Why is affiliate marketing a great way to make money through your blog?
Because you can literally make money while you’re asleep. You’ve to do the work once and then you can reap the benefits forever.
Table Of Contents
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is basically promoting a brand’s product on your blog without getting paid for it.
You earn money when people make purchases through your affiliate links. But you’re not paid to advertise the products as such.
The companies that offer affiliate marketing pay a commission fee for every sale that is made through your referral link.
You can write posts around the products you want to promote, that are actually good and would be of use to your readers.
Link the products in those posts so that people can buy them if it interests them.
Amazon Associates is a popular affiliate marketing program that many bloggers use.
5 Reasons why affiliate marketing is awesome
1. Passive income
You wrote a post with some referral links once. And it will make you money while you sleep.
You don’t have to work for every sale you make.
2. Don’t need a popular blog
To earn a substantial amount, all you need to focus on is attracting the right kind of audience. You don’t need a massive one, just a very niche-specific viewership.
3. Easy to get approved
Unlike Google Adsense, most affiliate marketing programs are easy to get in.
And a majority of them don’t have prerequisites like having a specific number of visitors etc.
4. Zero investment, unlimited profits
You don’t need a huge advertising or marketing team to handle affiliate marketing.
You can do it very well on your own. And it comes with no risks attached.
5. Pays more than Adsense
Even though Google Adsense is one of the most popular choices for monetizing a blog, it doesn’t pay the most.
Affiliate marketing has much more potential and is, on any day, more profitable than Adsense.
For example:
- Bluehost pays $65 for each qualified sign-up/referral
- Namecheap provides a 20% commission every time a new customer makes their first purchase
- Canva pays up to $36 for each new Canva Pro subscriber who signs-up
- SEMrush pays $10 for every trial sign-up & $200 with every SEMrush sale
Let’s get into it! How to start affiliate marketing TODAY
Image Source
Step 1: For starters, you need a blog
If you have got a blog, scroll down to the next step.
I myself use WordPress + Bluehost and will always recommend it as the best combo.
Get your domain name and hosting from Bluehost and take advantage of the 1-click installation of WordPress on Bluehost.
Think about what you’re passionate about, and make that niche of your blog.
There are plenty of alternatives available but there is a reason why WordPress is globally the most used website builder.
WordPress has tonnes of free & paid themes, and plugins to expand the functionalities of your site. And Bluehost offers web hosting for as low as $2.95 a month.
Step 2: Select the Correct Affiliate Products
Link or recommend things you have used yourself or are sure are worthy of promoting.
Write posts that promote products in between which are relevant to the overall niche of your blog.
If the affiliate links are of things that are unrelated to what you write about, people won’t find it trustworthy enough to buy something based on your suggestion.
Step 3: Target the right audience to your blog
To actually make sales from your affiliate links, the right kind of people should land up on your blog.
Who are these ‘right kind’ of people?
To put in the simplest words, these are the people who are looking for the products you are referring.
For instance, if your blog is primarily about cooking you should referr cooking utensils, appliances, etc.
Because that is what your readers are currently looking for or use most often.
How to target the right audience? SEO.
Improve the readability of your posts to help improve your SEO score.
I use Rank Math plugin on my blog which is a great tool to cover all of the SEO basics while drafting a post.
Step 4: Promote Your Affiliate Products Within the Content
A long and detailed blog post is one of the best ways to promote affiliate links.
You don’t want to just add affiliate links and expect people to buy from it.
You need to put in the time, efforts to research and actually tell the people why they should even be thinking of purchasing that thing.
If your post is too focused on making the sale, it is quite easy to spot and honestly, a bummer for the viewer.
Pretty Links helps you cloak the affiliate links that you promote on your website.
Tips to boost your affiliate income
1. Track the links to see what’s working
Track the affiliate links to analyze what’s working and what’s not. It also gives clarity on what your readers are most interested in.
Note down the top-selling affiliate products and through which page or post are they landing on the referral link.
2. Cross-promote your post on different platforms
Make the best out of the hardwork you put in the blog post by sharing it on other platforms.
You can create Facebook ads linking promoting the post which has referral links.
It’s completely okay to invest a good sum of amount on ads because you’re going to earn it back through the sales you’re going to make. (Choose an affiliate that has a high payout)
Cross-promote & become a pro at affiliate marketing by re-sharing the link on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
3. Design & use graphics to bring attention to the affiliate products
People are more likely to remember graphics than written text.
Design attractive graphics to market your affiliate links in the post and in the sidebar of your blog/site.
4. Build Backlinks
By building backlinks to your affiliate post, you can get even more eyes & traffic directed to your blog.
Try requesting for a guest post on a high authority blog of the same niche as yours.
A blog whose audience will be interested in the guest post and your referral links.
5. Become a PRO at using what you’re selling
When you tell people that you’re an expert at doing something and how you use a tool or a product to produce great results, it’s the best kind of affiliate strategy.
You should plan and think about writing posts teaching people who to properly use those affiliate products so that they can know its benefits.
Let people know the advantages of the affiliate product.
Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Subscribe to never miss a post!
