Affiliate marketing is one of the key ways blogs and comparison sites make money. In this post, we explain the basics of affiliate marketing, how to do it, and the pros and cons of it for you and your website.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing. To simply put it, a business compensates an affiliate for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s marketing efforts, such as blog posts, videos, or other promotional content.
As an affiliate, you can receive a commission on each sale, meaning it can contribute to your website’s income.
What’s the best platform for affiliate marketing?
There are many platforms for affiliate marketing, and that is the exact reason why it can be so hard to choose. The most favoured is the Amazon Affiliate programme which lets you create banners and links to their products. In return, you get a % of the sale if the visitor chooses to buy the product through the link you posted or buys something else within the same session.
Moreover, platforms like Awin have a bundle of advertisers you can choose from to advertise. These platforms are great if you have a varied audience and want a specified commission rate for each sale.
You can also find affiliate programmes by searching your favourite online stores or websites and seeing if they have any programmes going on. Websites and shops like Waterstones, Hubspot, Kinsta and more have their own affiliate programmes which can work well with your niche.
Should I make a new site for affiliate marketing?
You probably don’t need a new site if you’re running a lifestyle or a fashion blog. However, if you run a business and don’t want to promote a potential competitor, creating an alternative site would be your best bet. Your site won’t get hurt with affiliate marketing, except if you overpromote or don’t do it clearly and honestly. You should put disclaimers on your site if you are involved in an affiliate programme.
How do I know my blog is fitted for product placement?
Product placements should feel natural to your content. For example, if you’re a fashion blogger, posting content like ’15 Dresses Perfect for the Summer’ will clearly indicate that your content is fit for affiliate links. On the other hand, if you are dealing with a tricky subject such as mental health, product placement is unlikely to be a favourable option for you, except if it’s medically proven to help people and you know it is appropriate.
Pros of affiliate marketing
If you’re rocking the world of affiliate marketing, then you can make a respectable amount of money from it. Natural-looking links to products that people want can have excellent conversion rates and thus bring you the income you may need to sustain your site. Other industries like insurance, finance, and gambling also tend to have high-paying affiliate commissions due to their business structures.
Another positive of affiliate marketing is that there is a lot of choice in what you can affiliate with, including services and product ranges. You may only want to use affiliate marketing for some products or blog posts, and that’s completely fine. Affiliate programmes don’t force you to publish anything. It’s all up to you.
Cons of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can be hurtful if done wrong. Adding too many links or simply copying content to try to get sales will push people away. Your content is king and should remain the chief element that grows your website. It would be best to avoid taking your audience for granted as it will bite you in the long term.
Money-wise it doesn’t work for all websites. In reality, many affiliate programmes have minimum payouts meaning you have to reach a certain amount of money to get paid. Starting, you may only get a few readers; thus, conversions will be tiny or non-existent. If you’re unsure if affiliate marketing is good for you, get in touch with our team, and we’ll help out.
