How to Make Money As a Blogger Through Affiliate Marketing

Thanks all for your feedback on our 50th episode of the ProBlogger podcast! I still can’t believe we finally made it.

Onward with episode 51 and my tips on affiliate marketing as an income stream:

This episode is sort of an introduction to what affiliate marketing is and how I personally approach it. There are a heap of practical tips so you’re sure to get something out of it whether you’re a complete affiliate newbie, or have seen some success before.

Affiliate marketing is a blogger’s promotion of a particular product (created by someone else) with a specific link that contains a tracking code. When someone buys on the basis of your recommendation, and clicks through from your tracking link, you get a commission on that sale. For Digital Photography School, we often recommend cameras, and therefore will get 4% of any sale resulting from that recommendation from Amazon.

So why consider affiliate marketing as an income stream? When you consider in advertising the advertiser is taking a risk by paying you for amplification on your blog that might not work out, and you as the publisher are taking the risk by becoming an affiliate, it seems like a dud deal. But the rewards of affiliate sales can often be greater than through general advertising alone, which can make it an attractive option despite the risk.

Today I discuss one particular experience I had with an early affiliate collaboration and how it exceeded beyond everyone’s expectations, and I also talk about the kinds of blogs that can be more successful with affiliate sales, and the three things I believe they need to have that will boost their chances of getting a high return.

The other topics I touch on are:

Personally how I approach affiliate marketing
How much of my income is derived through affiliate marketing
How it is often dictated by seasonal trends
The three types of affiliate programs I promote on my blogs
The types of affiliate networks available and how they work
Tips for affliliate marketing on blogs (and what NOT to do!)
The types of promotion you can use depending on your audience
Placement of affiliate links for higher returns
How I drive traffic to the post and the promotion
Tips on transparency and disclaimers
Easy tracking of results
Promotional sequences and strategies
How to balance promotion frequency

You can find episode 51 of the ProBlogger Podcast How to Make Money As a Blogger Through Affiliate Marketing here.

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