Your Go-To Strategy To Boost Your Affiliate Profits
Making a living with affiliate marketing must be considered a dream business by those who have never tried it. Affiliate marketers do enjoy lots of benefits – you don't do monotonous tasks, work 9-5 office hours, and provide reports. Instead, you're in constant search for tactics that help you reach the right people and convince them to buy promoted products. In case you fail, you won't get fired. You'll just be starving.
At the same time, if you look at the Google Trends data, you'll see search interest in the 'affiliate marketing' query has increased by over 200% for the last five years.
With things being so difficult, why is affiliate marketing getting more and more popular every year? When done right, affiliate marketing can become your passive income source, giving you way more flexibility than any other job would do.
Now, let's go through the process of building your very own strategy that will take your profits to the next level.
Now, let's go through the process of building your very own strategy that will take your profits to the next level.
How to boost your affiliate profits in 4 steps
The following guide includes tips to help you develop or improve your affiliate marketing strategy. You can either follow the instructions step-by-step or pick practices that most appeal to you.
Build your audience
To build a long-term strategy that can work for you even when you pause your activities, you need to have a loyal audience.
Having your own website with some traffic makes it way easier to sell affiliate products. That's why we recommend that you first focus on earning blog readers, email newsletter subscribers, social media followers, or everything at once, and then sign up for affiliate programs.
If you've been doing affiliate marketing for some time now, it's likely that you already have a blog, account on Twitter, or/and an email list. We'll also dare to guess there's still a place for improvement.
So, whether you'll need to build an audience from scratch or adjust your current strategy, here's what you should consider:
Having your own website with some traffic makes it way easier to sell affiliate products. That's why we recommend that you first focus on earning blog readers, email newsletter subscribers, social media followers, or everything at once, and then sign up for affiliate programs.
If you've been doing affiliate marketing for some time now, it's likely that you already have a blog, account on Twitter, or/and an email list. We'll also dare to guess there's still a place for improvement.
So, whether you'll need to build an audience from scratch or adjust your current strategy, here's what you should consider:
1
Pick your niche
Having specific topics that you focus your content on will help you attract and retain your audience. A blog that covers healthcare, fashion, tech, and other topics at once won't win any audience segment.
By sticking to a specific niche, you'll spend less time and effort trying to cut through the noise typical for more generic categories.
We're sure there are tons of well-paid programs in the cooking and kitchen industry. We also know there's an insane competition in this industry. That's why smart affiliate marketers choose to specialize in particular topics, like coffee, vegan products, wine, etc.
For instance, Marco Baatjes shares coffee recipes and reviews of coffee makers on his website called Caffeinated Face. Marco partners with various industry brands and earns decent commissions from sales that his website content drives.
Having specific topics that you focus your content on will help you attract and retain your audience. A blog that covers healthcare, fashion, tech, and other topics at once won't win any audience segment.
By sticking to a specific niche, you'll spend less time and effort trying to cut through the noise typical for more generic categories.
We're sure there are tons of well-paid programs in the cooking and kitchen industry. We also know there's an insane competition in this industry. That's why smart affiliate marketers choose to specialize in particular topics, like coffee, vegan products, wine, etc.
For instance, Marco Baatjes shares coffee recipes and reviews of coffee makers on his website called Caffeinated Face. Marco partners with various industry brands and earns decent commissions from sales that his website content drives.
2
Know your audience
Who are these people who might be interested in buying from companies that you partner with?
Let's say you run a blog where you publish marketing guides for small businesses. You're going to create a review of landing page builders that small business owners might want to test out. If you sign up for Instapage's affiliate program, you'll earn up to 50% commission per sale. As the tool costs $199 a month, this might be a lucrative deal. Now, let's get back to your target audience. Chances a small business owner will invest this much in a tool are incredibly low.
You'll get way better results from promoting a cheaper product that fits your target audience's needs. Even though your commission per sale won't be so high, the whole campaign will be way more profitable.
Who are these people who might be interested in buying from companies that you partner with?
Let's say you run a blog where you publish marketing guides for small businesses. You're going to create a review of landing page builders that small business owners might want to test out. If you sign up for Instapage's affiliate program, you'll earn up to 50% commission per sale. As the tool costs $199 a month, this might be a lucrative deal. Now, let's get back to your target audience. Chances a small business owner will invest this much in a tool are incredibly low.
You'll get way better results from promoting a cheaper product that fits your target audience's needs. Even though your commission per sale won't be so high, the whole campaign will be way more profitable.
3
Have your own value proposition
What's there in your content that makes people sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media? Leverage your experience or interests to create content that attracts the relevant audience.
Don't forget to publish content that adds real value to your website visitors. If you focus on product reviews, make sure you also highlight the disadvantages of tools being promoted. Your readers understand that everything has its pitfalls, and they'll appreciate your transparency.
What's there in your content that makes people sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media? Leverage your experience or interests to create content that attracts the relevant audience.
Don't forget to publish content that adds real value to your website visitors. If you focus on product reviews, make sure you also highlight the disadvantages of tools being promoted. Your readers understand that everything has its pitfalls, and they'll appreciate your transparency.
4
Do SEO
Whatever topics your focus on, make sure all your website pages and blog posts are optimized for search engines. By doing this, you'll ensure that your website will be delivering traffic in the long run, allowing you to scale your affiliate marketing campaigns.
Before you start working on your next post, or collecting topics for your upcoming newsletter, take time to do simple keyword research. Answer The Public will show you the most popular search questions related to your keyword(s):
Whatever topics your focus on, make sure all your website pages and blog posts are optimized for search engines. By doing this, you'll ensure that your website will be delivering traffic in the long run, allowing you to scale your affiliate marketing campaigns.
Before you start working on your next post, or collecting topics for your upcoming newsletter, take time to do simple keyword research. Answer The Public will show you the most popular search questions related to your keyword(s):
This simple step will allow you to define questions that your content should answer and ensure your posts will have the potential of driving search traffic.
Serpstat is a must-have tool for affiliate marketers who want to outrank their competitors' content. For instance, with Serpstat's Related Keywords and Search Suggestions reports, you'll identify long-tail keywords that you can use to create Google-friendly and natural texts.
Use special offers
You might have seen that affiliates usually complement their offers with exclusive deals, like discounts, coupons, or extra features for the same price. In most cases, companies make these deals available for every partner. But even if there's no discount that you, as an affiliate marketer, can share with your audience, you can try to negotiate it.
Exclusive deals boost your authority (when you say you've brought an offer in partnership with a successful brand, it sounds like it's worth attention) and increase conversion rates.
Here's a very relevant example of the Serpstat review provided by Robbie Richards. Along with guiding his audience through Serpstat features, Robbie shares an exclusive offer – his readers can get unlimited access to the platform for 7 days using his promo-code.
Exclusive deals boost your authority (when you say you've brought an offer in partnership with a successful brand, it sounds like it's worth attention) and increase conversion rates.
Here's a very relevant example of the Serpstat review provided by Robbie Richards. Along with guiding his audience through Serpstat features, Robbie shares an exclusive offer – his readers can get unlimited access to the platform for 7 days using his promo-code.
Personal demonstration
Our specialists will contact you and discuss options for further work. These may include a personal demonstration, a trial period, comprehensive training articles, webinar recordings, and custom advice from a Serpstat specialist. It is our goal to make you feel comfortable while using Serpstat.
Run paid campaigns
Want to get quick access to leads with your affiliate offers? Paid campaigns will help.
Utilizing paid traffic channels allows you to improve traction, reach the most relevant audiences, and drive more sales.
It's not uncommon for affiliate marketers to earn a significant part of their income by running ads on Google and Facebook to promote affiliate products.
Pitfalls? There are lots of drawbacks to this approach:
Utilizing paid traffic channels allows you to improve traction, reach the most relevant audiences, and drive more sales.
It's not uncommon for affiliate marketers to earn a significant part of their income by running ads on Google and Facebook to promote affiliate products.
Pitfalls? There are lots of drawbacks to this approach:
It's challenging to get your affiliate campaigns approved on these channels. Platforms like Google Ads forbid direct linking and bridge pages, which means that affiliate marketers should find more sophisticated techniques to promote their links.
Account bans. Along with rejecting your ads, Google and Facebook can ban your whole advertising account, which is no fun when your ads keep running and spending your budget.
It's risky. You can hardly predict how much you'll spend before your campaigns start paying off.
It takes a decent budget. Starting with $10 per day will bring you neither positive results nor useful learnings.
Why do we offer this option then? We've already said quite a few affiliate marketers have a positive experience with running paid campaigns. It means that you can find tons of guides on building ads that get approved and deliver great results.
Not sure you want to give it a try? Luckily, there's an alternative. Native advertising is getting more and more popular among affiliate marketers. The method involves running ads that match the look and feel of the editorial content of websites they're served on.
You can find native ads on news outlets, like HuffPost or CNN, and online magazines, like Vogue and Eater. However, you don't need to have direct partnerships with these websites to display your ads within their feeds. All you need to do is launch campaigns on native ad platforms, such as Taboola, Outbrain, etc. These platforms already have their widgets served on their publishers' websites.
We at Joinative have been helping affiliate marketing experts grow their profits with targeted native ad campaigns and have witnessed lots of success stories.
Here are a few formats that have proved to work well for affiliate marketers on native:
Not sure you want to give it a try? Luckily, there's an alternative. Native advertising is getting more and more popular among affiliate marketers. The method involves running ads that match the look and feel of the editorial content of websites they're served on.
You can find native ads on news outlets, like HuffPost or CNN, and online magazines, like Vogue and Eater. However, you don't need to have direct partnerships with these websites to display your ads within their feeds. All you need to do is launch campaigns on native ad platforms, such as Taboola, Outbrain, etc. These platforms already have their widgets served on their publishers' websites.
We at Joinative have been helping affiliate marketing experts grow their profits with targeted native ad campaigns and have witnessed lots of success stories.
Here are a few formats that have proved to work well for affiliate marketers on native:
Campaigns that promote lists of affiliate products. Gift guides, product reviews, and comparisons – these content types typically drive lots of visitors and conversions.
Lead generation campaigns. Running paid campaigns to build email lists is also a popular technique. You can offer questionnaires, exclusive content, or webinars to capture your potential customers' contact details and then reach them with your affiliate offers via email.
Landing pages to drive direct conversions. As long as your ad network accepts the product category, you can promote direct landing pages in your campaigns.
Explore different channels
One more way to give your affiliate profits a boost is to explore less common channels.
Take platforms like Quora, Reddit, or Pinterest. Quite a few marketers are already taking advantage of these, but the competition isn't overwhelming yet.
Quora is probably one of our most favorite channels. Here you can answer people's questions, add value, and market your products at the same time.
Although Quora doesn't allow affiliate links, who said you couldn't link to your blog posts where you have them? Charlie Moritz runs a YouTube channel where he talks about coffee and promotes relevant products. In his answers on Quora, you can always find links that lead to videos below which there are links to coffee machines and other gear from Amazon.
Take platforms like Quora, Reddit, or Pinterest. Quite a few marketers are already taking advantage of these, but the competition isn't overwhelming yet.
Quora is probably one of our most favorite channels. Here you can answer people's questions, add value, and market your products at the same time.
Although Quora doesn't allow affiliate links, who said you couldn't link to your blog posts where you have them? Charlie Moritz runs a YouTube channel where he talks about coffee and promotes relevant products. In his answers on Quora, you can always find links that lead to videos below which there are links to coffee machines and other gear from Amazon.
Bonus Tip
Always add disclosures.
First of all, it's an FTC-mandated practice. You'll break the law if you don't make it clear you earn commissions for sales made through your links.
Moreover, it builds trust. Everyone understands why you spent the time to create another comprehensive list of some 'must-have' products. But when you're transparent, your audience won't feel you want to cash in on them.
First of all, it's an FTC-mandated practice. You'll break the law if you don't make it clear you earn commissions for sales made through your links.
Moreover, it builds trust. Everyone understands why you spent the time to create another comprehensive list of some 'must-have' products. But when you're transparent, your audience won't feel you want to cash in on them.
It's time to make more money
Affiliate marketing allows you to gain a passive income without worrying about building your product or service. However, it does take time, creative thinking, and a strong niche experience.
Whatever techniques you build your affiliate marketing strategy on, keep your audience in mind, and the result won't be long in coming.
Whatever techniques you build your affiliate marketing strategy on, keep your audience in mind, and the result won't be long in coming.
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