Looking to make some passive income doing affiliate marketing? You are at the right place. Affiliate marketing is undoubtedly one of the best ways to make money online. You can find a plethora of resources on the Internet on how to make money with affiliate marketing and people making hundreds of claims - Follow XYZ tip, and you will make $$$ while you sleep. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Before you jump on the bandwagon, you need to steer clear of the fact that affiliate marketing is neither magic nor a get-rich-quick scheme! Like other online marketing techniques, affiliate marketing too involves some well-thought strategies to generate results.

If you are determined enough to put your genuine efforts into producing affiliate income, here we’ll elaborate on the exact steps that you should follow.

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Create a Website Full of Quality Content

Generally, affiliate marketers use their social media profiles or YouTube channels to promote products. However, one effective way to put your best step forward with affiliate products is to build your own website. The reason why we emphasize building a website is, you can publish high-quality informational, as well as promotional content in the blog section. The key is to provide the users with valuable content that encourages them to visit your website again and again and take an action. While you may not be able to see results overnight, you build trust and connection with the audience which goes a long way toward the success of your affiliate marketing game.

Over time, you establish yourself as an expert in the industry. You become someone that the audience look for in order to get answer or guidance on the topics you cover.

Stick to the 70-30 Rule

With the 70-30 rule we mean, focus on creating 70% informational content and 30% promotional content. For informational content, pick evergreen topics that don’t require frequent updating. You can create ‘how to’ posts or guides in order to educate readers. For promotional content, you can pick any of the following content types -

  • Product reviews
  • Product posts
  • Product comparison posts
  • Best of (product) posts
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Get Targeted Traffic to Your Website

Now that you have created a content-rich website, you want to drive people to your website, click affiliate links, and make purchases. But, where do you get visitors to your website from? Google. The reason why traffic from Google and other search engines is so valuable is, you get a highly targeted group of people to your website. Google Search lets you know exactly what a person is looking for, allowing you to create content that resonates with their interest. This way, you don’t just create content, but write something that people are genuinely looking for.

Focus on Adding Commercial & Transactional Keywords

Commercial keywords are queries through which users express their interest in a product. These keywords could be any product or brand name, like ‘Adidas shoes,’ or long-tail keywords, like ‘best Nike shoes.’ The searchers may also use words, like review or top while searching. People using commercial keywords are ready to buy, but they still need some time to gather information about a product.

On the other hand, transactional keywords are the ones that searchers use when they are the closest to making a purchase. These keywords include words, like a discount, buy, or sale.

Promote Products That Sell

Promote products that have a high conversion rate. Search for high-converting products by identifying the best solutions available in your market. Prefer promoting high-quality products from brands rather than the ones that are a bit less expensive but are not as good.

The nature of a product is an important thing to consider here. If you are promoting commodity items, you can expect a higher conversion rate. But, if you are promoting high-consideration products, people may take a lot of time to evaluate these products thoroughly. As a result, they have a lower conversion rate.

Optimize the Affiliate Links

When someone buys an affiliate product after clicking your link, you are paid an affiliate commission as already agreed. Thus, even the best of the products in your list won’t do anything good if no one clicks the affiliate link. This is why it is important to optimize your affiliate links to increase the number of people that click them.

Don’t just throw links anywhere in the content. Also, don’t flood the content with too many affiliate links, as it will affect the user experience which may turn into lost sales. Add links at appropriate places where they fit the context. Place the links early in the content as most people may not want to read the complete post. Others may skim over details while reading. The higher the affiliate link, the better it is.

Here are some more tips on optimizing affiliate links-

  • Use contextual links in the body of the content, depending on the type of copy you are writing. If you are writing product reviews, you can add a hyperlink to the first mention of the product name. If you writing a promotional blog, you can add a direct CTA with the link.
  • Add banners in the sidebar or middle of your posts.
  • Use affiliate links in your email marketing messages.
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Promote Products That People Are Actively Searching For

The key to making money with affiliate marketing is to promote products with consistently high demand. Obviously, if you want to generate money with your marketing efforts, you need to promote products that people really want to buy. As you plan to get targeted search traffic, you will automatically get an idea of the type of products people are searching for. This will also let you know about the topmost options in your niche.

While deciding on products to list on your website, keep an eye on the competition too. The more competitive the keywords; the harder it will be to rank them on your website and drive traffic. Look for products with strong demand, but manageable competition. You can leverage Google Trends to understand the level of competition in a specific niche.

To Sum Up

Understanding what people are looking for and providing them with the best quality products that match their search intent is the key to making money with affiliate marketing. The best way to kick-start your affiliate journey is to create a content-rich website, bring traffic to your site, promote affiliate offers, and get people to click these links.