11+ Great affiliate marketing tips for Bloggers
After quitting her job, Rhea began her journey as a new blogger, but a few months after launching the blog, she was staring at a very empty bank account.
She had a steady amount of monthly readers, and had already started running ads…but that only made her a whopping 25¢
“At least it’s something,” she thought, but she couldn’t help but feeling a bit discouraged.
Rhea saw all those pins on Pinterest bragging about monthly income reports, and she wondered how realistic it is for bloggers to create passive income.
But then, Rhea discovered the holy grail of blogging income: Affiliate Marketing
So she found a product that aligned with her audience, and wrote her first affiliate post…and waited.
A week passed…then a month…
She was almost ready to give up on her blog ever making revenue, but then it happened…she got a check in the mail for over $500!
This is surprisingly not uncommon for affiliate bloggers.
In this post I’ll share with you my Affiliate Blogging Secrets, so you can generate passive income effectively.
(at the end of this post I’ve included links to my favorite HIGH-earning Affiliate Programs that you can get started on asap)
Affiliate Disclaimer: most of the links on this post are in-fact “affiliate links”. This means a portion of the sales from those links benefits me as a blogger. I will only be linking to things that are both helpful and that I personally use.
What affiliate marketing advice would you give to a new Blogger?
If you’re like Rhea, you’ve probably just discovered how impactful Affiliate Marketing can be for your blog.
I still chuckle occasionally when I receive affiliate checks in the mail.
The feeling of making money WITHOUT putting in hours of work every week is so much fun.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it IS work.
Nothing in life is free, but the wise person invests in things that bring a return on their effort.
You can invest your time once, and have it pay you back many times in return.
Can Bloggers make money with affiliate marketing in today’s world?
This is the #1 question I always get asked.
The answer is in short, yes.
I wouldn’t waste time writing this if I didn’t absolutely believe this could work for you as a blogger.
In fact, I would say this is one of the BEST ways for a blogger to make their blog work for them.
Affiliate Programs can earn extra money, and even full time income from home.
I wrote this post to show you just how easy it is to make a new flow of recurring income, and how to leverage technology to make it work for you while you sleep.
What are some myths Bloggers believe about Affiliate Marketing that simply aren’t true?
There are some pretty common misconceptions about affiliate marketing.
We’ll get these out of the way early. Let’s do some myth busting!
*please don’t sue me MythBusters*
MYTH 1: Affiliate Programs don’t pay that much.
This depends entirely on the Affiliate Program you choose to join.
I personally don’t pick Affiliate Programs that bring in less than $15/per purchase.
Lower than that, it’s not really worth the time to write a post or an email about it.
Some Affiliate Programs bring in over $200/per purchase (links provided below)
The beauty of Affiliate Marketing is that YOU choose the product you want to represent.
MYTH 2: Affiliate Marketing is about tricking people.
Total Rubbish.
There’s a weird misconception that you need to trick people through false claims in order for them to click your offer.
Some bloggers might do that, but you don’t need to.
Simply identify the main problems that the product will solve.
Talk about why the offer will benefit people who have that issue.
Then, your readers who have that problem will click into your offer and decide for themselves if it’s worth their money.
(what a novel non-tricky idea)
You don’t have to be a trickster. So don’t be one.
MYTH 3: Affiliate Programs won’t actually pay you commission.
Not true.
All Affiliate Programs give you a unique ID and links to use so that they can track what they owe you.
It is worth noting that most Affiliate Programs have a payout cap, or pay after 30-days for verification or possible refunds of the sale.
Just make sure you understand the payout expectations, and ensure that it’s a legit and trusted Affiliate Program.
MYTH 4: You need to add a disclaimer to every Affiliate Link.
This is more hearsay than anything.
Per the FTC, you do need to add a disclaimer in clear sight on your post.
This can be simply accomplished by writing one after the first paragraph of your post before any Affiliate Links. (I do this for SEO and post excerpt reasons)
It’s best to also include a disclaimer in your Terms and Conditions page and your Privacy Page as well. (Some advertisers require this)
Myths BUSTED.
If you have any questions about these Myths, or concerns about Affiliate Marketing, leave a comment below and we’ll answer your question!
Can Bloggers use social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to do affiliate marketing better?
We all have that one friend on Social Media who asks you to buy their stuff online.
It seems like that’s all they post about anymore.
And, if you’re like me, it comes off as rather off-putting.
However, I know it takes allot of courage to share what you have to offer the world.
I choose to recognize that, and hide their posts from my feed less often, hehe.
That being said, Social Media is a POWERFUL tool to share your affiliate offer.
So, how do you share on Social Media without being “that friend”?
Start with the problem your affiliate offer solves
Just hitting people with a product usually doesn’t go very well.
Instead you can start by talking about the problem that the offer will solve.
This will attract more clicks because people will understand your offer better.
Sometimes certain people don’t need your offer, but by starting with the problem, they will think about a friend of theirs that needs it.
Most people love sharing helpful stuff, and you can help them do that by identifying the problem your offer fixes.
Share your affiliate offer within Context
Just posting to your personal Facebook account won’t typically get the attention your offer deserves.
There are still some really great places on Social Media where offers thrive.
Pinterest is a great avenue for people searching for ideas about how to solve their problem. A simple pin to your post can go a long way.
Facebook Groups are a great place where people look for solutions to their problem. Just make sure to follow group rules, and avoid posting on groups that discourage affiliate links or promotions.
You have 60 minutes to spare on affiliate blogging, what do you do?
Find an offer that you really enjoy, and write a post about it.
After you write a post, share it on Social Media, especially Pinterest.
Pinterest Pins gain popularity over time, so even though you may not see immediate results, maybe next month your offer gets a ton of clicks because of popularity.
If you don’t know where to find Affiliate Offers, I’ve linked my top 4 Affiliate Marketing Programs I think any blogger should use.
What’s your #1 Quick Start Tip for Bloggers looking for fast results with Affiliate Marketing?
Become a Super Affiliate.
What is a Super Affiliate you ask?
Super Affiliate Programs provide “Two-Tier Links” that allow you to earn off of your own links + other affiliate bloggers who join and share their links.
It’s like sharing a big pizza.
You get a slice of the sales. Other bloggers get a slice sale. The person running the affiliate gets a big slice of the sale. And most importantly, your reader is eating delicious pizza ;D
But, isn’t that basically a pyramid scheme?
Structured sales commissions are ONLY Pyramid Schemes if the focus isn’t actually on selling the product.
If it’s more about the program than the product, it’s probably a scheme.
Again, the beauty is that you get to choose what programs you decide to represent as a blogger.
If Super Affiliate programs aren’t for you, you can always just share those products directly.
4 Affiliate Marketing Programs every Blogger needs to know about
Here it is, like I promised.
The list of my favorite HIGH-earning Affiliate Programs.
Better yet, they are Super Affiliate Programs
(we covered Super Affiliates earlier in the post)
I’ll explain each Affiliate Program and why it’s added to this list:
Unfortunately most blogs are incredibly slow
Introducing: WPEngine
You spent so much time writing a perfect blog post, people click in but no one is reading.
What the heck?!
Chances are, your website takes too long to load.
While most website hosts are incredibly cheap, they don’t give you the speed and security you need to grow your blog. Thats a big problem, especially since most people don’t have a very fast internet connection to begin with.
To make matters worse, Google makes sure that fast blogs will rank better than slow ones. They do this because they want the best experience for their users.
But there is good news.
WPEngine offers WordPress Hosting thats incredibly FAST and SECURE.
I can personally say, it’s very easy to use, they have a fantastic support team, and best yet – it’s very affordable.
You can even get 20% off all their monthly and annual plans!
As a WPEngine affiliate you get to share the worlds BEST WordPress Hosting.
WPEngine affiliates earn $200 per sale.
→ Click this link, and put your website in the fast lane!
Advanced affiliate marketing tips Bloggers need to know…
Introducing: ClickFunnels Affiliate Bootcamp
Most bloggers don’t know where to start when it comes to Affiliate Marketing.
I was in the same situation a few years ago feeling totally lost. That’s exactly why I wrote this.
I wrote this post as a starting point for bloggers who want to get into Affiliate Marketing.
But at the same time, I didn’t want to write a step by step guide.
Why?
I found an expert who already put that together for you, in a FREE video!
This is a $997 training course they give away FREE to help train affiliates on how to do affiliate marketing.
What’s the catch?
Well there isn’t one, they actually teach you how to use the next 100 days to RETIRE by selling affiliate products.
Say whaaaaaaat?
It sounded fishy at first, but then I discovered how my blog can earn money without having to write a blogpost every week.
As a sidenote: I respect that this company doesn’t just share information, they actually live it out themselves. They built their entire business on this method. Their product ClickFunnels helps bloggers create and track their own affiliate programs and opt-in offers. (I’m currently using ClickFunnels to create even better opt-in offers and an affiliate program for WEBcademy)
As part of the Affiliate Bootcamp you’ll be able to share this effective FREE training with people who want to start their dream-job and work from home.
ClickFunnels affiliates earn 40% commission of sales.
→ Click here to watch the Affiliate Bootcamp video
There’s an overwhelming number of Social Media Platforms
Introducing: Tailwind
And, it takes so much time to create posts for every account.
If you’re like me, you want to blog without feeling like a slave to Social Media.
Tailwind will help you get your time back by scheduling posts for you.
I discovered Tailwind last year, its helped me grow my Social Media accounts like Pinterest.
(BTW, Pinterest works best if you post EVERY DAY)
Tailwind helps me find new content to fill my posting schedule and it cut down my posting-time to just a couple hours on one or two days a month.
As a Tailwind affiliate, you will be telling the world about their life-changing Pinterest scheduling & analytics dashboard.
Tailwind offers 15% Commission off all transactions.
→ Click this link, and say hello to Social Media FREEDOM
Finding quality affiliate programs sucks
Introducing: ShareASale
It’s tough to find programs you can trust.
This can leave you feeling frustrated. I know I was.
That was until I found ShareASale.
ShareASale is a marketplace of some of the best Affiliate Programs.
And when you’re a ShareASale affiliate, you won’t have to keep signing into separate websites to track all the details.
For example, I found both Tailwind and WPEngine through ShareASale. Since they’re managed by the same Affiliate Program, I get to see both on the SAME DASHBOARD 🙂
Affiliate Programs on ShareASale vary in commission, but its a great place to find things that will resonate with your audience.
→ Click here to find awesome Affiliate Programs on ShareASale
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