Affiliate marketing is a type of digital advertising where companies hire third-party marketers known as affiliates to help them promote products and services.

Affiliates use a variety of different channels to promote content and encourage the target audiences to purchase these products or services from companies that are promoting their products, which are also known as advertisers.

It’s estimated that 4 out of 5 businesses around the world use some form of affiliate marketing, and for good reason. Furthermore, affiliate marketing is also performance-based, which means that advertisers only pay affiliates once these marketers have produced results.

Before getting started, remember to find the best affiliate programs, which contain all of the details and specific information you need to know about generating conversions for each advertiser.

Starting a niche blog requires a significant amount of work and dedication, but you need to take an organized approach in order to succeed.

Every blogger is different, so you need to develop an affiliate strategy designed around your particular strengths. But, there are also some general steps that the vast majority of affiliates need to take in order to be successful. This article will discuss some of them.

• How can you Start a Niche Blog for Affiliate Marketing?
• How do Affiliate Bloggers Get Traffic?
• What is the Highest Paying Niche for Affiliate Marketing?
• How can I Increase my Affiliate Income?

How can you Start a Niche Blog for Affiliate Marketing?

Pick a Niche

If you don’t already have an idea of the niche or niches you want to specialize in, now it’s time to pick a specialty.

Read Also: What is Conversational Marketing?

Niches in affiliate marketing are a bit broader than in other forms of digital advertising, but the concept is the same. You need to find a specialty that’s popular enough to generate a significant amount of traffic and revenue. Furthermore, you should also find a niche with a huge number of competitors because this will just make standing out a lot harder.

Select Your Tools

Now that you have an idea of what niches you’ll develop content for, you can start selecting your tools. In this step, you need to figure out what tools you need, which ones you can pay for, and which ones you can get for free.

For example, you can get Google Analytics for free. But, for affiliate success you need a dedicated tracker with superior abilities, so you need to find a better fit.

Find the Best Affiliate Programs

Now that your platform is on its way, you need to find the best possible affiliate programs. Advertisers create affiliate programs that include all the details that affiliates need in order to generate relevant conversions. But, finding the best programs can be challenging, especially for bloggers who are just entering the affiliate world.

In these cases, you can partner with a reliable affiliate network like lemonades. Affiliate networks are platforms designed to help connect bloggers and other affiliates to the best affiliate programs. If you want to learn more about joining us and finding the best programs, contact lemonades today and we’ll be glad to help.

Study the Audience(s)

After you have selected the programs you want to work with, you can see which type of users you need to target. You should research these audiences and learn as much as you can about these user groups because the better you know them, the easier it will be to generate ads that they find engaging.

Create Your Content

Whether you’re creating videos, publishing infographics, or simply writing blog posts, now it’s time to start developing your content. While the type of content has an impact on how well your blog performs, the quality of your materials is the most important element regardless of the format.

To be deemed as quality content, your materials should deliver practical value and provide information that has some sort of purpose, even if it’s recreational.

Keep in mind that your content will link to the advertisers’ landing pages, so you should create blogs and other materials that allow for a smooth transition. For instance, if you’re participating in an affiliate program for a camping brand, you can write survival blogs that align with this activity.

Drive Traffic and Transform Visitors to Conversions

Lastly, you need to figure out what techniques you will use to drive traffic to your site. We’ve covered both search engine optimization and social media marketing briefly in this article because they both allow you to drive a huge amount of traffic without paying for each visitor.

That said, there are other channels that can help you do the same, but some of these do require a direct investment. These include Youtube channels, PPC ads, and purchase traffic. You should also make sure that you have elements on your site that help you to transform visitors into conversions.

How do Affiliate Bloggers Get Traffic?

The main task for publishers is to generate efficient & effective traffic to these affiliate marketing offers, which equates to more traffic to the advertiser’s website via an affiliate link. This ideally leads to more conversions and higher profits. Therefore, to be able to generate traffic has to be top of the list of priorities for publishers.

We’ve explored some of the most effective ways publishers can generate traffic and are sharing our top nine methods below.

1. Paid online advertising

Advertising is the mainstay of lead generation. Whether you choose to do paid search, social media campaigns, remarketing or display advertising, it’s a tried and tested method, making it one of the best traffic sources for affiliate marketing.

One of the advantages of using paid lead-generating techniques is that people who click on your links are usually high up in the buying cycle, and are therefore ready to purchase. However, you need to balance the cost of your advertisements with the commission you receive per sale. If each ad conversion costs $50 and the commission per sale is $40, it is not worth pursuing this form of lead generation.

2. YouTube

YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the internet, with approximately three billion views per day. As such, it is beneficial for you to start your own channel to promote your offers and drive more affiliate marketing traffic. Add an interesting video that relates to your offer, then include a compelling call-to-action that links to your affiliate product.

Make sure to also put your call-to-action link or discount code within the description box, with a short description of your video. To further utilize your video add an Overlay, which is a little box that stays on the video throughout with your CTA on it. You can get started at ads.YouTube.com.

Don’t restrict yourself to Youtube as there are other video channels like Vimeo that can be used to good effect. However, one of the disadvantages of video promotion is it does take time and effort to produce good content that is going to attract a loyal audience. On the plus side, great videos have the potential to go viral and can escalate very quickly to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Additionally, when promoting affiliate offers on social media remember to follow the compliance and disclosure guidelines outlined by the FTC for using affiliate links.

3. Social media

Social media is one of the best and easiest traffic sources for affiliate marketing. If your audience is hanging out on social media, then you and your affiliate offers need to be there. You can use social media in many ways, including:

• Participating in communities with a need for your product. It’s important not to promote but to build relationships by answering questions and engaging with the community. If you are helpful, your readers will click on your name to find out more about you. Make sure your profile links back to your website and your affiliate offers.
• Sharing your blog content with links to your offer, either on your own page or as promoted posts.
• Running an advertising campaign, using social media marketing.

You can also use social media to publish long articles, which link to your offers. Good places to publish include platforms such as LinkedIn, Medium, Reddit, SlideShare, and Udemy. Readership of these sites is high, and if your content is relevant and searchable, it could get you in front of thousands of new people.

Again, when using affiliate links on social media, make sure you’re following the compliance and disclosure guidelines outlined by the FTC.

4. Blog posts

Blog posts are a great way to generate traffic for affiliate marketing offers. If you have an active readership your audience will already be warm to your reviews and advice. Just make sure not to use your blog posts as sales letters; the content should provide value to the reader and your affiliate links should sit naturally within the topic.

Recipe blogs use this to good effect. As they discuss the method to follow to create the dish, recipe blogs describe the tools needed for the job, using affiliate links to the sales page of the item in question.

Another method of using your blog posts to promote affiliate links is to answer your readers’ comments and use your affiliate links in the replies. If the product you are promoting is related to the answer, it doesn’t look like a sales pitch but a solution to the reader’s problem. Be careful of doing this on other people’s blogs as it may come across as spam.

If possible, try to make the content evergreen. Evergreen refers to content that stays relevant for many years to come, and could include how-to guides, best practices or tips and tricks. These types of articles are read and referred to over and over again.  Although you may have to refresh them occasionally, the information still remains relevant. This means you can roll out this content to a new audience every so often and expose your affiliate links each time you do so.

5. Guest blogging

In addition to building your brand’s own blog, the technique of guest blogging is a tried and true method for generating affiliate marketing traffic that has stood the test of time. There are two different aspects to guest blogging:

• Guest blog on well-known sites that fit your niche. Offer great and relevant content, and if accepted onto other blogs it will expose you to a whole new audience. Make sure your profile and your byline link to your affiliate offers and your website. Your affiliate marketing content should be related to the guest blog and useful to the new potential readership. 
• Accept guest bloggers on your own website. Publish content from other writers and they will share and link their article, which will, in turn, expose your website (and affiliate offers) to new audiences.

6. Email

Email marketing is still alive and well, with 64% of companies believing it is the best marketing method they have, with an estimated ROI of 3800%. Because of this, make sure you don’t overlook it in response to some newer, more exciting website traffic sources.

You first need to build a list, which you can do by providing a free offer – like sharing a report, e-book or webinar – and using a form to capture email addresses (making sure, if you are marketing in the EU, to comply with GDPR). When emailing your list you must be careful to provide them with useful, relevant content. Otherwise, they will quickly unsubscribe.

Affiliate links can be used to good effect in emails, either as part of the body text or in the signature. Another way to generate affiliate marketing traffic is by promoting products directly in emails, as long as this is balanced with valuable and useful content. If possible, segment your emails so the appropriate affiliate links go to the right audience.

7. Product reviews

The online audience is influenced by other people’s views of a product, and will often research for testimonials and reviews before committing to buy. It’s estimated that 90% of potential buyers will read online reviews before visiting the website and making a buying decision, with 88% trusting them as much as they would if a friend recommended a product.

For publishers who have built up a loyal audience, these statistics are good news. If you write honest and unbiased reviews about products related to your niche, your audience will view these reviews as a trustworthy recommendations. When you have a product or service to promote that is tied to your affiliate marketing efforts, write a review.

If you have chosen to promote the product, it is important that you believe in it and recommends it because you genuinely want to help your audience. In this way, you will be able to write a frank and honest review while still including your affiliate link. The review needs to be positive but honest and should not turn into a sales letter.

Make sure when using affiliate links in product reviews to follow the compliance and disclosure guidelines outlined by the FTC.

8. Quora

Quora is a questions site, that provides a platform for users to ask whatever they want. Experts then give guidance and advice on the subject matter. Although direct affiliate links are not allowed, you can link to a website or a blog post if it provides more information on the answer you are giving. Make sure the website you send people to contains content with your affiliate link.

Again, when using Quora you must genuinely be looking to provide a valid answer and help the person submitting the question. Good advice will be read and shared, while answers that are just sales pitches will get a thumbs down.

9. A search engine optimized website

Wondering how to efficiently send traffic to your website? Make sure your content is easy for search engines to discover, effectively helping you rank higher up on searches and driving more organic traffic to your affiliate offers. Your website is the presenting brand for your affiliate links and needs to be discovered by consumers interested in your niche.

Each page should have a well-written meta description, meta title, image alt tags, and H1/H2 tags. Research the keywords for your niche and affiliate offers, and add a keyword per page that is relevant to your offers. Ensuring it is in the title and content as naturally as possible, without keyword stuffing, can also help with searches. Also work on achieving backlinks by getting your content shared on social media or other blogs, and include internal and external links within your own content.

If your chosen subject is too niche, you may not get the level of traffic you need to convert your readers into clicks on your affiliate links. Do some research on how many other people are selling similar products by using the Google search bar. Google will instantly tell you how many results they have found and can help inform the keywords you use to search engines optimize your site.

What is the Highest Paying Niche for Affiliate Marketing?

To give you a better idea of how to pick a niche, we researched current trends and profitable affiliate marketing niches by comparing various affiliate program websites and blogs.

We will cover some popular niches a beginner affiliate marketer can start with, including hobby niches and specific ones that may require additional expertise.

Considering the benefits, competition, and statistics, here is our list of the best affiliate marketing niches you can choose from.

1. Fashion
2. Travel
3. Technology
4. Education
5. Gaming
6. Home Decor
7. Health and Wellness
8. Finance
9. Food
10. Gardening
11. Beauty and Cosmetics
12. Art
13. Pets
14. Sports
15. Luxury

How can I Increase my Affiliate Income?

You could be an affiliate for anything. It could be an actual affiliate product, for instance, a car, or anything. Or maybe if you are in network marketing then you are an affiliate for that company’s product but the compensation is just different. If you are in direct sales, then you are an affiliate marketer. Even being an insurance seller makes you an affiliate marketer because you are an affiliate for that particular insurance company’s policies.

1. Create an in-between

Well, to be honest, most affiliates are lazy. All they focus on is sending traffic to the merchant’s website or to the replicated website. The only work they do is just send the traffic to the seller’s website.

This just doesn’t work very well as almost all affiliates are doing the exact same thing. What exceptional are you doing that sets you apart from others?

When you create an in-between like a blog post, youtube video or an article where you answer some questions, solve their problems, and provide some value to the visitor as to why they should take the next step. You should be basically connecting the dots!

Most affiliates rely on product creator to do the heavy lifting. And of course, these merchants are doing all the heavy lifting. They are creating the product, taking care of the legal problems, money refunds, delivery processes, take care of money handling, customer service, and more.

Therefore, you could do more than just sending traffic to their website by creating an in-between.

2. Buy the product yourself and review it

Why not do a product review of the product you are promoting? How about a behind the screen scene like a screen sharing view? That would be a good idea if the product you are promoting is an informational product.

Record the scene and just show a little sneak peek to what customers will be having in a product if they buy it.

This gives them the credibility that you actually own the product. How many affiliates might be doing that? If you don’t own the product you are promoting, how will the visitors be ready to buy these products?

As an affiliate, you are going to be way more effective if you buy the product yourself, believe in it, review it, and promote it.

3. Do a comparison video between your product and a similar product

Well, sometimes you could be an affiliate for both. For instance, if you are selling if a really popular weight loss training program then you can compare it with some similar type of training program.

However, it is important to remember that you can’t cut down on another product and it should be a true, genuine review. It can’t be skewed because people will find it.

4. Have your own bonuses

You could give people incentives and that could be the reason why they would choose your product over others. The bonuses you provide could be as simple as having a 30-minute meeting with you or a webinar with you. Or it could be some recording/ blog post that you could give them for free which will be of some value to them.

The main motive of the having your own bonuses is to provide extra incentives to people who have bought your product over others.

5. Build an audience

Finally, the fifth point is to build your audience. This is by far the most important point that you should consider.

Most affiliates are sending the traffic directly to the seller’s website and thereby passing them without retaining any. The traffic you are attracting is not getting to know you and your business.

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Hey, become a little possessive here!

Your business is not those affiliate products but it is you and the audience. Your business is you and your relationship with your audience. So you need to be focussed on building your own list first. This makes sense because if they don’t buy this particular affiliate product today, they may buy another one from you down the road.

You can do this by pitching them on your website by a webinar or a subscriber list for instance.

Here are some key takeaways:

• Affiliate marketing works best when affiliates truly believe in the products they’re promoting.
• To gain the audience’s trust, you should disclose your affiliate links, provide helpful product reviews or tutorials, promote high-quality products, and have in-depth knowledge of the affiliate products.
• To boost income, affiliates can utilize promo codes, offer bonuses, consider selling digital products, and join the hype of peak shopping time.
• Don’t forget affiliate marketing technicalities like incorporating local SEO, building an email list, planning the distribution strategy, and running an ad campaign.

Last but not least, we highly recommend having backup affiliate partners. Apart from the opportunity to make more money, joining multiple affiliate programs provides prerequisites should something unexpected happen.