Ask anyone, and they will openly admit that they don’t like being sold to. It’s an awkward and uncomfortable situation, and very often people have to be in a certain mood to want to purchase something. They don’t want to feel pushed or pressured; instead, they’d much rather have the information presented to them and be able to make the decision on their own.
This obviously puts affiliate marketers in a very unique position. It’s important to use smart affiliate marketing strategies to ensure you’re providing honest content that excites and interests your audience while still keeping your main goal in mind: selling.
It’s a balance that you must strike, otherwise you have the potential to repel visitors from your site, resulting in zero commissions.
But if you don’t push your affiliate links enough, then your work won’t come to fruition.
So let’s say you’ve done everything right. You’ve created original content for your site, included affiliate links that are relevant to your audience, and you’ve made sure your SEO is in tip top shape. This is great, but you might also eventually find it a little formulaic. What if you’re interested in doing something different or more unique? Luckily, there are a few different strategies that you can use as an affiliate marketer to keep your content interesting, both for you and for your audience. Here are a few of lesser-known ways that you can use your affiliate links to make money online.
YouTube
Video has quickly become the most shareable and captivating medium, and you don’t need a bunch of expensive, fancy film equipment to create YouTube videos, either. A simple webcam or smartphone, a few fun ideas, and voila! You’ve got a YouTube channel.
You can make all types of videos for your site, and the more creative the better! Try out videos like:
- Product unboxing and reviews. Show these products on camera and discuss them honestly. You can also demonstrate the entire unboxing process for your viewers.
- Consumer buying advice. In the same vein as product reviews, comparing multiples types of the same product can help your audience even more. This allows viewers to learn about more than one item and compare your advice against what they’re most interested in to decide on the best one for them.
- How-tos and tutorials. If you understand a process and can explain the steps in a helpful way, then why not make a video of it? Just like storytelling, people vastly prefer you to show rather than tell, so make your video as visually pleasing and descriptive as possible.
- Educational shorts. Instead of “how to,” these types of videos explain the “why.” These can be created by using facts to build up your case, they can include opinions only, or a combination of both.
- Humor or sketch. As long as the subject is related in some way to your content, then this can be an enjoyable way to share new content with your followers.
- Celebrity and entertainment. If you are a movie or television buff, this is a category for you! Share your opinions and recaps on the films and shows you love to watch. Alternatively, you can discuss celebrity gossip and news.
- Lifestyle, fitness, and self-help. For affiliate marketers in the health and wellness category, these are videos that can give your audience a lot of value.
These are in no way the only videos you can create. Remember: creativity and individuality is key! This will get people more interested in your videos, more likely to read through your video descriptions, and more likely to click on the affiliate links you place there.
A Collection Page
Do you have products or services that you use regularly and would feel happy to promote regularly? You should consider creating a page on your site that is dedicated to these items. It could be a favorites page, gear page, or some of the bestsellers you’ve featured before. If you have loyal followers who truly trust your opinion, they’ll certainly be curious to know some of the things you use on a regular basis.
For example, I personally use many services daily that I could promote (but I don’t currently). Those services include SpyFu, GoDaddy, Constant Content, and WPEngine just to name a few. All of those services are ones I use every day AND they have affiliate programs. Perfect examples of things you too could promote.
A Resources Post
Why not provide valuable resources all in one place for your audience? This is a wonderful way to offer a lot of truly helpful information and earn your readers’ trust. Find something that fits into the subjects you cover, and then include the products and services that can help that every step of the way. My own personal example is DogFoodInsider.com, a website I made that reviews dog food and gives dog nutrition information. You’ll notice how I utilize the Amazon Associates affiliate program by reviewing all the dog food brands out there. The reviews are honest, unbiased, and I earn a commission no matter what someone purchases.
If you’re going to create a post of resources with affiliate links, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Link your images. It’s a simple action that can lead to a lot more clicks on your affiliate links.
- Remove unnecessary links. By offering an endless amount of links—some affiliate links and some not—you’re lowering the chances of the affiliate ones getting clicked. Make sure you’re working toward your end goal of making a sale with your content.
- Make links stand out. This is usually done automatically with hyperlinks appearing in blue, but use whatever color fits the branding of your business.
- Make it mobile friendly. More and more people are viewing new information on their phones, so what you write should be equally easy for desktop and mobile users to navigate through.
- Don’t forget SEO. Don’t fall into the trap of keyword stuffing, but do make sure to optimize the products or services you mention to help them show up in search engine results.