One of the best perks of my jobs is working with affiliates. I spend most of my time with content affiliates, since this is a focus on all my campaigns. Some are seasoned content affiliates, while others are professional bloggers dipping their toes into affiliate marketing. I notice that there is some key advice, I regularly give out. I want to share here in case we don’t get to chat.
Here are my affiliate content marketing top tips.
1) Know your topic. Your audience will discover quickly if you don’t truly know your topic. Don’t take that chance. Ask to review the product for great conversions and sincere copy.
If you don’t have the traffic to validate a free sample yet, ask for an affiliate sample. I know my programs have up to 50% off for valid affiliates.
2) Drop the Adsense and commit to your post. I can’t tell you how many times I see great content next to distracting side banners. Take the time and select banners that support your posts. Why spend all that effort creating compelling content only to lose your audience to another site that was not within your intention.
Both Shareasale and Avantlink have product ad widgets. You can customize the banners with only the products you are promoting.
Your banners are a reflection and representation of your brand.
3) Banners and text links. Please use both text links within your copy as well as banners. You can also use affiliate links in supporting images. Ideally you would have 3-4 affiliate links on your site with 1-2 call to action affiliate links. Be sure these links appear in the beginning, middle and end.
4) Create a Call to Action. Don’t be subtle about this, make it an obvious call to action. Ask for a short term coupon code to make it compelling. Even a simple Try It Today link, can do wonders for your conversions.
5) Video is your friend. Retail site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchase than other site visitors.* Shareasale and Avantlink both have the ability for merchants to upload their videos to your portal. You can also use Viewbix to convert any of your merchant’s videos into powerful marketing tools.
6) Your affiliate manager is a great resource. I have over 20 years online marketing experience…yes I am THAT old. Many of the affiliate managers have similar experience levels. Some are former affiliates and all have affiliate marketing experience. We are a wealth of information. It is our job to help you. So reach out and connect. We are here to make you successful.
If your affiliate manager is not a great resource, go find another program.
And one more thing about affiliate manager… be nice to us. Really, we are humans too 🙂
7) Have patience my friend. Good affiliate marketing takes time. Posts are not ranked immediately. It may take a follow up post to get the conversions you aspire. However, each successful post will build on the other. Good content marketing provides great passive income and is worth the wait.
I hope you found these tips useful. If you are in one of my programs, please reach out so we can talk in more detail. If you aren’t in one of my programs, what are you waiting for? Check out my list of merchants here.
*Comscore 2010