IFBcon Workshop Live-Blog: Affiliate Marketing Tutorial: How To Get the Most Out of Your Content

Workshop 3: Affiliate Marketing Tutorial: How To Get the Most Out of Your Content brought to you by Rakuten Linkshare

How it works:

Advertisers team up with publishers (you as the blogger) to drive sales. The Affiliate connects the gap between the two to help making sure it's a good fit to achieve the highest profit.

How important is affilaite marketing?

It ranks as one of the most effictive channels after search and email marketing. It beat out SEO, offline banners, and word of mouth.

It's 4.5 billion industry and growing!

It's free and easy for bloggers to get their foot in the door, getting the chance to work with brands they love.

5 reasons to Love Affiliate Marketing:

Free to join

Advertisers make it easy for your blog to make money

You can earn commission 24 hours a day

Your personality/blog is your maketing weapon

You have complete control – the sky is the limit

Plus you get to choose who you work with!!

Tips: 

Know your audience

Only represent brands and products that you endorse

Build a loyal and engaged following and sales will follow

Choose your Affilate program wisely – do research!

Choose your partners carefully – what advertisers are relevant to your audience

Site integrity comes first

You can use other venues than your blog to post affiliate links. Social meadia links are great too!

Tips: Content

Promote products within a post – text links convert the best

Incorporate affiliate links into your newsletters

Consistency is key

Tips: Maintain

Be Patient – work at it!

Stay informed – educate yourself on tools and trends

Don't become reliant on just one brand – spread the wealth

Test, track and try again

A Few of LinkShares Tools for Bloggers:

Mac Dashboard Widgets – desktop tools for Mac that allow you to instantly create a link

#tweetshop – search shortens and distributes links thru publishers utilizing Twitter

WordPress Link Lookup – creates links in a wordpress post without logging in

Bookmarklet Tool Browser allows you to generate links on the fly!

You are going to get asked what products you use so why not get paid? Build direct relationships with the brands you love!

Q & A:

Q: I was denied by Linkshare, what are they looking for?

A: Make sure you fill out complete details and that they are accurate. We mostly look within content to see if it will be a good match.

Q: My blog reviews services… is affialte marketing still an available option?

A: Linkshare is strong in fashion. However, we do have financial services we work with as well as many other serive advertisers.

Q: Do you have to be a member of Linkshare to use the links?

A: Yes, both the advertiser and the publisher need to be a member. We need to pay you!

Q: What if I was advertising a Michael Kors bag, but Nordstrom was the advertiser. Who would get the comission?

A: Everyone involved. Michael Kors, Nordstrom and you as the publisher.

Q: What if my readers are not looking to shop. Are there any other options?

A: If your readers don't have a shopping intent then it is probably not for you. Another option is cost per click if the advertiser offers it.

Q: Do the affiliate links have any effect on your Google ranking?

A: Linking to a reputable brand is helpful for your rank.

Q: Where is the most effective place to put your affiliate links in a post?

A: There is no specific spot, however, within the content is usually best. Make sure you can clearly see it is a link and that it is clickable. You could also use a call to action link under your photo such as ” BUY HERE”.

Live-blogged by: Madison of Bare Bones.

[Image Credit:Dustin Fenstermacher]