Make Money Blogging with Affiliate Marketing!
You may be wondering what affiliate marketing is.
You are definitely wondering how to use affiliate marketing to make more money online.
It may sound confusing, but it is actually very very simple.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is promoting a product, service, or company with a web link and getting paid for clicks, sign-ups, and purchases from the link they give you.
It really is as simple as that. I promise.
All you have to do is find a company that has an affiliate program, and apply to their program.
They provide the link (most of the time, Amazon actually has you pick a product and then makes the link for you) and usually have a place for you to sign in and check out how your link is working.
How Do I Actually Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?
That’s a good question.
There are many ways to go about it.
- You can make your own Blog and use what you write to promote affiliate products.
- You can promote on your social media such as Pinterest, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. (There are rules and restrictions to posting affiliate links on certain social channels so be sure to check with each one before posting anything they would deem against their rules.)
- You can build an email list of happy subscribers and tell them about products you like to use with affiliate links.
- You can write a blog post today and contact a well-known blogger and ask them to feature your blog post on their site.
- Any way you can think of getting your link in front of the eyes of internet readers and users is a way to make money with affiliate links (you have to follow the affiliate program’s rules.)
How Do I Know People Will Actually Buy from my Links?
Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme.
It takes work, practice, and study. Just like anything else.
But the nice thing is, once it’s out there and in front of ongoing traffic, it’s almost passive income.
So going about it in a professional and right way can really pay off in the long run.
If you decide to build a blog and promote through your own blog you will have to build up a trusted following, but if done right, you can really make some serious money blogging.
Like most side hustles, work from home, and full-time self-employment it is very much what you make of it and how much time you want to put into it!
Why Would a Company Want to Use me as an Affiliate Marketer?
A lot of companies love using affiliates for marketing their products these days.
Back in the day before blogging and social media they had to pay BIG ADVERTISING FEES and weren’t guaranteed any return on their investment.
Whereas with you promoting a product, they don’t have to pay out the commission fee to you unless the product actually sells or they get an actual lead from your promotion. So it’s a win-win situation for them and you 🙂
Side note: Something I personally love about affiliate marketing compared to making and selling your own products is you don’t have to deal with returns or customer service.
You get to make some extra cash while you’re sleeping and not worry about the customer complaints or returned items.
Sounds like the dream right?
Well…
Is affiliate marketing all fun and games?
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Is Affiliate Marketing All Fun and Games?
Of course not!
There are ups and downs to all kinds of work.
Example: I had a friend that got paid by his company to go to theme parks regularly. I’m talking weekly getting paid to go to Busch Gardens and Scuba Diving in Florida.
I thought, “Dude! That’s amazing! What a sweet gig!”
He said, “Well yeah it would be except that I’m always going as the liaison or glorified tour guide for the company so I’m always there with people I don’t know or am working for.”
I can think of many worse ways to get paid, but the point is there are ups and downs to every job.
So in the same way, affiliate marketing can be tough and it is hard to get started, but once you wake up to check your account, or you get done watching netflix and see that you made a few bucks while you were doing it, and realize how many ways you can scale this, it can be a great side hustle or even make a living from.
But everyone has their ideal work environment.
For me, it’s being around friends and family more and working from my couch while watching a movie with my wife. Or quitting work at 12 pm because my friend invited me to a movie and in the back of my mind knowing that I’m making a living for my family while spending time with my friends.
Of course there are days where you feel ZERO motivation.
That happens to everyone.
You can either push yourself on days like that or say, “Hey, I’m gonna go outside and get some exercise throwing a ball with my dog and if I feel like making some post later this evening, great, no worries.”
It’s days like that I can’t believe I get to do what I am doing and I feel so grateful.
What Companies Offer Affiliate Marketing?
There are LOTS.
You have but to only do a google search:
“(product/service) affiliate program” and you will see many of great choices.
Make sure that you check out the programs for legitimacy.
And be sure to understand the program’s terms and rules so that you don’t lose your account with them prematurely.
What is the Best Way to Make the Most of Affiliate Links?
- Loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty! Build a loyal following of readers by promoting things you enjoy and trust. Be honest! It’s okay to not like something, just be honest about it. Your readers will notice and they will turn to you for more things. Build loyalty by being loyal and trustworthy.
- Choose products that you are personally interested in. It’ll be easier to write about and it’ll be more natural. Trust me, your readers will be able to tell.
- Find the right products for you and your readers. Do online research. Most companies that have affiliate programs are looking for more affiliates. The cost of advertising through affiliates is low for them.
- Be relevant for your readership: this seems like a no-brainer, but it’s laughable the amount of weird stuff you can find blogs trying to products that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what they are writing about.
- Be up to date: take time every so often to edit and revise your older posts.
- MOST IMPORTANT: I feel like this doesn’t need to be said, but bloggers everywhere prove me wrong all the time. Write about and promote what your readers want! For affiliate marketing, if you want to make money and get clicks, promote and write about things that your audience is interested in. Take time to figure this out and make it a regular priority for you.
What Types of Products Sell Best?
You can do market research and find out which products are selling a lot, but that’s not the most important issue to focus on.
You could also join a site like Salehoo, where they give the best selling products that are trending. Go here to see Salehoo for yourself.
- Focus on quality over quantity. Products that usually end up working out badly for others will cause your readers a bad time too and they won’t trust you for other products. So pick products that are good quality and give whoever tries them a good experience and they’ll come back to you for more and be grateful for your input.
- Focus on products that will be interesting to your audience, not products that just sell in general.
- Focus on products that you use and love.
- Don’t be afraid to find products that are similar and review, compare, and contrast.
- Find affiliate networks and look at the resources they offer to affiliates to help them get more sales and clicks.
- Use services like Hubspot and Google Analytics to see what’s going on in your market. Facts about what your audience is looking up and reading about are more beneficial than what you imagine they want to hear.
- Research, research, research. Do your homework.
- Compare commission rates and talk to your affiliate managers about upping your rates when you’re doing well.
- Talk to your affiliate managers about doing sales exclusively for your readership.
- Keep an eye out for discount codes to share with your followers.
- Make the best use of the available affiliate networks. Through the networks, many programs and products are available to promote. Make sure you look through these and take advantage of what they have to offer. Searching through Affiliate Networks will help give you ideas you may never have thought of.
Google search Affiliate Networks to get some good ideas.
Hope this helps!
What didn’t I cover in this post?
What other questions should I cover on Affiliate Marketing?
What questions do you still have?
Other Posts you might enjoy:
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How to Make Money Blogging with Affiliate Marketing
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Thanks for the advice!
You’re welcome, Traci! I hope you found it helpful!