Affiliate marketing can be an excellent way of generating income. It is a straightforward process to sign up to a program and integrate the hyperlinks on your website. If you already have a readership interested in what you have to say on your blog, you are halfway there. So if you are thinking about introducing an affiliate program, what are the five most important principles?
Differentiate between affiliate marketing and advertising
One of the most crucial aspects of running an affiliate program is appreciating how different it is to previous business models. Remember what it used to be like going to a blog that had been monetized with cost-per-click advertising? Because adverts take up space, whether they are in banner headlines on blocks strategically placed on the page, they make a website appear cluttered. When they are being used to advertise a product, no matter how much this might be of interest to the site visitor, the overall impression is of desperation.
Affiliate marketing relies on the blog owner cultivating a customer base in the spirit of mutual interests in their topic, not simply posting a series of hyperlinks that effectively say “please buy this!” Whatever the topic is that is central to your blog, once you integrate the affiliate products to your overall site content you will be able to engage with potential customers and develop trust as opposed to simply bombarding them with adverts.
What you can do is join networks and use these to promote your wares. You could introduce links to TopOffers affiliate network offers.
Products you identify with
Another important aspect is to focus on products which you have used. An excellent method of advertising these would be to purchase a unit yourself and then make a short video of said item in use by way of reviewing it. When you post this on your social media you are saying so much more than “why don’t you buy this?” You are inviting people to engage with it and see the benefits.
Content
The content of your blog is what is important. You must write engaging articles that encourage your readers to come back regularly. The affiliate links should be a distant second consideration.
Use social media
Social media has been one of the most revolutionary innovations of modern times. The ability to describe a product and then promote to a worldwide audience at zero advertising cost is something marketing companies could only have dreamt about until fairly recently. Keep inviting your customers to share news of your products with their own social media base.
Expertise
The stronger your web content, the greater the sense you are an expert in your field. You should strive to be seen as the ‘go to’ blog when it comes to finding out about this particular product. The greater the sense of seniority you can generate backed up with regular bulletins about product innovations, the more likely your customers are to keep returning.