How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing [2024] for Bloggers

How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing [2024] for Bloggers

Affiliate marketing can be an extremely profitable venture for bloggers. By promoting relevant products and services and earning commissions on resulting sales, bloggers have the opportunity to significantly increase their income.

However, like any endeavor, being successful with affiliate marketing requires following some key best practices. You need to choose the right affiliate programs, strategically place your affiliate links, and continuously monitor and optimize your performance.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk through the entire process of getting started with affiliate marketing for bloggers, from initial research to measuring results. By the end, you'll have all the knowledge needed to start earning through affiliate partnerships.

Choosing Relevant Affiliate Programs

The first step is researching and selecting affiliate programs that are highly relevant to your blog niche and audience interests.

Conduct Keyword Research

Use keyword research tools to identify high-traffic buyer keywords in your niche. This will reveal popular products/services people are searching for, which can inform good affiliate opportunities.

For example, a food blogger may find high search volume around keywords like "best stand mixer" or "vitamix blender reviews." Becoming an affiliate for brands that offer these kinds of products can be lucrative based on existing demand.

Evaluate Your Existing Content

Look through your blog posts and categories to spot any product or service recommendations you're already naturally making. Affiliate opportunities likely exist in those areas.

If you've written buying guides or product reviews organically, you're essentially providing a blueprint for what your readers purchase. Promoting affiliate links for those items aligns well.

Consider Complementary Industries

Think outside your direct vertical about other affiliate products/services your audience would find valuable.

For example, a fashion blogger could become an affiliate for makeup brands or jewelry companies. Or a fitness blogger could promote workout apparel and gear.

Expanding beyond your core focus expands your earning potential. Just ensure recommendations still provide real value.

Research Specific Affiliate Programs

Once you've identified promising affiliate opportunities, vet various related affiliate programs.

Evaluate commissions, brand reputation, ease of approval/integration, types of links/assets provided, reporting capabilities, payment frequency/threshold, and any other factors important to you.

Signing Up For Affiliate Programs

When you've researched and identified affiliate programs you want to join, it's time to submit applications.

Gather Required Information

Affiliate applications require certain information about you and your blog. This usually includes:

• Basic personal/business details
• Blog URL
• Blog visitors/pageviews
• Average monthly posts
• Social media URLs/followers
• Traffic sources/demographics
• Any other stats that indicate your blog's authority and reach

Ensure all information is up to date and paints an accurate picture of your blog's size and influence.

Submit Well-Written Applications

With the necessary information ready, thoughtfully complete each affiliate program application. Follow all instructions closely.

In any application free-form fields, explain why you'd make a great affiliate. Emphasize your blog's strong traffic, high search rankings, engaged subscribers/social followers, and loyal readership built on trust.

Submit polished applications free of errors. Follow up if you don't hear back within 2 weeks.

Complete Onboarding Steps

Once approved, carefully complete any onboarding steps for each program before publishing links.

Pay close attention to details like properly inserting affiliate IDs into special link code, installing pixels, gaining access to affiliate creative assets, etc. Verify everything works properly.

Strategically Adding Affiliate Links

With your affiliate accounts created, it's time to start earning! Here are some best practices for integrating affiliate links into blog posts:

Contextual Placement

Any affiliate links must be contextually relevant and naturally placed within content focused on the product/service. Don't force recommendations.

For example, an article comparing multiple products should have links to all options, not just the one you want to promote. But dedicated reviews present clear opportunities to highlight your chosen affiliate link.

Additionally, links should be smoothly incorporated within paragraphs, not awkwardly inserted. And avoid stacking too many affiliate links close together - spread them out organically throughout each piece.

Regular Recurrence

Repeat affiliate links 2-3 times through long posts. Place at least once early on, a couple times through middle sections, and again toward the end. But don't over-insert the same link or it looks spammy.

Call-To-Action Language

Accompany links with strong calls to action like "Buy Here" or "Get This Deal." Similarly, use action verbs like "purchase," "register," or "download." Commanding language drives more clicks.

Link Branding

For approved programs, replace default affiliate links with branded links naming the retailer. For example, instead of https://trackinglink.com/Nike?afid=myID, format as Nike.com. Branding builds more trust.

Link Title Tags

Use descriptive and compelling link title tags, like "See #1 Ranked Mattress" instead of bare affiliate URLs. Intriguing hover-over text earns more clicks.

Tracking Affiliate Link Performance

Continuously monitoring affiliate link analytics provides key insights for optimization.

Link-Specific Data

Most affiliate programs provide reporting on stats like clicks, conversions, commission rates, etc. for each link.

Review this data frequently to identity well-performing links to expand on and low-performing links to improve or remove.

Page-Level Analytics

Within Google Analytics, compare pages featuring certain affiliate products/links vs. those without them.

Section affiliate-promoting posts by conversion rate, time on page, bounce rate, and other benchmarks against non-affiliate content to make decisions.

Attribution Modeling

Enable attribution modeling within Google Analytics to see true multi-touch conversion paths across sessions and marketing channels.

This reveals how often affiliate links influence purchases even if not the last click, informing closer performance tracking.

Optimizing Affiliate Promotions Over Time

Regularly improving affiliate marketing approaches through testing and ongoing learning increases long-term profitability.

Expand On What Works

When you identify well-converting affiliate links, expand upon them in more content.

Write additional articles featuring those affiliate products or links to leverage momentum with readers.

Try New Promotions

Continuously evaluate new affiliate program opportunities within your evolving niche and test new recommendations your audience would genuinely appreciate.

The more affiliate links you have driving interested traffic, the greater your potential earnings.

Refine Language

Subtly adjust calls-to-action, link text, promotional positioning, and other language around affiliates and measure impact on performance. Optimization never stops.

Conclusion

While becoming a successful affiliate marketer requires consistency and effort over time, bloggers have incredible earning potential by following the best practices covered here.

Choose affiliate programs strategically, incorporate links effectively, analyze performance diligently, and iterate based on insights. By delivering genuine value to your readers while also making commissions, it's a win-win.

What affiliate marketing tactics have you found most effective? I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice in the comments!