Ultimate guide to affiliate marketing


Mangesh Supe

by Mangesh Supe· Updated June 01 2023

Ultimate guide to affiliate marketing

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing is a common way for people to make money online, and for us, it's the biggest source of income for the Top 10 reviews.

1. The basic concept of affiliate marketing

2. Advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing

3. How Affiliate Marketers Make Money

4. How to become an affiliate marketer

5. How to choose affiliate products

6. How to join the affiliate program

7. Tips for using member links

8. Myths and mistakes of affiliate marketing

9. How to maximize affiliate marketing revenue

  1. The basic concept of affiliate marketing

Whether you're new to the affiliate marketing field, have never heard of the term, or hope to make it in the industry, this article is for you!

But the first thing to understand is that affiliate marketing has to do with making money. Whenever you make money online (e.g., ads, courses, ebooks, sponsored posts, etc.) or offline, there are sales involved, either.

  1. Selling their own stuff.
  2. Sell/promote other people's stuff and get paid for it - that's the realm of affiliate marketing.
  3. Some basic concepts.
  4. What is affiliate marketing?
  5. Affiliate marketing is recommending a product or service to someone, and you will receive a commission when they complete a purchase (or other action related to it).
  6. How does affiliate marketing work?
  7. There are three main basic steps.
  8. Recommending products or services to your visitors, fans, or people you know.
  9. some of whom make purchases based on your recommendations.
  10. You will receive a commission for these sales.
  11. An example of affiliate marketing
  12. Let's say I have a blog about home improvement and as an affiliate, I work with a company that sells mattresses. They will give me a special link that is tagged with my unique affiliate ID. Whenever I use that link in a blog post and a visitor clicks on it, my affiliate ID will follow them for a period of time. If they complete a purchase within that time period, I get a commission.
  13. What roles are included in affiliate marketing?
  14. Affiliate marketing involves three participants, all of whom have multiple names.
  15. Advertisers/merchants/sellers: companies and individuals who sell products or services.
  16. publishers/affiliates/affiliate marketers/partners: they advertise and promote products or services.
  17. Customers/consumers: they buy products or services.
  18. Each circle represents a major participant, with affiliate marketers in the middle.
  19. You first work with advertisers and then promote the product to customers:.
  20. Ideally, the customer buys a product based on your recommendations; as an affiliate, the advertiser pays you a commission of.
  21. Sometimes, however, there are four participants involved, and the fourth party is an affiliate network (also called an affiliate platform), like this.
  22. What is an affiliate network?
  23. Affiliate networks are the liaison between advertisers and publishers who manage the affiliate programs of multiple advertisers at a time. If you work with a corresponding advertiser through an affiliate network, then your interactions with the affiliate network will include applying for affiliate programs, viewing your own affiliate links, tracking sales, and getting paid.
  24. Not all advertisers use affiliate networks, and some run their own affiliate programs.
  25. Some affiliate networks are easy to join, but some require you to apply and wait for approval, and some require phone verification. Different affiliate networks offer different products, so you need to find the network that best suits your needs.
  26. How do I know which affiliate network an advertiser is using?
  27. Sometimes, when you apply for an affiliate program directly, you will find advertisers using affiliate networks. For example, if you wish to become a partner of Focus Camera, you can visit their official website and click on the Join Our Affiliate Program link at the bottom of the page, as follows.
  28. Then you will see that they run their own affiliate program through CJ (a popular affiliate network). So, in order to recommend Focus Camera to your audience, you need to sign up for CJ and later go to CJ's dashboard to apply for Focus Camera's affiliate program.
  29. What are the benefits of affiliate networks?
  30. Affiliate networks are good for advertisers because they don't have to run their own affiliate programs; they are good for publishers because publishers can sign up and manage multiple affiliate programs in the same place; and they are good for themselves as middlemen who get a good portion of the profits.
  31. Advantages and disadvantages of affiliate marketing

While affiliate marketing has many benefits, it does have some drawbacks. Below we give some details so you can see if it's right for you.

Advantages of Affiliate MarketingDisadvantages of Affiliate Marketing

  1. You don't have to create the product yourself: let someone else do the hardest and most time-consuming part.
  2. Low hassle/responsibility: as an affiliate marketer, you do not have to deal with operations such as inventory, customer service, infrastructure, logistics, returns, follow-up, etc., which are the responsibility of the advertiser.
  3. Freedom and flexibility: since sellers have been pushing hard for product innovation and customer service, affiliates have more time to focus on what they want to do, while still generating passive income.
  4. No need to get wound up about how to sell: if working with the right advertiser, then your job is simply to introduce the prospect to them and they do the rest of the selling.
  5. High commissions: Some affiliate programs (not all) offer very high commissions. For example, commission rates for digital products are usually close to 50%.
  6. a triple win for cooperation: advertisers win because they sell products; publishers win because they make money while providing advice; and customers win because they buy trustworthy products.
  7. Low barriers to entry: many affiliate marketing programs are easy to join.
  8. Low risk: if affiliate marketing is not for you, then you basically have nothing to lose.
  9. Low maintenance frequency: you can republish a member link in an article (or video) and still earn commissions for days, weeks, months, years, or even a decade afterwards.
  10. Zero cost: there is no cost to join the affiliate marketing program.
  11. Excellent income potential: if the right strategies are found, then your income potential is enormous.
  12. Plenty to choose from: Affiliate programs abound. In fact, most of the pages you browse are surrounded by a wide variety of affiliate products, you just may not realize it yet.
  13. Building trust takes time: even though it's easy to become an affiliate marketer, if you don't have visitors who trust you, then you can't make money. It takes time to build trust and you have to put a lot of patience into it.
  14. Gaining traffic and subscribers takes time: affiliate marketing is more profitable if you have a large traffic or email subscribers, but it takes time to build these.
  15. You have no control over the product experience: if you recommend a product of poor quality, that may negatively affect you.
  16. Reminders for payment: sometimes advertisers cannot keep up with payments and you must follow up with them to get paid, but this does not happen often.
  17. It's hard to stand out: some affiliate programs have a lot of promoters, and if the advertiser is running a promotion, it's hard for you to stand out.
  18. Audience fatigue: if multiple affiliates share the same audience and promote the same product at the same time, your audience may feel annoyed.
  19. No access to buyer information: buyer information is so valuable that advertisers can keep it, but will never share it with you.
  20. Restrictions and Consequences: Many affiliate programs have very vague policies and terms, but it is always the responsibility of the affiliate to know and pay attention to them. Otherwise, you are likely to be thrown out of the affiliate program without any warning.
  21. How Affiliate Marketers Make Money

Different affiliate programs reward their affiliates in different ways, but some of these metrics are closely related.

  1. Commission: this is the most common type, i.e. a percentage of the purchase price, or a fixed amount.
  2. Pay per action: Some advertisers require customers to complete specific actions. For example, you will be paid every time someone submits an email or installs an app.
  3. flat fee: this is similar to pay-per-action, where you will be paid if a customer signs up for an account or service on the advertiser's platform.
  4. Prizes: sometimes, during specific promotions, advertisers will offer additional rewards (in kind or cash) to the best performing members.
  5. Credits: Some affiliate programs compensate affiliates in the form of credits (account balances).
  6. Questions you may be interested in.
  7. How much money can I make from affiliate marketing?
  8. Affiliate marketers can earn a wide range of income, from a few dollars per month to 5-6 figures per month. The ultimate profit depends on factors such as the quality of the content, how much your audience trusts you, smart marketing strategies, and the size of your audience.
  9. How do affiliate marketers get paid?
  10. This varies from affiliate program to affiliate program, the common payment methods are Direct Deposit, PayPal, check, credit and redeemable rewards. For users in mainland China, signing up for one of the following 4 accounts is basically enough to receive payments from all affiliate programs online.
  11. PayPal: an international electronic wallet.
  12. Payoneer: a cross-border collection solution equivalent to having your local bank account in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries.
  13. Skrill: another international electronic wallet for receiving payments that cannot be received by PayPal and Payoneer.
  14. Neteller: is also an international e-wallet, belonging to a subsidiary of Skrill, used to receive payments that cannot be received by the three above.
  15. How often do affiliate marketers get paid?
  16. Most affiliate programs pay monthly, some also pay weekly or quarterly. Please note that it usually takes a while to process before you see commissions, as customers may return items during the expiration date.
  17. What is the minimum payment limit?
  18. Some affiliate programs require you to meet a minimum payout threshold before sending commissions. For example, some programs have a threshold of $50, which means that you cannot receive any commissions until you have earned enough to exceed $50.
  19. In other words, if you only earn a few dollars per sale, it may take a while before you get paid your commission.
  20. How do you keep track of everything you promote?
  21. The fact is that affiliate marketing receives a lot of small payments in various ways at different times. The more affiliate programs you join, the longer the tracking list will be.
  22. Different promoters will approach this in different ways, some paying close attention to everything they get in each affiliate program, others trusting that the payments will be delivered as expected.
  23. For our part, we pay close attention to those affiliate programs that generate significant revenue, while the others are largely unconcerned.
  24. How to become an affiliate marketer

Becoming an affiliate marketer is very easy, there are no certifications, degrees, or training requirements, and there are no fees to pay. Basically, you can start as soon as you decide.

The whole process of joining an affiliate program, getting your affiliate links and sharing them with others is very simple, although there is definitely a right way and a wrong way.

The best way to conduct affiliate marketing

Create great content that others can read, preferably in a blog or email newsletter. Provide truly valuable information that is designed to help your readers.

First, don't promote any affiliate products and focus on proving your trustworthiness, usefulness and professionalism. Once you have gained enough trust, you can slowly start promoting what you use and love.

This strategy is called content marketing, and in order to be a successful affiliate marketer, this is probably the best way to go.

Preparation before starting affiliate marketing

A way to communicate with your readers.

Sometimes this is called a platform, and it might be a blog, a website, an email list, or some other online presence where readers can hear your insights.

We do not recommend that you use social media on your main platform. There is a huge risk because you have no control over other social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, WeChat, Jane's Book and Sina Blog, and they may change the rules at any time.

Of course, that doesn't mean you can't use social media, you just shouldn't be too preoccupied with them.

High quality content.

People don't like to be bombarded with frequent marketing campaigns, which will only reduce their loyalty and eventually leave you.

Successful affiliate marketers produce useful content designed to help readers solve real problems, and over time, you can start recommending products naturally.

Audience.

Who is your audience? Everyone? That's a bad answer. You have to narrow it down to maybe parents of young children, maybe cafe owners, maybe developers, maybe nursing students.

The ideal audience is a group you know well, either because you feel comfortable with it or because you can provide answers to questions they often have.

Level of trust

This should not be underestimated, affiliate marketing is built entirely on trust. When you recommend products to people who trust you, they will listen.

All you need to do is to remain genuine and make yourself trustworthy, which will provide a good foundation for effective affiliate marketing. If you can't get the trust of your readers, then you won't be able to earn sustainable income.

  1. Share affiliate links.
  2. Once you have proven yourself to be a reliable source of information on a relevant topic, then you can start recommending affiliate products or services to your readers. This involves applying for the affiliate program and sharing unique affiliate links to the products you promote (more information below).
  3. Do you need an affiliate marketing blog?
  4. Technically speaking, it is not necessary. But if you wish to be a successful affiliate marketer, then blogging is an indispensable presence, mainly for the following reasons.
  5. Blogs are the ideal place to keep all content and are not affected by social media algorithms.
  6. Blogs are always online and accessible to anyone at any time.
  7. The vast majority of affiliate programs require you to have at least one blog.
  8. Do you need an affiliate marketing email list?
  9. Again, it's not technically necessary. However, if you use more communication tools, that may greatly increase affiliate revenue. Sometimes, email is one of the most effective communication tools, even over your blog or website.
  10. Does affiliate marketing require a lot of traffic?
  11. It's not always the case, but it helps a lot. More traffic means more visitors, so more people are likely to buy the products you are promoting. But even if you don't have significant traffic and can still make money as an affiliate, more accurate traffic is more effective than more traffic.
  12. How to choose affiliate products

Recommend affiliate products that are relevant to your content and that are a natural fit. For example, if you talk a lot about travel, it might be better to recommend your favorite attractions; but if you talk about landscaping, then tourist attractions might not be a good fit.

Once you have found the product you want to promote, next ask yourself the following questions to determine if it is suitable.

  1. Do I have a reasonable experience with this product?
  2. If the answer is no, then remove this product. There are risks in promoting a product you are unfamiliar with for two reasons. First, if it is not of good quality, then the trust you have built with your readers will be compromised; second, if the reader harbors questions about it, you will not know how to answer them.
  3. Would I recommend this product to my best friend?
  4. It is indeed tempting to recommend something when offered a commission, but would you encourage your best friend to spend their time and money on this thing?
  5. Will my readers buy this product?
  6. Put yourself in the reader's seat, what are they most likely to buy? If your blog is primarily about frugal living, then they probably won't buy luxury items, so promoting high-end clothing may not be as effective.
  7. Will my readers buy now or at another time?
  8. Some products are sensitive to sales cycles and seasons, so perhaps you should avoid the holidays. But it's more important to know your readers and plan your content accordingly.
  9. You certainly don't want to promote content that goes against the habits of your readers, which may reduce their trust in you. If you lose trust, then your affiliate revenue will dry up.

Where can I get ideas for promoting affiliate products?

A lot of people are working on this, starting with the route you've already taken correctly and branching out. There are 3 places to get ideas.

  1. Yourself
  2. Your Readers
  3. Others in your niche
  4. Next we go into depth on each of the...
  5. Get affiliate product ideas from yourself Get affiliate product ideas from readers Get affiliate product ideas from niche markets
  6. Promote the products you already use
  7. What are some of your favorites? Keep a list and then find an affiliate program for them. Are you a food blogger? What's a favorite cookware? Are you a craft blogger? What's a favorite craft tool? Are you a photography blogger? What kind of camera and lens do you use?
  8. Sometimes it's as easy as picking up a piece of paper and pen to write at home and looking for things you've used or liked. Or check the purchase/order history of retailers like Amazon, Jingdong, Tmall, etc. Each product and service you are using, or have always loved, may have an affiliate program.
  9. View existing content
  10. Have you ever mentioned a product that you use? Maybe you never thought about affiliate programs at the time. Find previously written content and update it using your affiliate link.
  11. If you're a blogger, start by browsing your site analytics and finding the most popular posts. In Google Analytics, go to Console > Behavior > Site Content > All Pages to view and check the articles that bring in the most traffic at the top of the list, are there any affiliate products that can be included?
  12. Promote products that are relevant to your niche
  13. Study your niche carefully, listen to what others are talking about, understand your customers' problems and look for possible opportunities. Then find useful products and recommend the best ones.
  14. If your website is related to children's books but you've been promoting auto insurance, then at best, readers won't know what you're doing; at worst, you'll be labeled as a spammer, which will have a major impact on your reputation and make it very difficult to get back on track.
  15. Don't be afraid to start with high standards, promoting poor quality products will make your website look bad and will affect you negatively in the long run.
  16. Choose products that can help readers solve their problems
  17. These are great products that can be promoted because readers are willing to spend money on them.
  18. Ask them
  19. What do your readers want? Find out through social media, comments in blogs/videos, Facebook groups, or by interacting with them through online surveys.
  20. Check your statistics
  21. Check if your Google Analytics has data on audience characteristics, similar categories of interest, etc.
  22. Learn from other bloggers
  23. How do other content creators use advertising? What types of ads are they using? What are they promoting? What are they talking about over and over again? If they're talking about a product or service that sticks in your mind and that you can reasonably promote, then look up affiliate programs by using the methods above.
  24. Ask around
  25. If you have established good relationships with other content creators, then over time most people are willing to share what they know about lucrative affiliate programs.
  26. Follow Affiliate Product Hashtags
  27. Hashtags like #affiliate and #ad are commonly used on social media when someone is promoting affiliate products, follow or search for these topics on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook to see what others are promoting.
  28. How to join the affiliate program

First, understand the differences between affiliate networks and individual affiliate programs. You can join an affiliate network and access multiple affiliate programs from multiple companies at the same time, or you can join an affiliate program run by a company individually.

How do I find the affiliate network/affiliate program application page?

There are several ways to find the affiliate program application page.

  1. The company's website: think about the product or service you intend to promote and go to the corresponding company website. Look for a link (usually at the bottom of the page), usually with a name like Affiliates, Affiliate Program or Referral Program, and follow this page to register.
  2. Go to Google: search for the company + Affiliate Program phrase, such as Target Affiliate Program or Amazon Affiliate Program. if your first search doesn't show anything, try again and don't give up easily, sometimes the combination of words will be slightly different.
  3. Ask a friend: Do you know any other affiliates? Ask them if they can help you join the affiliate program.
  4. Contact the company directly: if you wish to promote a product or service but cannot find a corresponding affiliate program, consider contacting them if they would like to set one up.
  5. Affiliate networks: If you join an affiliate network such as ShareASale or CJ, you can browse all the advertisers they have.
  6. What do I need to join the affiliate program?
  7. Information about your platform: most affiliate programs require you to describe your blog, website, email list, etc..
  8. Tax Information: For U.S. persons, a Form W-9 is required before payment is received; for individuals from other countries, a Form W-8BEN is required.
  9. We have indicated the information of the fields to be filled in the W-8BEN form, click here to download, please overwrite with your real information, fill in English or Pinyin; the latest W-8BEN form, click here to download from IRS (Internal Revenue Service); all tax forms, click here to view on IRS.
  10. What should you look for in an affiliate program?
  11. The following are things to consider when joining an affiliate program, what is important to some may not be important to others, but these are things that most people should be concerned about.
  12. Income potential: Generally speaking, the higher the commission rate, the better. However, programs such as Amazon Associates are very common and are usually worth joining.
  13. Cookie length: a cookie is triggered when a reader clicks on one of your affiliate links, which is used to track their browsing activity and correspond their purchases to you. the longer the cookie lasts, the better.
  14. Terms of Use: A number of caveats will be listed here, and violation of the policy may result in disqualification from promotion. For example, Amazon Associates does not allow you to put affiliate links in emails; Wayfair does not allow you to post affiliate links on Pinterest or other social media sites.
  15. Number of products: you can become an affiliate marketer for a large company and then advertise any of their products, the higher the number means the more room you have to play with.
  16. Number of advertisers: this applies to affiliate networks, the higher the number of advertisers means the more products you can choose from.
  17. Commission structure: what kind of commissions do they offer? One-time commissions or recurring commissions? For example, some advertisers will only pay you once for converting a customer. Alternatively, for recurring paying customers, some advertisers will pay you each time.
  18. Sales strategy: find companies with strong sales pages, funnels, incentives and seminars.
  19. Helpful support: Some advertisers communicate with affiliate marketers on an ongoing basis to inform them of upcoming sales and provide marketing advice or tools.
  20. What are the best affiliate programs out there?
  21. There are a lot of options in this market and some of the most suitable affiliate programs for your niche and the products you wish to promote definitely exist. We have compiled two lists, one for junior and one for senior marketers.
  22. The best affiliate marketing program recommendations
  23. Recommendations for the best high commission affiliate marketing programs
  24. How do I increase my chances of being approved for the affiliate program?
  25. Know when to wait: Some affiliate programs require a certain level of traffic, subscribers, etc. If this is the case, you are better off waiting until you meet their requirements before applying, rather than hoping for a smooth transition.
  26. Contact the affiliate manager: most affiliate programs have at least one person who manages the promoters, so if you can, keep in good contact with them.
  27. Fill out the description box: This gives you the opportunity to explain why you are interested in them, talk about your niche, your readers, your mailing list, and your successes, etc. Don't be afraid to be honest and not lie if you are new to this.
  28. Don't be afraid to appeal or reapply: If one of your applications is denied, check to see if there are instructions on how you can reapply, and if you can't find them, contact the affiliate manager via email and ask if you can reapply. One thing to keep in mind is to maintain enough respect and goodwill in your emails.
  29. Tips for using member links

When promoting membership products, everything depends on your membership link. If you do not use your own membership link, or if you use the wrong one, then the sales will not be credited to you correctly, resulting in you not getting paid.

How do member links work?

  1. Obtain a unique link to the product or service you are promoting, a link with your member ID.
  2. Share this link with readers or people you know.
  3. People click on this link to reach the corresponding advertiser's website.
  4. This is the time when advertisers record and track your member ID through cookies.
  5. the customer completes an action (purchase, registration, etc.) before the cookie expires and the sales are credited to you.
  6. Wait for a while and you will get the corresponding commission.
  7. How do I find your membership link?
  8. Most owned affiliate programs (as opposed to affiliate networks) have affiliate dashboards or affiliate portals where you can find the information you need, as well as all the affiliate links.
  9. For affiliate networks, once you sign up, you can log in and view all available Campaigns, Offers, Merchants, or find individual programs from the Marketplace. Sometimes you have to go through a short application process, which may be accepted immediately or may have to wait for approval, depending on the affiliate network and advertiser.
  10. After approval, you will be able to view image ads and text links for specific products. Copy their HTML code, this code contains your unique member ID, and then use this code (or link) to correspond to the promoted product.
  11. Where can I share the membership link?
  12. There are many places where you can share affiliate links, but before doing so, be sure to check the terms and conditions of the affiliate program. Some advertisers prohibit link sharing in certain places (the obvious example is Amazon, who does not allow affiliate links in emails).
  13. Here are the places we recommend sharing: blog posts, your personal images, product listings in DIY posts, sidebars, footers, emails, play in videos, video descriptions, live videos (verbal or pasted into comments), reviews, product comparisons, tutorials or how-to guides, social media, webinars, ebooks.
  14. Best practices for sharing member links
  15. Disclosure of affiliate information: it is important to let readers know when affiliate links are used, for example by creating an affiliate disclosure page and disclosing your affiliate information in a prominent place in the article.
  16. Try to place affiliate links inside the appropriate content: the most trafficked articles on the site should have as many affiliate links as possible.
  17. Articles that include links to members may be better: share them frequently and organize relevant content together whenever possible.
  18. Don't present too much product information: provide readers with enough information so they know what they are about to buy, but don't present too much detail for two reasons: first, product information (such as price) changes frequently, and readers will be confused if your stated price is different from the actual price; second, product manufacturers can better explain the details and features, and your focus is on the site experience.
  19. Avoid complex widgets: There are many tools you can use to share member links, such as rotating window widgets or dynamic images. However, we do not recommend using them as they can slow down your site, stick to basic HTML and use your own images whenever possible.
  20. Attaching membership links to images: in the age of sites like Instagram and Pinterest, where users are used to clicking on images, ensure that highlighted product images are accompanied by your membership link.
  21. Tracking affiliate links: use a simple spreadsheet, or the PrettyLink plugin to track your own affiliate links.
  22. Include your affiliate links naturally and clearly: Using the same anchor text over and over again is not only unnatural, it can also be perceived as spam by search engines.
  23. Misconceptions and mistakes of affiliate marketing

Once the concept is understood, affiliate marketing is not difficult to achieve. However, there are some common misconceptions being bandied about, in addition to some mistakes that newbies make all the time.

Affiliate Marketing Mistakes Affiliate Marketing Mistakes

  1. Amazon Associates are only available to certain states in the United States: this used to be true, but has evolved to the point where you can become an Amazon Associate no matter what state or country you live in.
  2. you cannot use member links in Mad Mimi or MailChimp: this is not true, there is nothing wrong with using member links in Mad Mimi, many people do; MailChimp's requirement is that you cannot spam, not use member links.
  3. Affiliate marketing is passive income: Affiliate marketing is close to passive income, but only after you put in a lot of work up front. If you spend a long time building trust with your readers, then at some point in the future, affiliate marketing can become passive income.
  4. You can make money fast with affiliate marketing: It's true, you can become an affiliate marketer in a very short time, but if you want to make money, it will take a while to survive.
  5. Not understanding the terms of use of affiliate programs: They vary and it is your responsibility to understand and follow them. For example, Amazon Associates links cannot be placed in emails, closed Facebook groups, or anywhere that is not publicly available online. In addition, you may only use URL shortening services that are permitted by Amazon.
  6. Not acknowledging that they are sending spam: people are sending large volumes of promotional emails to readers without any warning or easy way to unsubscribe. When readers complain or unsubscribe, they assume that the traffic is not accurate enough, rather than being responsible for spam.
  7. Reviewing products you're not familiar with: Unfortunately, this happens all the time in the affiliate marketing world, and some bloggers have created groups where they review and recommend each other's products. What readers need are honest recommendations.
  8. Promote irrelevant or low quality products: If you lose trust by promoting bad products, then readers will leave you. Fewer readers and fewer revenue streams will follow. Ensure that you only promote what is truly beneficial to your audience.
  9. Promote too many affiliate products: Once you start affiliate marketing, you will realize how easy it is to share affiliate links. But instead of becoming a member of many affiliate programs, we recommend focusing on a few, where the depth of content is better than the breadth.
  10. How to maximize affiliate marketing revenue

Once you have mastered the basics, there are ways to increase your income.

  1. Take advantage of affiliate program freebies
  2. Many affiliate programs offer free print materials, guides, webinars or other things designed to attract potential customers. As an affiliate, you can share these freebies with your readers through affiliate links and receive a commission if they eventually make a purchase; even if they don't, the advertiser may be able to convert them in the next marketing
  3. Utilize marketing tools whenever possible
  4. Many affiliate programs provide their members with useful resources designed to help them close more sales. These include monthly information, upcoming promotions/tips/case studies, Facebook groups for affiliates only, and private webinars that explain marketing strategies in depth, among others.
  5. Offer your own rewards for affiliate deals
  6. This approach is better for people who are considering buying but are unsure. For example, if you are promoting online training, as an incentive, offer your own ebook, the key here is to ensure that the incentive you offer complements the product being promoted.
  7. Promote diversified products
  8. Don't put all your eggs in the same affiliate product basket and diversify across all revenue streams.
  9. Experiment
  10. Try different marketing strategies, affiliate networks, content types, ad sizes, text links and product images to see what works best together. Sometimes small adjustments can make a huge difference.
  11. Honesty
  12. Talk fairly about the things you like and dislike to build trust, which will benefit you in the future.
  13. Use your personal phrases and product experience
  14. Your own content, photos and videos are always the most effective. Many affiliate programs provide members with copies of their content, typically pre-written emails, release materials or social media posts. These can be used as guides, but they are not written in your authentic voice, which can be a disaster for you if many affiliates are using them.
  15. Focus on the benefits, not the features
  16. Don't simply list product features (you'll get this, this and this...) . How will this product change their lives? How will their lives be improved if they use this product?
  17. Become an affiliate of an offline merchant
  18. If you have a local blog and promote the products or services of a local merchant, ask them how you can be included in their referral program.
  19. Use effective call-to-action phrases and hone your copywriting skills
  20. Create attractive headlines that are personalized and do not look salesy.
  21. Finding the best affiliate deals
  22. Many affiliate programs are offered in more than one place, and advertisers pay a 20% commission in one affiliate network and maybe 30% in another.
  23. Request higher commissions
  24. Many affiliate programs have different commission levels, usually the standard commissions are open, but higher commissions are offered to better performing affiliates. Sometimes you may be promoted to VIP status by an advertiser, but in most cases you must ask if a higher level is available and how to achieve it.
  25. Don't be afraid to offer advice to affiliate managers
  26. If you know how to improve your sales page, be proactive in offering advice or expertise to the companies you work with. After all, this is a win for both of you.
  27. Ask for special discounts or coupons
  28. Many times, affiliate managers are happy to create special coupons for you in order to drive sales.
  29. Consciously seek out new products to promote
  30. Maintaining a list of affiliate products for review and finding new products to promote.
  31. Promote pavement products, they are stepping stones to the products you will create in the future
  32. This method is more advanced, but it really is a good way to think ahead.

Summary

One last thing, when asked for my opinion on other affiliate marketing resources (both free and paid), I am familiar with some of them, but not all. I've read a few ebooks, watched online videos, and bought online courses and other content. udemy is the world's largest online training platform with tons of quality courses related to affiliate marketing, which you can check out by clicking here.

Affiliate marketing is a long and arduous task, and the road is the hardest at the beginning. I hope this article helps you get off to a good start!

You may like

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  2. How to create an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress

I want...

  1. Make money at home
  2. Make money online
  3. Sell things online
  4. Become a freelancer

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A note on affiliates: Some of our stories include affiliate links to stores like Amazon, eBay, Tmall, etc. These online stores share a small amount of revenue with us if you buy something through one of these links, which helps support our work evaluating products.

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