affiliate marketing has become a popular option for people looking to build an online business!
In fact, the number of affiliates is increasing because today, 8 out of 10 brands have an affiliate marketing program. Unfortunately, beginners often struggle to understand the intricacies of this industry and fail to create effective strategies that actually work.
You are reading: Best affiliate marketing books
The good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel: other people know what works and will tell you for less than the cost of a nice dinner.
In this post, I share 15 of the best affiliate marketing books with you, so you have the opportunity to increase the knowledge that matters. (And we also have this list of the best affiliate marketing courses you can check out!)
5 general marketing books you should read
Step number one to understanding affiliate marketing is to learn more about the marketing channels in which it occurs!
In the age of the internet, most affiliate marketing takes place online. This simply means that in order to become a good affiliate marketer, you must first be a good online marketer!
In fact, I tend to think of affiliate marketing as using online marketing principles and tactics to promote other people’s products and services.
So, these first 5 books on our list will help you understand fundamental marketing concepts that are both universal and niche-specific, which you can then leverage to skyrocket your affiliate business.
1) the trilogy of secrets by russell brunson
Think of The Secrets Trilogy as one “mega-book” full of insights, written by our friend and ClickFunnels founder, Russell Brunson. This trilogy set includes all 3 of Russell’s books from the ‘Secrets’ series, including DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets, and Traffic Secrets. This trilogy reveals affiliate marketing secrets used by Russell to go from $0 to 100 mil in less than 4 years, without any venture capital or bank loans.
This is a great read to better understand online marketing, building funnels, and generating quality traffic for your affiliate business.
If you buy the box set, you also get a free workbook to review and apply everything step by step! we recommend you get the box set so you can simultaneously test and track which ideas work for your business.
verified review of the trilogy of secrets:
“russell makes it so clear and easy to understand the basic marketing processes that will get your message out to the world. his book series should be required reading for anyone trying to build a tribe and/or sell a product online. I will come back to this book again and again.”
2) $100 million offers from alex hormozi
Even if you’re focused on being an affiliate, it helps to understand what the best deals look like. after all, you need to choose quality offers to promote if you want to earn decent commissions. This book helps you better understand the importance of good copy, how to craft an offer, understand customer psychology, and much more!
Other than that, the book also sheds light on various online sales and marketing principles and strategies, along with exercises to engage readers, making it very practical! so if you are a beginner, this book will save you a lot of time. you get distilled information that works as a launching pad for business success.
verified $100 million offer review:
“completely changed my mind about pricing and creating offers. this book and the advice it contains are absolute gold. I highly recommend it!”
3) out of nowhere by ian pribyl
“out of the blue” is one of the most beginner-friendly affiliate marketing books out there. This book details the basics for a clear and realistic understanding of online marketing. The book gives you an easy and actionable step-by-step approach to making your affiliate marketing business a success.
More importantly, this book is trending because it lists inexpensive ways to set up your business online. at the same time, it does not make extravagant claims. Therefore, affiliate marketers, especially beginners, can expect realistic results from their affiliate campaigns.
The only downside to this book is that some of the tactics may be a bit outdated, as is often the case with print books in a highly digital world. focus on principles with this one.
verified review of you’re welcome:
“change of life. this book is just amazing and it goes with ian’s online course. has a variety of topics: how to register a domain, host a website, create a website, keyword research, how to write high-quality content, and more. no experience necessary. an essential item for any online business.”
4) purple cow by seth godin
yes, it’s a bit old school, but the “purple cow” is a classic too!
this business week and wall street journal bestselling book is a must have for all marketers. One of the best marketing books of the modern age, this classic teaches you how to stand out from the crowd.
In this book, Seth Godin teaches you a counterintuitive approach to marketing and completely changes your view of starting a business. As the name suggests, this book helps you create a “purple cow” in a world full of brown cows. it is full of real-life examples that support all of her ideas.
This book is a must buy for marketers who want to take a bold approach, learn and make money online through their affiliate business!
purple cow verified review:
“I liked the large number of examples covered by seth. he supported each thought with a real-life instance. I completely connected with his views on how established companies have become boringly secure. the traditional p of marketing should be viewed through the lens of this remarkable new p. a must read for everyone. It will make you question your inner salesperson.”
5) allan dib’s 1 page marketing plan
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allan dib, a serial entrepreneur and maverick marketer, has laid out simple, practical steps for tapping into the underlying potential of a well-designed marketing plan. This book is primarily geared toward small business owners, making it a perfect read for anyone trying to take it to the next level.
allan has tackled one of the biggest challenges of being a small business owner: how to market without stretching yourself too thin. he’s emphasized must-have skills like copywriting and taken a consumer-centric approach to crafting a simple marketing plan that works.
Not only that, the book also forces marketers and business owners to answer important questions that constantly clarify each step in the 5h3i4 journey. it also sheds light on the importance of specialization, email marketing vs. social media marketing, and much more!
verified 1 page marketing plan review:
“Don’t let the low cost of this book fool you into taking it lightly. If you really want to grow your business without wasting scarce time and money on marketing, buy this book and complete the exercises in it. you won’t be disappointed.”
our top picks for the 5 types of affiliate marketers (2 per category!)
Once you have a good marketing overview, you need to decide what type of affiliate you want to be!
So, we’ve written our next picks based on the 5 most common types of affiliates we see in the direct response space. If you aspire to build a thriving affiliate marketing business, understanding the direction you want to go will help you decide which books you should read!
Here are the book suggestions for each affiliate type below. enjoy!
1) content editor
The content editor is primarily an SEO blogger, whose job it is to create an affiliate website that can direct readers to a third-party company’s product or service for a commission.
Many content publishers sign up with an affiliate network, such as amazon associates or clickbank, and add their unique follow links to their blog posts to increase affiliate income.
If you want to sell through a blog, the following two books are a must read for you!
seo 2022 by adam clarke
SEO 2022 is a gold standard book on SEO, updated yearly and taking latest SEO trends and tactics into consideration.
In this book, Adam Clarke outlines white hat SEO practices that can help you maximize profits from your blog. He also talks about shady practices that can get your website banned by Google.
seo 2022 offers a lot of value to beginners and advanced content publisher affiliates.
content inc. by joe pulizzi
As an entrepreneur interested in affiliate marketing, you’ll want to learn how to build a massive audience online through your blog.
Joe Pulizzi writes viable strategies that affiliate business owners can use to get it done, despite limited resources. for bloggers, content inc. is a must!
2) ppc/media buyer
A ppc affiliate is a media buyer on platforms like facebook ads, youtube ads, native ads and more. (See our full list of paid traffic sources here.)
A ppc buyer’s area of expertise is understanding ad platforms and analyzing data about these different sources of paid traffic. Here are some marketing books you need to read to get your paid advertising branded.
definitive guide to facebook advertising by perry marshall, et al
“Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising” is one of the few books that holds up to its bold promise. The third and latest edition of this book is updated with new chapters that share insights on Facebook’s latest new apps and services.
teaches advertisers how to best leverage them to target the platform’s 1.7 billion active users. If you’re targeting Facebook as a traffic source, this book should hit your shelf in no time!
eugene schwartz revolutionary advertising
Eugene Schwartz originally designed this book in the 1960s in a way that could bring value to writers, advertisers, business owners, and sales professionals at the same time. That said, it’s a must read, especially for media buyer/ppc affiliates.
why? It’s because this guide breaks down all the essentials of ad writing and helps you master the art of making an impactful, attention-grabbing ad. it’s a total game changer.
3) email marketer
Email marketers build mass email lists of specific audiences or niches, like a list of women over 50 or a list of woodworking enthusiasts. These affiliates have the power to promote their affiliate links in all kinds of niches and earn money in commissions!
But readers’ attention spans are lower than ever, so to be successful as an email affiliate, you need to master the art of copywriting.
These resources can help you improve your game!
jim edwards writing secrets
jim edwards is one of the most famous examples of an author who writes his own copy to sell his own material. he is the perfect person to guide you on your copywriting journey.
his book “copywriting secrets” details the various characteristics of copywriting and helps you understand how much influence words can have on the success of a sale!
confessions of a hitman of persuasion by ian stanley
When a mass marketer shares their methods, we should stop and listen! this book is a financial investment you will never regret. ian shares the knowledge he uses to sell over $100 million worth of products online.
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In “Confessions of a Persuasion Hitman,” the author delves into tactics that can help you effectively persuade your buyers.
note: ian is a leading email marketing expert with a course called “master your inbox” within clickbank’s official affiliate marketing education platform, spark by clickbank .
4) social influencer
Social influencers are similar to affiliate marketers in many ways, but the main difference is that they have to build an audience to earn money.
social influencers post on popular platforms like facebook, instagram, youtube, tiktok, snapchat or even medium or quora to generate followers. You can read more about influencer marketing vs affiliate marketing here to better understand the difference.
While affiliates and influencers aren’t exactly the same thing, it’s possible to promote clickbank products to an audience you’ve built on social media. here are some books to explore!
how to be famous on the internet by brendan a. cox
“how to become famous on the internet” is a great read for affiliate marketers who want to grow their business online through social media.
You’ll learn all about social media, including building a brand, curating viral content, and effectively monetizing your brand.
Sean Cannell & benji travis
This ultimate guide teaches you how to grow your YouTube audience and make money as a video influencer.
The book will give you information from decades, not only of the authors, but also of the top 100 youtube creators. You can use the step-by-step approach in “YouTube Secrets” to find your own success on YouTube.
5) community manager
Many of the best affiliate marketers are turning to communities to grow their business now. Marketers can directly meet potential customers where they are by building communities on popular platforms, which can be more cost-effective than trying to build a large following elsewhere.
This type of community can be developed in slack, facebook groups, discord servers, subreddits, website forums, etc. you can also include group threads in messaging apps like whatsapp, membership sites with included zoom calls and much more.
If you want to leverage a community to promote products as an affiliate, these must-reads are for you.
the business of belonging by david spinks
“The Business of Belonging” is a definitive guide to help you understand the money-making potential of communities, how to unlock that potential, and how to maximize it.
David Spinks also shares a step-by-step approach to developing your own community strategy, aligning it with business goals, managing a community, and much more in this insightful read.
build your community by richard millington
A unique approach to building a community, “Build Your Community” helps the reader understand the role of psychology, user experience, and design thinking in better customer service and retention.
This one also helps you learn through research-backed insights that are well-supported by real-life examples of community building and business success.
affiliate marketing books vs. affiliate marketing courses
So far, we’ve talked about affiliate marketing books that you should check out. and in many ways, these serve as an overview of different topics.
But often, if you’re looking for up-to-date, practical tactics to follow, you should consider affiliate marketing courses instead.
Books can sometimes provide outdated information that may be irrelevant by the time you get your hands on them. quality courses, however, are regularly updated and give learners lifetime access to material as it changes.
This allows you to stay up-to-date with new industry trends, news, and software/platform updates, and stay ahead of the curve at all times.
Not only that, the courses can be much more focused, actionable, and step-by-step to building a successful affiliate marketing business, including over-the-shoulder tutorials and desktop screen sharing that help you understand exactly what you need to do.
Interested in must-watch courses on copywriting, email marketing, paid ads, and more? Want insights that will fast-track your success with affiliate marketing?
That’s where spark by clickbank comes into play. To learn more about the Official Clickbank Affiliate Training Program, check out our full overview of Spark by Clickbank here, or click here to try it out for yourself!
Summary of the best affiliate marketing books and next steps
These books are a great way to learn at your own pace and discover ideas that can transform your business. hopefully our list of 5 general marketing books (plus 2 additional books for your chosen affiliate type) will give you plenty of courage to move forward.
but what if you want to jump straight to the action steps you need to be successful as an affiliate?
Check out Spark by Clickbank, an affiliate e-learning platform built by the experts here at Clickbank! Through Spark, you’ll gain access to over 10 comprehensive video courses created by top-tier marketers both at ClickBank and around the world. Armed with cutting-edge knowledge of what really works, you can implement the best tactics to make your affiliate business a huge success.
In fact, when you join Spark, you’ll also gain access to dozens of expert affiliates and thousands of clickbank community members who have already successfully sold hundreds of products and made money in the form of commissions.
Ultimately, whatever your path may be, we hope you’ve found some great new marketing resources to learn from for your affiliate education. more than anything, the greatest successes in our space are the ones that never stop learning!
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