Ready to learn how to create your own affiliate blog?
Blogs monetized through affiliate sales are another very common business model. They take a lot more work than some of the other online business models but the rewards can be worth it considering just how much some bloggers earn as you’ll find out below.
Most tasks can be outsourced to a VA though as Chelsea talks about here.
I evaluate how to create your own successful blog below…
How To Create Your Own Profitable Affiliate Blog
So we all know what a blog is. You’re reading one.
You can read on how to make an epic blog here.
Blogs that make money through affiliate marketing do so by promoting products in their posts and/or through their email list.
Some choose not to promote on the blog at all and keep it exclusively to email whilst others choose never to send any email promotions to subscribers and keep it on the blog.
Both models have their merits.
Typically the ones that see real success with this model are the bloggers who are open, honest, upfront about the fact they receive commissions and who deliver incredible value in every post.
They don’t write fake reviews of products or say ‘XYZ’ is great simply for the sake of promoting in.
The most successful affiliate blogs are open, honest and provide incredible content packed with value.
They show what they are promoting in action, write in-depth reviews, create case studies, provide actionable content that their visitors can see results from, and in turn their visitors reward them by clicking on their links and buying.
So essentially they stand behind what they promote and more often than not have used the product themselves.
Through their great content and over-the-top value their visitors begin to trust and develop a relationship with them and you’re much more likely to buy from someone like that than a random internet stranger.
Aside from content that promotes something the bulk of your content is likely to be the pure value that your visitor can use that doesn’t promote anything.
- Great way to build up trust and a good reputation which is the easiest way to promote affiliate products.
- Allows you to easily build an email list that you can use to further grow your business by sending traffic back to your site and promote to.
- Through actionable content, case studies, and reviews you can make affiliate commissions with relative ease.
- Blogs are easy to draw traffic to – you’ll pick up Google traffic, referrals from other bloggers, mentions on forums, social media shares and so on assuming your content is good.
- Takes time to build your reputation for being a trusted marketer with high-quality content.
- 80% of your content likely promotes nothing so you put in a lot of work into writing and creating new posts that don’t directly create income – though do help with your credibility, traffic and building your email list.
- Not a fast way to make money in most cases as you’ll have to build up your content and traffic levels before you see significant results.
How These Sites Deliver Value
By creating some of the best content in the niche on the subjects that your audience wants to know about.
Through solving their problems and giving them actionable content they can use to improve themselves or their situation.
Being upfront, honest, open, and always overdelivering.
Never putting out content that half-hearted or designed simply to promote a product.
Only promote products that they truly believe in.
Solve your audience’s problems whether it makes you a commission or not and they will buy anything you recommend.
Examples of Successful Affiliate Blogs
Matthew Woodward at matthewwoodward.co.uk
Earning over $14,000 p/m just from affiliate sales.
Matt’s blog is an incredible example of an ‘affiliate blog’ done properly.
High-quality content, in-depth tutorials, how-to articles, video guides, honesty, openness, trust – it’s EXACTLY how it needs to be done.
In less than 2 years he’s built up a solid reputation of a blogger you can trust for advice and in return people are HAPPY to click on his affiliate links.
Lindsay at PinchofYum.com
Earning approx $20k p/m from affiliate sales
I’m featuring this cooking blog so we’re not only focusing on internet marketing blogs.
And showing it is possible to make money from affiliate marketing without giving affiliate marketing advice.
Lindsay makes money through all sorts of programs ranging from cookbooks, WordPress themes, Aweber, recipes, and more.
Pat Flynn at SmartPassiveIncome.com
Earnings $67,000+ p/m just from affiliate sales on his blog not including product sales and revenue from other sites
Patt’s been blogging at SPI since way back in 2008 and was one of the first marketers to honestly and openly show his income through monthly income reports.
He’s not afraid to get on camera, he’s not scared to share his life, he’s open, he’s honest, he puts himself out there, and ALWAYS delivers more than needed.
He never promotes something unless he’s used it himself and he doesn’t just promote but guides you through how YOU can get the most out of it too.
All this leads to a profitable affiliate business for him.
How You Can Create Your Own Profitable Affiliate Blog
Pick your niche, it doesn’t have to be internet marketing as PinchofYum.com shows.
Just make sure there’s a big demand and lots of affiliate products on sale with an easy to reach target audience.
Your main focus is your content. Make it epic.
Make it better than almost every other content out there.
Look at the type of content that already gets a lot of links and shares and make something even bigger and better, i.e. what Brian Dean calls the “skyscraper technique”
Or look for common questions on specific topics on forums related to your topic and turn them into a ‘ultimate guide’ as I did here on finding a profitable niche.
Network like crazy with others in your niche. Link to them, share their content, comment on their blogs, email them, do something cool for them for free.
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
When done right they’ll return the favor IF your content is worth sharing and linking to back.
Be where your target audience is online.
Send guest posts to popular blogs, be active in the busy forums, get involved in social media pages and groups to grow your traffic.
Show yourself as someone who’s knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and approachable, and get your content out there to them.
Make your main aim of the blog to build your email list as this will speed up the success of your site bringing torrents of traffic back to your new blog posts.
It also will more you to quickly build your relationship with your audience and allow you to increase your income through email promos (if you choose to do them).
Monetize from the very beginning. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for a “good time” or until you have “X” number of subscribers as it’s wasted time.
Your first visit to your blog doesn’t know they are the first visitor and if you’re delivering value to them there’s no reason why visitor #1 won’t buy something you recommend.
A blog is nothing without great content BUT you also have to work hard promoting that content otherwise no one will ever see it.
What You’ll Need To Get Started
- Get reliable hosting from the likes of WP-Engine 404 (my current host).
- A brandable and memorable domain from NameCheap. 404
- An autoresponder from day 1 so you can build your email list, skyrocket traffic and increase income – $1 Aweber trial is available here. 404
- Ideas for content through sourcing out popular content in your niche using the “skyscraper technique” or through finding commonly asked questions in your niche and make the most epic content you can.
- Networking and relationship building with others in the niche through outreach, sharing, linking, and featuring.
- Honest, open, and trustworthy with your product recommendations.
Affiliate Blog Summary
Affiliate marketing through a blog is usually not a fast way to make money though it is long-term and sustainable.
You can always keep your marketing hat on and learn from other successful things like Pokemon Go as Jawad shows here.
It allows you to build a relationship and trust with your audience and be considered an authority in your niche which in Pat Flynn’s case has led to a $60k p/m income.
Through your awesome content, you can build your email list and promote affiliate products.
Because of the increased trust, honesty and openness, and value you deliver people will willingly buy based on your recommendations.
Affiliate marketing blogging works in countless niches from internet marketing to cooking/recipes as we’ve seen from the examples above.
Making the affiliate blog model a fantastic way to make money from.
And as you probably know, we created the 101 affiliate hacks for you to take advantage of.
This post is chapter 2 of the mega-guide “5 Ways To Create A Profitable Affiliate Site”
Go to chapter 3: How To Create Your Own Niche Comparison Site >>>
