Are you interested in making more money with affiliate marketing? If so, you’re in the right place! Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn revenue if you’re a blogger and diversify your existing revenue stream if you’re a small business owner.
Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing practice where companies work with individuals or other businesses to promote their products or services. This practice is extremely common, with over 80% of brands running affiliate programs.
Affiliate brands give unique links to their associates that they can share through email, social media, or on their websites.
The partner gets a monetary kickback when someone clicks an associate’s link and purchases a product. Commission rates can vary but typically fall between 5% and 30% of the total cost.
So, if you’re working with a partner who sells $100 products and offers a 25% commission, you would make $25 every time you drive a sale to their website.
Now that you know how affiliate marketing can make you money, let’s look at a few actionable tips. The following strategies can help improve your revenue regardless of whether you’re a seasoned associate or thinking about selling your first affiliate product.
Let’s get started!
Publish In-Depth Blog Posts
Blogging is one of the best tools you have at your disposal as an affiliate marketer. Over 77% of people read blog posts, so you’re guaranteed to attract visitors to your site if you publish high-quality, SEO-friendly blog posts.
Once people make it to your site, there’s a chance they will click one of your affiliate links and place an order, which results in a commission for you. An impressive 57% of marketers agree that blogging has dramatically improved sales.
When creating content for your blog, there are a few things worth remembering. You should review your buyer personas before brainstorming for new content ideas. Understanding your target audience makes producing content that adds value to their lives easier.
Furthermore, when you know your intended audience, you can make smarter choices about which affiliate products you promote. For instance, if you run a blog that discusses building computers, you probably wouldn’t choose fashion or beauty products to advertise on your site. Instead, you’re more likely to choose companies that sell computer accessories or brands that make the parts you use in your content.
It’s also important to write relevant, interesting content. Reviews are an excellent way to attract more visitors to your site. Believe it or not, 97% of people look for reviews before buying something online. Couple that statistic with the fact that 88% of people trust reviews over traditional advertising, and you can see the benefit of writing reviews for the products you’re promoting.
Note: Don’t forget to add disclosures at the top of your affiliate content for transparency and legal clarity.
Send Eye-Catching Emails
Business leaders across all industries know that email marketing is one of the best ways to build rapport with visitors and turn them into customers. The average return on investment for an email campaign is a staggering 4,400%!
You can use email marketing to connect with your subscribers and promote affiliate products. The key to improving your revenue through email is personalization. Over 80% of people expect businesses to embrace personalized content and offers. Those who continue to send cookie-cutter emails tend to lose subscribers at an alarming rate.
The easiest way to personalize your email newsletters is to segment your audience once they join your email list. You can accomplish this task by sending a short survey to new subscribers so they can choose their preferences. It’s also possible to divide subscribers into groups based on how they interact with your website.
One thing’s for sure, segmenting your leads works. Research shows that, on average, segmented campaigns can boost revenue by 760%!
As you build brand loyalty through your email newsletter, there’s a good chance subscribers will message you with questions about the products you’re promoting. If you can set expectations and answer any questions they have, there’s a good chance you can convince them to place an order on one of your partner sites.
Create More Video Content
Video content is now more popular than ever before. This trend is mostly due to the rise in smartphone technology. Most people in the world own a mobile device, and many prefer watching videos instead of reading content.
Another contributing factor is the rise of social media. Websites like YouTube see over 1.7 billion visitors every month, which is increasing yearly. Other sites, like TikTok and Instagram, are based solely on visual content, like videos.
Affiliate marketers create content in a way that’s almost identical to influencer marketing. They produce a combination of pre-recorded videos and live streams designed to get people to engage with their brand and purchase a product.
Examples of video content you can produce include:
- Reviews
- Demonstrations
- Online Courses
- Ask me Anything
- Giveaway Announcement
- General Tips and Tricks (that tie back to the products)
The best part about video content is you can use it to grow your social media channels, affiliate revenue, and website engagement. Currently, around 19% of bloggers are including video versions of their content on-page with their blogs. This flexible option allows users to consume your content in a way that’s convenient to them. If they like your content and are interested in the products you‘re promoting, you’ll likely see a boost in your affiliate revenue.
Set Measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics every affiliate marketer should track to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns. The mistake many people in this position make is they focus on vanity metrics, like their overall traffic.
It’s great if you can get 1000 people to visit your site every day, but something needs to change if you haven’t secured a single sale in 30 days.
Here are a few metrics you should track instead:
- Time on page - The average time on page can help you determine if your content matches the needs of your audience. If people leave blog posts in seconds, you may need to rework your keywords or messaging.
- Revenue by traffic - This metric is important to track because it lets you know how much you make from each partner. I recommend checking this KPI frequently so you can make changes to your affiliate lineup and accurately track your revenue.
- Conversions - Your conversion rate includes sales, email signups, and social media growth. You always want to work on your growth strategy so new people can discover your website.
- Retention rate - Many affiliate marketers make their money from recurring customers. Your retention rate will tell you how many people have placed multiple orders through your links. This metric is crucial for maintaining relationships and building a loyal audience.
You can find all these metrics and more by reviewing Google Analytics on your website. If you want to maximize your profits, make sure you monitor your KPIs and experiment with your strategies so you can continue growing.
Final Thoughts
If you’re patient and persistent, affiliate marketing is a great way to make a living. Meanwhile, many small business leaders are making extra money by partnering with other brands in their industry and acting as affiliates.
Recent surveys show that 85% of marketers believe they will see affiliate revenue grow globally in the years to come. Now is a great time to get started if you’re not already using this strategy to build your brand presence and improve your profits.
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