10 Tips For Affiliated Marketing

Affiliate marketing is all about trust. So, focus on relationships first. When a friend recommends a product to you, you listen. Not so much when just any old Joe does. In fact, if you're like me, it makes you distrust.

Focus on building traffic next. More traffic means more eyeballs and therefore more people who will potentially buy the product(s) you promote.

Choose products that help your reader solve a problem or address a fear. So, You need Market Research before choose products. 

Promote products you can genuinely recommend, preferably because you've used it yourself, or because you can confidently promote it based on solid evidence that it's a good product.

Promote products you are already using. When I started this blog, it was a no-brainer to sign up as an affiliate with Bluehost since that's the hosting company I was already using myself.  Food blogger? What's your favorite cookware? Write a post about it. Craft blogger? What's your favorite crafting tool? Write a post about it.

Review your old posts and look for affiliate opportunities. Have you ever mentioned a product, perhaps in passing, that you use? Maybe you didn't even think about it at the time, but is there an affiliate program for it? Find out (just google "affiliate program [product/company]") and update those posts with your affiliate links. 

Think of what your readers will realistically buy. You have to know your audience. If your blog is mainly about living frugally, they're probably not going to buy luxury products. I know, obvious.

Think of how much your readers will realistically spend. When I was writing my ebook, I was stuck on pricing. I asked around for opinions. Surprisingly, a number of people suggested I price my ebook at $47! The idea behind this was to price according to value, not size. But in my mind it was crazy. My network was composed of a lot of stay-at-home mom bloggers, many deal bloggers and my collective audience was comprised mostly of women without a whole lot of disposable income. I knew there was no way anyone was going to pay $47 for my 30-page ebook.

Having said that, don't just promote products that don't cost a lot. If there is a truly useful product that's on the pricier side, it can still be worth the promotion even if only a few people buy it. If it's a product of exceptional quality that is truly a good investment (i.e. KitchenAid Mixer) or if it's a product that's unique, specialized or one-of-a-kind (and you've used it yourself), go for it.

Think of when your readers will realistically buy. Maybe you should avoid holidays (when people are away from their computers like July 4) or maybe you should targetholidays (like the day after Thanksgiving) but know the difference.