So you’ve become an affiliate marketer, you’ve started to make money off of sales, but you might now be wondering: How can I increase my earnings? After all, one of the big benefits of being your own boss and having your own online business means you can constantly reassess the situation and increase the amount of money coming in. With the proper marketing strategy, you can build up your paycheck each month.
The key to increasing affiliate income is diversifying where your money comes from. This means not just placing your links in one place, but spreading them out on a number of channels, allowing you to reach more people in various ways. There are many benefits to diversifying your income, like:
- Giving yourself a buffer. If you make fewer sales one month on your site, you’ll still have another stream of income, making it so that you’ve still got a steady stream of money coming in.
- Widening your reach. Not all people turn to blog posts or websites for information, and your audience may be getting their information in other ways. This allows you to reach more people who are interested in the types of products and services you promote.
- Potentially increasing your overall income. With the right strategy, you can greatly grow your monthly income by spreading out where money comes from.
- Allowing for reflection. You may find that one method of monetization is just not working for you. This then allows you to adjust your strategy to improve sales.
It requires a little bit of extra work, but to become a successful affiliate marketer you’ll find that a diverse income will pay off in the end with more overall sales. Here are four tips to increase your affiliate income:
Take Advantage Of Seasonal Offerings
People are prepared to spend extra money because of certain events and holidays, like Christmas, graduation, or even Pi Day. You should consider some special marketing for items that apply to your audience and tie into these types of events. Some examples of seasonal products include:
- Heartfelt gifts like picture frames, cards, and scrapbooks for Mother’s or Father’s Day.
- Ornaments, decorations, and presents for holidays like Christmas or Hannukah.
- T-shirts, banners, footwear, and other sports-related things for NCAA March Madness or the Super Bowl.
- Chocolates, teddy bears, vacation rentals, or spa treatments for Valentine’s Day.
- Sequined clothing, noisemakers, or shimmery makeup for New Year’s Eve.
- Blankets, coats, and heating systems for winter months, or portable air conditioning units or pool accessories for summer months.
- Backpacks, books, or other school supplies for back-to-school months.
- Punch bowls, silverware, and party decorations for graduation parties.
If you want to the make the most of seasonal sales, start to promote in advance and don’t put it off until the last minute. There will be a lot of competition as the date approaches, so being on top of the game can increase your affiliate sales.
Start A Newsletter
Many people associate affiliate sales with blog posts and a website. This is certainly an effective way to make money, but newsletters and email lists are powerful as well—if not more powerful than traditional websites. Why? Because these are people who have to opt-in to your email list, therefore they’ve already expressed interest in what you have to say and would like to receive correspondences from you regularly. They trust you already, and will be much more inclined to buy products or purchase services based on your recommendations than someone simply stumbling upon your website for the first time.
If you haven’t already started a newsletter, it’s a great idea to begin collecting email addresses. Set up a banner on your site to start accepting emails and you can also inquire for this information in person when you meet people interested in what you do. Then you can create campaigns that are filled with your affiliate links to increase sales. Most newsletter campaigns perform the best when they’re sent out every seven to eleven days.
Create A Podcast
Believe it or not, Podcasts are actually growing in popularity, and with a microphone and a few great ideas, you can get your own podcast started. Think about the types of things your audience would be most interested in, and build a podcast that would intrigue them.
Podcasts can give you the chance to talk about a product in an incredibly personable way, and your audience will feel practically like they’re sitting down to chat with you. But you can actually think even bigger than that if you’d like. Why not interview the inventor of a certain product or the person who created a particular service? This provides your audience with a lot of useful information in an entertaining form, getting them more excited to buy through your affiliate links.
Use Images Or (Better Yet) Video
People are visual creatures, and if you aren’t already using hi-res images on your site, you should be. Great images are instant eye-catchers and can also help to break up text in a blog post or page. Additionally, you can use your images to brand yourself. Gone are the days when you need to be a highly trained graphic designer to put text on images. Today, you can use a number of apps or sites to add some simple text or graphics, making your images custom for your site. This means you can share them on social media and further spread the word about your affiliate site, without doing any extra work at all.
Additionally, video is a useful tool that more and more people turn to for fast and easy visual information. Even one short video a week can not only promote your products or services in a new way, but give your audience a chance to connect with you on a more personal level, putting a face to your name.
