This affiliate marketing for bloggers guide answers to the top questions that many bloggers face today. Affiliate marketing is one of the top tools bloggers could make money from today. In fact, the majority of beginner blogger incomes come from such sources. The top bloggers such as Pat Flynn make up to $50K a month.
Affiliate marketing for bloggers is the first choice among beginners for various reasons. First, it is easy to implement. This means there is not much work to do except creating content and bringing traffic to your blog. For every traffic they send their way, they take care of the sales. And you make a commission.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a system where you promote other’s products and make a commission from any sales you make. Affiliate marketing for bloggers is an easy copy-paste system as well.
The process is simple. Once you register to a known product or platform that offers an affiliate program, you will get a unique URL for each product. You need to copy and paste the URL in your post. And whenever someone buys through that unique URL, you will get money.
Why Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers?
This method of affiliate marketing for bloggers is the best way of making money, even for beginners, due to a few reasons.
1- Affiliate marketing needs no inventory, store, or sales page. You don’t control the product’s end. You only worry about the traffic and send it to the product owners.
2-Most of these companies know how to sell. Once they receive the traffic you sent them, they will take care of the rest of the process. You sit back and make a commission from the sales.
3-This also means you don’t worry about refunds and bad reviews.
4- Affiliate marketing for bloggers is also a passive income. You don’t need to get involved in every process.
5- You only need to invest your time. And money if you choose to get traffic faster. This is an important point. Because other similar businesses demand a huge risk. For example, eCommerce or Amazon FBA websites spend a lot of money on products, even before selling them. Others suffer the consequence of product returns, flaws in products, and more. Even digital products are not far from this challenge.
Who is the Richest Affiliate Marketer?
There are several affiliate marketers in the world that are making a hefty amount from affiliate marketing. Some disclose their income and others don’t. Therefore, what we say is what we know. This does not mean these are the only ones on the top.
You should know that these bloggers started long ago. And it takes time and hard work to even get close to their level. Here are 3 affiliate markers that inspire you.
1- Pat Flynn
You probably have heard about his blogger. He is the one that talks about passive income from the internet. He started in early 2008 and today he makes $50K per month. 80% of his income is from Affiliate marketing. Recently he is working on podcasts and teaches passive income and affiliate marketing for bloggers.
Website: Smart Passive Income
Niche: Passive income/financial
2- John Chow
John Chow is another one on the list. He makes 40k- $50k as well. He as well started when not many were blogging. He also teaches about internet marketing, money and Affiliate Marketing for bloggers options
Website: John chow
Niche: internet marketing
3- Zac Johnson
This is another Affiliate marketer who makes a large amount of money. In fact, he currently has more than 2 million person mailing list that he uses to run his affiliate programs. He made up to 100 K per year from his website.
Website: Zac Johnson
Niche: business and internet marketing
Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers Methods
Affiliate marketing for bloggers methods? Yes. There are various ways where you can promote affiliate links.
1- Social media
This is the easiest method of promoting affiliate links. If you own social media platforms such as youtube or Facebook groups, you only need to put your affiliate links and wait for members or followers to click and buy.
If you are in photography, talk about some cameras, the pros, and cons, and suggest the best cameras. Include coupons to the product.
Not all social media are created equal. In fact, some of them such as Instagram are complex to put a link. Instagram is also changing so fast. I would not recommend this platform unless you have an established account. In that case, you will have the swipe up features where you swipe up to go to the sales page.
Affiliate Marketing Facebook
Facebook is also complex. Not all your friends see your post. The algorithms are changing fast making sales complex. However, Facebook groups are still going great. Some groups even allow direct listing of products and links.
Affiliate Marketing Pinterest
Pinterest is a great social media. Based on how it treats content, I would say Pinterest is more of a search engine for images. Unlike facebook content, Pinterest contents are not trending. these rank better with time. The click-through rate is also much better than any other social media.
Affiliate Marketing Twitter
Twitter is not a good tool at all unless you post several times a day. In my opinion, Twitter is about trends, news, and messages. Once these are out there, they have a short lifetime. They will get buried under new tweets.
2- Review Sites
Review sites have been around for a while, a method of affiliate marketing for bloggers. Reveiw sites critizies products in a single of multiple niches.
Some review sites are under the tech niche. They talk about cameras, or PC or fashion. These will test the product and write their own opinion about the product.
The possibility of hearing criticism from fellow consumers encourage consumers to buy the product. The review websites write a post that includes, description of the product, the pros and cons, and even alternative products. At the end of the post, they put affiliate links, encouraging readers, to buy.
Some affiliates in this group don’t even have an article. They only post products under a certain theme. The most fascinating one could be shut up and take my money. This website only lists funny and weird products on amazon. People visit them to buy funny but useful stuff.
The second group is with a long post. Wirecutter is another one. They review a product in a very long post before they suggest you buy it. Wirecutter has been acquired by New York times for nearly $30M.
3- Niche Blogs
Niche blogs are a bit different from review blogs. Niche blogs don’t necessarily review products. For example, a mother who talks about feeding a child can suggest the product she used in the past.
Although getting to a specific niche may limit the volume of searches, it will increase the possibility of selling. This is because anyone who reads your blog in that specific area must have an interest or a challenge. If you do a good job, you will solve their problem and make money in the process.
Niche for Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers
Niches really matter in affiliate marketing for bloggers. Some have large volume of serched, others need urgent solutions. On th eother hand there are niches that may have large volume but no ugrnet solution demand. others may be too expensive to order from the internet. So how do we pick out niche for afiliate marketing for bloggers?
There are three options: what you know, what you love and what you need to learn about.
What you know
Are you a doctor? Then you can write about health issues. Did you have any experience in health issues, then write about that. Have you ever been a mother? Then, share your story. What you know establishes expertise. This makes it a good option for affiliate marketing for bloggers.
What you love
This is tricky. This is where beginner bloggers are attracted to. I love fashion. Should I start a fasion blg? Other say, I love collecting basketball cards, should I write about one?
The reason I said this is tricky is that many people blindly jump into their passions without research. In fact, many don’t even consider they would fail only because they love the subject.
Don’t get me wrong here. Passion will take you far. But passion is not everything. I will discuss how to turn a passion into money in a bit. If you research further, what you love can also be a good choice for affiliate marketing for bloggers.
What you need to know.
What is on your mind? Is there a new passion that you want to acquire? I mentioned this as a potential for affiliate marketing for bloggers is because if you have a need to know something , there must be someone else with a similar urge.
Evergreen Niches and Hobbies
The fourth option is exploring already established niches. The health, wealth, and dating niches are profitable. These are also very competitive. So, these should be entered with caution and research.
Besides these, hobbies are also profitable. Probably one of the best for affiliate marketing for bloggers. For example, golf is a good hobby. Thousands spend time watching golf and even on the field. They may seek tutorials, or shoes, and cloths.
This is where you come in. You present them a detailed guide and offer them an option to buy.
- 16 Profitable Niche Market that Makes Money on the Internet
- A Guide to a Successful Niche that Make Money
So, Which niche should you choose? Read the above posts first. Then, decide on what people could be looking for that you have a passion and knowledge to give them.
Cooking, sewing, motorcycles, acne, boats, automotive. There are thousands of low competition and high demand niches out there.
What are Best Niches For Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers?
Not all niches are equal. Some niches have easy to sell products for affiliate marketing for bloggers other have large size and bulky parts, discouraging online buying. Some niches have a low volume of searches to be good affiliate marketing for bloggers while others have large volume of searches.
You need to research these factors and more before joining a certain niche. However, if you need an easy path to good niches, I will list the top 5 niches that easy for affiliate marketing for bloggers.
1- Money Related Niches
It is an irony that people spend money to make money. But it is in fact true. People pay too much to know the way to make money. If you have the expertise or the Knowlege in money related issues, then this may be a good niche for you.
This market includes make money online, start a blog, start a youtube account, and make money, and many more.
These niches have top-selling products including courses, website tools, email tools, and more. Money is a good opportunity for affiliate marketing for bloggers.
2- Health
Health is a serious subject. It is an urgent issue. The market is very huge and includes smaller niches such as fitness, diet, diseases, age, skin problems and much more. You need to go smaller at the beginning for a rapid success.
The fitness niche is big. Millions are looking for solutions. It is said more than a third or US adults are obese. Imagine the number. we are talking 100-200 million adults.
Health market as an opportunity for affiliate marketing for beginners. You can sell weight loss pills, gym products, shoes, food, programs, courses and much more.
This niche has been hard to enter since 2018 after the introduction of YLYM( Your life your money) by google. These need expertise or google may not trust your new site any time soon. Use social media, and post quality posts. Engage the audience.
And collaborate with experts. Show the search engines that you are to be trusted. And you are not a scam website that sells some dangerous pills for a desperate housewife. Although the discouragement, health has a big potential. If you have an interest I recommend you to be in this affiliate marketing for bloggers space.
3- Nutrition and Food
Amazingly people search for food on the internet. Cooking is a great topic for visual content as well. Can you cook? Do you enjoy it? Then create a video and visual content and post it with text. Give us step by step process to cook great food. This affiliate marketing for bloggers market is great if you have the passion and knowledge.
2-Tech
Tech is booming. Most of the top blogs out there are on tech-related subjects. The tech is changing every day. and new products and gadgets are on the market. How do you choose a product out of this chaos? What is the best phone for students? what is the best TV for a family of 7? Similar questions are indicators that the person is ready to buy.
The sale of the subject and the vast quantity of products should encourage you to join this market. The tech market is the best for affiliate marketing for bloggers.
Travel
Travel, guides, short cuts, cheap deals. All these make tourist’s life easy. Anyone who travels somewhere else for the first time would prefer to know more before they do. Create a guide for them with valuable content and tips.
The affiliate include, e-books, guide courses, cheap deals and more.
Love and Relationship
People also would like to know how to get the girl they like, ore ven how to divorce without much drama. These extremes need tips and advice from someone who has done their homework. You can read more, or even share from experience from these topics.
You will find courses, mind-calming tools, eBooks, and much more to promote as an affiliate. A relationship is a good affiliate marketing for bloggers.
Fashion
Fashion is another niche that is good for affiliate marketing for bloggers. The market gets large traffic, and the visual conten is also inspirtin gfor many young demographic. If you work on youtube and pinterest and if you date to be unique, you will surly get attention easily.
Beauty products are not hard to find. Amazon’s affiliate program seems to be the option here.
Self Help
The self-help niche is hard to get into. Unlike the other niches, it demands you to be the face of the blog. What have you achieved? What makes you qualified to tell me to take a certain path in life? Even in the health niche, you could talk from what you read. Self-help and self-improvement may need a real-life experience.
That is not always the case thou. You still can learn from books and other sources and document your progress. You can share what you have learned, and how people how to do it too. You can interview people to get more traction.
Books and courses are big for affiliate marketing for bloggers in this niche.
These are one of the top affiliate marketing for blogger niches. These are not the only ones. If you are not interested in these niches, then you still can explore further down into sub-niches. Or research more on your choice. For inspirations, use this website.
What is the Process of Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers?
Planning, Branding and Acquiring
A brand is necessary for affiliate marketing for bloggers. In fact, people do not buy from brands that they barely know. that is why top brands still advertise paying millions every year. They are staying relevant and they are increasing brand recognition.
If you plan to go for a long time, you need to build a brand, and a one time money machine.
So, how do you build a brand? The brand is not about logo and color. In fact, it is not about the structure of your website or the size of your office. Branding is how people see you.
What do you think about an apple? Simplicity? Quality? What about Samsung? Whatever you think about these gadgets was once designed by some marker. Nothing comes suddenly in these companies. It ha passed many ideas concepts, sleepless nights, and millions of dollars to get your attention.
What are you planning to do about your brand? The good news is you don’t need to waste a lot of money to get attention. Even if the competition is much higher than it was a decade ago, the opportunity is greater if you work harder.
First, create a good logo. Make it simple. Let people get you on the first look.
Make your name simple. Don’t use numbers and symbols. Use only .com domains.
- Domain Name 101: How to Choose a Great Name for Your Blog
- A simple (but best) guide How to Pick a Domain Name
- How To Find Best Blog Name Ideas That Matter Beyond 2020
Getting attention is key. In fact, the more traffic your website gets, the more you will make money. So, how do you get continuous traffic without sacrificing your budget and your time?
3- Create your Blog with WordPress
Once you get your name and hosting, now create a simple blog. Affiliate marketing for bloggers can not work without a blog. One, it will help you create a destination for readers. Then it will make you a brand and people trust these with something to show.
WordPress is probably the best option here. It is simple and free. You will get solutions to your answers very fast. Most plugins are also free.
4- Content
Business is about value. It is not about the glitters and the hustle. If you don’t have something to offer, there is not need for any one to visit your shop. It is simiar to online business. Unless you have some thing to solve, you probaly wong get a good traffic.
Today, the war is about good content. Ask search engines any question you have you will get thousands of responses, if not millions. Search using the keyword ‘coffee mug’, 267 million results come up.
How would you compete if you are in such a niche? What makes you different to go above the noise? Branding? Maybe not. Branding is overrated. The logo won’t make it. Pay for traffic? Definitely not. For how long you would advertize? How much can you afford to compete with websites that pay millions every year for Ads?
Instead, do this. First, be valuable. Create good content. Preferably, long and detailed. Pinpoint problems that your readers have. Don’t write nonsense. Write a solution. For example, in the example I raised ‘coffee mugs’, why would anyone type of coffee mugs?
For many reasons, actually. boredom, inspiration, gift ideas, art, looking at new kitchenware. Many more. Find out that. Our client is the one who can pay and is willing to pay.
Therefore, use long keywords. Long-tail keywords are longer than the usual. ‘cheap coffee mug’ is longer and more detailed than just ‘coffee mug. But long-tail keywords are even longer. ‘Best cheap mug for wedding gifts’ is longer. By this, you minimize the results, therefore, the competition. For a detailed result, read the link below. It will teach you how to find the best keywords, avoid competition, and rank faster.
Then write for value, not for traffic alone. If the value is good content, then give them one. Do their assignment. Research and give them step by step. Take a risk and test the water for them. Be the end guy. Then you will win.
5- Marketing and SEO
Once you have ample content on your blog, you need to prepare the search engines to notice you. This means you need to make sure your content is on top for the years to come.
This is why ads may not work much. Unless you are found organically, you may have to work on Ads every time.
1- Use SEO to optimize your posts. SEO helps you rank on search engines.
- What Is SEO Mean? How To Rank Your Website For Maximum Traffic
- What SEO Is: A Complete Guide to SEO
- The Basics of SEO: Beginner’s Guide to SEO Success
- SEO: How to Build Links Easy for 2020 and Beyond
- What is SEO? A Simple Guide to Search Engine Optimization
- Link Building in SEO
- SEO 101: Three Things you Should Know to Win on Google
2-Create Youtube and Pinterest account and share your work.
How do you Promote Your Content?
There are various ways to promote your affiliate product.
1- Review a product. Buy the product or borrow the product and try it for your self. Then give them an honest review of the product.
Unbox therapy is an example. The channel review new and existing products. It gives an honest opinion. See one video below. If you look in the description of the video, you will find affiliate links that ask you to shop.
2-Create Tutorials– Produce step by step guide on a certain topic. How to tie a tie for weddings. How to make a coffee at home. This of course depends on your niche. Once you create the tutorial, tell people to buy the product you are promoting, in the description.
3-Review article in your blog post– include pros and cons, and your final recommendations.
4- Post on social media– This could be a great way of traffic. Don’t be spam. Only share your article and videos to the people who need them.
5- Advertise – Facebook Ad is not that expensive. These may not bring you much difference with small budge. However, this could boost your traffic. Grow your email list using a landing page. Tell visitors to opt-in to download in exchange for their email.
Join Affiliate Networks.
Now you prepare your blog for search engines. You have done most of the work. You have ample traffic. If not, be patient. It takes time to get traffic. 6 months or more.
Apply to affiliate networks in your niche. The affiliate networks have hundreds of different websites with their own affiliate offers. These networks will help you to control all the affiliates in one admin.
This means, instead of going to every website to make sure they need affiliate, or instead of going to individual websites and sign in, the networks will give you an option to use their to access all these affiliate offers.
Click bank is an example. It is an affiliate network with hundreds of digital products. When you sign in to ClickBank, you will have an option to use a simple code to advertise a product of your desire without worrying much about each company. Clickbank updates your fees, answer your questions, show you your analytics, and more. They are the middlemen.
The most known affiliate marketing for bloggers: Amazon Associates, CJ, ClickBank, Shareasale, and Rakuten.
Do not sign up for everyone. Choose one or two and specialize in them.
The second option is to use your niche name and the word affiliate in serach engines. For example, ‘sewing+affiliates’
Make your research and make your decision. Consider, how much they pay you, is the product easy to ship or is the product only digital product( digital is better than shipping), do they have good content and marketing tool?
What is Next?
Now you have understood the Affiliate marketing for bloggers. You know how to get attention from social media and other sources. You even learned which niche to enter and how to dominate the affiliate marketing for bloggers.
How do we get the first boost as fast as possible? Ads are a great way of getting fast traffic? Adwords, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads are affordable and could get you good traffic.
- Start with 5 or 10 dollars a day and promote your page where your affiliate links are to promote a landing page with downloadable materials.
- The purpose of Ads should be to get an audience that you keep for future relations.
- Make sure your Ads are specific, although these may incur more money, but not too specific.
- Trial and error are better in the beginning. Create different ads and test them.
- Stop Ads that do not perform well.
- use a daily budget, instead of throwing certain money to the Ads and wait for results. It is easier to manage.
- The Ad platforms are smart, these handle your Ads for better performance. Facebook even reports on the performance with recommendations.
Finally, Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers
Affiliate marketing is the best option to make money as a blogger. If you follow the steps, you will surely get there. But one thing you should know is that affiliate marketing for bloggers is not an easy process.
In fact, if you don’t work hard on your blog, you probably won’t make it. This should not discourage but many fail. You need to work hard to solve other’s problems before you make money.
Forget about passion, only focus on what makes you money. The proven niches are the basics. You need to check if your niche is under these categories. If not how do you plan to make it an urgent problem? Or how do you plan to solve a problem?
Use SEO and social media to boost traffic. Create a landing page and get an email. the next process would be easier. Affiliate marketing for bloggers is the best way to make money.
