Studies have shown that:
- 81% of brands around the world now have affiliate programs (Kinsta)
- Affiliate marketing is one of the top three revenue sources for 31% of web publishers (Insider Intelligence)
According to Zip Recruiter, top markerters across the United States make around $125,000 annually while many other studies report that super affiliates make millions annually.
All these go to show that if done right, affiliate marketing can be a lucrative source of passive income.
Affiliate income hinges on various factors such as the niche, products/services, affiliate programs, marketing strategies, level of experience, and more.
Success in affiliate marketing requires patience, effort, sacrifice, and effective marketing strategies. Unfortunately, most people have unrealistic expectations and that’s why they fizzle in it.
Here are 6 super helpful strategies you can implement to succeed in affiliate marketing:
1. Build a Strong Platform
If you’re going to promote products without a blog, website, or YouTube channel, you’re leaving a ton of money on the table. Affiliate markerters who can create and publish quality content on their platforms maximize their income potential because they have established an extra source of traffic.
Another reason why you need a solid platform as an affiliate marketer is because it builds your reputation.
Some brands don’t take chances. Such brands won’t partner with affiliate marketers who lack established sites. Your site portrays you as someone with a plan and shows advertisers that you’ll be an asset.
What makes your site stand out as an affiliate marketer?
- Quality content
- Good design i.e. visuals and ease of navigation
- Site speed and security
- And much more…
When starting a website, be sure to invest in a good web hosting program. Install useful themes and plugins that will enhance the appeal and functionality of your website.
2. Post Excellent Content
It’s pointless to have an impressive site and low quality content. Excellent content increases the chances of your traffic converting to sales. Affiliate marketing content can be in the form text, video, or audio or a mix of these.
Characteristics of good content for affiliate purposes:
- Underpinned by strong SEO: in order to attract organic traffic, you need to tailor your content to rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs) by adopting the best SEO practices like smart keyword research. Social media content also calls for optimization, to enable the algorithm to recommend your content to your target audience.
- Valuable: show your audience that you’re about adding value to their lives and not just eyeing their money. Ensure your content is accurate, factual, and clear. Educate your audience about your product. Give clear product descriptions. Address the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about your product.
- Compelling: place clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs) within strategic places of your content. Ensure your content’s message is so persuasive and impressive that your reader won’t hesitate to click that CTA.
- Attractive: adopt good design, structure, style, and graphics for your content to stand out.
Before publishing content, ask yourself, “If I were the reader, would this content have been worth my time?”
Have you ever come across an ad that appealed to you right away? Maybe it appeared genuine, promising, and backed with tangible evidence that it captured your attention. And even though such a product may never have crossed your mind, you ended up purchasing it. Then there are boring ads you don’t even think twice about skipping instantly, although they may have been offering a genuine, valuable product.
That’s the power of content! It’s an art of its own! You can’t just post a link and expect your potential buyers to click. You must back it up with the “why”. After all, buyers are all about “what’s in it for me?”.
Expert tips:
- Keep your content up-to-date and post regularly.
- Remember to strategically embed your affiliate links within your content and site.
3. Promote Smartly
What techniques will you use to bring your product in front of your target audience’s eyes? Which of these techniques are traffic magnets? Those are the questions you need to ask yourself here.
Pro tips:
- Not every marketing platform is going to be the best for your specific product or target audience. For instance, a marketer targeting teens may find that Facebook isn’t their most lucrative platform and that TikTok may be their best.
- Even so, cast your nets wide. Don’t just rely on one platform to do the job for you. Smart marketers leverage every promising platform they can get their hands on.
- There are so many hidden gems on the internet. Don’t limit yourself to the popular platforms only. Do your research thoroughly. Join forums to network with fellow markerters and find out what platfroms they’re marketing on.
- Traffic campaigns are taxing. Explore every possible means of reaching the target audience. Look for something that works for you and always be open to further improvement. Many advertisers are looking to invest in brilliant sales-generating techniques. Show them you’ve got what they want.
In that regard, here are common marketing methods used by affiliate marketers:
i) Social Media Marketing (SMM)
It’s just as it says on the title. This entails using social media channels like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. Quora, etc. You do this by embeding your product links within the content you share on socials.
Be active on social media and always strive to answer all questions about your product.
ii) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is kind of covered in the content creation and publishing phase. But there are other aspects of SEO that go beyond optimizing your content. You’ll need understand on-page vs off-page SEO.
Note that SEO isn’t just for websites and blog posts, social media content also requires SEO optimization these days.
SEO by Neil Patel: https://neilpatel.com/what-is-seo/
iii) Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This entails paid advertising. It uses tools like Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Pay Per Click (PPC). This is expensive since you’ll have to incur advertising costs.
iv) E-mail marketing
Email marketing entails building an email list that you’ll regularly market to. Strive to master email marketing, it’s still a traffic-intense platform.
Tips:
- Nurture your list by keeping in touch with your audience. Engage them with valuable content, messages, and newsletters.
- Work towards earning their trust first before your promotional interests. They have to see value in your content and products, only then can they become potential buyers. Strive to make your offers unique and irresistible.
4. Work With Top Affiliate Programs and Brands
There are tons of affiliate programs. More and more brands are jumping on the affiliate marketing bandwagon.
Each programs has its rules and regulations, recruitment criteria, pros, and cons.
Do your research to uncover reputable or trustworthy affiliate programs which pay up as promised. Don’t waste your time on the wrong platforms that may never get you anywhere. Check out affiliate program reviews on forums.
Promoting products from top companies increases your chances of higher sales conversions and consequently income. Make sure you lead your audience to click-worthy links which lead them to valuable products that give them their money’s worth.
Best platforms usually have:
- Fairly high and recurring commissions
- Marketing guidance for affiliates
- Tracking system
- Favorable payment terms
- Optimal cookie durations
- Work with best advertisers
- Multiple products and product recommendations
In return, your site and content should offer what the advertisers and affiliate programs are seeking. Prove that it’s worth having you in their program or company.
Getting accepted into affiliate programs isn’t the problem, it’s what you do after that matters. Some programs like Amazon will terminate your account after a specified length of time if you haven’t made a specified number of sales by then.
5. Upskill
Just like every other job, affiliate marketing requires constant updating of knowledge and skills. If you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll have to learn the tricks of the trade or you’ll fail terribly.
Learn from experienced affiliate marketing. Invest in genuine, value-packed courses and coaching. Leverage YouTube as well. Read books. Research heavily.
Some things worth knowing include:
- Sales funnel creation and lead generation
- Proven tested traffic generation techniques
- Market research and competitor research
- Must-have marketing tools that will boost your conversions and save your time
- Challenges to expect as an affiliate marketer
- Best affiliate programs
- Profitable niches
- Best product recommendations for each niche
- Fraud risks
6. Patience Pays
Some things take time
As cliché as it sounds, this phrase almost never goes wrong.
Starting out in affiliate marketing can be quite discouraging. You may get rejected by some affiliate programs. Don’t let this put you off. Marketing takes effort and time. There’s no overnight success. It’s a long game.
Start small. Build your reputation slowly and steadily. Keep strengthening your site, maintain quality and focus on bringing in more traffic.
Remember, most successful affiliate marketers started at the bottom as well. Give your best to the task.
To Wrap It Up
With a plethora of promotional channels and affiliate programs coming up, affiliate marketing remains a viable source of income. How much money you make depends on your approach, products, niche, content, and effort. No pain, no gain.
Remember to:
- Track your traffic and the progress of your campaigns. Know your strengths and weaknesses.
- Be consistent with your content quality.
- Establish trust with your audience.
- Broaden your horizons by increasing your knowledge.
- Budget and invest in quality tools and materials that will meet your promotional needs.
- Have marketing strategies that will keep you in the game for long.
Now…Go grab a link and start promoting.
Best of luck!
