Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. When you make a purchase though the affiliate links the owner of Create A Great Blog may receive a commission. Full disclosure here.
Imagine you are in a room with 25 people who came to hear you speak on a subject. Now image 1,000 people went to your blog post to read what you had to say. Or 2,000 people listened to your podcast, or 5,000 people watched your Youtube video.
Affiliate marketing is when a company gives you a custom link to promote their product or service. The link includes tracking, and when someone make a purchase through the link, you can earn a commission. Affiliate marketing has been around since the 90s, and most brands have an affiliate program. Visit a company’s website that you are interested in to see if they have an affiliate program.
A percentage of people who see your link will be interested and make a purchase. It’s a numbers game. There are 3 main platforms that you can use to make money with affiliate marketing.
- Blog
- Podcast
- YouTube
Blog
A blog is a website with frequently updated text posts, written in a conversational style. For a history on blogging go here.
If you have ever searched Google looking for a recipe, you have probably clicked onto a blog. Or, any time you have looked for a How-To or DIY tutorial, you have probably clicked on an affiliate marketing site.
One really cool thing about blogging is that you can edit your blog posts. Bloggers often update their old blog posts with new information to keep them relevant. If you look at Sally’s Baking Addiction, at the top of the blog posts you will see “updated by” and and the last date it was updated on.
The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. Other popular platforms are: Blogger, Tumblr, Substack, and Medium. Most bloggers who blog to make money self-host their blogs and use WordPress software from WordPress.org.
Note: WordPress.com is for a hosted blog which means they host the blog and use WordPress software and you get a domain name ending in wordpress.com.
Start A WordPress Blog:
- Choose A Niche (something that you know a lot about or want to write a lot about)
- Hosting: This blog is run on Bluehost. This should run around $50 for the first year for the basic plan.
- Domain: Pick a good domain name. When you sign up for Bluehost hosting, they will give you a free domain for the first year.
- Install WordPress: You can install the software in your Bluehost account with a click of a button.
- Choose A Theme: WordPress has a lot of free themes you can choose from or you can purchase one.
SEO:
- Create your articles around keywords. Research long-tail keywords that you can rank for. For example, you might use this KW Finder to look for keywords with 150-1500 searches per month with low competition. Look at the results on Google Autocomplete to find relevant keywords and the search intent of the users. Also, look at the words that are in bold to find out which words are important to Google.
- Write at least some longer and detailed articles. The top 10 results on the front page of Google have more than 2,000 words (Optinmonster). Google wants comprehensive articles, not one little part of the puzzle or bits and pieces.
Next Steps:
- Sign up for Google Analytics to see your traffic. This is the tool that most Ad Agency’s want to see for blog statistics.
- Set up the Google Search Console submit your site so you can index your blog.
- Use multimedia. Readers love photos, images, graphics, icons, charts, emojis, etc. It really helps to paint a picture.
- Promote your blog on the social platforms that your audience uses. Pinterest is really good for lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and food blogs a women audience.
Into The Gloss is a beauty blog where they interview people on their beauty routines and link the products that they use.
Gear Lab tests and reviews outdoor gear and equipment, and posts affiliate links to purchase the products.
Running Shoes Guru reviews a wide variety of brands of running running shoes for men and women, and uses affiliate links to the products.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither are great blogs.” -Margaret Bourne
Podcast
A podcast is an audio file filled with conversational dialogue. Podcasting has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. You have probably heard of The Joe Rogan Experience. The bare minimum to get started is your phone and some conversational skills 😉
- Choose a niche
- Record on a device
- Edit your audio file
- Publish to a platform
Ways To Record:
- Smart phone
- Tablet
- Computer (you can use your webcam or OBS)
Editing Software:
Platforms:
- iTunes
- SoundCloud
- Spotify
- Stitcher
- YouTube
Additional Costs:
- Mic: a good mic cost ~$100 on Amazon can really improve the sound quality
A Few Examples:
The Not Alone podcast with Valeria Lipovetsky posts affiliate links in the description.
the less shiddy show by Joe Lee and Ryan Dexton includes affiliate links in the description.
“Podcasting is a great way to share your ideas and knowledge with the world.” -John Lee Dumas
Youtube
Youtube is the most popular video sharing platform on the internet. It is great for affiliate marketing. You can make short form and long form videos, and put an affiliate link in the description. People go to YouTube for: entertainment, to learn something, How-To and DIY tutorials, reviews, etc..
- Write good titles and descriptions. Include keywords that your audience is searching for.
- Include keywords. This is important so that the right people who want to watch your videos can find them!
- Use good thumbnails. They should entice people to click on them.
- YouTube is free to use.
Jane Williamson, aka Jane Insane, makes lifestyle themed videos about being a Utah mom. She makes shorts and long-form videos, and has affiliate links in her descriptions from Amazon, Like It To Know It, Free People, and Urban Outfitters.
Bailey talks about her Etsy shop and subscription based website that sells tumbler wraps and PNG graphics. Some of Bailey’s affiliate links include: Kittl, Bulk Mockup, Creative Fabrica, MyDesigns, and Amazon.
Kaeli Mae has a TikTok account where she shares short-form videos as well as a Youtube channel where she makes long-form videos. She makes ASMR videos about home and life and is in the Amazon Associates program. She links her Amazon storefront where you can purchase items seen in her videos.
“The beauty of YouTube is double the effort isn’t double the views, it’s like 10x.” -MrBeast
Affiliate Marketing
Popular High Paying Affiliate Marketing Programs With Commission Rates:
- A2: $55 – $125
- Active Campaign: 20% – 30%, reoccurring
- Adobe: 85% of one month subscription fee, 8.33% of an annual subscription plan
- Bluehost: $65+
- Canva: 80% for the first two months of a monthly plan, 15% one time for an annual plan
- Cloudways: up to $125
- Coursera: 15% – 45% on eligible purchases
- FlexJobs: $12 per eligible subscription
- Fiverr: 5% – 20%
- Grammarly: 20% on premium subscriptions
- Lead Pages: up to 50%, reoccurring
- Namecheap: 20% for domain registration or transfer
- Semrush: $200, $10 for every free trial
- Shopify: $150 for every qualified purchase
- Skillshare: 40%
- Squarespace: $100 – $200
- Teachable:up to 30%
- Thrive Themes: 35%
- Trip Advisor: 50%
- QuickBooks: up to 10%
- Upwork: 70%
Online Retail Affiliate Programs With Commission Rates:
- AliExpress: up to 9%
- Amazon: 1% – 20%
- ASOS: up to 6%
- Ebay up to 4%
- Etsy: 4%
- Lululemon: 5% – 20%
- Nike: up to 11%
- Nordstrom: 1% – 11%
- Overstock: up to 3%
- Sephora: up to 5%
- SHEIN 10% – 20%
- Target: up to 8%
- TJ Maxx: 7.2%
- Ulta: usually 2%
- Walmart: around 4%
Popular Affiliate Networks And A Few Well Known Brands:
- Awin (Elementor, Fiverr, Lead Pages, Burton Snowboards)
- Flex Offers (Acorns, Ancestry, Coursera, QuickBooks, PayPal, Semrush, Wayfair)
- Impact (Airbnb, Bluehost, Squarespace)
- Partner Stack (Looka, Hive, Moosend, Todoist)
- Partnertize (StubHub, Tarte, Chewy, Expedia)
- Rakuten (Udemy, Macy’s, Hulu)
- Share A Sale (Grammarly, Namecheap, Talkspace)
Where To Put Your Affiliate Links + How To Hide Them
You can put your affiliate link in the description of a video, in the caption of a photo, in a blog post, in a banner, in a clickable photo, or on a web page such as LinkTree.
Affiliate links look different than a regular URL, and you may want to hide them.
You can create an anchor link using HTML to link your affiliate link in text. For example, this blog post contains an affiliate link for Bluehost using an anchor link. When you click on the link above, it takes you to a separate page.
In HTML, an anchor link looks like: <a href=”Insert your URL here“>Insert Your Text Here</a>
Disclose Affiliate Links
It is important to disclose your use of affiliate links as per the Federal Trade Commission. For example, at the top of this blog post you will see: Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. When you make a purchase though the affiliate links the owner of Create A Great Blog may receive a commission. Full disclosure here. Read up on the FTC’s guidelines to make sure that you are following their rules.
Tips
- Calculate how much you want to make in a day, a week a month, and then figure out how many sales you would need to achieve that. Sure, higher paying affiliate programs are competitive, but there is always a way to put your own spin on things and do something different. Also, although Amazon has commissions, it is one of the most trusted companies, and it can still add up if you have volume.
- It usually takes more blog post and videos than you would think to gain traction. If you do not have the skills, you have to develop the skills. Remember, you get faster at something the more you do it.
- Pick a routine, whether it is 1 really good piece a week, or 2 a week. And post consistently.
- Aim for your first post, then 10 posts, then 100. Continue until it is profitable. Don’t give up!
- Quality is absolutely king. Most people’s views and money comes from a few of their posts. The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, says that 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes.
Things To Consider
Blogging, podcasting, or making videos are all great avenues for affiliate marketing! Which platform do you feel like you can add the most value to? What one fits your personality the most? The important thing to remember is to just begin 🙂
Additionally, if you want to do affiliate marketing, but do not want to start a blog, Linktree and Stan Store are other options to host your affiliate links. For example, you could promote your affiliate links on TikTok or Instagram with videos, and then include your Stan Store in the bio with your affiliate links.
Never stop learning. Set short term and long term goals and track your progress! Remember, 20 years ago there was less information out there, but people still found a way through trial and error and evolving.
Also, if you must compare yourself, compare your first posts to their first posts. Use the Wayback Machine to go back and look at someone’s first posts. Good luck!
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