YouTube Affiliate Marketing Guide | 6 Steps PLUS 8 Tips to Optimize YouTube Income

To start YouTube affiliate marketing:

1. Choose a YouTube affiliate marketing niche
2. Create a YouTube channel
3. Sign up for affiliate programs
4. Publish YouTube content on a consistent schedule
5. Place affiliate links in YouTube video descriptions
6. Qualify for and join the YouTube shopping affiliate program

YouTube affiliate marketing is promoting affiliate products with YouTube videos. With YouTube affiliate marketing, you can promote products in two ways. You can either promote products from external affiliate programs or use the YouTube Affiliate program. Many beginner affiliates don’t qualify for the YouTube Affiliate program. It requires that you are eligible for monetization on YouTube. You can do affiliate marketing on YouTube without monetization. Just sign up for external affiliate programs, like Amazon Associates. Many YouTube creators earn their first money online through affiliate marketing. They do this while growing their channel to qualify for YouTube’s monetization features, like AdSense ads. 

You can use YouTube for affiliate marketing. YouTube is a top digital marketing channel for affiliate marketing. 36.9% of affiliate marketers use it, says Authority Hacker. YouTube affiliate marketing generates about $500 million in annual sales, per WeCanTrack’s 2022 data. A 2022 Jungle Scout report found that YouTube is the most trusted social media platform for finding and buying products.

This article will guide you on starting YouTube affiliate marketing. It includes tips to boost your earnings. We’ll weigh the pros and cons of YouTube affiliate marketing to help you decide if it’s the right platform for you.

1. Choose a YouTube Affiliate Marketing Niche

Choosing a YouTube affiliate marketing niche is essential to your success as a YouTube affiliate. It allows you to specify your target audience, create relevant content for them, and promote the right products that they are most likely to buy. The make money online niche is the best niche for YouTube affiliate marketing because it’s one of the highest paying niches and it consistently has immense search volume.

According to data from YouTube tool suite Tubebuddy, the most profitable YouTube niches are:

• Make money online
• Digital marketing
• Personal finance
• Education
• Tech, cars, and gadgets

Although these niches offer the highest income potential, they are not the only niches you should consider. One affiliate marketer on Reddit suggests choosing a niche that you’re passionate about because it’s more likely that you’ll follow through on your channel idea if you’re interested in the topic. Additionally, the niche should be trendy because it’s easier to attract views and subscribers.

Dave Nick’s explains that the niche you choose affects how well your videos do and how much money you can make. For example, niches like Amazon gadgets or list-style videos with popular products attract people who are already interested in buying those items, making it easier to get clicks on your affiliate links and make sales. He also points out that certain niches, like tech gadgets or travel items, bring in more steady traffic because people are always searching for recommendations in these areas.

However, the key is to choose a niche with a good mix of popularity and low competition. Dave Nick recommends using tools like VidIQ to find trending topics and keywords in your niche. It helps your videos rank better and drive more traffic to your affiliate links.

2. Create a YouTube Channel

Once you know which niche you want to publish affiliate content for, create a YouTube channel with a relevant channel name. You can either create a personal YouTube channel that displays your own name and profile picture or create a branded YouTube account if you want to use a different name from your Google account. For example, Greg Gottfried and Isabella Kotsias are two affiliates making content around the online business niche. Greg Gottfried operates his business under a personal channel, while Isabella Kotsias uses a branded YouTube account called Baddie In Business.

3. Sign Up for Affiliate Programs

To make money with YouTube affiliate marketing, you need to sign up for affiliate programs. Affiliate programs, such as Commission Junction, provide you with affiliate links that you can use to promote an affiliate product. An affiliate link is a custom URL that a brand uses to track your performance in promoting their product so they can compensate you for your marketing work. Affiliate marketing platform Authority Hacker created a list of the best affiliate marketing programs for YouTube based on factors like commission rate and cookie duration. The best affiliate programs for YouTubers are:

• Amazon Associate (Amazon affiliate program)
• eBay Partner Network
• Etsy Affiliate Program
• Shopify Affiliate Program
• Clickbank
• ShopStyle
• ShareASale
• RewardStyle
• MaxBounty

Enroll in affiliate programs that are relevant for your niche so that you can naturally promote products in your content that your audience will be interested in buying.

4. Publish YouTube Content on a Consistent Schedule

To start getting views and subscribers, start publishing YouTube video content on a consistent schedule. Although there’s no set rule, most YouTubers recommend posting at least once per week for long-form videos. YouTube Shorts typically perform best within the first 24 hours, so e-learning platform Teachable recommends a posting frequency of at least 3 videos per week for these short-form videos to optimize reach.

The types of content that are most effective for affiliate marketing on YouTube are:

• Product reviews - Video content that focuses on reviewing a specific product.
• Tutorials - Video content that shows the viewer how to use a specific product.
• Unboxing - Video content that involves opening a new product and providing first impressions.
• Best of videos - Video content that compares or reviews a variety of similar products to help the viewer make a purchase decision.

Tech YouTuber Marques Borwnlee is a good YouTube affiliate to take inspiration from. He typically posts 1- 2 videos per week and creates mostly review and unboxing style videos.

In YouTube affiliate marketing, Judd Albring explains that posting videos on a regular schedule is very important. Whether you upload once a week or more, being consistent keeps your audience interested and helps grow your channel. Posting regularly also helps YouTube’s algorithm notice your channel. It makes it easier for your videos to get more views and clicks on your affiliate links.

Judd also points out that once your video is posted, it can keep making money for you. As long as people are watching and clicking on your affiliate links, you can earn commissions from both new and old videos.

5. Place Affiliate Links in YouTube Video Descriptions

On YouTube, you put affiliate links in the YouTube video description. When you promote or discuss an affiliate product in your videos, direct your audience to the YouTube video description to find your link if they are interested in learning more about the product. Affiliate links are allowed in a YouTube channel. However, you need to disclose that the links you are promoting are affiliate links and that you can earn a commission if the viewer purchases through the link. This is a legal requirement in many countries, including the United States and countries of the European Union.

In a video from GetResponse, they recommend creating YouTube videos focused on the products you are promoting and placing the affiliate link at the top of the video description. This ensures that viewers can easily find and click the link, driving traffic to the product.

Another approach is to create educational or informative videos and mention relevant affiliate products during the video, then include the affiliate link in the description. This method combines valuable content with affiliate marketing, increasing the chances of viewers trusting your recommendations and clicking the link.

6. Qualify for and join the YouTube Shopping affiliate program

To truly optimize your affiliate marketing operations through YouTube, qualify for and join the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. The YouTube Shopping affiliate program, which was introduced in 2023, has created a more seamless transaction flow for YouTube affiliates. The YouTube Shopping affiliate program allows you to tag products featured in your videos to generate a shopping button that appears directly on the video content, allowing viewers to browse affiliate products while simultaneously viewing the video. Instead of the traditional YouTube affiliate strategy of pushing viewers to open the video description and click your affiliate link, the YouTube Shopping affiliate program makes affiliate links more accessible by putting them alongside video content.

When a viewer clicks on your link, they are taken directly to the merchants website, and you can earn commission on the viewer’s entire purchase. The YouTube Affiliate program pays between 5% to 20% commission typically, but can reach as high as 50%.

Here are things you need to be a YouTube affiliate:

• Your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program
• Your channel has over 15,000 subscribers
• You’re based in the United States
• Your channel is not a music channel, an Official Artist Channel, or associated with music partners
• Your channel audience isn’t set as Made for Kids and you don’t have a significant number of videos set as made for kids
• Your channel doesn’t have any active Community Guidelines strikes

8 Tips to Optimize YouTube Affiliate Marketing Income

1. Test thumbnails

Testing YouTube thumbnails allows you to find the thumbnail version that drives the most clicks into your video. The YouTube thumbnail directly influences the videos click-through rate (CTR), which measures how often a video gets clicks. The more clicks a video gets, the more viewers and revenue potential the video has. YouTube offers the Test and compare thumbnail A/B testing tool directly through YouTube Studio so you can easily test different thumbnail versions and make an informed decision about which to use for your video long-term.

However, YouTube’s Test and compare tool isn’t the only way to test YouTube thumbnails. Steve Bartlett, a YouTuber with over 5.5 million subscribers on his channel TheDiaryOfACEO, uses Facebook Ads to test his YouTube thumbnails.

2. Perform YouTube SEO

YouTube SEO is optimizing a YouTube channel and its videos to achieve greater organic reach. YouTube SEO entails tasks like renaming your video file with your target keyword, implementing relevant keywords into video titles and descriptions, and adding cards and end screens within the video content. When done correctly, YouTube SEO can help compel the YouTube algorithm into increasing your visibility on the platform.

3. Leverage YouTube Shorts

Leveraging YouTube Shorts allows you to expand your reach beyond long-form video content. Although YouTube has stopped allowing clickable links in YouTube Shorts to avoid spam content since August 2023, YouTube Shorts can still be a useful tool in driving traffic to long-form video content where links are allowed.

To use YouTube shorts to promote your long-form videos with affiliate links, YouTube marketing agency Feisworld Media recommends creating 30 - 40 second teaser videos of your long-form content. Just 1 or 2 of these shortened videos can make a difference in driving more traffic to your channel and videos.

4. Create a loyal audience with authentic content

Authentic content can allow you to create a loyal audience that will be more likely to interact with your video content. In fact, 86% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor when deciding which brands to support, according to a survey by commerce experience platform Nosto. Therefore, aim to create content that is genuine instead of promotional to give viewers your actual opinions about the products you’re promoting instead of just promoting any product just to receive a commission.

5. Be transparent about affiliate links

Being transparent about affiliate links is not only a legal requirement, it can also cause more viewers to actually click into the video description and use your link instead of trying to search for the product themself. Don’t be afraid to call on your audience to use your links for your time in creating the content that is helping them to make their purchase decision.

A YouTube affiliate marketer on Reddit notes that one of the major reasons YouTube affiliates misses out on sales is because the audience simply isn’t aware there is a link to click on unless you explicitly state it in your video content.

6. Create related playlists

Creating related playlists allows you to recommend more of your relevant content to your audience by grouping videos together. Related playlists can help viewers discover more of your content and spend more time watching your content, as videos in a related playlist play consecutively. As viewers watch more of your content, there is more opportunity for them to become interested in the products you are promoting. Furthermore, the YouTube algorithm is more likely to make your content more visible on the platform as it recognizes viewers are spending more time with your content, increasing the perceived value of your content in general.

7. Embed YouTube videos into blog content

Embedding YouTube videos into blog posts allows a content creator to expand organic video reach beyond just YouTube and reach audiences that typically prefer reading over video content. In fact, a study by the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative found that 30% of people prefer consuming written media. Furthermore, a study by Hubspot found that approximately 60% of internet users read blogs. As such, repurposing your video content into blog posts and embedding your YouTube video can attract more viewers from search engines like Google and potentially drive more clicks into your video content.

8. Add chapter markers

Adding chapter markers can help viewers to quickly find the sections of your video that matter to them most. Travel YouTuber Maurice Moves does a great job of implementing chapter markers to help his viewers hear his opinions on the products that matter most to them in his video How to travel with just one bag. He even adds his affiliate links alongside his timestamps for seamless clickability.

Pros and Cons of YouTube Affiliate Marketing

How Can You Effectively Track the Performance of Affiliate Links on YouTube?

You can effectively track the performance of affiliate links on YouTube by using the default tracking dashboard of your affiliate program or using an affiliate marketing tracking software, like ClickMagick.

Many affiliate programs provide basic metrics for performance tracking. For example, YouTube affiliates promoting affiliate products from the Amazon Associates program can access data like items shipped, total earnings, clicks, and conversion rate.

Affiliate marketing link tracking software is another useful method for tracking affiliate marketing performance, especially if you want to analyze multiple affiliate programs from a single platform. Affiliate tracking software works by allowing you to create a new custom link that masks your affiliate link while also adding advanced tracking features, like allowing you to specify which specific YouTube video drives clicks and conversions.

Is YouTube a Good Platform for Affiliate Marketing?

Yes, YouTube is a good platform for affiliate marketing. YouTube has billions of active users, many of which are looking for real user experiences when deciding which products to buy. Furthermore, YouTube videos stay on the platform indefinitely, so you can continue earning passive income from your affiliate links years after posting. YouTube also has the advantage of subscribers. When you publish a new video, your subscribers can be notified directly so they are more likely to view and interact with your content.

Super affiliate Matt Voegtli brings up another valid point in a Quora answer for someone trying to determine if YouTube or blogging is better for affiliate marketing. Matt says that YouTube has a big advantage in ranking on Google. Google often ranks YouTube videos towards the top of the first page for relevant search queries.

Is YouTube Affiliate Marketing Profitable?

Yes, YouTube affiliate marketing is profitable . Creating YouTube videos that promote affiliate products doesn’t require much capital, aside from purchasing affiliate products, and YouTube affiliates can earn anywhere from 1% to 50% per sale. If you promote products that you already use naturally in your daily life, your YouTube affiliate profit margin can reach upwards of 100%.

For example, YouTube affiliate Bryan Guerra was able to generate $62,528 in YouTube affiliate revenue in a year by promoting software products that he was already actively using for his Ecommerce business.

Conclusion: Is YouTube affiliate marketing worth it in 2025?

Yes, YouTube affiliate marketing is worth it in 2024. YouTube is expected to increase its user base by another 25% between 2024 and 2029, according to Statista. As AI spam floods the web, it’s hard to trust blogs and social media. So, more users are turning to YouTube for real human experiences. YouTube seems the best way to market affiliate products. You can use a real human face to back your opinions. Long-form video is better than images or text for showcasing the product. Video helps 90% of consumers decide to buy, says VidYard. 

However, YouTube affiliate marketing is extremely competitive. It takes 15.5 months on average just to get 1,000 YouTube subscribers, according to a study by VidIQ. Thus, most YouTube affiliates must spend 2-3 years creating content. Only then will they attract enough viewers to make a profit from YouTube affiliate marketing. To earn online income faster, consider local lead generation. It’s better than YouTube affiliate marketing.

Local lead generation is an online business model that entails creating websites that generate leads for local service businesses. You can usually rank a website on Google’s first page in 6 weeks to 6 months. Then, you can sell your leads to a local business for $500 to $3,000 a month. Like YouTube affiliate marketing, you can earn passive income from local lead generation. Once you get a website to rank and partner with a local business to take the leads, it requires minimal work to maintain. This allows you more time to focus on scaling your local lead generation business with more websites.

In fact, I’ve been able to generate a consistent $50K per month by scaling my own local lead generation business. You can learn how to start your own local lead generation business and generate passive income online with this local lead gen training .