Archive for Affiliate Articles
My answer as an affiliate manager is yes. You can earn revenue on your blog as an affiliate. Of course, if you think you can just start a blog and throw up some affiliate banners and the affiliate revenue will appear then you will find little success as an affiliate.
To earn revenue on your blog you will need to look at your blog from a business point of view. When I say this to bloggers who come to me about working with me as an affiliate partner, the most common reply is that they are concerned that they will have to give up the creativity or the quality of their writing.
I will say that if you are not prepared to adjust your writing to consider SEO and relevancy for the affiliate programs you will likely earn LESS revenue as an affiliate compared to those who do.
To become a successful affiliate, or to earn ad revenue on your blog you will need to look at your blog as a business. Take the time to learn about online advertising it is not the same as print advertising. Learn about affiliate programs and how they work. Set some realistic affiliate revenue goals for your blog and then make changes need to reach those goals.
Here is an example; the blog OrganizedFamilies.com writes to a specific audience ‘Moms’. It then narrows it topic further to specific subject. The affiliate programs that earn affiliate revenue on that blog relate to a specific topic.
So here are some tips for bloggers wishing to earn revenue on their blogs as an affiliate;
1) Learn about SEO
2) Remember if you wish to earn revenue (affiliate OR ad revenue) you have to look at your blog as both a business and a platform for publishing your writing.
3) Hook up with some affiliate managers who know your blog audience.
4) Set realistic goals. Affiliate programs will convert but not right away and not without a bit of work.
5) Training. There is a lot of free affiliate training on the Internet. Set aside a bit of time each day for training.
6) Work. You would think it’s a given, but too often we get caught up in twittering and other time consuming internet activities. Focus more time on promoting your affiliate programs and driving quality traffic (traffic that will make purchases) to your blog and you will see more revenue.
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It’s a question I asked on a weekly basis. How do I get started as an affiliate. Here are my three main suggestions for getting started as an affiliate;
- Think about your skills and knowledge. Don’t go with the latest affiliate ‘trend’. To be a successful affiliate you will need quality content related to the affiliate programs you choose. So think about the topics you know and will enjoy writing about and become a niche affiliate in those 2-3 topics. Once you develop your affiliate skills and knowledge consider branching out.
- Come up with something unique. Your affiliate platforms (i.e blogs, ezines, newsletters, websites) should stand apart from the rest.
- Create a website. I suggest using wordpress. HostGator is a great host that offers one click wordpress installation. GoDaddy is a great source for registering and managing all of your domains in one location. Affiliate Theme is a great simple Premium WordPress Theme developed for affiliate websites.
- Select Affiliate programs: Pick a few affiliate programs that fit your site and audience. Start with a few and write your content to suit the affiliate programs. Don’t simply put up banner ads and expect sales. It will take some time for your content to spidered and your SEO strategies to start working so be patient.
- Learn about SEO: You need to know hoe to get traffic to your website. SEO doesn’t happen over night. Quality organic (unpaid) traffic to your affiliate websites takes time to build.
- Affiliate Training: I am not big on affiliate training. More important then training is spending time creating valuable content and working on your SEO. However, if you are new to the idea of affiliate training I suggest looking at: Affiliit.
Also call on the affiliate managers of the programs you are promoting to offer you affiliate training and resources. This is their job as an affiliate manager.
Guest Post by Affiliate Manager Matt McWilliams
“When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more bricklayers.” -Colleen Barrett
Are you an architect or a bricklayer?
Recently I received an interesting email from an affiliate. I tried my best to reply in detail and truly help the affiliate, but in the back of my mind I wondered if it was truly worth it.
What this affiliate wanted to know was how to go from being a newbie, which he is, to being a $100,000/month affiliate. Of course, we all want to know that, right?
What this affiliate failed to understand, and it is the harsh reality of…well, any business, is that most people don’t go from a newbie to making $100,000/month. They make $1,000/month, $5,000/month, $20,000/month, and so on.
This affiliate had a list of approximately 20 questions. He had all the best intentions in the world. He reads all the blogs and probably all of the forums, but what I often fear with affiliates like this, is that he will have a failure to actually take action!
As the great German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply!” Read More→
