First of all apologies for not being able to post during the last two weeks. I normally post every Tuesday when both my kids are at school, giving me a bit of extra time to write here, but the last two weeks were absolutely crazy. I still have a lot on my plate but I have this unfinished business to take care of first. So, here I am with my next post with tips of how to monetize your blog through affiliate marketing.
In my previous posts, I have been emphasizing a lot on how useful it can be to create a blog for anyone, but it especially helps if you are a freelance writer. It not only gives you a space to share your thoughts, knowledge and expertise with others, it also gives you an opportunity to practice your writing skills. What's even better is that you can earn through your blog! That's an added bonus, isn't it?
When you put your resources such as time, energy, research and writing skills to create an informative and amazing blog for your readers out there, it surely helps them but you deserve to be rewarded for it too. Don't you?
Last week, I talked about how you can use advertising tools such as Google Adsense to generate a bit of revenue. This week's blog will be all about using affiliate marketing as a tool to monetize your blog. While I am writing this, I am totally new to affiliate marketing myself. However, I have been doing a lot of research on it during the last few weeks and have come up with some useful information to share with you all. I will be trying it out in my future blog posts and keep you in the loop of how it is working for me. Until then, let us start with the basics:
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and best ways to earn a bit of extra income through your blog or website. You basically became an affiliate of a product or service and earn commissions on sales that you make by advertising or recommending that product/service to your readers.
Now, if signing up for becoming an affiliate for each one the product or service individually sounds a bit daunting, there's an easier way out. You can sign up for affiliate programs. Some of the best known affiliate programs are: TerraLeads, ClickBank, ShareaSale and Amazon Associates. These are only a handful of them. There are many others out there you can sign up for. All you need to do is sign up for them and they send you you special links that can put on your website or blog.
What happens next is what brings you the money. Here is how it works: each time one of the visitors on your blog or website clicks onto the link you have put on your website or blog to make a purchase, you earn a commission on it. Simple, right?
Does that sound any good to you? If yes, read on see how to make it work for you.
As I have already emphasized in my previous post, if you haven't got a blog already, now is the time create one and start posting high quality content that will attract visitors. You can create one on Blogger like I have. It is the simplest and easiest way to get started. Wordpress is another very popular option.
Once your blog is all set up, start posting quality content on it as frequently as you possibly can. Build an audience- by that I mean people who would like to read and follow your blog.
Once it is well-established (give it some time, a few months or even a
year, it doesn't happen overnight) and you have a good following, it's time to monetize it by
advertising on it or using affiliate marketing. To find out more about
how advertising can generate revenue for you, you can read my previous
post by clicking here.
When it comes to affiliate marketing on your blog, you either sign up to become an affiliate for an individual company or many different ones, or sign up with an affiliate platform like Amazon Associates or the ones I talked about above. You can do both, if you like.
If you do it for one company, you can only promote that company or advertise its products or services and earn commissions on the sales you make through such promotions. Just Google up the company's name along with the word 'affiliate' or 'affiliate program' in the search engine and see if you can find their affiliate program. Say, for example, my blog is all about writing and I want to become an affiliate for one of the freelancing websites out there, I will type in the search engine: ' Freelance writing affiliate' or 'Affiliate program for freelance writing' and play around these keywords to see what comes up. From my experience, using quotation marks around your specific niche (freelance writing, in this case) helps get more accurate results.
On the other hand, when you sign up with an affiliate network, your options are unlimited. You can promote any products or services that are offered by all the companies that, that particular network represents.
Signing up to affiliate networks is pretty simple and straight forward. In fact, it's only a matter for a few minutes.
3. Linking the Affiliate Links to Your Blog
After your application has been successfully approved for becoming an affiliate for a company or affiliate network, you’ll be allowed to create affiliate links and copy paste them on your website or blog.
Now, how you use these links depends entirely on you. You need to be clever to embed them into your content. Again following the example of freelance writing, say I want to promote a freelancing platform, say Fiverr, I write a review about the platform and recommend it to others. Each time I use the name Fiverr, I just embed the link in the word Fiverr itself.
Likewise, I could promote an app that would make freelance writing easier or a book with some pro-tips on writing or becoming a successful writer. Each time, one of my readers would click onto those links to make a purchase, I will be earning commissions. Isn't that cool?
1. Make sure you only promote products and services you have used, are using or are confident about using yourself. Do not unnecessarily lose your readers' trust by promoting services or products that are no good to you or them.
2. Let your users know you are promoting a product or service to earn commissions. Again it is all about building your readers' trust. Be totally transparent and let them know that clicking on so and so link and making a purchase will help you earn a bit of extra cash too. Many will do it just as a gesture of goodwill as you have been so kind to provide them with great value content for free.
3. Do not fluff your posts with lots of affiliate marketing links. Nobody likes that!
In my previous posts, I have been emphasizing a lot on how useful it can be to create a blog for anyone, but it especially helps if you are a freelance writer. It not only gives you a space to share your thoughts, knowledge and expertise with others, it also gives you an opportunity to practice your writing skills. What's even better is that you can earn through your blog! That's an added bonus, isn't it?
When you put your resources such as time, energy, research and writing skills to create an informative and amazing blog for your readers out there, it surely helps them but you deserve to be rewarded for it too. Don't you?
Last week, I talked about how you can use advertising tools such as Google Adsense to generate a bit of revenue. This week's blog will be all about using affiliate marketing as a tool to monetize your blog. While I am writing this, I am totally new to affiliate marketing myself. However, I have been doing a lot of research on it during the last few weeks and have come up with some useful information to share with you all. I will be trying it out in my future blog posts and keep you in the loop of how it is working for me. Until then, let us start with the basics:
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and best ways to earn a bit of extra income through your blog or website. You basically became an affiliate of a product or service and earn commissions on sales that you make by advertising or recommending that product/service to your readers.
Now, if signing up for becoming an affiliate for each one the product or service individually sounds a bit daunting, there's an easier way out. You can sign up for affiliate programs. Some of the best known affiliate programs are: TerraLeads, ClickBank, ShareaSale and Amazon Associates. These are only a handful of them. There are many others out there you can sign up for. All you need to do is sign up for them and they send you you special links that can put on your website or blog.
What happens next is what brings you the money. Here is how it works: each time one of the visitors on your blog or website clicks onto the link you have put on your website or blog to make a purchase, you earn a commission on it. Simple, right?
 |
| Amazon Associates is one of the best known affiliate programs out there |
Does that sound any good to you? If yes, read on see how to make it work for you.
1. First Things First
Once your blog is all set up, start posting quality content on it as frequently as you possibly can. Build an audience- by that I mean people who would like to read and follow your blog.
2. Monetize Your Blog
When it comes to affiliate marketing on your blog, you either sign up to become an affiliate for an individual company or many different ones, or sign up with an affiliate platform like Amazon Associates or the ones I talked about above. You can do both, if you like.
If you do it for one company, you can only promote that company or advertise its products or services and earn commissions on the sales you make through such promotions. Just Google up the company's name along with the word 'affiliate' or 'affiliate program' in the search engine and see if you can find their affiliate program. Say, for example, my blog is all about writing and I want to become an affiliate for one of the freelancing websites out there, I will type in the search engine: ' Freelance writing affiliate' or 'Affiliate program for freelance writing' and play around these keywords to see what comes up. From my experience, using quotation marks around your specific niche (freelance writing, in this case) helps get more accurate results.
On the other hand, when you sign up with an affiliate network, your options are unlimited. You can promote any products or services that are offered by all the companies that, that particular network represents.
Signing up to affiliate networks is pretty simple and straight forward. In fact, it's only a matter for a few minutes.
3. Linking the Affiliate Links to Your Blog
After your application has been successfully approved for becoming an affiliate for a company or affiliate network, you’ll be allowed to create affiliate links and copy paste them on your website or blog.
Now, how you use these links depends entirely on you. You need to be clever to embed them into your content. Again following the example of freelance writing, say I want to promote a freelancing platform, say Fiverr, I write a review about the platform and recommend it to others. Each time I use the name Fiverr, I just embed the link in the word Fiverr itself.
Likewise, I could promote an app that would make freelance writing easier or a book with some pro-tips on writing or becoming a successful writer. Each time, one of my readers would click onto those links to make a purchase, I will be earning commissions. Isn't that cool?
Pro Tips:
1. Make sure you only promote products and services you have used, are using or are confident about using yourself. Do not unnecessarily lose your readers' trust by promoting services or products that are no good to you or them.
2. Let your users know you are promoting a product or service to earn commissions. Again it is all about building your readers' trust. Be totally transparent and let them know that clicking on so and so link and making a purchase will help you earn a bit of extra cash too. Many will do it just as a gesture of goodwill as you have been so kind to provide them with great value content for free.
3. Do not fluff your posts with lots of affiliate marketing links. Nobody likes that!
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