Awesome Ways to do Affiliate Marketing with a Website

There are a variety of ways that you can use your website to do affiliate marketing. Each of them have important considerations, pros, and cons. When you find the right one or more that is right for you, it will increase your chances of making money in your area of strength.

Blogging 

Blogs are one of the most popular ways that affiliate marketers use websites to make money. Because it is intended to be content-driven, it is easier to strike a balance between monetizing and viewer interest.

It is also a way to connect with potential customers who share a passion for your niche. A good blogger can incorporate promotion for a product or service organically into their content, which makes it a more positive experience for the reader.

However, there are some requirements that are important for making this method successful. First, you must be able to write intelligently about the blog topic.

For example, if you have no real interest in sports, then you will probably not blog well about sporting goods or team memorabilia. Books on raising children may be in high demand, but if you have no knowledge about parenting and no children, it might not make for the best blog writing.

And speaking of writing, if you have trouble writing well, having your writing flow well in its intended language, and using correct and typical grammar and spelling, the blog may not be the best method of affiliate marketing for you.

Reviews and Recommendations

People want to know how other customers feel about a product. Even in this day and age of technology and apps, word-of-mouth is still the most effective form of advertising. Because of this, using your site to write or share recommendations, reviews, or referrals can be effective.

If you have chosen a niche for which you have a passion, chances are you have already used some of the products you are promoting. That is the perfect place to start; review the products yourself.

There are some cautions to observe when using this mode as well. Copyright infringement and plagiarism are real issues, so avoid taking others’ reviews without permission. It may seem like an obvious warning, but sometimes it happens.

In addition, avoid the temptation to write “stock” reviews or pay someone to generate lots of “phantom reviews” just to get more traffic. This is actually considered black hat SEO and could get your site sanctioned.

Well-positioned Links 

There are many options for link placement on your website, but some places work better than others. When you are choosing the placement for your links, keep in mind where on the page your reader will be looking. It usually works well to put text links within a blog. Above and below posts are good places for banner ads.

This is the best way for you, as an affiliate, to use ads and links to promote your products.

For example, links throughout an article that relate to the specific product or niche being discussed would be more effective than just a banner for a general landing page. If you are reviewing a gaming system in your blog, then it would make sense to include a link to Nintendo or Xbox within the text.

Vendor Guest Posts

One of the best ways to promote a product is to have the product vendor write a guest post. You can contact the vendor and ask them to write for you within the following guidelines:

➤ The post should be genuine, well-written, and unbiased
➤ Mentioning the product is fine, but the post should not be a full on advertisement or review
➤ Make sure the product is a good fit for your blog

Use unique pages for each product

It doesn’t make sense to have one website that promotes gardening products, shoes, and graphics programs. It may save money on the front end, but it will be less likely to draw traffic and make money. Have a site focused on each of the product topics/niches with which you are working.

The Free Report

No one can pass up something free, especially if it relates to a topic or niche they enjoy. Be sure to place the report at the top of your page or in a prominent place, and create auto-responder messages that will be mailed to those visitors who sign up to receive the report.

And remember, even though you are contacting them with the hopes of eventually making a sale, it takes an average of seven contacts to do this, so don’t make your auto-responder message a flashing, high-pressure message.

Stay in Touch…Graciously

Once you have their contact information, try to make more than one contact. However, when you do, be sure that the content of your message is focused on how the product you are promoting can make life easier or more enjoyable.

Try to avoid the word “free,” because there are some older spam filters that will dump the message into the junk folder if it contains that type of content.

When you give them useful information periodically without jamming their inbox or sending messages that sound like sales pitches, you’ll be reminding them of the product and planting the seed in their minds that will keep them thinking about it.

The content should be focused on specific reasons to buy the product rather than a high pressure sales pitch or threats of what might happen if they pass it up.

Remember the Reality of Statistics

Generally speaking, 1 out of every 100 people will actually buy your product.

If you can generate 1,000 targeted hits, you are likely to sell 10 of the product. So as an affiliate, remember that your focus is traffic, leads, and referrals.

The more of those you can generate, the more people will visit the merchant website, and that is where the selling takes place.