How to be an Affiliate Blogger

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There is a difference between being serious about growing your business as an affiliate blogger or being a hobby blogger.

There is very little pressure to post frequently if you are a hobby blogger. Your schedule is your own as well as the topics. If you have a desire to grow your business with blogging you’ve implemented a specific growth plan realizing it can’t be a random process. You need a plan.

The following steps indicate you’ve set a solid action plan for your blog to promote affiliate products as your business:

You have researched your business niche
You’ve researched and created the Avatar of your ideal reader.
You have purchased the domain name & hosting.
Your website is live on line.
You’ve written several blogs and promoted them.
You’ve set specific goals and one is to make money blogging.

If you haven’t taken these steps you could be holding yourself back. Without a solid action plan to monetize your blog it is just a hobby business.

For those of you who are wanting to make money with your blog as an affiliate, the days ahead are great opportunities to put a solid action plan into play. The Cyber Sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well as the shopping opportunities for the holidays. Timing is good right now.

Be an Affiliate Blogger

Recommending other people’s products as an affiliate is one way serious bloggers make an income with their blog .

And this time of year is a good time to concentrate on the products and services the people in your audience are asking for. You’ve done the research to know what they want, it is time to provide it.

How visible your blog is will make a difference in the success of monetizing your blog as an affiliate. What do I mean about visibility?

Visibility –

The many details you need to concentrate on to make your blog visible online are discussed in detail in the Blogging Made Easy course. Let’s do a quick blog assessment. Answer these questions:

Are you happy with the way it brands you and your business?
The techie pieces – Is everything set up and working smoothly?
Did you do your avatar research so you know what your audience is asking for?
Have you created a plan to put all the pieces in place to monetize it?
What is your content strategy?
How about Optimization – keyword research and SEO?
What is your marketing plan?
How will you capture your visitor’s email so you can continue to communicate?
Do you have a growth plan in place?

With a visible blog getting plenty of visitors (traffic) and a way to capture contact information, you could be ready to monetize as an affiliate blogger. You need to get eyes on your blog.

No matter what niche you’re in you most likely will find some products in that niche that your audience is asking for. You may not have these products, yet you can recommend the products of others who do have them when you admit that they may wish to check it out and compare it with others you recommend. Being this bridge will benefit your audience especially if you can recommend it with integrity. As an affiliate for products, you build the trust relating to your readers. With that as a foundation, you are set to review or recommend and sell to them.

A relationship of trust and integrity are key with having your readers respond.

Apply to be an Affiliate Blogger

Apply. Through an application process, you can become an affiliate.

Each product owner sets their own requirements that you must abide by. Once approved, they provide you with a special link for the product or many of their products. Then, when you create the recommendation and someone clicks on that link to buy it, you make a percentage of the sale as your “commission”.

Most products, if they have an affiliate program, will have a link to that program on the website or found in a Google search. If all fails, email support and ask.

Being a Responsible Affiliate

Being an affiliate requires personal integrity – your reputation depends on it. You set your own standards as to which products you will promote and why. Building trust between you and your readers is key.

Sadly, there are those among us that have not abided by this high standard. Together we can change this!

Before you start selling as an affiliate, review the legal disclosure requirements. You will need a disclosure on your website, your blog posts, and any marketing you do. I recommend Googling to find additional details. I’ve seen several very clever, friendly statements from sellers. You can put it directly into your policy pages, however, you also need to make it visible when you are recommending a product as an affiliate.

Articles to give you a start with research: Termly – Brilliant Affiliate – Persuasion Nation

Things Working today for Affiliate Marketing

Written or Video reviews perform well
Always do this with integrity and honesty. When well written your readers will want to take a look.

There is a “formula” for writing a review that makes people want to buy. The more detail you provide can help. Beyond saying why you like it, include components like who the product is and isn’t for, images/videos, proof that it’s working for you and others, and negatives. Don’t forget – you need to tell your reader what it is you want them to do. Learn more. Get it here. Check out the details. Include a CTA – Call to Action.
Some products give you a better financial return than others
4 points
1. Check with the product owner to see how long the affiliate cookie is active – 1 time purchase, months, Days, Years – it can be any of those.
  For example, you may find a book on Amazon that appeals to your readers. When they use that link and then buy other items, you get affiliate benefits from those purchases as well.
2. One time purchases of a lesser amount vs one time purchase that costs more. You may be extending a lot of energy so make it worth your time.
3. Create tutorials of the product you are an affiliate for. This will mean it is one you are using and you know it well – building trust with your reader.
4. Monthly recurring Billing Products – Recommend products that get billed every month or annually. You will continue to get a percentage of the monthly amount. A nice passive form of income. Sell it once and reap the benefit as long as they continue to use the product.

You will see in my blogging articles, I not only recommend my products, I also recommend others that I use in my business.

Please share your Blogging experience with me. I would love to know what you’ve discovered is working for you.

Join us in the course too!

Come join me in the Blogging Made Easy –
Blogging Brilliance Course
A course with the challenge to blog successfully step by step!

Packed with 30+ practical tips, ideas, strategies, and techie tips to gain visibility, build your authority, and share your unique perspective in your niche. Together we can accelerate the success of our blogs, set goals that will have us celebrating.

To your Success!
Terry