Affiliate marketing is big business with millions of entrepreneurs around the world creating affiliate websites doing the same thing, earning commission from products that fit their niche. Its a huge market but even so we need to know the inside secrets to get the upper hand in this business. Im going to tell you the secrets of Affiliate Marketing to keep you ahead of the game!
Affiliate marketing is a frustrating business, frustration at not making a cent in commission yet pouring your all into your niche. It’s the long game, perseverence and complete belief in your niche business and a few extra secret tips to really fine tune things will really improve. Your failure to achieve a commission is nothing you are doing wrong and simply down to not having all the affiliate tools in your tool box. But Im here to fill that gap and give you 10 secret tips that will turn the tide and bring success.
Its not necessarily anything wrong you are doing but stuff you aren’t doing and likely you’ve been told this in your affiliate marketing training but didn’t realise the significance.
Tell me what you think when you get to the end! Leave me a comment!
So let’s find out what to do to turn a good affiliate marketing business into a great one!
1. Quality Content
We all have our goals.. Write 5 blogs a week, fill it with affiliate links, bulge the site with ads, videos +++ . This is all fine and dandy and whilst content is key, QUALITY content is really what you must have. You need to create a site of trust that oozes reliable information. Content is clear, you have a presence online but to build this and attract traffic, it needs to be well written, packed with information about the product you are promoting that shows you are the lead knowledge in this field. Dont think this is the end of it either, revisiting, writing different articles about the product, posting on social media, keeping it in the picture and building quality for the product. A random review doesn’t build value, link back to it, own it !
2. There Is Life Outside Google
One of the biggest mistakes affiliate marketers make, and I am guilty of this, is to concentrate on Google. It’s true that its the biggest search engine, with over 70% of the market but don’t forget Yahoo & Bing another 18% with various others taking up the rest. And not only Google, but YouTube, LinkedIn, social media. Utilise all your opportunities. The affilate marketing business is huge, so spread yourself around! Take a look at this article on Marketing Charts, it gives great insight into what types of content generates leads that convert
3. Steer Clear Of Shiny Objects
I was warned very early on about the shiny objects that come along that tell you life will be so much better as an affilaite marketer if you only had this plugin or that template or content planner. I joined Wealthy Affiliate when I started my affiliater marketing business and my mentor warned me that these trinkets may sound like the holy grail to affiliate marketing and they’re not. Profit trickles away when you are tempted by empty promises of affiliate millions.
4. Commissions Vary
Commissions you earn as an affiliate marketer vary from merchant to merchant. Amazon is the easiest merchant to get on board with but their commission is pretty poor right now It varies on what the product is but I would honestly say that if you can find an affiliate program else where than Amazon, you are likely to pick up a much larger commission. Look for lifetime commissions ( gifts that keep on giving), usually on subscriptions – like Wealthy Affiliate. When I joined I followed a link in a blog, subscribed and have stayed ever since. The person who’s link I clicked is still gaining from my subscription even now 3 years later. Look for Affiliate merchants that offer good rates, if you can’t find one for a product, contact the manufacturer, ask for a commission!
5. Keep To Your Niche
Understand your niche, your audience and don’t muddy the waters with barely related products. It looks desperate and dilutes your experience and damages your brand. You want your audience to trust you, to come back and believe in you, so be confident in your niche, you’ve got this !
6. Do You Look Good?
Hahaha ! Well of course you do! But what about your website ? Do you good on laptop, tablet and mobile? Don’t ignore each platform. More and more users access webistes on their mobiles so make sure your site loads well and is responsive on all devices.
7. Discount Codes
Keep your eye out for discounts being offered on your affiliate products. This is a perfect sale email to send to your subscribers or at the very least a blog with posting onto social media. By making them available to your audience it shows you are constantly ‘on the ball’ with your business, the products you promote, building confidence and trust with your audience. You may find that your affiliate merchants will send you discount codes to pass onto your audience to encourage purchases.
8. Free Samples
This follows on from the previous point. Finding sites that offer free samples or free trials of your target products is another ideal advertising point. This again shows your audience that you have your finger on the pulse of affilate marketing in your niche and are alert to passing on these great offers to your audience. Keep them fresh, when they run out makes sure they’re off your site pronto! You are much more likely to get conversions with this level of detail. Take a look at this article on Marketing Charts showing that free samples and in particular free trials/loyalty programs do convert well. I know that I am always more attracted to free trials especially if I dont have to add my credit card details. It makes me try stuff that otherwise I might not have bothered. For example, Jaaxy -a keyword tool – free trial on that (first 30 keyword searches ) I went premium pretty quickly !
9. Compare/Review
Compare and reivew competing products in your niche. Reviews and comparisions are super helpful to your audience and the more experience and trust you have, the more traffic you will get. Trust in a site builds and so does traffic so do not be tempted to never find fault with any of your products. What you see as a flaw is not necessarily what your audience sees. Honesty is paramount. Never claim anything that is not true, it makes you look foolish and damages your integrity as an authority in your niche.
10. Banner Ads
Now there are some that may not agree with me here but slapping banner ads all over your website disrupts the clear reading enjoyment of your audience and will hurt you. I know how I feel on websites with them. I cant decipher where I am suppsoed to go next for the next bit of information. Up to you of course but I dont do it. I have some in the side bar, out of the way of my blog. Yes you can make money from them but audience satisfaction is more important to me.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line with affiliate marketing is perseverence. This isn’t a ‘ oh I’ll give it a month and if Ive not earned anything I’m not going to waste my time. This is for the long haul. You have to persevere and persist even when you may not have full conviction in what you are doing. In a recent film competition, the teams were set a specific set of rules for a 5 minute film – they had to include toilet paper, it be on the topic of going viral, it had to make sense and must be completed in 72 hours. Could it be done – well watch it here !
If you want to read more about affilate marketing secrets, hop over to Apple Podcasts and listen to Leo Emery talk on that subject.
Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or would like to know more about the topics raised in this blog ! Happy marketing !
The main reason why a lot of affiliate Marketers are not really progressive is that they are always stagnant and they don’t look out for useful information for their business. These tips that you have here are very helpful and they easy to understand. Is it really good to combine many niches in affiliate marketing? And how helpful is if you do?
To be totally honest, I dont think its a good idea to combine niches. This could confuse your audience and allow them to think that you are not experienced in your niche for them to take you seriously. I would advocate that if the niches cross over, then thats not so bad but you do need to be able to show you are an expert in the field.
Really good to see something like this here. To say the truth, this information is quite invaluable to me.being a beginner marketer, learning about secrets like this are things that can help to shorten my learning curve and help deliver results in time. Surely this is worthwhile to see and respect here for your efforts. Thanks for sharing here with us
Sometimes I think that as a beginner you get bogged down with so much information, it gets too much ,but to have an idea as the important factors to starting affiliate marketing must be of help. I am glad it helped you.
I have gained so much insight by reading your post alone. I have gathered experience. And putting things into perspective is important.
I started with affiliate marketing 1 month and no results. No money earned. 3 months, nothing. Half a year, nothing. I know persistence is key but how long should I wait before I switch niche. I have worked at my site for 9 months. Should I give it a full year?
Honestly it does depend from niche to niche, but it does take time. As Kyle says the day you will succeed is the day after you give up! So dont give up ! Keep persevering !
When one wants to make our something out of affiliate marketing, it is usually a good idea to look out from other sources for information on how to get better. I’ve been at affiliate marketing for over three months now and I haven’t gotten any commissions yet but now after reading your post, I see what I have been doing wrongly and I will be sure to right the wrong.
its not necessarily anything you are doing wrong, but needs time. Time is a great thing with affiliate marketing.
Hello Helen, it’s really fun when you hear other people talk about their businesses and how they have grown in business and it’s makesit makes give it a try. For me, affiliate marketing goes way beyond the will fun. I really like the mentioning of wealthy affiliate because that is one good place to get the knowledge you need
Thank you for sharing this secrets on affiliate marketing. I am an affiliate marketer and i believe this that you have shared would help a lot.These tips that you have here are very helpful and they easy to comprehend. Thank you for taking your time to provide this content to us
Thankyou Leslie, this was an interesting blog for me to write as it reinforced procedures that I follow but always good to validate. I am pleased that it has helped you.
To me , I believe if you’re going to be successful in affiliate marketing, you have to be perseverance and very patience, affiliate marketing is not a thing you do for a month or more and stop because you haven’t earned , I’m really glad to come across This article because it has to do with affiliate marketing secrets, I enjoyed reading this amazing article, it was really thoughtful of you to share.