Affiliate marketing can seem like a dream come true for influencers and bloggers. You mention products and services, share links, and get a small commission when your readers click that link and make a purchase. Many new bloggers look forward to the day they can start making affiliate sales, seeing it as a mostly passive and easy income.
Unfortunately, it’s often harder than people think, and many people are disappointed when none of their affiliate links get clicked on, never mind purchased from. Some bloggers even end up going so OTT that they put their readers off, reduce traffic, lose trust, and do more harm than good, without making a penny.
Affiliate marketing can be a fantastic way to make money, but it often takes more work than you might imagine, and it can seem like a complete mystery to some. Here’s a look into some of the secrets.
Promote Products You Love
Simply slotting links into blog content and social media posts will never make many sales. Why should your readers click those links? They are far more likely to investigate something that you are promoting if you actually promote it. And it’s always easier to do this if it is something that you use and enjoy.
Make Sure You Understand What You Are Promoting
If you are a finance blogger, you might want to work with a Forex Affiliate Program. This can work well. It might not be as successful a program for beauty bloggers and influencers. Promote something that you understand, can speak confidently about, and that your readers will potentially have an interest in.
Maintain Your Credibility
When it comes to affiliate marketing, there are two significant ways that you can lose your credibility and decrease the respect and trust that your audience has for you.
The first is promoting absolutely everything. Fill your site with affiliate links, and people will quickly be turned off. It will be obvious that you’ve never used most of the products and services that you don’t know anything about them, and that you are just looking to make an easy sale.
The other way is not disclosing affiliate links. Even casual readers today are conscious of disclosure, and most would rather see an explanation of your affiliate policy and clearly marked links than be lied to.
Stick to Your Niche
You might be keen to explore other affiliate programs and look at new ways to make money. This is great. But stick to your niche. This means that your audience will always be interested in what you are linking to and that they’ll believe that you really use the products and services and that your advice should be trusted.
Know Your Audience
Get to know your audience, reply to their comments, follow them on social media, and engage with them. Pay attention to who is reading your posts, instead of just assuming that it’s your target market, and you’ll have a much clearer idea of what they want to buy.
The biggest secret is perhaps that affiliate marketing is different for all of us. Your readers won’t respond like someone else’s. The best thing that you can do is take your time, try different things, and don’t get disheartened if you don’t make a sale for a while.
