Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Making sense of affiliate marketing isn’t always easy, especially when you are just getting started.

When you are an affiliate, you receive a special link that you can use to promote other people’s products and services. When someone clicks on your link and purchases the product or service, you earn a commission.

Affiliate Marketing can also be a great way for you to earn passive income.

Affiliate Marketing 101 Video

You can be an affiliate for a large company, like Amazon. You can also be an affiliate for a small business. Many small businesses pay generous commissions of around 50% commission.

Where Can You Place Your Affiliate Links

You can place your affiliate links in a variety of places, and we will be talking about that throughout this article.

Affiliate Marketing 101Before you can place your affiliate links anywhere, you need to get affiliate links … and you do that by joining affiliate programs. Look for affiliate programs that complement your business.

A health coach could promote Vitamix Blenders, health food, exercise equipment, exercise and nutrition workshops, and other health related products.

A business coach could promote software, workshops, and anything you’d find in an office.

  • Look at the products and services that you use – do any of them have an affiliate program?
  • What are some of the products and services that you get asked about?
  • What products and services do you see people asking about in Facebook Groups (that match your target market)?
Your Assignment
Now it is time to join some affiliate programs. Try to find 5 programs. If you can find 3, that’s okay. If you find 10, that’s great. But aim for 5, and we will work on putting those links to work for you.

 

Making Money As An Affiliate

As an affiliate, you earn a commission each time someone visits your affiliate link and makes a purchase. There are many places you can put your links – and we will talk about them. The important thing to remember is that it’s not just about spreading links around – it’s about recommending products and services that will HELP people.

One of the easiest ways to start recommending the products you are an affiliate for is through your blog posts. You can do review posts where you explain how to use the product. Link to products where it would naturally fit in with the blog post.

Blog PostsFor example, if you’re a health coach, and you’re writing a post about smoothies, you could promote the Vitamix, a recipe book about smoothies, or a clean eating workshop.

If you’re a web designer, and you’re writing a post about web hosting, mention the hosting company you’re an affiliate for and insert your link.

Your Assignment
Make a list of 20 blog post topic ideas. These blog post topics should correlate with the products and services you’re an affiliate for. Next to the topic idea, make a note about which affiliate link you’ll be adding to each post. Take your topics and write at least one post per week.

 

Add Links To Older Posts

You will be finding new readers all the time, and they won’t have seen your posts. The people who did see them may not remember reading them.

Older PostsSpruce up your old blog posts, add your affiliate links, and start promoting those posts on social media again! You worked hard to create that content, don’t just promote it once and then let it sit there. Keep it in your content marketing rotation!

When you’re adding your affiliate links, you’ll do better as an affiliate when you are recommending products and services that will HELP people. Link to products where it would naturally fit in with the blog post.

Your Assignment
Find 10 blog posts on your blog that you’ve previously written. Spruce them up, add your affiliate link and promote those blog posts on social media. Aim to do this to another 10 next week and continue until you have updated all of your old blog posts.

 

Create Resource Lists

Another place to add your affiliate links is to a Resource List. This can be a freebie that you give away. But you can also add this to a page on your website or blog.

Resource ListsWhat products and services do you use regularly? If that company has an affiliate program, join the program and insert your affiliate link under a description of that product. Not every product you include has to have an affiliate program, but remember, you do want to add your affiliate links when you can.

Your Assignment
Create a resource list and publish it on your web site.

 

Create Freebies

As you may know, creating freebies are a great way to grow your email list – but they’re also a great way to share your affiliate links! Just like in a blog post, you’ll want to share your affiliate links where it makes sense.

So what kind of freebies could you create?

FreebiesIf you were a Health Coach, you could create a “Quick Start Guide To Clean Eating.” You could then promote products such as health food, blenders, recipe books, health oriented workshops and exercise programs. You would then include links in your clean eating guide for these products.

If you are a Web Designer, create a “Guide To Getting Started Online.” You could promote web hosting, paid WordPress themes, plugins and software products.

Your Assignment
Come up with 3 ideas for new freebies that you could promote and add affiliate links to.

 

Don’t Overlook These 2 Places

Thank You Pages – These are the pages that people get redirected to after they sign up for your mailing list or purchase a product. After you tell them what comes next – such as: Check your email, I’ll be sending you the download link. Under that section, include a section such as “You Might Also Like..” Insert your affiliate links there.Thank You Page and Download Page

Download Pages – These are the pages that people visit when they download something they purchased from you, or got as a freebie. Underneath where all the download instructions are, promote another product that is similar or can help the person in some way.

Your Assignment
Always make sure that you have affiliate links on your Thank You pages and on your download pages.

 

Affiliate Links and Emails

As a business owner, your email list is one of your best assets. It helps you build relationships with – and stay in contact with your customers and potential customers.

It is also a great place to add your affiliate links. But again – only when it is natural to do so. If you normally talk about parenting tips, and that is what your readers expect from you, it would be silly to include affiliate links to motorcycle parts.

Affiliate Links & EmailsThis depends on which affiliate programs you join, but sometimes the business will give you freebies and trials. You will still use your affiliate link, if the person who signs up for the freebie purchases something, you’ll get a commission. These are great to send out in emails.

Your Assignment
If you have evergreen email sequences set up, look through them and see where you can add your affiliate links. If you send broadcast messages, think about where you can insert an affiliate link to a few messages this month. Every email does not have to have an affiliate link, but it is something you want to be conscious of, and make an effort to include them in some of your emails.
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