For publishers big and small, affiliate marketing is one of the most important and useful forms of marketing. It is a technique used in a wide variety of ways by hundreds of thousands, probably millions of sites and in the physical world. Affiliate marketing can be effective with even a small number of potential, and existing customers and many affiliate partners see it as one of the most effective methods to attract new customers.
In this article, we are going to explore five different methods of affiliate marketing that works.
Product Reviews
Customers love and hate affiliate marketing product reviews. Review sites post what people think of products, the opinions of an “expert” or customer reviews and anyone looking for a product will find a lot of opinions to use to make their minds up. Sometimes it is impossible to tell the difference between a fake review and one written by a genuine customer, or whether the author believes what they are writing.
Putting those problems aside, product reviewing works very well, especially in publishing. Trusted bloggers and writers are easy to find; just look for the people being honest about their affiliate relationship. Other writers and intellectuals have recommended books from the cover for decades, done right this is a very effective affiliate marketing method. It works on trust, so don’t abuse it.
Coupons
Nobody can miss the opportunities for making a coupon sale. Searching on Google for coupons brings up endless sites with a massive range of deals and exclusives available by using their coupons. Sites like couponmom.com and the extensive groupon.com attract millions of visitors who are specifically in the market for deals. An existing market of customers who are already looking for deals is ideal. The tie-in for affiliate marketers is natural: they use the marketplace for advertising cheaply, attracting more customers to their platform, and generate revenue through discounting. Marketers pay the coupon sites for priority or access, and we all get available discounts. Once again, it relies on trust. Disclosure of affiliate relationships is the only way to ensure you do not lose a customer base when they eventually find out.
Banner Adverts
They might seem like a thing of the past, but banner adverts are still there and are still valid. They are more cleverly designed now. One of the smart things about banner adverts is it is challenging to tell the difference between an advert by an affiliate marketer and a plain old advert. The article can talk about a product and look; there is a link to that product in the picture down the side of the website. Advertisers pay sites to host their affiliate links and everyone benefits. The more open you are about this kind of advertising, the more success you are going to have. It can be used alongside other adverts and ways of monetizing your site.
Blogrolls
One cunning way to gain access to a customer base is to get included in a blogroll or partner center. On the site of an influential person in any industry, like a writer in publishing, you can get a link to your product or service included in a list of on their main page. Readers see that the author has added the product in a list of stuff they like, so they are much more inclined to click on it. An affiliate link tracker takes them to another blog or to the marketplace where you can buy the product. It’s a useful tool to use alongside adverts and other monetization methods and relies on the trust and perception of the host author.
Aggregates and Product Feeds
Aggregator sites collect prices from all around the web and generate money by providing sponsored links to good deals. Shopzilla is an example. On Shopzilla, you can see a lot of different prices for a product arranged in a useful way. When the customer completes a purchase through one of their links, they get an affiliation fee or a cut of the profits.
Which to Use?
You can use any or all of the above techniques to attract customer attention, which one you use depends on what you are selling. Our advice is to try a few different methods and see what works.
