If you’ve started a blog and are wanting to find the best way to monetize it then this article is just for you. Here’s why, I’m going to break down affiliate marketing…including what it is and how you can get started today. In this article you’ll learn the questions you need to be asking yourself as well as ways to get started immediately.
Affiliate marketing is probably the easiest way to first monetize your site. If you already find yourself recommending products or services to your ideal readers, then affiliate marketing is the ideal next step. You’ll likely be able to earn a commission for the products and services that you already recommend.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
First, what is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is getting paid for recommending a product or service. You are essentially selling someone’s else’s products and services and you get paid when one of your readers buys those products or services.
For example, I am an affiliate with Bluehost. Bluehost offers web hosting. Simply put, they host self-hosted WordPress sites…and are crazy good at it. Whenever someone signs up for a Bluehost account through my affiliate link (I cover affiliate links later in the article) I receive a small commission payment from Bluehost. I get paid for recommending Bluehost to my readers.
I’ll use my affiliate relationship with Bluehost as an example throughout this article to help you better understand affiliate marketing.
Why Get Started with Affiliate Marketing?
Why should you care about affiliate marketing? Well…because its the easiest way to start monetizing your site. It allows you to begin making money from your blog, podcast, or YouTube channel. Sure they’re are many other ways you could monetize, but don’t underestimate the power of affiliate marketing.
If you’re already recommending services or products naturally, then you’re leaving money on the table by not engaging in affiliate marketing.
For example, I started ChrisBaldwin.com to help Christians create, grow, and leverage their online platform. Part of this process is setting up their blog. I recommend using a self-hosted WordPress site for your blog. Because of this, I found myself constantly recommending Bluehost to my readers. I did this because I’ve used Bluehost for years and love their service. By engaging in affiliate marketing, I’m now able to receive a small commission from doing what I was already doing on my blog…recommending a solid web hosting service.
Do the Research
Before you get started with affiliate marketing, you need to do some research. There are some questions you need to answer. I recommend getting some paper and writing these three questions: First, what does my audience want to achieve? Second, what products will help my audience achieve that result? Finally, what products do I currently use? Surprisingly, many bloggers fail to ask themselves these questions, especially when it’s these questions that’ll position them to succeed in affiliate marketing.
What Does Your Audience Want to Achieve?
What does your audience want? For me, my ideal reader wants to create and grow their online platform so they can leverage it for the Kingdom. What does the end goal look like for your audience? Know the “why.” Why do they want to achieve these results? Why are they reading your blog?
I’ll tell you, it’s NOT to learn how to meal prep, it’s to have more time with family every afternoon. It’s NOT to learn about marriage, it’s to love and stay in love with their spouse. It’s NOT to learn how to study the Bible, it’s to grow closer with God through studying their Bible. You get the idea?
Now, take out that piece of paper and write down what your audience wants to achieve.
What Products Will Help Your Audience Achieve that Result?
After you’ve determined what your audience wants to achieve, next ask yourself, what products will help them achieve that result? Do some brainstorming. What does your audience need in order to meet their goals. You’re likely in a better position than they are in knowing the tools and services available.
For me, I know having good reliable web hosting will help my readers create their platform. Therefore, Bluehost goes on this list for me.
What goes on your list? Is it a particular study Bible? A particular book on marriage? Maybe it’s a piece of software you know would propel your audience towards their goal. Take that sheet of paper and make a list of the products you know will help your audience achieve that result.
What Products Do You Use?
Now that you’ve made a list of products or services that’ll help your audience achieve their results, I want you to make a list of products you both use and love. What products do you use in teaching your subject? Are there books you’ve read that really helped you? What services are you subscribed to that you’ve had great results with?
These need to be products or services you both use and love. If you use a service, but really don’t love it, then don’t write it down. Remember, affiliate marketing is like selling products and services you don’t own…but to be successful, you need to treat them like your own. I don’t mean to put your name on the product (saying you created it) but to only promote products you’d be proud of owning.
You don’t want to be known for recommending products or services that are subpar. You need to build your reputation as someone who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to your subject matter.
For example, I’ve used Bluehost for years and love their service. I’ve called them many times and they’ve helped me correct my own mistakes on ChrisBaldwin.com. Because I both use and love Bluehost for web hosting, I’ll add them on my list.
Now, grab that same piece of paper and list out the products and services you both use and love. You should, at this point, have a sheet of paper with one sentence and two lists on it. The sentence is what your audience wants to achieve. The first list are the products that will help your audience achieve that result. The second list are the products or services you both use and love.
Find Where These Lists Overlap
Find the intersection where the products that help your audience achieve their goals and the products you use and love overlap. Take your piece of paper and see which products or services are listed on both lists. These are the products you should consider becoming an affiliate for.
For example, Bluehost is a service that will help my readers achieve their results. Bluehost is also a service I both use and love. Therefore, Bluehost is a service I should consider becoming an affiliate for, which I did.
Make a new list of all the products and services that overlap. This new list will be the list you use in the next section, where I address what to do next.
A quick note: these products and services don’t have to be software or digital products. Remember, you can also promote books and physical products. Amazon has a great affiliate program for that purpose. I use Amazon’s affiliate program to promote books and other physical products on both my kit page and my Youtube channel. There’s a link to sign-up for Amazon’s affiliate program towards the end of this article.
What Next?
You should have a list of products and services that would be ideal for affiliate marketing…now what? Now, it’s time to start setting everything up. Rest assured, you’re already positioning yourself to succeed just by going through the prior exercise and making this list. Coming up, I’m going to address how to become an affiliate, what an affiliate link is, and what to do if the products and services don’t have an affiliate program.
Do those products or services have an affiliate program?
Using your list, pick one of the products or services and check if they have an affiliate program. This is a program where you sign-up and they send you an affiliate link you can use to keep track of your sales.
If you’re planning on mainly using physical products, check with the company of the product to see if they offer an affiliate program, if they don’t see if the product you use is on Amazon.
What is an affiliate link?
An affiliate link is the link your readers will click on to purchase the product or service. The link usually goes to the product’s sales page. The company will use this link to keep track of the number of sales generated from your blog and you’ll earn a small commission based on those sales.
What do you do with your affiliate link?
First, Affiliate links are quite long. Therefore, I’d recommend using a plugin like pretty link lite to shorten your affiliate links on your website. Additionally, sometimes the company might change your affiliate link, using a service like pretty link lite means you can change the affiliate link once this happens, instead of having to go through all your old blog posts changing links.
Next, start using the affiliate link when you promote the products or services on your blog. Make sure you place a disclaimer each time that it’s an affiliate link and you’ll make a small commission if they buy from that link.
Some people are hesitant to use affiliate marketing because the disclaimer makes it seem like they’re asking for money; however, if you’ve gone through the exercise above, you should not worry. You’re providing a service to your readers that will help them achieve their goals. Many readers will buy from your affiliate links as a thank you for your service.
Finally, I’d recommend making a kit page on your website. This is where you can list all the products and services you recommend in one place. Check out my kit page as an example.
What if there’s no affiliate program?
If you look at a company’s website and don’t see an affiliate program, all hope is not lost. There are still things you can do. First, try googling “site:[company’s website] affiliate” or “[name of product] + affiliate.” Sometimes the affiliate programs are not easy to find. These searches will help you in find the affiliate program if one exists.
Next, if those searches don’t show an affiliate program, reach out to the company via email. Sometimes companies use a third party for affiliate programs. If the company uses a third party, they can point you in the right direction. If no affiliate program exist, emailing the company can open the door for a potential affiliate relationship.
Get Started with Amazon Associates
Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates, is a great place to start doing some affiliate marketing. Using Amazon Associates, you can post affiliate links to products and services found on Amazon. There are a couple of caveats though.
First, you must have a certain number of qualified sales within 90 days before you can approved to coninue in the program. Don’t worry if you don’t get the sales at first, you can try again. Even so, I do recommend you work on growing your audience to increase the likelihood of making those inital sales.
Second, Amazon Associates is not available in certain states. Therefore, try to sign-up to see if it’s available in your state. Click here to sign-up for Amazon Associates.
I love Amazon Associates because I get credit for any sales made when a reader enters Amazon through one of my links. For example, lets say you click this link to check out Love Does by Bob Goff…one of my favorite Christian books.
After clicking on my link, instead of buying Love Does, you purchase that 86-inch television you’ve had in your wishlist since 2013, but never bought. I’d receive a commission for the sale of that 86-inch television…thank you.
You Need to Grow Your Audience
As you get started with affiliate marketing, one truth becomes obvious: the bigger your audience the more affiliate sales you’ll make. You should always work on growing your audience in order to make a bigger impact…not just to make more sales. More sales is bonus.
I’ve created a free guide to help you grow your blog. It’s titled “Grow Your Christian Blog (7 Simple Things You Can Do). If you don’t have a Christian Blog, don’t worry…these 7 simple things you can do work for all types of blogs, so make sure you check it out.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is probably the easiest way to monetize your site. If you already find yourself recommending products or services to your ideal readers then affiliate marketing is the next step. You’ll likely earn a commission for the products and services you’re already recommending.
Start by doing the research. First ask, what does my audience want to achieve? Second, what products will help my audience achieve that result? Finally, what products do I currently use and love? Go through the exercise above to find the products and services that are ideal for you to become an affiliate.
Next, sign-up for the affiliate programs and start promoting the products like your own…just not as your own. Make sure you make the disclaimer that you’ll make a small commission if they purchase from your link.
Finally, work on growing your audience and serving them well. Serving your audience will position you for success in affiliate marketing…and in blogging as a whole.
Grow Your Christian Blog (7 Simple Things You Can Do)
If you want to get serious about growing your Christian Blog then grab my free guide. It details 7 simple things you can do to prime your blog for growth.
These 7 simple things will help you: discover, serve, and build trust with your ideal audience…transforming them into loyal ideal readers…In addition to receiving the guide, you’ll also receive a daily email from me during the next 7 days with additional tips and resources.
Question: What does your audience want to achieve? Let me know in the comments.
