9. Combine with other Income Streams
Affiliate programs and advertising programs are not mutually exclusive. There are more than a few people who think that affiliate linking will take the focus off their Adsense ads. While there is indeed potential for one to take the focus off the other there is also a real chance for both to work hand in hand as different readers are prone to respond to different approaches. You should consider the impact that your affiliate links have on other streams of income - but do not let that stop you from employing them.
10. Track results
Most affiliate programs have at least some type of tracking or statistics service that will allow you to watch how effective your links are. Some of these services are better than others but most will at least allow you to see what is selling and what is not. Watching your results will help you plan future affiliate efforts. Keep track of which positions for links work best, which products sell, what wording around links works well, etc. and use all the information that you can get your hands on as you work to plan future affiliate strategies.
11. Build A Network Before You Need It
Probably the most important thing I have learned about affiliate marketing is that it works best the bigger and stronger your network is. As you may recall, in my first list I mentioned that ‘traffic levels are important’ - which is true, but connected to it is your ‘network’.
Whether it be your loyal blog readers and subscribers, your email list, your Twitter connections, your Facebook or MySpace friends or some other social network - the better and bigger your network the better you will do at driving affiliate sales.
It is not just about size – Although important, the size of your network is only part of what I am talking about here. Equally important is the depth of relationship you have with your readers/network and the amount of trust they have in you. If you have consistently helped people and been useful to them over a long time they are generally more inclined to respond favourably to your recommendations.
Relevance/Focus counts - Another key element of your network is its relevance to the topic that you are doing promotions on. For example – you may have heard of or seen some people on Twitter running competitions to build their follower numbers in a way that just brings in any follower they can get. The problem with this is that they end up with a very large but unfocused network. I recommend having a smaller network of people who all share one interest than a larger one comprised of “friends” who just signed up to get a prize.
Finally, a network takes time to build - If you think that you will be doing some sort of affiliate marketing at some point in the future then it would be a good idea to start building your network now, before you need it. This gives you time to build the depth of relationships and the trust and focus of your network, before you begin promoting affiliate products to your online friends.
12. Try different Mediums
I have already alluded to the fact that promotions work differently on different mediums, but it is worth mentioning once again.
For example: Some affiliate promotions seem to convert best in a blog post, others work best when you send an email to a list you have been building, while still others seem to take off on Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites.
The key is to try different approaches as you go along, to have build up your network before you need it (see 3. above) and to track the results for each promotion so you can check what is and what is not bringing in money.
13. Multiple Promotions of the Same Product
If you write a single blog post promoting an affiliate product you will have a certain percentage of readers buy the product (the percentage varies a lot). If you are able and willing to follow that up with a different type of post a few days later it can reinforce the promotion.
The following is a good way to go about this:
- Blog Post 1 - a post announcing a new product, giving some benefits, explaining who the product is relevant for,and so on.
- Blog Post 2 - a post a few days later in the form of an interview with the person or company behind the product - exploring why it was made, expanding upon what it includes and what accessories are available (if any), who it is intended for, etc., thereby giving the product context. You should try to include some tips or suggestions for readers who do not buy the product as well so that it will become a useful post for everyone.
- Email List - later in the week email out the subscriber list, linking to the previous posts and reinforcing the promotion.
- Tweets or other Followups – You could also include a few Tweets about the promotion throughout the week and should consider a third blog post a week or so later – perhaps including some reader reviews of the product.
It is important not to spam your network but to find interesting and useful ways to draw attention to the product several times over a week or two so in order to reinforce it and give those who need a little more time to make a decision the opportunity to buy the product.
14. Bonuses really Work
There are a lot of techniques that internet marketers use to increase sales of their products. Some of them may seem a little ‘cheap’, ‘nasty’ even, but many do work. Two of the least offensive and/or manipulative techniques work with the promise of added value. There are two easily manageable ways for adding value to the affiliate promotion: you can make the offer more attractive by adding a bonus of your own or you can ask the person/company behind the product to offer a special bonus or discount just for your readers.
Everyone who has ever tried this will tell you that conversions are significantly higher.
15. It takes Time
A point I keep on stressing and that may be familiar to you is that making money from blogs (through any method) takes time. While an affiliate program does have the potential to make you a huge amount of money very quickly - it almost always comes only after you have done a lot of work and spent a lot of time and effort on building and maintaining your network.
The early days of building your network may see very little - if any - results. I earned very little from affiliate marketing in my first nine or ten months of blogging but after that it has really begun to take off - partly as a result of getting smarter with the my promotions and partly because my network grew in size and quality.
16. Timing is Essential
One of the things I have learned over the last couple of months is just how much difference there can be in the rate of sales at different times of the day and week. It can vary depending upon the location of most of a blog’s readers but generally sales will go up significantly during business hours in the region most of your readers reside in and on weekdays. Not really surprising, is it?
This information translates to promoting products: Unless the product happens to focus especially upon the type of people surfing the web on weekends or late at night you will want to time your promotions to those times of the week (and the day) that your target audience is online. And - avoid public holidays.
The first installment of tips can be found here.
