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One of the most effective ways to make money as a blog writer, content creator, social media influencer, or someone who can offer real reach is to get into affiliate marketing. By getting into partnerships with brands, you can make money by being able to direct your audience towards the goods and services from those brands. However, there are varying degrees of success for those who get into affiliate marketing. If you want to be part of the upper crust of affiliate marketers, then here are a few tips you might want to keep in mind.
Develop your niche
Every successful business needs to develop a niche (or multiple, if they’re able to manage them). A niche allows you to focus on what you’re good at, and where your interests lie, as well as the audience of people who share those priorities with you. Rather than trying to catch everyone you can with affiliate partnerships with a range of brands from all manner of sectors and industries, sticking to a few key industries can help you craft a much better understanding of the content and market that you’re working with. Great affiliate-linked blogs, websites, and social media accounts typically grow out of a niche in which the affiliate marketer has a genuine passion and interest.
Find the platform that works for you
Which opportunities are available to you, and what kind of content you produce related to them, are largely going to be dependent on what platforms you decide to use as your affiliate marketing method. Blogs and interest news sites have, traditionally, been the stomping ground for affiliate marketers, but the increased range of online content consumption and interaction has changed that over the years. As such, a lot of affiliate marketers work primarily through social media channels, such as Twitter and Instagram, while others operate YouTube channels or podcasts. Some work with a mixture of multiple. Choosing which platform is right for you is largely going to depend on the audience you’re trying to reach, as well as the type of content form that you’re comfortable with working.
Create a process to create great content
You should be able to write solid content, that much should be clear. However, being a good writer isn’t always enough to help you sustain a steady pace of high-quality content that can lead to affiliate program success. There are plenty of examples of multi-step content writing plans, take the time to research them and put together the process that allows you to consistently write the content that you’re glad to put up on your website and that your affiliate partners are glad to have their links attached to.
Have plenty of content to work with already
To make sure that you’re able to offer the most attractive offers to affiliates that you want to work with, you should make sure that your blog, website, or social media account has content that is already available for them to see. Some affiliate marketing partners may have specific needs when it comes to audience numbers but, more than anything, you want to be able to demonstrate your ability to consistently write and publish content. Having pre-written pieces also allows you to demonstrate your interest in and knowledge of the market that is relevant to your potential partners, as well. Working hand in hand with the niche that you choose for yourself, your existing content should show that you’re targeting the same audiences that your client is.
Ensure the audience comes first
The aim of writing a particular post, especially one created specifically as part of an affiliate marketing program, might be to generate clicks and leads for your affiliate partners. However, when you’re actually writing the content, you should always try to keep the audience reading the post in mind, first and foremost. This means that you are writing to their needs and their perspective. A good way to ensure that your posts are audience-oriented is to ask yourself “What value does this piece have to my audience?” By asking that question, it becomes much easier to create the metrics to judge whether a post is likely to hit your audience well or have little relevance or interest to them.
Know how to spot good affiliate programs
You want to make sure that the time, effort, and thought that you put into the content that you create for your affiliate partners doesn’t go to waste. Not being picky with your partners can see you getting paid very little for that work. For that reason, you want to make sure that you’re looking at the best SEO affiliate programs for earning. What is defined as the best depends on how you’re going to work with the partners that you choose. For instance, some partners can offer a very high commission on each link or client sign-up that your content leads to, which can help you earn money from generating just a few leads, while others offer a lower commission, but longer earning agreements, such as a slice of all customer lifetime earnings from your affiliate links.
Don’t put all your eggs in one affiliate partner’s basket
With the two examples mentioned above, you might have one that sounds preferable over the other, depending on how you prefer to work and earn your money. However, the better option tends to be to pick both, where possible. Sometimes, you can find a very lucrative affiliate program that you are able to generate most of your income from. In the next few months, earnings might substantially drop from that program for one reason or another. By ensuring that you are part of a variety of different affiliate programs, you can make sure that you’re not overly reliant on one program that could change in the future. If it does change, you should have plenty of backup to keep you earning.
Know how to write different kinds of product content
As mentioned, you want to be able to consistently put out high-quality content that will attract writers and keep affiliate partners happy. However, you may find, over time, that different partners are looking for different kinds of content. To that end, you should know how to write in different formats, serving different purposes and needs of your affiliate partners. This can include product reviews and product descriptions, as well as tutorials. These each solve different purposes, from simply offering information on products, to giving insights and opinions on how they suit the needs of the reader, to instructional content designed to help readers better interface with and get the best use of the products that you’re covering. Being able to effectively write each type of content can help you maintain your appeal as a partner to a wider range of brands.
Take the time to really understand the products you’re writing about
It’s easy, if you have a decent knowledge of a specific field or industry, to start assuming that you’re able to “fill in the gaps” about the products you’re writing about. So long as you know the broad strokes and do a little research, you can write generally about the content, right? Wrong. Real insight and experience tend to shine through and be more effective at driving clicks on affiliate links, which is what earns you your money, so make sure that you actually know and have experience with the products that you’re promoting.
Track your results
The tips above can all hopefully help you write the affiliate program content that leads to success and profit. Regardless of what anyone might write, however, the best way to work what works for you and what doesn’t is to track your results and analyze them. Track your affiliate links, as well as your site (or social media) analytics, so that you can get a better idea of which pages and links perform better. Start tracking metrics across your entire experience, and you can start picking up on trends and commonalities that could help you replicate that success.
Ensure a strong ethical approach
When talking about affiliate marketing, some might assume that there is some form of duplicity involved in writing content that is purpose-made as part of an agreement with an affiliate partner that aims to end in profit for both of you. However, with affiliate disclosure statements, you can make the nature of your content clear and upfront so that your audience can take it at face value. Beyond that, you should work to ensure that your platforms are maintained with strong ethical standards, which includes avoiding any black hat SEO or marketing techniques. Naturally, you want to maintain ethical standards with how you work with your affiliate partners, as well, which should include avoiding things like fake leads and click spam in an attempt to get more money than earned.
Affiliate marketing does offer real potential to make some good money while doing what you love, whether it’s running a blog, managing a social media account, or otherwise. The tips above can help you do it even more effectively.
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