Affiliate Marketing is the practice of promoting services or products of a different company or person in exchange for a resulting sale commission. It is a quick way to offer products and services without going through the lengthy process of creating your own.
The industry has been growing steadily; studies say that affiliate marketing spending is predicted to reach a staggering 8.2 Billion USD by 2022. This value is considerably higher than the previous spending reports from 2017 (5.4 Billion USD) and 2010 (1.6 Billion USD).
Similarly, another study presented the income affiliate marketers are making. According to the study survey, 9% of the publishers made more than $50,000 in 2016 through affiliate marketing.
So how does affiliate marketing work? Here is an infographic to help you better understand the process of affiliate marketing.
Dos and Don’ts of Affiliate Marketing
Even though it is such a diversified industry, there are some Do’s and Don’ts that the new affiliate marketer must remember before entering the world of affiliate marketing.
Here are the four Dos and Don’ts an affiliate marketer must take care of before entering into an affiliate program.
Dos of Affiliate Marketing
1. Conduct Your Research Thoroughly
Even though starting an affiliate marketing website is relatively easy and can be set up in a matter of minutes. However, it does not mean that you should dive into it headfirst without any prior planning. Any business that wants to succeed requires a business plan.
Figure out the products and services you want to focus on, who will be your target audience, and how these people can be reached to satisfy their needs. Make a plan on what efforts you will need to put in, how much you would like to be making and how you would want to promote links.
2. Compelling Content – Repeat Sales Customers
The most defining feature of the steady affiliates is that their website has steady traffic of people re-visiting their website. The main reason for this is that they create content engaging enough for the viewers to come back. Whether it be through a blog post, video content, or an email. As long as the content is valuable, it affirms your credibility as a reliable information source.
If you do not know how to create compelling content, here are some content marketing tips for you. When you have that credibility, it becomes easier to promote a product or service in part with an affiliate marketing program.
3. Find your Niche and Stick to It
Find a particular niche and stick to it; nobody likes a page that is confusing in itself. It will only worsen your chances, so find a specific niche and stick by it. Furthermore, when entering into an affiliate marketing program, try to cater the product according to the audience you have built your niche for. When affiliate programs are built that do not suit the audience, they do not experience high sales volumes.
Focusing on the relevant products makes it easier for quality referrals due to the overlap between the audience and the product you are promoting. Therefore, find a particular specialty of yours and stick to that.
4. Relevant Content with Relevant Links
Before moving towards relevant content with relevant links, affiliate marketers need to understand that overcrowding the content with the brand name is neither enough nor effective. The brand’s name must be hyperlinked with an affiliate link so that the audience does not have to scroll to the bottom of the page or send an email to find a clickable link. Getting credit for customer referrals requires links for them to click on.
65% of the traffic generated by affiliate marketers is via blogging. Therefore, an affiliate marketer must make navigation easy for the readers to the brand’s site by an affiliate link.
Don’ts of Affiliate Marketing
1. Avoid Spamming
Many new affiliate marketers make this mistake, posting irrelevant content that ultimately results in high traffic but lower conversion rates. Many affiliates will not even realize that they are spamming content on their website until it is too late.
When maintaining a steady flow of repeated traffic to your site, avoid posting any content that can be considered ‘spam.’ Any irrelevant content from what you write about will ultimately brand you as a spammer. In the worst-case scenario, companies might hesitate to work with you or even remove you from their affiliate marketing program.
Spamming might drive high traffic to your platform; however, it becomes irrelevant if no sales are achieved.
2. Never Provide Superficial Information
Every company uses phrases such as, “Our product provides you with the best there is.” This information is superficial, and every company says a similar thing. What you have to find is what you have that they do not. What sets you apart from the other competitors in the market?
The readers coming to your blogs will not be interested in the stuff that they already know. A blog containing superficial information about a product is as good as dead. No reader wants to waste their time; what will attract and pull them is what sets them apart from others.
Dive into what our product is all about, and collect relevant information before writing about the product.
3. Do Not Focus Only on the Sales
It is pretty evident that the reason you are doing affiliate marketing is to earn money. However, keep in mind that even though everyone sells, nobody likes or enjoys the feeling of being sold. Many customers get frustrated when all they want to do is shop around, and someone keeps pushing the products on them.
Even though promotion is imperative, keep in mind the content that gets your readers coming back to you. Use that, find your market and share things that they find helpful. Build a rapport with them, which makes them have higher faith in the products you recommend.
4. Never Violate the Affiliate terms of services
Before signing up for any affiliate program, you would most likely be required to agree to the affiliate terms of service document. The document lays the groundwork for the dos and don’ts during the promotion of the company.
Typically including but not limited to the guidelines around promoting their competitors in devotion to their brand or referring to the sales you did. Ensure that you follow up on these references and agreements any time you are not sure of anything.
A perfect example is, many affiliates often bid on the search engines like Google or the advertiser’s branded keywords. Before taking part in this type of activity, make sure that doing that is allowed first. Violation of terms can result in a commission deduction or removal from the affiliate program.
Over 16% of the global e-commerce sales were achieved by affiliate marketing, with the Industry reaching a staggering 6.4 Billion USD in turnover in 2019.
Choosing an affiliate program can be pretty tough. However, once done right, it can pay rich dividends.
Author Bio:
Ian Haynes is a professional content writer, providing a clientele spread across the United States and Europe. He is a strong believer in content marketing, having witnessed how excellent content can allow your business to increase conversions. When he’s not occupied with work, you can find him reading or playing with his golden retriever, Fluffy.
