While the above picture can reflect reality, the simple truth is it often takes a little more work to get affiliate programs to pay off well.
Finding a great new affiliate program is just the first step in helping a blog owner realize a little profit for the efforts involved.
Dropping links in forums, adding the referral link to the blog’s home page, and even e-mailing friends and family can help.
There are, however, many other steps blog owners can take to increase revenue through affiliate programs. Using the written word can be one of the best ways to boost interest.
There are some blogging tips they can take to improve their earning potential from affiliate programs – especially recently launched programs. How much or how little work is involved will depend on which strategies you choose.
Should an affiliate program be new to the market, it can be very easy for publishers to gain an early advantage by creating relevant content.
If the content is interesting, accurate, informative, and even a little opinionated about the product or service the program offers, it is quite possible a site will gain a quick and high ranking on the subject. In essence, a site can become the authority on a new topic.
The trick here is to be as truthful, informative, and even useful when writing about the subject. Working the right keywords into the article or post – especially in the title – can be very helpful here. If the opportunity to be among the first is present, take it.
There are a few very important things to keep in mind when writing posts or articles about an affiliate topic. People who write posts that are objective, informative, and relevant are likely to gain more attention for their sites and their affiliate links, as well. The real idea here is to make your site an authority on the topic.
Even if there are other pieces out there on the subject, write yours differently with more information on a different angle, more depth, or even more opinion.
If other articles do exist, it’s okay to quote from them and link to them. The trick is to make what you write different and important. Steer clear from outright sales and don’t forget to mention the cons along with the pros.
Using keywords can be important to boost the search ranking of posts on affiliate programs. It is important, however, to make sure they don’t make the piece too cumbersome.
Just try to work the words into the title and in a few other places, if possible. Posts that are winners are those that have clarity, usefulness, and honesty included. These get read. Keyword stuffed articles often do not.
Should other articles be available, consider linking to those you use or particularly enjoy. When you do this, you can earn a trackback.
This puts your website’s link on the site you’re linking to. That site’s visitors can see it and click through to your site. This is particularly useful if the site linked to happens to have a lot of traffic.
A few other options for boosting blog affiliate program revenues do exist in relation to the written word. One fantastic idea involves creating special presell pages.
These pages can include reviews or just informational reports on the program. Give these pages their own URLs and do make sure to put the affiliate links on them.
Blog publishers who own their own domain names often do this and only include their affiliate links on these pages. The benefit here is that these pages can quickly gain ranking and traffic attention. Instead of posting a blog piece on the topic, the pages themselves hold the relevant information and the links.
It is also quite possible to “borrow” traffic from other sites that are writing about the same topic. Doing this requires setting up Google Alerts or another similar program to alert you when others write about the issue. Visit their forums and drop the URL to your review along with relevant comments. Not all publishers feel this method is on the up and up, however.
Boosting a blog’s earning potential with affiliate programs doesn’t have to rest solely on advertising or luck. When the right content is added to a blog, big things can happen.