How To Set Up An Office At Home For Affiliate Marketing 2022 Success

You are going to learn how to set up an office at home for affiliate marketing while taking advantage of the bargains available during the end-of-year Holiday Season.

Key Pieces Of Electronic Hardware For Your Office

The list below shows the key pieces of equipment necessary for affiliate marketing, in order of importance.

1. Computer, specifically a laptop
2. Smart Phone
3. Headphones and/or external speakaers
4. External monitor
5. External data storage
6. External rechargeable batteries
7. Video camera
8. External mic
9. Printer/scanner
10. Misc. cables and adaptors

Fundamental Needs

A beginner may be able to get by with just a laptop. Later as videos are used to connect with your prospects, video-making equipment may be necessary. A good smartphone can also be used to make videos. As your business evolves, your needs will change.

Although I will be focusing primarily on the needs of the beginner. others may also find the tips I provide here helpful.

Keeping costs low will be the main guiding factor. This doesn’t mean getting cheap, sub-standard equipment. Quite the contrary. The goal is to find what you need using the highest equipment quality at the best price possible.

Approach To Recommendations

I will not be conducting reviews of the products discussed below. My objective is to provide a starting point as guidance to save you time.

Let’s start with the #1 item on the above list, the laptop computer, and go through each of the listed items one by one.

At the end of each discussion, I will lay out a two-column matrix to showcase the products I recommend.

The left column will show several examples of the item under discussion, each of which will include the link to Amazon. A summary of the specifications or a discussion of the product will be shown on the right. Detailed specifications can be found after clicking the Amazon link.

Even when the sales periods are over, you will still be able to use these links to find many bargains at Amazon and other retailers.

I will make recommendations based on the best combination of price and performance.

Transparency

There are three reasons why I have selected Amazon as the source for the products I discuss.

The first reason is they have a very large product selection and the prices are usually the lowest. Amazon is also quick to deliver what you purchase, offering free delivery to Prime members.

The second is, I am an Amazon Associate. If you make a purchase using the links shown, I will make a small commission for the sale which helps towards maintaining this website. The cost to you will be the same if you went directly to Amazon. However, you are free to make your purchase anywhere you like.

My third reason is Amazon provides detailed specs, as well as customer reviews which is helpful in making your purchasing decision.

So let’s proceed.

Laptop

When you are just starting in affiliate marketing the minimum laptop specification shown below will meet your needs. Money was tight for me so I used something similar when I started a couple of years ago. If you already have a laptop that meets or exceeds these specifications, you will not need to get a new one right away.

• Screen Size: 14″
• Resolution: 1366 x 768
• CPU: If PC, an Intel Celeron or AMD Athlon
• RAM: 4 GB
• Storage: 128 GB
• 2 USB A Ports, 1 USB C (Optional)
• 1 HDMI Video Port
• Audio socket
• SSD memory slot

The following laptops are listed with the lowest price first and the highest price the last. The first one by Dell happens to be a refurbished model. A new one would cost about $20 more.

My recommendation is the Asus. I feel it has the best-combined attributes out of all these models at a fair price. My first Windows laptop was made by Asus. I like how well they are constructed and appear more higher-end compared to the other models.

If your budget can support a higher-performing laptop around the $1000 level, I have other recommendations provided via the following link. Go to the section entitled Hard Assets.

Holiday Sales On How To Set Up For Affiliate Marketing.

Often when you have a low-end computer, your mobile phone or tablet will provide a higher level of performance. People do indeed use their smartphones to start their affiliate marketing business while saving up to purchase a higher-end laptop.

Mobile Phones

If you own either an iPhone or an Android device manufactured after 2016, that will be just fine.

However, I would like to make a few recommendations if you are planning on buying one today and are on a limited budget. For the lowest prices, I suggest sticking to the 4G LTE models.

Although 5G phones are widespread, the 5G network is limited geographically. Hence, you may not experience the 5G benefit as often as you might like. If 5G is available within your budget, great!

Let’s get one thing straight. As long as you are willing to live within the constraints of a screen smaller than a laptop, A 4G LTE phone will work perfectly for all the affiliate marketing tasks you will need. And you could be saving a lot of money too.

The larger the screen, writing and editing content will be easier compared to a smaller screen. Notice that the phones itemized below have average screen sizes of 6.5″ diagonal.

The most optimum budget phones are within the $250 to $350 range. You can get mobile phones for under $200. There is a catch. To meet this price range, compromises have to be made.

I will address the under $200 phones first, followed by the $250 to $350 price range. Lastly, I will provide a list of the best value in the $350 plus price range.

Mobile Phones Under $200

Acceptable quality and function at this price range were hard to find. Hence, I am only going to list three models. The features will be shown to the right of the phones for you to compare. My recommendation is the OnePlus Nord N100 as it provides the best performance in this group.

Smart Phones Between $250 and $350

This is the price point you begin to see decent phones. You have quite a choice among the 5 smartphones shown below.

In my view, the best combination of price and performance is the Nord N10 5G. It is at the higher end price of this group. The larger display size was the compelling factor in my recommendation.

External Speakers Or Headphones

The internal speakers of laptops may be good enough when on the road, but inadequate when used in your home office. You have two choices to address this shortcoming.

Connect a set of high-quality external speakers. Or use a set of high-quality headphones. Either one is essential when watching educational videos, or videos in general.

Which option is better?

It comes down to personal choice. I have both. Normally I prefer to use speakers. When others can hear my speakers, I revert to using headphones out of respect for them.

When looking for sound equipment, the choice is daunting. How can you decide what to choose? If you like, I can give you some pointers to help you make a sound decision. Ha, no pun intended! I will address speakers first and then headphones.

Speakers

One’s desktop is usually short on space. The ideal speaker will provide good quality sound using a compact enclosure. If you use a two-speaker system, it would be challenging to achieve a satisfying bass and treble sound. It can be done, but the speaker enclosure may be bigger than you can satisfactorily fit on your desk.

What are the alternatives?

My recommendation is to use a three-speaker system. This consists of two satellite speakers and a third speaker to extend the bass sound. Bass or low-frequency sounds are not as directional as high-frequency sounds.

Hence, the third speaker, or sub-woofer as it is commonly known, can be placed under the desk and still provide you with the bass sounds for a satisfying audio experience. The size of the sub-woofer is often larger than the two main speakers. You can position it wherever space is available near your workstation.

Working on your affiliate marketing business is not the same as being entertained. Do not compare the needs of an entertainment system to that of your computer workstation.

As I’m writing this I am listening to an organ recital on my 3 speaker system and it sounds pretty good!

The following is a list of several three speaker systems within the price range of $40 to $200.

My recommendation is Klipsch, primarily for its high power output. And it is almost half the price of the Harman Kardon. You couldn’t go wrong in choosing any of these speakers.

Headphones

As simple as this word is, there is more to headphones than meets the eye. Or should I say ear? I will briefly discuss the main variations of headphones before recommending some models for you to consider.

There are three categories of headphones.

1. Over The Ear Sound Isolation Headphones
2. Over The Ear, Ambient Transparent Headphones
3. Earbuds For Within The Ear

Each one of these categories is available for wired connection, or wireless configuration, i.e. Bluetooth. They all have noise-canceling options.

I have headphones that are in category 1 with Bluetooth and the wired option. I also carry earbud Bluetooth headphones with me for convenience. Neither have noise cancellation.

Since I also use the same headphones to listen to music, I prefer to minimize any additions to the processing of the sound I hear.

My goal is to keep costs low. Hence, I will only recommend the following headphone types:

• Over the ear headphones with wireless Bluetooth and the wired option
• Over the ear headphones with wireless Bluetooth, wired option and noise cancelletion
• Earbud headphones with wireless Bluetooth

Headphones can cost as low as $15 to upwards of $800. I am going to limit the price to the $40 to $120 price range. Decent quality sounding headphones can be obtained within these prices.

If you want to use your headphones for more demanding applications, not everything I share below will be suitable.

Headphones for online marketing is not a very demanding application, Hence, it offers opportunities for lower-priced products. It is a coincidence that most of these reasonably priced offerings also have noise cancellation.

My recommendation is the OneOdio ProC. Generally, this headphone has quite good reviews. I prefer it for its 110-hour battery operation from a single charge. Most of the others are around 40 hours.

External Monitors

When you are working in your home office using your desk, you do not have to stick with the display on your laptop. Why not connect your laptop to a much larger external display monitor?

It will help you be more productive for several reasons.

• The fonts will appear larger making it easier on the eyes.
• You can show more detail on a larger screen. In fact, you could have two pages of the document you’re working on side by side allowing you to see more of what you are writing.
• The screen on your laptop could be used as an extended workspace. It’s like having one, extra large display to work on. When you use this extended screen mode (you have to enable it in settings) it becomes possible to move stuff between displays. Having two website pages open simultaneiosly is an advantage.

The biggest decision you will have to make in choosing an external monitor is the display size. I recommend not going less than 20″ diagonal. My preference would be about 24″. There are three models featured below each with the following diagonal screen sizes: 20″, 24″, and 27″

Another critical consideration is to make sure whatever monitor you decide on, will easily connect with your computer video output.

There are three video connection standards. VGA, HDMI, and USB C. Make sure you know what type your laptop has. Then verify if there is a video cable and/or adaptor available to connect the monitor of your choice to your laptop.

If you find yourself with different video inputs, the chances are there will be a video adapter to enable the proper connection to be made. Talk to your salesperson at the store for advice if you are not sure. Or you can ask Google!

Another option you have is to select monitors with built-in speakers. I would avoid these if possible since the quality of sound will not match the external speakers I have recommended above. If you do purchase a monitor with speakers, you do not have to use them if you possess external speakers.

Let me provide you with a selection of three monitors to choose from covering these three screen sizes.

My recommendation is the ASUS 27″ model if you can fit that on your desk. In my opinion, it offers the best value for money. However, you cannot go wrong with any of the models shown above.

External Data Storage

The cost of Solid State data storage has come down drastically over the past two years I recommend adding one of these to your cache of equipment.

Can you believe today you can purchase 2TB of SSD storage for as little as $26? And you can slip one of these into your shirt pocket? Let me show you what I mean. Click the image below to see the details.

Since I consider data storage a commodity, I will only provide you with the link to Amazon for SSD devices below:

Solid State Data Storage

External Rechargeable Batteries

Just like SSD Storage, rechargeable batteries are available with much higher power storage today compared to a few years ago.

I remember when 5,000 mAh was near the high end. Now you can get five times that capacity in a similar package size.

Only one recommendation is made below. If you like the capacity, size, and price, just buy it. If not, once inside Amazon you can search for alternatives yourself.

Video Cameras

Most entrepreneurs who start an affiliate marketing business begin by blogging on their website. Usually without using video.

With video becoming more popular and effective in generating business, I suggest looking into video cameras. You don’t have to get one until you are ready to start creating videos.

In fact, if you have a smartphone, the chances are the built-in video cameras will be more than adequate to get you started. This will save you money until you are earning enough to invest in a dedicated video camera.

initially, the vast majority of your video will be made of you talking to your audience, most likely from your desktop at home.

The video camera below is simple and good enough to make videos of you doing reviews for example. Or even making videos of you using screencast technology to illustrate whatever your subject happens to be.

External Microphone

This is one area you should not skimp with. You want to keep your viewers engaged and not turned off by poor-quality sound. There are many good quality mics available in all kinds of price ranges. I am going to recommend just one. The reason is I have watched many webinars given by the live training coach at Wealthy Affiliate, and he used this mic. I have found the reception at my end excellent. Check it out below:

Printer/Scanner

Printers and scanners are so commonplace for the home office I am not going to make any recommendations. I will provide you with the link to the Amazon page where these are all listed for you to select one if you need it.

Printers and scanners

Misc. Cables And Adaptors

If you need any kind of cables and adaptors, to connect your hardware together, you will be able to find them via the link below:

Misc. video Cables and adaptors

Closing Thoughts And A Final Recommendation

What do you think? Some of you may feel that this post is elementary. And that is OK. My objective was to provide some insights to individuals who are new to affiliate marketing.

It can be daunting to figure out what kind of equipment you will need to get started. I sincerely hope this article has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, please ask me in the comments section below.

My final recommendation to you is to check out my home page to get an overview of what affiliate marketing is.

At the end of my home page, I provide a link to the online platform where I am being trained to create an amazing online business.

It costs you nothing to check it out. When you do, I will meet you on the other side to guide you and to answer any questions you may have.

Before I sign off I want to thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy post. If you found it helpful, please let me know in the comments section below.

I wish you all the success in the world in building your very own online business.

Cheers!

Edwin