affiliate marketing is quite possibly the best way to monetize a blawg that doesn't have an
existing business model.
With the proper disclosure and transparency,
affiliate marketing could be an honest,
lucrative way to simultaneously provide value to your audience and build a business around
.
You're confident the idea is instead of creating your own product,
you promote somebody else's product and earn a commission.
When members of your audience by it simple enough right to get started,
you would find a reputable product or service that appeals to your target audience,
maybe even one you've written about in the past.
See if it has an affiliate program,
and if it does sign up,
you'll be given a unique You are l called an affiliate link or referral link that you can
then share on your blogger Whenever you mention that particular product,
when people click that link their tracked as a member of your audience and if they end up
buying you get paid,
and often affiliate programs will give you some kind of discount code to offer your readers
so it ends up being a win win win.
Everybody's happy,
which is why it's one of my favorite business models.
Now,
of course,
it sounds simple in theory,
but lots of people experiment with affiliate marketing and never end up making a single
dollar.
So the question is,
how do you actually make it work?
Well,
if you've been paying attention in this course,
you already have a significant advantage because you understand that your success depends
on the value you can deliver to your audience.
My favorite way to implement affiliate marketing as a business model is this.
Find out which of the tools or services that you use in your industry have affiliate
programs and sign up for those.
Then,
as you're writing new content,
particularly tutorials and how to guides,
recommend the necessary tools and products along the way,
just like you would anyway,
but linked to them using your affiliate link.
That way,
when people follow your tutorial and purchase those products,
you get paid.
Let me give you an example.
Let's say you're teaching people how to do something.
For example,
how to build a website.
One service you could promote as an affiliate is Web hosting,
because that's something people need in order to accomplish the task.
Your teaching so as part of your tutorial on how to build a website.
You would give your Web hosting recommendation using your affiliate link.
So whenever people click through and buy from that particular Web hosting company,
you get a commission.
You can include affiliate links in tutorials,
product reviews,
comparisons lists,
really any type of content where it fits in and provide some benefit to the reader when you
create content that's inherently valuable on its own and include affiliate links.
Naturally,
within that content,
there's a good chance that content will start bringing in regular search traffic,
and as a result,
you'll start to see recurring affiliate income.
Now,
before you start signing up for every affiliate program and covering your blawg with
affiliate links,
it's important that you approach affiliate marketing ethically.
Remember,
we want this arrangement to be net positive for everyone involved.
What that means is you need to choose your affiliate products carefully.
Anything you promote to your audience should be something you genuinely use and endorse
yourself.
If you only choose products based on the potential payout,
you're gonna let your audience down and they're going to remember that you didn't have
their best interest at heart On the other hand,
if you only recommend products that are reputable and that actually improve people's lives
,
they're going to remember that as well.
And your future recommendations will carry that much more weight.
Another thing to consider is that affiliate marketers have an obligation,
both ethically and legally,
to disclose their affiliate relationships alongside their endorsements.
In other words,
your audience needs to know that you earn a commission if they buy,
so be sure to include that as well.
On a technical note,
I highly recommend installing a WordPress plug in called thirsty affiliates.
It allows you to manage your affiliate links dynamically and easily insert them into your
content as you're writing a post.
So now you have at least a basic understanding of how affiliate marketing works,
and I definitely recommend experimenting with it.
The barrier to entry is low,
but the potential rewards are high