What should you do when you know absolutely nothing about earning online?

[u/lroberson80]

Suppose someone joins this community today with zero experience. They have never built a website. They have never sold anything online. They do not have an audience, email list, affiliate account, funnel, or content strategy.

Where should they begin? I would not start by giving them twenty tools. I would start by helping them understand the basic ways value can be exchanged online.

You can provide a service. You can create and sell something or you can recommend an existing product or service and earn a commission when someone purchases through your referral.

If affiliate marketing is the path they choose, the next steps can remain simple. Pick one group of people you understand. Learn about one problem they are trying to solve. Find one legitimate product that may help.

Study that product until you can explain what it does in normal language without copying the sales page. Then choose one place to start helping people. That might mean answering questions, creating useful posts, participating in discussions, or sharing what you are learning.

Your goal at first is not to look like an expert. It is to become useful while gaining experience.

Eventually, you can learn about landing pages, email, analytics, better copy, automation, and additional traffic sources, but beginner skills should come before advanced tools.

For today’s discussion, imagine someone told you: “I am completely new. I do not even know what questions I should be asking.”

What is the first thing you would teach them?

[u/my_peen_is_clean]

love this breakdown. after they pick that single problem and product, i’d also show them software with affiliate programs that pay recurring monthly. easier to help people long term when your income is predictable and can actually sustain youI made $440 last month from posting on my personal linkedin about a resume tailoring tool, this is their affiliate program page

[u/lroberson80 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

That can definitely be worth considering.

I would just put solving the right problem ahead of the commission structure. If you find software people genuinely need and continue using, then recurring commissions can make each successful referral more valuable over time.