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The Insiders’ Guide to Affiliate Marketing Do’s & Don’ts

If you’re starting out in affiliate marketing, you might be wondering if this is too good to be true. It’s easy to get excited about the prospect of making money online without having to create your own products, or write your own blog posts. But there are some do’s and don’ts that will make sure your readers get quality recommendations that prompt them to keep coming back for more!

Pick the right network

Picking the right network is important. You want to be sure that you are working with a reputable company, and not just anyone who will take your money. You also want to make sure that the products they offer are relevant to your audience and that they have a good commission rate.

If you’re looking for a specific product or brand, find out if it’s available through the affiliate program before signing up as an affiliate. Sometimes there is only one good site offering a particular product (like Amazon), so make sure that if this is what you’re looking for, then it has been included in their program.

Don’t get scammed by fake networks

This is a common mistake that many new affiliates make, and it can cost you much money. If someone offers to pay you a lot of money to join their network or promote their products, don’t trust them! There are many scam artists who will promise huge payouts if you sign up with them but never deliver on their promises.

Do pick the right product

The first thing you need to do is pick the right product. This isn’t as simple as it sounds, because many different factors go into this decision.

  • Can you get excited about it? If not, then don’t waste your time promoting it! You have to be passionate about what you’re selling if you want people to believe in it too.
  • Is it something that aligns with who you are and what you stand for? If not, then don’t waste your time promoting it! You need something that reflects who YOU are as an individual or company, so that people can see themselves in what YOU offer them.
  • Can you talk about your product in your own words without sounding like someone else wrote your script for you? If not, then don’t waste your time.

Don’t try one big launch

  • Don’t try one big launch.
  • Instead, promote multiple products at once and space out your launches so that they’re spread out 3-6 weeks apart.
  • Make sure you have enough content to write about each product in your niche before launching it. You don’t want to be scrambling around trying to create new articles while people are visiting your site! If you do this right, though, you can potentially get more sales than if you were just promoting one product at a time (and lessening the impact per sale).
  • When selecting the products and services to highlight in each launch, avoid overwhelming your audience with an excessive variety of offerings from a single company or brand. Such confusion may deter them from making a purchase altogether.

Use a mix of content types

Mixing text, images and video is the best way to keep your audience engaged. Try using short and long-form content, different types of media (like infographics), as well as entertaining educational content that your customers will want to share with others. You can use images and videos to explain your product. As an affiliate marketer, you have access to information that your customers don’t, so use that advantage! If there are any questions about how something works or what it looks like when in use, answer them with an image or video. If you’re promoting a physical product (like a smartphone case), show off how it looks on different phones in different colors by taking photos of them together (or even better yet: shoot some video). Don’t just say “this is how cool it looks”. Show them.

Don’t make your review salesy

You want to make sure that your review is not too salesy. If you promise something in the review, be sure to deliver on it. Don’t use misleading language or false claims to trick people into buying something they don’t really want or need. For example, if someone sees an ad online for an ebook about how to lose weight quickly and easily (something that’s definitely possible), they might click on it because they’re interested in learning more about losing weight (or maybe even already have). But then when they get to the site where they saw that ad and see another one advertising an ebook called “How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off Forever!” They might say: “Oh no! I already bought another ebook about losing weight! What do I do now?”

Don’t be dishonest or promise too much

You will get a lot of people who want to join your program, but don’t promise them anything too good to be true. You need to be honest about what you are offering and what they can expect from it. If you are not sure how it works or if there is any risk involved, then make sure that you tell them before they sign up with you.

Tell people you are an affiliate

If you are promoting a product, tell people that you are an affiliate and the products you are promoting. If they want to buy the product through your link, they should know how much money they will save on their purchase price with a custom coupon code. You should also tell them what percentage of their purchase price goes to you as a commission for referring them. For example: “For every $100 spent at XYZ store through my link, I earn $10 in commission at no cost to you.”

Don’t just promote the best-selling products

If you promote a product that’s not relevant to your audience, they’re likely to ignore it. Make sure the products you sell are relevant to your audience and likely to be of interest to them.

Bonus tip: Don’t just promote the best-selling products. Instead, find products that are relevant and likely to be of interest to your readers/viewers/customers. Then make sure they’re high quality so that when people buy them through one of your links (and thus give you credit), they’ll keep coming back for more.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money from your blog, but it’s important not to forget about the reader experience. The best way to do this is by creating content that will help them rather than just selling products. You can also make use of social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so that people can share their experiences with other readers as well!

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