of earning additional income, he also goes through many unexpected ideas for business.

His content will be most valuable for those looking for unique and engaging business ideas, rather than those who are set to work with affiliate networks and ad exchange platforms.

Honorable mentions

If you’re a Spanish speaker, there are two internet marketing experts who might be worth following. Their content is almost exclusively in Spanish, but that’s about the only reason why they didn’t make it to the main list.

Jaime Reina

Jaime Reina is an affiliate marketer and a book author. He has a website that works as a hub for his resources. Apart from his personal story, you can find free affiliate marketing courses for such verticals as binary, forex, and crypto.

Al Aviles

Al Aviles is an affiliate marketing coach and the founder of Ingresos.tv academy. His most current project is a Cash Playa affiliate marketing course. If you’re a Spanish speaker looking for training courses on how to make money online, this is who you should follow.

Conclusions

If you want to learn affiliate marketing, you should do it in a way that feels most natural to you. If you’re the kind of person that loves surfing the web, entering rabbit holes, and researching for hours on your own, then go for it.

Internet marketing is a popular subject. You can find plenty of affiliate marketing courses online. There are free training courses and paid academies everywhere. You can also pay for a personal coaching session with a popular affiliate who is an expert in a particular niche.

In short, you don’t have to search hard to find training courses and sites. And hopefully, the list of affiliate marketing influencers we shared can help you discover credible sources and the best affiliate marketing tips you can think of.

Are you ready to earn?
Launch your campaigns with Zeropark now!

Magdalena Bober