The Influencer & Affiliate Marketing Industry is unlike any other online venture — with the potential to earn a significant income online. Brand ambassadors, affiliate reps, and even social media influencers have created a whole profitable career around the affiliate marketing industry. Like in any industry, there are a set of standards that every expert needs to follow to be a success in the field. Here are the best practices every affiliate and influencer should know to deliver the best results.
Understand Each of the Program Policies
When you join a new affiliate program, thoroughly read the program policies to make sure you understand how the program works. Also, pay attention to the terms of service — you don’t want to inadvertently violate the rules, which could result in voided commissions terminated relationships.
Make sure you understand your commission rate, the tracking gap length of your links and referral codes, and payout structure.
If there is ever a compliance question, simply reach out to your affiliate manager for clarification. Hit reply to the welcome email or the last newsletter you received.
Programs currently managed by Apogee allow you to order through your own affiliate links as well as use any coupon or discounts that are available. This lets you share every aspect of the purchase from start to finish, and gives you an authentic first-hand recommendation. Not every program will let you do this, so ask first.
Check Current Specials and Promotions
Affiliate programs vary with regard to custom coupon codes, but most programs will offer a universal coupon code. Use this discount code as an additional incentive in your call to action to encourage your audience to click through and purchase the product.
With a managed affiliate program, you’ll receive a monthly email with current specials to promote to your audience. When you first sign on with a new affiliate program be sure to check what the current specials are, in case you have missed that monthly email.
Then, make sure to always keep the coupon codes or incentives updated as they may change. If you are using Gutenberg (WordPress), you can easily create a Reusable Block in your posts which can be edited in one place to update throughout your site.
Keeping the best, most recent coupon readily available to your reader is an important part of converting your posts to sales, as readers are always looking for the best deal.
Connect with Your Affiliate Manager
One of the biggest benefits of working with a managed affiliate program is having a dedicated affiliate manager. Your manager can help you maximize your earnings potential with guidance, suggestions, and even insider news about the company and program.
Your affiliate manager is your best resource for sales and specials from the brand, brainstorming ideas for content creation, making sure you are in compliance with the FTC, and more.
Affiliate managers occasionally have sponsored campaign opportunities, as well. These managers go to the affiliates they know will be a good fit for the brand. Building a relationship with your affiliate manager is a great way to maximize your earning potential.
Repurpose Content for New Affiliate Program
Joining a new program does not mean you must obsessively create new content. You probably have old content that, with updates, would be a great fit for your new affiliate links.
To make this less of a daunting task, Pretty Links Pro, a plugin for WordPress, has an amazing “Replacement Tool” that lets you automatically add affiliate links to keywords throughout your site with just a few clicks.
Simply create the “pretty link” with your affiliate link and set the terms that you would like hyperlinked throughout your site. The Pretty Links Pro Replacement Tool lets you automatically add links without even having to open the post!
Unlike sponsored posts, affiliate posts can include links to several different affiliate products within the same post, offering an even better solution to your readers.
Brainstorm New Content
There are several benefits to creating new content for your affiliate program. Not only does new content give you fresh posts to offer your readers, but it provides an additional place to interlink your site to the old content we mentioned before for your SEO benefit.
Additionally, when you create new content, consider sending it into your affiliate manager, who may have additional ideas for how to utilize the content. They may even send it over to the brand, which can turn into more opportunities for you in the future.
Remember, evergreen product reviews offer long-term affiliate opportunities that convert well.
Research the Best Sellers for New Content Ideas
Chances are, you chose the affiliate program based on a product or service that you thought would resonate with your audience, or fit with the content that you create. Many programs have dozens of products that can be used to create similar content that you can also use to convert.
For instance, let’s say you have chosen an affiliate program which offers delicious grilling herbs and rubs for the perfect brisket. Check the program best sellers to see what other products may complement that content — such as a great marinade or even a seasoning for vegetables to grill alongside the brisket. Voila! You now have two additional pieces of content.
Research Keywords before writing posts
The key to writing a great post with a high conversion rate is showing how an affiliate product can solve a problem for your reader. Once you know the problem and the solution, the next step is figuring out the exact terms that people are using to search for a solution.
Tools such as KeySearch and UberSuggest can help you discover keywords and long-tail keywords to target for your content, as well as give you an idea of the competition for those keywords.
Generally, you want to choose mid-level competition keywords with a great search volume to target for writing your content. You can use the additionally suggested keywords within your content to help strengthen the post and rank for those terms as well.
Remember, your goal is to use affiliate products to solve a problem. Properly optimized affiliate content targets a pain point that people experience and want to solve (keyword) and shows how easily the problem can be solved (affiliate product), along with a call to action and a simple way to purchase the solution (conversion).
Find Online Communities for Affiliate Marketers
The affiliate marketing industry is always evolving and new ideas and opportunities arise almost daily. It is important to immerse yourself in the industry, not only to stay on top of the news but also to surround yourself with people who have the same goals and are on the same success path.
The best places to find these online communities are Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn. Once you join the community, be sure to actively engage with the other members by asking questions and offering support, as well. Check the resources in the community such as videos and files to learn from past conversations.
Look for Virtual Conferences to learn from the experts
Similar to joining online communities for tips and support, attending conferences — whether virtual or in-person — offer an enormous amount of opportunity. At Affiliate Conferences, you will have the opportunity to learn from industry leaders, connect with brands, and discover ways to strengthen your affiliate strategy.
Take advantage of every networking opportunity to grow your knowledge base and expand your audience. Ask questions and be ready and willing to listen to those with more experience.
Benefits of Affiliate Management
Whether you’re just getting started in your affiliate journey, or are a seasoned professional looking to take a load off your plate, working with a managed program can help. Apogee audits affiliate programs to find weaknesses and help increase efficiency. Joining a program that is already running smoothly is a great way to increase your earning potential by avoiding potential snags in the program. Take advantage of the increased resources available in a firmly established program and reach out for content ideas, promotional content, and seasonal sales drives.
Apogee works with many merchants using Refersion’s Marketplace to offer the best framework for both affiliate and merchant. Sign up for Refersion’s Marketplace today to search available affiliate programs and find the merchant and program that is perfect for you.
At Apogee, we also work with content creators to help them “Think Like An Affiliate” and earn income from some of the best programs on the market today.
