Transcript
Welcome to the Bloggy Friends show.
What's up my bloggy friends?
Famous Ashley Grant here and welcome back to part two of Affiliate Marketing Profits,
our deep dive into affiliate marketing.
If you missed the first episode, you can check that out in the show notes.
I will leave a link down in the show notes.
The first steps that we shared in that are select your niche, understand your audience,
establish your affiliate blog, explore diverse affiliate programs, and embrace the power
of social media marketing.
Now let's get into the last four steps that you need to be using so you can actually have
affiliate marketing success.
For the record, I just want to share that one of the things that happened with me when
I first started my affiliate marketing journey is I found a really cool program.
It was going for, I want to say about $1,500 and the commission was 40%.
They had an amazing lead-in program that they started where you could nurture your list
and all that good stuff.
They wrote all these amazing swipe copy emails that you could send out to people that were
asking you about whatever it is you were talking about.
In this case, it was a weight loss program.
I started sharing the different swipe copy and believe it or not, even though I didn't
have an established audience yet, no one really knew who I was, no one really knew what kind
of website I had, I actually did have someone click on one of my links and they bought the
program and it was a 40% commission and it was just an easy way to start making money
online and that's why I'm so obsessed with affiliate marketing.
I still actually make money today on some of the links that I have been pushing out
throughout the years.
Just recently I had someone click on a link for a syrup and then they bought an Xbox.
It was an easy $11 or $12.
I can't even remember what it was, but that's why I like affiliate marketing so much is
it's a passive income way to keep making money off of your content and keep promoting the
fact that you are a content creator.
It helps you sustain, I guess, your creativity.
Let's get into the last four steps.
Step six, select your promotional products wisely.
Are you all about the tangible goodies that your customers can hold in their hands?
If so, then you should be thinking about physical products that land right at their doorstep
and make them jump with joy.
Or if you're more of a digital wizard who's thinking about digital products, you want
to promote things like e-books and courses and other mind-blowing informational gems.
These digital wonders will set your audience's hearts on fire.
But here's the secret sauce.
The products that you promote depend on your chosen topic.
For example, if you're running a toy blog, it's all about the tangible stuff because
kids and adults, let's be honest, they love the physical toys.
They want to be able to hold these toys in their hands and learn all about them and play
with them.
On the other hand, if you're doing a spirituality blog, you might be talking all about digital
delights like enlightening e-books and soul-nourishing courses, that kind of thing.
But here's the cool thing.
Some topics, they actually mix and match the best of both worlds.
So like if you have a stress management blog, you have the perfect combination.
You can talk about an e-book that helps you chill out and you can talk about those Zen-worthy
products that you hold in your hand like a weighted blanket or an essential oil diffuser.
So you got to choose wisely because you need to tailor your product promotions to fit with
your topic and to fit with what your audience is going to be looking for.
And I said this before and I'm going to say it again.
My pro tip is only promote the products and services that you have used, like, and trust.
When it comes to choosing the products and services that you want to promote as an affiliate,
there's a golden rule that should always be followed.
Use, like, trust.
Trust me, if you're hoping for affiliate marketing success, this is really, really crucial because
you don't want to tell people to go and buy something if you wouldn't actually buy it
yourself.
The only exception to this, and I've said this before in a previous episode, is if you're
a review website and you're talking about a bunch of different things and some of them
are things that you're actually giving bad reviews to, of course you can still link to
those things.
And if anybody clicks it and they choose to buy it anyway, then you'll still get a commission.
But if you're not actually purchasing these products or trying these products and have
no idea what they do, it's kind of just bad form to be telling people to buy something
if you wouldn't buy it yourself.
So imagine for a moment you stumble upon an affiliate program for a random product that
you've never used.
You have no idea if it's any good, but hey, it offers a juicy commission.
And you might think to yourself, well, who's going to know?
But remember, you're not just selling a product.
You're building trust with your audience.
And nothing is going to kill your reputation faster than promoting products that you don't
actually believe in.
Or that you don't actually, that you wouldn't buy yourself is basically what I'm trying
to say.
So if you promote anything for a quick buck, you're risking losing that precious trust
that you have worked so hard to build.
And trust me, that old adage, it takes a lot of time to earn, but it can vanish like a
puff of smoke if you're not careful.
So choose wisely, only promote the products and services that align with your values,
resonate with your audience, and genuinely add value to their lives.
You got to be like a discerning food critic at a fancy restaurant.
You only want to pick the most delectable dishes to recommend.
And remember, it's not about short-term gains.
You want to build long-lasting relationships with your audience because it's like planting
seeds in a magical garden of money.
So step seven is to deliver value with exceptional content.
What does that mean?
It's the secret sauce, right?
It's talking about these products in a way that actually convinces people to buy.
So whenever you're delivering exceptional content and delivering exceptional value,
you're telling people how to use the product.
You're telling them what it has done for you.
So a great example of this is I work for a running website and they often talk about
this...
It's a roller that you can use after you've gone running that helps kind of work out the
kinks in your muscles.
And so they sell this roller...
They don't sell this roller.
They promote this roller on a website that sells this roller.
And every time someone clicks it and buys it, they get a kickback.
But they use this roller in their videos.
They use it in their blog.
They use it and tell people about how they use it.
And so they're giving exceptional value by telling people how it can help a person, how
it can help them work out those kinks and those muscles.
So that's what I mean by delivering value with exceptional content.
You're not just gonna put up a link to put up a link.
You wanna actually tell people what the point of the link is, what the thing that someone
is considering buying is.
One of the cool things I saw on a food blog is this lady was writing about how to do the
perfect keto kitchen, all the essentials you would need to build a kitchen that is keto
friendly.
And so everything that was on her website, excuse me, on this page was how to actually,
what kind of products you need to buy.
Like instead of sugar, the different sugar sweeteners, the alternative sweeteners, like
those kinds of things.
The different pots and pans she uses, the kitchen aid mixer she uses, everything that
someone would need to create a kitchen that's filled with all the materials and pantry supplies
to make a meal that is keto friendly.
So not only is it telling the user or the reader how they can make their kitchen more
keto friendly, that post was also filled to the brim with all kinds of affiliate links
that if anybody clicked any of those items and bought them, this content creator got
a kickback.
So that's what I mean whenever I say create exceptional content and deliver value.
Step eight is to harness the power of your affiliate links.
What in the world does that mean?
Basically, it's time to unleash the power of your affiliate links and turn those clicks
into cold hard cash.
You have your awesome blog, you've sprinkled it with high value content.
Now what?
Now this is where you need to start putting in all the affiliate links into the content
that you've created.
Think of it like sprinkling fairy dust on all of your blog posts.
You can start sprinkling in your magical affiliate links to the products you want to promote.
And don't forget the charm of an eye catching image that goes with it.
And here's the secret sauce.
When your readers click those links and make a purchase, cha-ching, you'll be earning the
series commissions that you are looking for like a boss.
So social media is a playground too.
I mentioned social media a little bit earlier.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram, they have their very own magic trick.
You can use something like Linktree or create a social media page on your own website so
that if you're posting different things on these social media websites, you can bring
back people to your page and include your affiliate links all in one place.
So this gives your followers a way to easily access all the fabulous links that you're
talking about and you can start raking in the rewards all at the same time.
And guess what?
YouTube is part of the fun too.
Don't forget to add affiliate links to all of your YouTube video descriptions.
And I like to think of it as planting little money seeds that grow into a beautiful garden
of money.
All right, step nine.
We've talked about the website and how important it is.
In step nine, we're going to drive as much traffic as humanly possible to your website.
I did an episode recently, well, not recently, it's actually been a little bit now, but all
the different ways that you can drive traffic to your website.
I'll leave that in the show notes and I'll also leave other links to different ways that
you can drive traffic.
But here are a couple of ideas.
First one, I've said it a couple of times, is to use social media to drive people to
your website.
Second is to play with partnerships.
Join forces with other awesome content creators that are in your topic.
Things like guest podcasting, that's a great way to get people to come to your website.
If you go on other people's podcasts and you talk about your website, usually the host
is going to give you an opportunity to mention where people can find you online.
And another thing to do is guest posting.
It's still not dead.
You can still guest blog on other people's websites and they usually will give you a
link back to your own website in like your author description or something like that.
Another thing you can consider for driving traffic is giveaways.
Why not buy the very things that you were talking about, the very affiliate products
that you want to tell people about and give one away.
I saw a blogger recently do this and it was really successful for her.
She was not to keep bringing up KitchenAid, hey KitchenAid, do you want to sponsor me?
Basically she was giving away a KitchenAid and what she did was really cool.
Not only does she have a giveaway form that people could enter to win this KitchenAid,
she kept talking about if you don't want to wait and you want to buy your KitchenAid now,
here's a link to purchase.
And so anybody who purchased it through her link, she was able to get a commission on
those.
So it was a very successful campaign for her.
She sold a lot of KitchenAids and she gave one away.
Everybody won.
So let's also talk about SEO.
We kind of have to talk about SEO.
I'll leave a couple links to different things you can do for SEO sorcery.
But basically you want to summon the power of SEO like a wizard.
You want to sprinkle those keywords that people are looking for like magic dust all throughout
your content.
And again, I'm going to say it, don't keyword stuff your posts.
However, if you're not thinking about SEO and you're not actually using a strategy of
things that people are going to be searching for, no one's ever going to find your stuff.
It's not like a field of dreams.
Just because you build it doesn't mean they will come.
You need to use the words that they are looking for for them to find you.
And finally, the last tip I'll give for traffic tips is email.
I know I've talked about email a lot.
I'm using it ad nauseum, but don't forget about the enchantment of email marketing.
Sending captivating emails and exclusive offers to your subscribers.
This is like having a VIP party where your guests can't wait to RSVP.
It's giving you a direct connection to the people that you're talking to and giving them
a way that they can click your links directly and get you paid.
So we covered a lot in this episode as well.
And again, if you haven't heard the first part of this deep dive into affiliate marketing,
again, I'll leave that in the show notes below.
But so the big things we talked about in this episode is step six is to select your promotional
products wisely.
Step seven is to deliver value with exceptional content.
Step eight is harness the power of your affiliate links.
And finally, step nine is to drive traffic to your website.
You need to get as many eyeballs on those pages that you are creating content on as
humanly possible.
Because whenever you actually get people to your website, the thing that you own, that's
when you can finally start making some serious cash.
So join us in the next episode whenever we talk about a 30 day strategy of things that
you should be doing to actually build up your affiliate marketing success.
In the meantime, we'll probably be dripping out some episodes of quick hits and motivational
moments and all those good things.
And if there's anything I haven't been talking about that you really think I should hit me
up on x.com.
I'm at Ashley is famous or send me a comment at facebook.com backslash famous Ashley Grant.
I would love to hear from you and hear what you want to hear about.
Until next time, may your page views be high and your bounce right below.