In an estimate, about 600 million blogs are updated online today. But the interesting question arising here is "how are the bloggers making money". Well, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways for monetizing a blog. Being a win-win proposition for both the advertisers and publishers - wherein the advertisers are gaining access to their target market cultivated by means of the blog contents, while the publishers are earning a commission. So, let us closely look at how can a blog be monetized by using affiliate marketing.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work Out?
Thanks to , the advertisers can use a publisher's platform for promoting their services. Affiliate marketing comprises of three parties -.
So, How Does This Process Look Like From The Perspective of the Bloggers?
For the publishers, this can be separated into four simple steps.
- Connecting with the brands of similar minds and outlook
- Promoting the advertisers to your website or else the platform visitors
- The site visitors will be following the affiliate link to the site of the advertisers
- Through sales commission, you will be making money.
The blogger, in this case, is the affiliate marketer. On their websites, the blogger inserts the affiliate link to guide the readers to the vendor's site. With the readers clicking through and purchasing, in return, the affiliate is paid a commission. It presents a simple way for the vendors towards increasing their own sales. The blogger is accordingly compensated.
The Advantages of Affiliate Marketing Blogging
Monetizing a blog using affiliate marketing yields several benefits. Getting started with it is a simple process, that makes it easy for budding bloggers to master. At the same time, affiliate marketing blogging benefits with much needful conveniences.
- Through the affiliate marketing links, earning long-term passive income is possible. You shall continue to receive payments for long after creating the content.
- Affiliate marketing needs minimum start-up costs or investments
- Bloggers are free to work at their own convenience of time and place.
- Creating high-quality content will earn you the added incentive that will earn a commission from the advertisers and even aid in your brand growth as a blogger.
Hence, How Should You Start A Blog For Making Money?
Once you are ready to use blogging for making money, then you have to follow several ways for approaching it. Having a specific niche in mind will help you in creating the blog first, and then find the advertisers matching your interests. There is yet another option that is looking at the programs first, and then looking for the high demand niche, and creating the blog for matching the advertisers' needs.
Step 1 - Selecting An Audience and Niche
The first step when you are starting a blog and making money is choosing an audience, despite the approach. You will have a better place for creating creative content while writing, keeping specific readers in mind. To learn more about the needs of your audiences, use these strategies -
- Joining discussions in communities, online forums and social media groups
- Conducting a survey with niche-related questions
- Collecting and analyzing visitor data by using the tools like Google Analytics
Step 2 - Creating High-Quality Contents
A blog with data and analytics will earn you money only when it is worth visiting. You might create visual, written or video content - ensure it is targeting your audiences, and are designed for encouraging repetitive visits. How-to guides, filmed video tutorials teaching something new to the audiences are generally preferred. From the SEO perspective, quality is of immense importance, since Google's search engine algorithm evaluates the value and determines site ranking.
- Answer these questions -
- Are the blogs having easy to find keywords?
- Are the contents offering something new to the readers?
- Are the contents easy to follow and entertaining?
- Are your contents entertaining and easy to be followed?
Your audience should be inspired so they are more willing to click on the provided link and follow a specific product recommendation.
Step 3 - Selecting the Relevant Products for Promoting
A created blog and built-up audiences lead the time for starting affiliate products promotion. If you are an ethical blogger, then choose the products your audiences are familiar with, or about the ones they want to research. Added to the physical products, you will also come across the affiliate programs for the products, which include -
When you have to maintain your credibility as the publisher, then choose the products you are positive about promoting to your followers. You will be ideally familiar with the online course or digital downloads and have positive information to share on it.
Using affiliate network searches, the products can also be found. The publisher tools favour these connect advertisers with the bloggers to find the best, and in most relevant products for promoting.
Step 4 - Signing Up for Affiliate Programs
Once you have come across the products to be promoted, the next step is signing up with the related affiliate marketing programs. Ensure comparing the commission models carefully before you sign on board. A few programs are offering a one-time commission for sales, even termed as bonus or tenancy payments, while others are providing a steady passive income by using recurring commissions.
You will have to provide the basic details for signing up for most affiliate programs, which include -
Next, you will be receiving the ID number and affiliate link allowing the merchant for tracking purchases directed through the website. Publisher MasterTag enables several plugins for facilitating this very process.
Step 5 - Promoting Affiliate Offers on Blog
Now you are ready to enter affiliate marketing blogging. By creating promotional content having the affiliate links of product reviews or brand profiles, and creating a resource page listing the products with their value explained is the good step.
Add links but avoid stuffing in a lot of links since it makes the blog spammy. A compelling call to action encouraging readers to click through and complete the sale is important.
A good idea at this state is checking the content is compliant with the advertising industry regulator's ad disclosure requirements. AdMission is the best tool for the publishers to use for customizing the disclosure text to be displayed, and the identifier they are wishing for using on their website. It is a universal customizable disclosure solution for links.
Step 6 - Tracking Results For Improving Conversion Rates
With the blog being set up, then the next course of action is generating new content, analyzing click-through rates, and conversion rates for checking out what is working and what is not.
Affiliate marketing refers to getting the right offers rightly before the people. The individual traffic sources, verticals, marketing strategies vary, and when done correctly, affiliate marketing is the most profitable business model.
