How to Make More Money with Affiliate Marketing

When I first started my blog over six years ago, I hadn’t even considered monetizing it. When I made the decision to do so, I felt totally overwhelmed! In this newsletter, I am going to walk you through one of the more popular ways of earning money from your blog and social media: affiliate marketing. The best thing about this method is that you don’t need a minimum number of pageviews or followers to start earning money!

There are a number of different ways to monetize your blog: sponsored posts and social media, advertising, selling your own products and affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing can be one of the more challenging monetization strategies to implement, but if you do your research, it can be very profitable!

What is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you recommend a product through a special link and you earn a commission on the sale generated by that link. Commissions vary by merchant. A cookie is installed in the browser of the reader viewing your link (length of cookie varies) so that if they purchase during a certain time period following the initial click, you get credit for the sale.

You can share your affiliate marketing links on your blog AND on your social media channels. It’s important to be aware of certain program restrictions though. For example, you can’t use Amazon Affiliate links in emails or e-books.

Popular Affiliate Programs

There are a number of different affiliate programs you can join, and some of the more popular ones are listed below:

• Amazon Associates
• CJ Affiliate by Conversant
• Shareasale
• Target
• RewardStyle
• VigLink
• Skimlinks
• Rakuten Marketing

The Best Way to Use Affiliate Links on Your Blog

If you use affiliate links correctly, they can be a great source of income for your blog! One of the most important things to remember is to only share affiliate links for products you have used or you know your audience loves. When you blog, you want to build a trusting relationship with your reader, and nothing will ruin that faster than recommending products that are a waste of money or low quality just to make a commission!

Here are some of the best ways to incorporate affiliate links:

• Write review posts about your favorite products.
• Include affiliate links in how-to posts or tutorials. It’s helpful to link to them in a “Supplies Needed” list.
• Use affiliate links when recommending products on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
• Go back to old content (especially your most trafficked posts!) and add affiliate links.
• Create gift guides for different holidays.
• Check with companies to see if they can give you a coupon code or special deal to offer your readers through your affiliate link.

Don’t Forget to Disclose Your Affiliate Relationship!

Not only is disclosing your affiliate relationship the right thing to do according to the Federal Trade Commission, but it’s also another way to demonstrate transparency to your readers. I always disclose affiliate links at the beginning of a post by saying something like:

“This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission when you purchase items through these links, with no additional cost to you.”

Learn How to Boost Income with Affiliate Sales

If you would like more information on using affiliate links to make money from your blog, I recommend the Affiliate Acceleration E-course from Fruitful Blogging (affiliate link!). I bought this course last year, and I found it VERY helpful in navigating affiliate marketing and how to incorporate it into my blog.

If you are currently using affiliate links, how do they work best on your blog or social media channels?