What it Takes to be a Good Affiliate

Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 7:07 am

Anyone who knows what it’s like to make money blogging will tell you one thing: affiliate networks are a necessity if you want to earn anything from your site. It’s also a good jump-off point for bloggers who are just starting out and aren’t yet being approached by advertisers.

Before we go on, you might want to get a clearer picture about what it means to be an affiliate partner. When you sign up for an affiliate program, your role is to direct your visitors to your affiliate’s site and help your partner sell products. Some programs will pay you for every click that comes from your site, while others will give you a commission only when a sale is made.

Take note, however, that affiliate blogging isn’t a foolproof method to make money online. Some bloggers who sign up for affiliate programs aren’t necessarily making a lot of money, and people aren’t always going to click through those important links that will get you that commission. What you can do, however, is approach affiliate marketing with a sound strategy to help you make money blogging. Read on to know more about how you can make a profit from being an affiliate partner!

1. Stick to the simpler things:

The less invasive an advertisement link or banner ad is, the less likely that people will ignore it. In fact, there’s mounting evidence that flashier and louder ads are ineffective in “convincing” people to click on them. And in some cases, a blog’s advertisements end up loading too slowly, bogging down the site itself and forcing the blog visitor to wait until all the page elements load successfully. If your affiliate program asks you to advertise, opt to do so with link ads.

2. Tie your affiliate program and your blog niche together:

Your advertisements should also strive to be relevant to your blog’s specific niche. Sure, you have all the freedom to put up ads for luxury cars on your digital technology website. The problem? You’re targeting the wrong market. Techies and gadget geeks don’t always take a shine to luxury cars, so putting up an ad that won’t be a hit with your audience is practically useless. Instead, go with an affiliate program that matches your readers’ tastes, needs, and preferences. That way, you boost your chances of making a sale at one point or another.

Don’t just stick to one affiliate program, hoping your fidelity to it will bring you the rewards you want. In fact, restricting yourself to just one program is tantamount to restricting the amount of money you’ll earn from being an affiliate. But before you start plugging your blog with all sorts of ads, remember that moderation is the name of the game here. In other words, sign up for multiple affiliate programs, and implement them prudently on your site. Use too many on your blog, and you might end up driving away traffic instead of attracting them.

4. Come up with relevant product reviews:

Once again, the keyword here is relevance. Bloggers can write product reviews and get paid for them, thanks to services like ReviewMe.com. Be careful, however, and resist the urge to be review-happy. Choose products that you actually believe in and are related to the main focus of your site. If your site is all about planning weddings, then you can write a review on a line of bridal dresses by a particular designer. It’s all about tying your blog to the right reviews, which then tie well with your readers. By doing this, you boost the chances of making a sale happen and earning a commission from your affiliate.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, affiliate marketing isn’t actually all that hard. It just requires a bit of strategizing that puts an emphasis on moderation and relevance – namely, posting just the right amount of ads, and ensuring that your offers are in line with your readers’ interests and your blog’s primary topic. Refine your affiliate marketing strategy, and you’ll find that it isn’t too hard to make money blogging, especially as an affiliate partner.

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