Bloggers’ Blueprint for Affiliate Marketing Success

You are chilling at a beach or sipping a coffee, and your phone keeps buzzing! What you see is a flood of messages of sales made.

Wouldn’t that feel great?

That’s the power of affiliate marketing. Do whatever you want, be anywhere; set it up and start making passive income.

However, there is a lot more that goes into creating the perfect affiliate marketing program for bloggers than what meets the eye.

This in-depth guide will help bloggers like you how to make a successful living using affiliate marketing.

How does affiliate marketing work?

Let’s take a look at what affiliate marketing means in simple terms.

You promote someone’s product and earn a commission on the sale made – that’s affiliate marketing in the simplest terms.

Likewise, bloggers can join other affiliate programs and promote those brands’ products.

Affiliate marketing involves three parties. Each aims for a win utilizing their full potential.

• Seller: One who creates a product.
• Affiliate: One who promotes the seller’s product.
• Consumer: One who buys the promoted product.

Here is the process broken down step-by-step:

1. The affiliate marketer or blogger joins an affiliate program.
2. Gets a unique referral link or coupon to promote the product to their audience.
3. Some among that audience make a purchase using that link/coupon.
4. The affiliate/blogger earns the commission and the seller gets the customer and money.

Simple, isn’t it? It works the same way regardless of the product you’re promoting or what stage of affiliate marketing you are on.

For bloggers selling their own products, like travel photographs and travel accessories, an affiliate program can be a powerful tool to increase sales and reach a wider audience.

Refer to this in-depth guide on affiliate marketing

With that said, let’s move to the next section.

Promising strategies that bloggers must follow

While affiliate marketing is a promising trick in the book, some strategies must be followed to reap excellent results.

To succeed in affiliate marketing, you need to implement these effective strategies:

Selecting the right niche

Being a blogger, you are sure to be well-versed with your audience. You must know their likes, dislikes, their most preferred platform and a lot more.

However, audience preferences and priorities might also change. While some might have a different content preference, some may check social profiles daily compared to email.

Hence, these factors could help you substantially identify your target audience.

For example, if you are passionate about fitness, you can create a blog that promotes workout gear, supplements and training programs.

You can also focus on a specific niche such as ‘home workouts for busy professionals’. This will help you attract a targeted audience, making affiliate promotions more effective.

Choose the right products

You can promote products you have already tried or might want to try something new.

Hence, you can identify which product or plugin suits your audience’s preferences best.

For example, if your niche is WooCommerce and people are looking for solutions to efficiently manage their WooCommerce store, Smart Manager is the perfect product for them.

Now, choosing a product needs some time and initial investment.

You need to try similar products to choose the best one before promoting it.

Join affiliate program

Here, you have three choices:

1. The seller’s product you are going to promote has its affiliate program.
2. You join other affiliate networks to find good products and promote them.
3. Have your affiliate program if you sell some products.

However, the second choice is risky.

That’s because there is less trust and prior knowledge involved right from the first step. You must have complete knowledge to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your audience.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant and usually won’t build a relationship with them.

So, options 1 or 3 are the most feasible ones.

If you go for option 1 or 2, ensure that you check all terms and conditions before signing up. Be it the commission, payouts, or others.

Promote products

When you join the affiliate program, you’ll get a referral link. Some programs do provide coupons as referral links which are useful for promoting products on Instagram.

You may also get some creatives and resources. These may include banners, images, content and others to promote the products.

Write benefit-driven post

Once you identify keywords, write a post around that keyword that promises a benefit to the reader. Explain the pain points and the solution that the sold product can offer.

Your product posts must be detailed, have supporting keywords, must be mobile-optimized and must be frequently updated to keep them relevant and at the top of the search results.

You are now well-versed in the essentials of affiliate marketing.

What if bloggers sell products on their websites?

Here are a few things that bloggers must consider when selling products on their website:

Do some keyword research

Besides the content posted on the website, a blogger needs a strong copy to convert customers for the products they sell. Before writing the copy, keyword research and SEO are yet another primary steps.

The product you are trying to promote can itself work as a keyword.

Optimize your product pages for success

To boost conversions, ensure your product pages are top-notch. Use clear, engaging descriptions that highlight benefits, showcase products with high-quality images, and encourage customer reviews to build trust.

This winning combination will make your products stand out and drive sales.

Streamline your store

Offer a variety of product options to cater to different preferences. Maintain accurate inventory levels to avoid stockouts. Set up precise shipping rates and tax calculations based on customer location.

Deliver exceptional customer service

Show your customers you care by providing prompt responses, hassle-free returns, and personalized recommendations.

This attention to detail will build trust, foster loyalty, and encourage repeat business.

Get a review post done for the product

To convert your audience easily, review posts of the product or comparison posts work best. For example, “Best tools for…”, “Your product V/s competitor’s product”, “The best alternative to competitor’s product”, or more.

You can get a detailed review post on guest blogging sites, review sites, etc. that helps your audience understand the features, benefits and drawbacks of your products.

Getting a video review done by influencers also adds personal insights and will build trust with the readers. Such authenticity will encourage more conversions.

Promotions via emails

Email is the most cost-effective and convenient channel to reach out to your audience. All you need to do is send them relevant content that they find either entertaining, engaging, or educational to maintain the connection with them.

Promotions via social media

Facebook, Twitter, product reviews via YouTube and other relevant social media platforms will bring traction to your sales and pay you well in the long run.

Well, that’s quite enough for promotion. Do it right and see your sales soar.

How does Affiliate for WooCommerce help bloggers?

Let’s say you are a travel blogger, selling hiking gear, shoes, photos, etc. using WooCommerce.

You want to set up your own affiliate program. Affiliate for WooCommerce is the perfect solution to set up, create and manage your own affiliate program.

The plugin is an all-in-one solution that helps you recruit affiliates, set up flexible commissions, create campaigns, make payouts and more, all from a single place.

Here’s how:

1. Download, install and activate the Affiliate for WooCommerce plugin.
2. Now the plugin will provide you with an affiliate recruitment form. Modify the form fields as per your affiliate program requirements. For instance, a travel affiliate must have knowledge about a specific travel niche like luxury travel, adventure travel, etc. Configure other settings.
3. Allow affiliates to use customized referral links or coupons for promotion. You can also provide them with landing pages.
4. The next step is to create commission plans for the affiliates. Affiliate for WooCommerce allows you to set up flexible commission plans based on the products, affiliates, subscription orders and more.
5. You can also set up lifetime commissions and tiered commissions.
6. Then create promotional materials. As a travel affiliate, they can promote travel photos, videos, diaries, posts, infographics, etc., and reach out to potential affiliates.
7. View net sales, unpaid commissions, reports, refunds, and detailed affiliate profiles.
8. Make payouts automatically or manually.

That’s it. Your affiliate program is set.

Try the live demo

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing can be a profitable venture for bloggers. Choose a niche, partner with trusted brands, and create quality content. Optimize your website, promote affiliate links, and track your performance.

If you sell products on WooCommerce, consider partnering with other bloggers to expand your reach and boost sales. With dedication and effective strategies, you can turn affiliate marketing into a sustainable income source.

So dear blogger, follow the steps mentioned in this article and you’ll nail affiliate marketing.

Until then, happy growing!

FAQ

Can you become an affiliate marketer for free?
Yes, you can become an affiliate marketer for free with no money.

How to get an affiliate link?

1. Find a product to promote.
2. Determine if the product has an affiliate program.
3. Sign up for the affiliate program.
4. Get assigned an affiliate link to promote the product.
5. When visitors click the affiliate link, the affiliate gets paid.