May 2010 – WhosChrisHughes.com

Affiliate programs are something that we all have probably seen or at least heard of. If you haven’t, you’ve probably been living under not 1 rock, but 74 different colored rocks. I’d like to share with you my top 10 tips for using affiliate marketing on your own blog so that you can make more money. Consider Your Audience– As a blogger, you should already be aware of who your readers are and what makes them tick. No, it’s not 2 double A batteries or even a C battery, but a brain and some other organs 😉 By knowing who is visiting your blog and who your daily/weekly/monthly readers are, you can help answer questions like: Are they shopping for specific products? Might they be looking for related products or accessories? What would get them to buy? By starting with your reader in mind rather than the product, you’ll be serving your readers as well as making a few dollars on the side. Win-Win 😉Genuine Recommendations and Personal Endorsements Always Work Best- There are hundreds of thousands of products, services, and books that you can recommend to your blog readers, the problem is that it’s not as simple as randomly putting some links on your blog and hoping that someone buys. Your blog readers come back each day because something about YOU resonates with them. (For me, it’s probably my juggling skills and my ability to ride a unicycle…or maybe it’s my dashing good looks or my sense of humor? I don’t know, you tell me) Your readers have at least some level of trust and respect for you, and one of the best ways to lose that respect and trust is to try to sell your readers things that you don’t feel will benefit them.Link to Quality Products-We all like to buy the best products. Your readers are no different and are more likely to make a purchase if you’ve found the best product for them. Choose products and companies with good reputations and quality sales pages.Contextual Deep Links Work Best-It’s not all about just throwing up a banner here and hoping that people click on the stuff and buy it. Include links within your blog articles and mention these links within a video. Create a clear call-to-action.Consider Positioning of Links-One of the biggest things for Adsense optimization is placing ads in your sites “hot spots” (like the top of a left sidebar, inside content, at the end of posts above comments, etc) The same thing works for affiliate marketing. *wink wink* *nudge nudge*Traffic Levels Are Important-You need to realize that traffic levels do have an effect on how many sales you make. The more people that see your well-placed, relevant, and well-designed affiliate links, the more likely it is that one of them will make a purchase. So don’t just work on building great links, work on building a readership for your blog. I recommend joining a Tribe for this. Diversify Without Clutter-It’s just like when buying stocks or investing in anything, DON’T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN 1 BASKET! There are plenty of products to link to, so there is no need to just work on one. At the same time, you shouldn’t clutter your blog with too many affiliate program links. If you do, you run the risk of diluting the effectiveness of your links, and it could disillusion your readership.Be Transparent-Don’t try to fool your readers, unless it’s April 1st and it’s time for a good joke 😉 Trying to hide affiliate links is something that we all have learned to do. It’s something that is recommended in all the courses and something that seems 100% right to do. There’s something I like to do though which is tell people when something is an affiliate link. Try putting a note above, besides, or below your affiliate links to let people know it is an affiliate link. Your readers will appreciate it and will a lot of the times end up buying from your link because you’ve been so transparent. To learn more about being transparent in social media, check out this post; Transparency in Social MediaCombine with Other Revenue Streams-Affiliate marketing can be done along-side of adsense. While there is the potential for one to take the focus away from the other, there is also the potential for them to work hand in hand, as different readers respond to different approaches.Track Results-Not Track TEAM, but track your results. Most affiliate programs have some type of tracking or statistics package that will allow you to watch which links are effective. Some packages are better than others, but most allow you to see what is selling and what isn’t. Watching your results can help you plan future affiliate efforts. Keep track of what positions for links work well, which products sell, what wording around links works well, etc., and then use this information as you plan your future affiliate strategies. There you have it. Tips to be a successful Affiliate Marketer. Now get out there and TAKE ACTION!