Affiliate marketing can be very lucrative with the potential for low overhead and high returns. But what is affiliate marketing? To put it simply, it is an arrangement made between a company and yourself, in which the company agrees to give you a commission every time you refer someone to their site through your affiliate link.
Here’s the big question, though: how do you use affiliate links effectively? In this article, we’ll guide you through various channels, strategies and techniques, so you can promote your affiliate links and generate sales effectively. Keep reading to find out more.
How Do Affiliate Links Work?
An affiliate link is like a referral code. However, instead of a code, you have a URL that allows a merchant or affiliate network to track every sale you make. It contains a unique identifier that lets the company determine where the traffic came from.
When someone clicks your affiliate link, they’re tracked the same way that cookies follow your web activities. Both networks and merchants normally have a period of validity in which the sale can be credited to you, and if the user makes a purchase within that period, you are credited for the sale and earn a commission.
Where to Receive an Affiliate Link?
You can get an affiliate link from:
- Affiliate networks: Networks that let you sell products from multiple companies while only interacting with one entity
- Direct merchants: Standalone companies that directly offer you a percentage for every sale you close for them.
- Affiliate plugins: Software that, in a sense, “beautifies” your links so they don’t appear like spam links
- Affiliate manager: A person who manages a merchant’s affiliate program and is sometimes in charge of giving you affiliate links
No matter how you receive your affiliate links, they all have one thing in common: joining an affiliate program is a prerequisite. To ensure every sale is counted, use the correct link format and personal tracking ID.
How to Promote My Multiple Affiliate Links? Try These Placements
Have you noticed how a brand usually has a presence on more than just one platform? This isn't just to spread brand awareness (although, it's part of it, obviously!). Each platform also presents an opportunity to promote a brand’s products and services.
Even if you're not promoting your own product, you follow this strategy. You can use various platforms to reach your audience, and the following subsections outline our favorites for promoting links.
Your Website
Consider your website your brand’s office. It is where people go to learn more about your business or online persona. For some marketers, websites are their biggest source of affiliate income.
And considering the many ways that you can insert affiliate links there, it’s no surprise why it’s so popular. You can insert links:
- Under your website’s banners. Banners rely on a lot of visuals and are an invaluable addition because, as we all know, pictures are often more powerful than words.
- In a blog post. Blog posts can be amazing as long as your reader doesn’t expect a sales pitch.
- On a product review or comparisons page. This is a great option if the features are fairly technical like with electronics.
Email Marketing Campaigns
Don’t waste the potential of your email list! It’s an amazing opportunity to get your message straight to your audience’s emails. Here, you get more than one opportunity to sell to your affiliate list, thus increasing your potential revenue. So, what does it take to be a successful email marketer?
- Follow existing email regulations, so your message doesn’t end up in the spam folder.
- Create an attractive subject line.
- Keep the tone conversational.
- The emails should come from a real person.
- Don’t be afraid to introduce visuals into your email.
Forums and Blog Comments
You don’t always have to be the only one speaking. Instead, utilize forums and blog comments to introduce your thoughts, alongside the thoughts of many others from the group. You can create a personalized message that will convert a specific reader (and hopefully, anyone else who sees).
However, the trick here is to endorse your affiliate links as much as you can without being seen as a spammer. Therefore, you should also provide value to other discussions even if there’s no opportunity for linking. This allows you to build authority, so readers will be more likely to trust your recommendations.
Social Media Platforms
Social media has become a great way to connect with people regardless of where they are in the world. It has evolved so much over the years, facilitating a deeper level of interaction that wasn’t possible even a few years ago. As a result, its popularity is at its highest ever. Just take a look at how many people are using the world’s more popular social platforms.
With people spending more time online, marketers can't afford to miss out on the opportunities presented within social media platforms. Learn how to get sales from some of these platforms below.
Pinterest is a social media site that allows you to share images for others to see. The goal is to find ideas, information and inspiration through the posted GIFs, images and videos. Visuals are generally more effective in converting customers, so if you don’t know yet how to promote affiliate links on Pinterest, keep these Pinterest-specific tips in mind:
- Don’t use URL shorteners, as it’s not allowed on the platform.
- Space out the timing of your pins, so you don’t seem like a scammer.
- Join popular pinboards, so you can reach a wider audience.
Most importantly, invest in the quality of the visual. This platform is full of them, so you need yours to stand out.
Facebook may have lost some of its market share to other platforms, but it’s still the most used in the world with 3 billion users every month. That’s a lot of potential buyers of your affiliate products! So, if you don’t want to leave money on the table, learn how to promote affiliate links on Facebook.
With so many already using Facebook, how do you stand out? Use the subchannels within the platform to create more opportunities for engagement.
- Facebook page: This can serve as your main channel for posting content.
- Facebook group: Here is where you can engage with users who are already interested in your brand.
- Chatbots: This tool sends users automated recommendations.
- Facebook ads: This ad format can help you reach a wider audience quickly.
On Twitter, you tweet to engage with your audience. Its simplicity is what makes it great: short, sweet and straight to the point. Compared to other social media platforms, promotion of affiliate links on Twitter takes relatively less effort on your part.
So, how can you promote affiliate links on Twitter successfully? Remember these tips and insights when you tweet:
- Not every tweet should have an affiliate link;
- Followers are considered leads on this platform;
- Remain active by retweeting and sharing valuable content;
- Don’t be afraid to repurpose content from other platforms.
Like Pinterest, aesthetics are very important on Instagram. That’s why you should put an emphasis on the visual element of your posts; however, beautiful graphics and videos don’t guarantee sales. Learn how to promote affiliate links on Instagram successfully with these tips:
- Disclose if your post is an advertising promotion to comply with regulations;
- Your bio is the first thing users see, so include links there;
- Use relevant hashtags to drive a bigger audience to your content;
- Include the link in the description.
YouTube and Podcasts
In itself, YouTube already allows you to earn money. You can compound the profitability of a YouTube channel by introducing affiliate links here as well. If you don’t know how to promote affiliate links on YouTube, you’d be happy to learn just how easy it is!
On a video with relevant content, include the affiliate link in the description box. Make sure to let the audience know that the description contains a link in case they're interested. In addition, if someone asks in the comments where you bought something, use it as an opportunity to introduce a link. This same technique applies to podcasts as well.
How to Promote Affiliate Links for Free or at Cost: Ensure Success by Keeping These Best Practices in Mind
In the previous section, we provided tips that are specific to the medium or platform that you want to use. Regardless of how you’re going to approach affiliate marketing, the practices in the following subsections should guide your actions.
These principles make up the general framework that every successful affiliate marketer uses to generate more sales and maximize the effectiveness of every channel that they’re using. Win as a general marketer and expand your affiliate marketing business by remembering these practices.
Set Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators or KPIs are criteria by which you measure the success or failure of a campaign. These are important because you need to have some sense of how well your efforts are serving you. It can help you find out:
- Which platform and affiliate network/merchant are bringing in the most revenue;
- What you need to improve to reach more audience;
- What type of content appeals to your target market;
- What platforms may be worth expanding to.
In some ways, these indicators should drive your decision making. Most importantly, ensure that what you’re tracking is relevant to the success of your affiliate marketing campaigns.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
We’re a huge believer that you shouldn’t reinvent the wheel, but this doesn’t mean we think you should close yourself off to innovation. Evolve as the market evolves, so you can consistently earn commissions. Experimenting can look different for you, depending on where you are in your journey as an affiliate marketer. It can be:
- Trying an alternative posting schedule;
- Creating more visuals for your content;
- Testing out a new platform to post affiliate links;
- Joining a new affiliate program.
Just remember, experimenting doesn’t equate to being directionless. You should always be guided by data to make your efforts profitable.
Have a Clear Message
There are many affiliate marketers out there, and competition is fierce. To stand out from the rest, give users a reason to choose you. That’s where having a clear message comes in.
When coming across your affiliate content, your audience is usually in the position of wanting answers. Your job is to help them gain confidence in their purchase decision by demonstrating the value of the affiliate product. In short, your message should drive them to buy.
Choose a Niche
Newbie marketers usually try to cast a wide net by joining every affiliate program out there. Consequently, they end up disappointed because they exerted a lot of effort with little to show for it. Unfortunately, that’s the danger of spreading yourself too thin.
So, make sure to pick a niche and stick to it. By doing so, you develop a clearer message that will resonate with your chosen audience, thus improving the odds that they will trust your promotions.
Ensure Your Links Work
Your affiliate link is the only way that you can prove that you were the one who sent traffic to a certain company. Thereby, it is imperative that your links contain your unique code and are active. Here are two undesirable scenarios that you should avoid:
- The user clicks the link and ends up on a 404 page. They will become frustrated — and understandably so. And instead of using your promoted link, the user will just Google the product that you’re promoting.
- The company doesn’t track the traffic from your channel. This means that even if the user ends up buying the product, you won’t receive your commissions.
How to Promote Affiliate Links With a Website: Avoid These Pitfalls
Success as an affiliate marketer takes a lot of hard work, investment and skill on your part. With the competition getting tighter for the same target market, you should do everything to stack the deck in your favor. Here are a few things that you should avoid when promoting affiliate links:
- Don’t promote low-quality products;
- Don’t rely on the success of just one platform;
- Don’t overdo it with the links;
- Don’t ignore SEO if you’re relying on organic search;
- Don’t target keywords that have a lot of competition;
- Don’t create unrealistic income goals;
- Don’t mislead your audience with messaging and creatives;
- Don’t try to do everything on your own;
- Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
How to Promote Affiliate Links While Tracking Your Links and Revenue
The mark of a truly successful affiliate marketer is their ability to consistently get paid. After all, the goal of becoming an affiliate is to rake in as many sales as you can. Therefore, all your sales should be traced back to you.
The name of the game here is monitor, monitor and monitor! You should be able to track your links and see the revenue your affiliate marketing business is generating. To help you out with these, here are a few tools you should consider using.
Pretty Links
Main features:
- Automatically create “pretty” links so your audience won’t think it’s a phishing link
- Automatically link keywords to certain links so you never miss an opportunity to recommend a great product
- Advanced redirects so each of your affiliate marketing asset visitors gets to where you want them to go when they click the link
Pretty Links definitely offers more than, well, pretty links. It’s a great tool to have if you’re managing sites, social media, podcasts and other places where you can place links. This way, managing your links never gets too complicated.
Post Affiliate Pro
Main features:
- Commission management that lets you track your earnings from multiple affiliate programs
- Fraud detection that filters out bots and suspicious traffic
- Endless integrations that allows you to have all your affiliate marketing tools in one place
Post Affiliate Pro is a dream come true for affiliate marketers. It helps you with everything from the top to the bottom of the funnel, allowing you to automate marketing campaigns and workflows easily. This is a great option if you’re managing multiple websites and don’t want to take care of them individually. If you like proactive development, you’ll appreciate how quick they are at setting up new features and addressing issues on their platform.
Everflow
Main features:
- Real-time analysis and reports that helps you make data-based decisions for your marketing campaigns
- An easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for you to access all the great features of the site
- Performance analysis that lets you understand what results you got from your efforts
Based on the Google Cloud Platform, Everflow’s main goal is to monitor conversions and give you the data necessary to meet your campaign’s highest potential. In 2021, it tracked more than 21 billion clicks. What’s more, it even lets you track offline to online conversions.
How to Promote Affiliate Links Without a Website: Best Affiliate Marketing Networks to Try Out
If using a website is out of the question, you’ll always have options like creating blog comments or social media stories. As maintaining a site requires regular expenses, these are great options if you’re not yet sure how stable your affiliate earnings will be.
Marketing networks are ideal for those who don’t want or have a website — and just to be clear, you can use marketing networks even if you prefer to have your own site. While there are already so many that exist today, these are the best of them.
Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is the largest affiliate network in the world with commissions as high as 10 percent. With products for practically every category, it’s easy to find quality items that you can present to your audience.
The downside is you need to drive three qualified sales before they approve you as an affiliate. Additionally, we advise that, before you apply, you ensure that you meet all their requirements. Once you’re rejected, you can’t try again.
ShareASale
If you like an affiliate marketing platform that’s easy to use, ShareASale should definitely be at the top of your list. They have consistently bagged awards for their competence in delivering results for various aspects of marketing. With them, you’re sure to get the support needed to succeed.
Unlike Amazon, they partner up with different brands, which their affiliates then promote to their audience. You’ll see big names like Reebok and Etsy, so you can start with something you already use.
ClickBank
If you're in a niche that sells mostly digital products, then ClickBank is for you. They're known for their generous promotions, allowing you to choose between revenue sharing or cost-per-action payment structure. And in their 25 years in the industry, they've paid $6 billion in commissions.
With ClickBank, you’re going to get assistance every step of the way. They provide in-depth marketing training for their affiliates to help them become effective in generating sales. Plus, they have a funnel builder that lets you create a funnel in just three clicks.
FAQ on How to Promote Affiliate Links in Content of All Forms
Do you need a website to promote affiliate links?
No, a website is not required at all. There are a lot of other ways that you can promote affiliate links without one, including:
- Social media;
- Podcasts;
- Native advertising;
- Email marketing;
- Content publishing platforms;
- And many more!
Where can I learn how to promote affiliate links without website content?
Platforms for affiliate marketing networks usually have some form of training on how to get started. But to truly understand what works in your niche, look at what’s working for others.
How do I make my affiliate content more compelling?
Understand the value of your product from the audience’s perspective. If you want to learn how to promote affiliate links on website blogs, consider who is going to your site. Find angles that will entice your audience into buying.
What’s the first thing I should learn about how to promote affiliate links on social media?
With social media, you can’t make every post about affiliate products or services. It’s essential that you develop a connection with your audience.
Do I need to inform my audience of my affiliate partnerships?
It will depend on where you're creating affiliate advertising. For example, the US and the UK both have laws that require you to do so. If you're targeting multiple countries at the same time, it's safer to have that disclosure.
What is the best way to promote affiliate links on Google Ads?
Most affiliate campaigns create ads that direct you to a landing or an opt-in page. This is something that you can do as well. What will make this effective is the quality of the ad and the page it leads to.
How can I make more people see my content without paying for ads?
It depends. If you’re learning how to promote affiliate links without website assets, you will probably use social media to start. Let’s say that you’re on Twitter. Apart from getting a lot of interactions, having the right hashtags can improve your visibility to a relevant audience.
How to Promote Affiliate Links: Know the Right Approach for Your Audience
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to affiliate marketing. Therefore, the first thing you should do is ask yourself these questions:
- Where is my target audience hanging out?
- What level of buyer awareness are they at?
Remember, with any level of investment, it's important to diversify without spreading yourself too thin. So, based on the two questions posed, pick a few methods and platforms that you believe have the best potential for your affiliate product or service.
Reach a wider audience by creating an account with MGID today. Receive exclusive access to a personal manager, top-level tools, experienced creative specialists and high-quality publishers.
