#it's a dumb idea do not write it it's not like anyone is clamoring to read fic for a 14 year old rarepair anyhow

[imwritesometimes]

why am I always talking myself out of writing when I get a new idea?????

[lovecolibri]

Honestly I think 911’s biggest weakness is a lack of planning. We already know that their original plans for S5 fell through, resulting in BT being drawn out because Megan was available. Which, good for her, get that bag sis. Would love to know what the original plan was, but I know I never will.

And they also couldn’t have been more clearly setting something up with Ravi and his childhood cancer storyline. But for one reason or another they failed to get Anirudh under contract. Why? Who knows. Maybe they took for granted that he’d be available next year so they didn’t make it worth his commitment, which is silly with such a handsome, talented, and likable actor. He’s off to bigger and better things, and again good for him get that bag! Or maybe it’s more complicated than that and again we’ll never know.

In any case they had to drop that thread and chose to go with ignoring him entirely and hoping the audience would just forget, which to be fair has worked with some of their fuckups in the past, but not this time, guess they underestimated just how much people liked him, so they had to come up with some last-second off screen excuse for why he literally disappeared and no one even mentioned his name again. Not to mention writing Chimney off because JLH was on leave. Baffling decision making, honestly.

And anyway they don’t seem to be very good at making Plan A happen, and when it doesn’t instead of having a solid Plan B or C, they scramble and the story suffers. Then add in admitted problems with pacing and filling time and the story stops working because the tension is lost and the payoff fizzles out. Their very own metaphorical structural defects being ignored, bound to come crashing down eventually. You know that old adage about failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s true!

This is BEYOND old but like, so appropriate for right now! I honesty don't think they NEEDED to pad out time with Tay Kay because they have SUCH a large main cast, but that would require KR to care about something other than what is going on in Buck's pants and any given moment, and because SHE wanted BT, we got BT despite it making no sense to have even brought her character back in s4. What did she even do that no one else could have done? Getting *some* possible inside info in Treasure Hunt and the *getting the story on the news* bit in First Responders is the only thing I can think of, and honestly they easily could have figured out a different way. But the show cannot seem to have Buck or Eddie in a relationship without the other then seeking out one too because otherwise they don't really have anything to do when they can't be involved in their normal family unit. Which is dumb, because they could work on Eddie's friendships and relationships with other cast and same with Buck in letting them be involved in other storylines, but apparently good looking men have no other purpose but to seek out a woman to complete their family I guess, and god forbid they be allowed around each other if one of them is dating. 😒

(also why I'm very 😒😒😒 about them getting other LIs. I remember Buck not being allowed to talk to anyone but Tay Kay while trapped in his loft for 98% of s5. I hate the idea of losing out on not just romantic Buddie, but their whole friendship and the Buckley-Diaz family unit. Eddie isn't going to need Buck to bake cookies with Chris if he has a GF to do it. Buck isn't going to need to cook for Eddie and Chris and help Chris with his homework if he's busy going out with his GF. There is SO much more we lose out on when those two are pared up with other women than just romantic Buddie and regardless if these women stick around long term, I'm tired and don't want to watch MORE wasted time, and more important talks they COULD be having with each other or their chosen family members going to random characters I don't know or care about. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

As for Ravi, I'm SO happy we clamored loud enough to get him back, and also good for him for picking up other jobs when KR sidelined him and gave all his moments to L instead. You go King! But they've known he was going to be back for ages so the fact they have STILL not mentioned him in s6 until he's randomly back on screen is just a) poor planning, pacing, and things happening off screen that KR thinks is fine to mention in interviews instead of actually on the show people are watching, and b) feels very vindictive because everyone loved him and hated her little self-insert character. But whatever, he's back now and I'm very excited to see him again!

But for REAL, they need to get KR out of the showrunner chair. The pacing and arcs and whole entire show has suffered enough that even the GA is tired of cyclical plots and characters going nowhere just repeating the same storylines over again, and with the show not having the depth and feeling it used to have. When even the casual viewers are picking up on and calling out things like Buck and Eddie's friendship being sidelined, or Madney stuff happening off screen, you KNOW it's bad. Also, regardless of demo (which doesn't matter as much anymore with them not getting ad revenue as much, thanks T for pointing that out!) the number of viewers has dropped DRAMATICALLY. And at some point the network cannot justify spending that kind of money on a show that isn't bringing in the money OR accolades. (like LS getting notice and awards for it's representation and diversity for example).

[duhragonball]

Disinterpretation

I finally finished the Sarah Z video about “pro vs. anti”.   It’s pretty long, and I ended up watching it in chunks over several days, but I think it’s worth watching, especially if you’re sort of partially connected to online fandom, but not enough to be aware of all the lingo. 

As I expected, the whole thing was vague and confusing because the people involved in the conflict made it vague and confusing.   In theory, the full terms would be “pro-shipping” and “anti-shipping”, but it seems like it’s more about particular kinds of ships that could be considered controversial.  But that’s a slippery slope, and apparently the whole conflict mutated into both sides deciding that every hypothetical relationship between fictional characters is either equally valid or equally dangerous.  

Long story short, it’s just purity culture, which was what everyone on Tumblr was calling it around 2012.  But now, if you’re a sane person who genuinely asks: “Who gives a fuck about Voltron?”, these people will jump your ass and accuse you of being on the side of their enemies.  “Children have died over the importance of Lotor/Hagger!   Your callous indifference proves that you yourself must have murdered children!” 

I think what Sarah Z really hit upon in this video was that media consumption has become so ingrained in our culture that people feel like it has to go hand-in-hand with our morality.   That is, it’s not enough for me to watch Star Trek, I have to justify Star Trek as evidence that I’m a good person.  Maybe this is where the expression “guilty pleasure” comes from.   Conversely, it’s not enough for me to not watch Dr. Who, I have to somehow convince everyone that Dr. Who was invented by the devil.

I’m pretty sure the Reylo ship has a lot to do with this, since it’s kind of understood to be a dark, problematic concept, and fans either embrace its flaws or recoil in horror because of them.   Star Wars itself is a dumb story about space wizards, so people try to give the debate more weight by linking it to freedom of self expression and/or enabling real world harm.   Suddenly it’s not enough to just think two actors would look cute making out instead of fighting.   Now it’s this battlefield for the soul of civilization or something.

I grew up in the 80′s, when “concerned parents” and grifters would accuse the Smurfs and metal bands of promoting satanism and witchcraft.   I used to hear stories of teens going out into the woods in the middle of the night to do occult stuff, and all I could ever think about was: “Why would anyone bother wandering out in the woods in the middle of the night?”  Which is why “concerned parents” turned their attention to things that were closer to home, like Saturday morning cartoons.   It had nothing to do with the content; it was just about finding a safe, accessible target for their hysteria.   Some people want to go on a crusade without leaving the house, so they pick a fight with Papa Smurf instead of confronting the real evils in the world.  Even as a kid, I knew this was a con, because I’d watched the show for myself and knew it was too saccharine to be threat to anyone.

The pro/anti folks have tried to disguise this with a lot of terminology.   I wondered why they seemed to reluctant to use the full terms “pro-shipper” and “anti-shipper”, and it’s probably a couple of things.   First, the word “shipper” is basically an admission that this is pointless bullshit that doesn’t matter, and they’d like to avoid that connotation.   Second, they seem to have decided that this goes beyond shipping itself, into practically anything else they want it to involve.  It’s all part of the con, which is to make you believe that it’s “us vs. them”, and you can be part of “us” by curating specific attitudes about Steven Universe.

Seriously, “about Steven Universe” is such an incredible punchline.  You can make anything funnier by adding those three words to the end of a sentence.   “Do not interact if you blog about Steven Universe.”   “Hey, what’s up, YouTube, this is SSJ3RyokoLover69, and this is going to be kind of a serious video about Steven Universe.”   “Mrs. Johnson, the results of your biopsy are in, and I have some bad news about Steven Universe.”   It’s a fucking kids show.   “Oh no, all the characters look like the characters in all the other kids shows!”   Yeah, that’s because it’s a kids show.   Marvin looks like Garfield, this isn’t new.

The common denominator here seems to be that both sides try to wrap themselves in the flag of vulnerable groups: impressionable minors, trauma survivors, harassment victims, etc.   The “pros” want to protect those people so that they can feel free to explore weird subject matter on their own terms, and the “antis” want to protect the same people from being exposed to weird subject matter that they might not want to see.   It’s all about establishing a moral high ground.   Back in the day, it was called “sanctimony”. 

But people get roped into this, because at their core, people want approval, and this stupid conflict offers them a sense of community.  As long as you support the cause, whatever it may be, you’ll have this online friend network that appears to support anything you do.   But if you deviate from their norm, you’ll be cast out.    Does this sound familiar?

To use a more familiar example, I still sometimes find people clamoring about Gochi vs. Vegebul.   I’ve never understood this, because both ships were canon, and I never saw much direct evidence of a war between them, but people would still talk about how crazy the Vegebul shippers were, and how crazy the Gochi shippers were, and it was like some huge thing going on just over the hills.   It’s the same idea, since the idea that you could like both or neither never seems to occur to anyone involved.   I never gave a shit, because I used to see the same dumb agendas in the Harry Potter fandom.

Okay, so let me take you back.  It’s 2005 through 2011, and I’m hateblogging all seven Harry Potter novels, because fuck you, that’s why.  The funny thing I encountered was that occasionally fans seemed to want to pretend like my bashing of certain characters was proving them right somehow.    They were like “See?  He hates Ron Weasley too!  That proves that Seamus Finnegan is the coolest guy ever.”   The Slytherin stans would do this all the time, because I would constantly take the piss out of the Gryffindor characters for being self-important dopes.   I think they just liked hearing it from an outside perspective.   But I had to keep reminding them all that I hated all of them.   Every character from Harry Potter sucks ass. Voldemort was my favorite, but only because he was the one guy who wanted to kill all of the others.   But he sucks too because he failed. 

And the shippers were the same way.   I’d say something shitty about Ron, because Ron sucks, and some smartass Joss Whedon fan would be like “Yes!  Boost the signal!  That is why Harry/Hermione is the best ship!”  And I’d be like “No, Harry and Hermione suck at least as bad as Ron does.  They’re all terrible and I hate them.”   I really do think there was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome going on with Harry Potter books, where everyone secretly knows they suck, but the fans sort of latch on to one or two characters and go like “Well, he’s not as shitty as the rest.”   Like finding spaghetti in the trash and picking out the meatball with the least amount of lint on it.   Then you’d go and start a flamewar with some other starving person over whether your meatball is shittier than theirs.  This is what people mean when they say to read another book. 

Anyway, the big thing I picked up from Sarah Z’s video is “disinterpretation”, a term coined by MSNBC columnis Zeeshan Aleem.   The Twitter thread is worth a read, but the short version is that he once remarked that a Julia Louis-Dreyfus routine wasn’t very good, and someone got mad at him for insinuating that women are incapable of being funny.    They just took his dissatisfaction with one performance by one comedian as being a universal condemnation of women comedians in general.  And this sort of thing is all over the internet.   Everyone sees what they want to see and then they take it as permission to overreact.  

I ran into this myself a while back, because someone saw who I interacted with on Twitter and decided that they’re all bad guys and if I have any interaction with them, then that makes me a bad guy too.   At the time I tried to play it cool, but the more I think about it, the more it ticks me off.   And over the course of that conversation, it was said that I don’t talk about myself much, and that’s kind of funny, because all I ever do on social media is write long-ass blog posts like this one.  I don’t expect anyone to memorize them, or even read them all the way through, but when I write all this stuff and someone goes out of their way to say they don’t know anything about me, the message is that they just didn’t pay attention to what I was saying, and they didn’t bother to try.

So I’m a little jaded from that, because I got called out for a bunch of stuff I didn’t even do or say, and apparently that’s just a thing that happens.   People will reject you for completely arbitrary reasons, not because of anything you actually said or did, and you’re left thinking you made some terrible mistake.   Except, no, I’ve seen it happen to other people, people a lore more conscientious than I am, and if they can’t satisfy the bullshit purity standards, then I never stood a chance.   If the game is rigged so I can’t win, then I’m not going to play.  

And it’s that same condition that probably draws people into these online holy wars, because if you declare yourself for the pro or anti side, at least then you’ll have a posse backing you up.   Only they don’t support you, they support your willingness to support them.    Once your commitment to their agenda wavers, even in the slightest, they will turn against you.   

Sarah Z suggests that both sides of the war drop the pro and anti terms, since they lost all meaning long ago.   But that just invites a new set of useless terms to perpetuate the same cycle.   Her more useful advice is for fandom people to broaden their horizons.   She got a lot of flak for tweeting “Go outside” once, but the ironic thing is that it’s sound advice.   I had lunch with my mom yesterday and it was just nice getting away from things for a while.   People need to do that more often, and unfortunately it feels like it’s harder to do than ever before.

But “go outside” isn’t just a literal thing.   It can mean going beyond your usual haunts, reading the same books, watching the same shows, rehashing the same conversations.   I think the reason this stuff always revolves around “shipping” is because there seems to be this deep-seated compulsion to pair fictional characters off like this, and for a lot of folks it’s the only way they can consume a story, so they do.   And they do it lot, and there’s a lot of them, and they do it the same way every time, and lo and behold the same old conflicts start up.   So maybe “go outside” should mean “go outside of that cycle once in a while.”   Just a thought. 

[dramarising-replacement]

About the Crow drama...

...I am really getting annoyed by the people clamoring that it's racist and so on. I am throwing my hat in the ring and trying to see it from both sides but I truly find the whole thing one big problem of co-opting r*cism to harass people. But that is my opinion, everyone is allowed their own but I find it highly problematic that this whole thing has led to people actually faking screenshots to claim they are at fault. This is not ok. Neither is harassing. Please stop. 

Either way, onwards. Keep in mind, this is my view on the whole thing and I just want to give a perspective of someone who is fairly removed from the whole thing and decided to use critical thinking. I will state that I have had not much interaction with any person involved, I shared spaces in discord in the past and of course also on FR but not to say that any side is my friend. 

Do you know what my biggest problem with the aforementioned statement is? That it's mostly made by the non-Asian people that are stuck on Orientalism. You are projecting your racist stereotypes on a subspecies that was created by actual Asian people. What is the problem with people having fun with their own cultures? I can understand if some Asian people (and I am using Asian because I do not know enough about the subspecies to say which ethnic/culture it is mostly based on) do not like it. That is normal, everyone has different likes and dislikes. Using slurs is not ok but honestly, I haven't seen any proof of these alleged slurs so I can't say anything about it. Show me actual slurs thrown around and it would be different but for now the only thing I could find was the rat thing and honestly? Looking at those screenshots given showed rat used in the context of a beloved character. Who here has never talked about their bastard character being some kind of trashy raccoon or rat before? 

Back to the fact that some people of the same nationality say they don't like it. Like I said, that happens, god, there are many times I don't like what people are doing with my culture. But guess what? I don't say that they are forbidden from playing with it. What gives one person of a culture the right to demand from others to stop how they interact with it? If you start doing that, we have to apply that to everything and imagine how uniform everything would be. For example Christianity: there are so many different branches and they have often problems with their different interpretations of the bible and their practices. Would you say we have to stop all Christian beliefs now? Sounds kind off dumb, right? 

If you do not like how these people interact with their culture then stop interacting with them and the subspecies. It is that easy. FR is not here to take you by the hand and make everything go away that you don't like. It doesn't work like that, we are a pluralistic world with many many different views on things. And that is great. But it also means in spaces like FR we have to moderate ourselves. See something that doesn't confirm your view? Block it or, in case of truly problematic things like outright r*cism/r*pe/m*rder/p*dophilia or whatever else, report. Saying that you don't like how some people interact with your culture while they are of the same culture does not give you the right to call these people racist. Turn it around and these people could call you also racist because you interact differently with your culture. This does not help anyone. 

Now, to my biggest problem with this mud throwing (I would love to call it a discourse but let's be honest here: the people starting to falsify information made this into some kind of contest to harass some people): 

the fact that most people involved are espousing their own racist views under the veneer of "calling out" racism. 

Like I said, I have not specially much knowledge about the subspecies but I did take a look at it, so here we go. But what I read is quite away from that "fetishing" you guys are accusing the people playing around with the dragons. For me it seems like they mixed bird facts, plague aesthetics and cultural aspects together. If you start interpreting r*cism into everything you read, congrats, then you should really think about what that says about yourself. 

For me this seems much more a problem of co-opting anti-racist movements to harass specific people. You use the "right" language to make the "right" accusations and take advantage of white/western ignorance. I am specifically harsh here because this is all that I am currently seeing from all these people: they call members of the subspecies out, in the recent cases C specifically, C actually answered and showed proof that there were actual lies used and so someone decided they needed to remove authenticy from C so they created fake screenshots that say they are from Korea. This whole interaction screams of someone calling r*cism only to realize that, oh no, C actually is Chinese, so they did their best to make it seem like C lied. This is insidious and bullying. I do not know the people involved, I have only written a few times with C and shared discord spaces so I found the Korea screenshot very weird, it's just not how C normally writes. 

I think this isn't about r*cism anymore, this is all about power. This is manipulation at its finest. Really, take the claims of r*cism away and then look at the subspecies again. What is your first thought? Man, that subspecies screams of Plague. 

Here is a thought for all of you: there is unfortunately much r*cism to be found since we are living in a world that is flooded with r*cistic undertones. This means we have to educate ourselves on these issues and to think critically about them. This does not mean "to criticize" but to actually analyze, evaluate and examine so we can reconstruct our perspectives on these issues. And I beg of the people just going after these "call-out" posts, think about this again. Did the subspecies really scream r*cism to you or did you maybe rather think Plague aesthetic before you read these posts? If so, you really have to examine why your view changed. 

One more thing, we have here two groups in the recent posts, one side is "calling" out C and C answers, making sure to openly discuss their culture and background as much as they did. So we have one side seemingly manipulating "evidence" to further their story and one side giving as much information as they can about their background without revealing their whole identity. Yeah, sorry, but I think I know who is more genuine here. Instead of making FR a more informed space it seems it was easier to use progressive language to further their own ideas of what r*cism is. (I am still more sure that this is all about power than anything else.)

This whole thing makes me very salty because it seems like everyone in the notes threw out their critical thinking just so they would not appear as r*cist. 

As an older person that had to take more than one class on colonization and Orientalism this whole thing just makes me wish more people would use critical thinking. Please stop blindly following pretty "progressive" words without seeing the actual problem here. This is actually my biggest problem here, I do not claim to be knowledgable enough to know where the subspecies furthers stereotypical views but for me all the posts I was shown and then read myself speak of different problem.

If you read until now, congratulations, feel free to discuss my points but I am honestly so tired about seeing people just ignoring the bigger issues. I won't answer to anything because I do not want to spend my time here arguing about these things but seeing that my major during my studies involved big chunks of literature and cultural sciences this whole thing just rubbed me wrong when someone told me about it. 

[clumsyclifford]

bella!! that kiss prompt list is so cute! will you write a new years kiss + kiss on a dare for lashton, pretty please? 💕 -blackbutterfliescal💛

EXCELLENT prompt omfg this got away from me but i had SO MUCH FUN writing it thank you brooke <3

-

Luke maintains that truth or dare is a dumb game. Michael says he’s just a buzzkill, which might be true, but it doesn’t mean Luke is wrong. Truth or dare is dumb.

This is, unfortunately, the unpopular opinion of the people at this New Year’s party, so here they are anyway, in a circle on the floor, playing it.

“Okay, Calum,” Jack says, smirking at Calum. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Calum says immediately. Luke rolls his eyes. Calum and Michael are trying to, like, out-dare each other, which is actually the only thing Luke can think of that is conceptually dumber than truth or dare as a game. Jack and Alex know that, and they’re taking advantage of it by choosing Calum and Michael whenever they can. If Luke weren’t so opposed to truth or dare, he’d be deeply amused.

Okay, he’s deeply amused anyway. It had been fucking funny watching Michael try to sing “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” with “Mambo No. 5” blasting in headphones (dare courtesy of Alex’s weird, twisted, brilliant, evil mind, of course).

“Hm,” Jack hums, and strokes at his chin as if there’s anything more than stubble there. A moment later, his eyes light up. “Oh, I have a good one. Okay, I dare you to eat a spoonful of peanut butter and then make out with Michael.” 

“Gross, don’t drag me into your nasty dares!” Michael protests, but Calum already has his determined face on.

“Babe,” he says seriously. “Michael. I need to do it. I have to.”

Michael groans loudly. “Fuck, fine. But you’re getting the peanut butter.” Calum immediately leaps to his feet.

“Back in a sec!” he calls out, and then he’s racing up the stairs by twos, footsteps pounding against the carpet.

Jack cackles. “I’ve always wanted to use that one.”

“Is that from experience?” Ashton asks from Luke’s right. “You’ve done that, haven’t you?”

Jack and Alex exchange a look, and then, in the most rom-com move Luke’s ever seen them do, they shrug in unison.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Alex says airily. 

Rian snorts from his spot opposite the circle. “That’s such bullshit. You exclusively kiss and tell.”

“I do not,” Alex counters. He grins. “I kiss and benevolently share, bitch. You love to hear about our adventures in shitty kissing ideas.”

“Nobody loves to, actually,” Zack puts in. Rian raises his hand, seconding the comment.

“This is making me regret agreeing to it,” Michael says. Luke laughs. That’s what he gets for trying to do the most dares.

Calum returns them, a jar of peanut butter in one hand and a spoon in the other. He looks overly excited for a dare this appalling, and as he reclaims his seat in the circle he twists the top off the peanut butter and digs a spoonful out. “Ready?” he asks Michael, who looks askance at him.

“As I’ll ever be,” he says defeatedly. “So, no, but go on.”

Calum grins and puts the spoon in his mouth, then pulls it out, mostly empty, and leans in to kiss Michael.

“Oh, gross,” Luke says, turning to look away. Ashton glances over at him and chuckles.

“Not for the faint of heart,” he says, and Luke nods vehemently. He chances another look — it’s like a car crash in that way, grotesquely appealing to watch — and to his utter dismay, Michael doesn’t look put off at all. Actually, they both seem to be enjoying it.

“Gross,” Luke says emphatically. “That’s disgusting.”

“Maybe it’s not,” Ashton says thoughtfully. “You’ve never tried it, you don’t know.”

If I did it with you, it wouldn’t be so bad, I expect, Luke thinks, and banishes the thought immediately. First of all, that kind of thought is unproductive; fancying Ashton has gotten him nowhere thus far and it’s not about to start. And more importantly, under no circumstance could making out while eating peanut butter be good.

He pulls a horrified face. “Have you?” 

“Maybe,” Ashton says nonchalantly. Then he grins. “No, I’m kidding, of course not. You’ve gotta be sick and dirty to come up with that idea.”

“That we are!” Jack says cheerfully, ruffling Alex’s hair. It’s distressing how Luke can know, objectively, that Jack and Alex are two of the most perverse people he’s ever met, and yet still find himself endeared by their cuteness. There’s probably a magic spell involved in that.

“Mostly Jack,” Alex says. “I’m just the guinea pig.”

“Aw, you’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Rian says, as if he’s being sympathetic. “You’re just as sick and dirty as Jack, don’t you worry.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Alex says, blowing an exaggerated kiss to Rian. Jack pretends to snatch it out of midair. Luke finally returns his gaze to Calum and Michael just in time to see them part, both smacking their lips excessively.

“Ooh, my mouth feels weird,” Michael declares, and Calum nods in agreement. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.

“Cool new trick,” he tells Jack. “Good to know.”

“You are welcome,” Jack says.

“You’re all fucked up,” Rian announces. Ashton laughs. The sound sends Luke’s stomach all aflutter.

“Okay, my turn,” Calum says, once he’s sufficiently swallowed the peanut butter. “Who’s not gone?” He scans the circle. “Oh — Ashton! Truth or dare?”

Ashton purses his lips. “Dare,” he finally says, cautiously, “although I’m sure I’ll regret it.”

Calum cocks his head. “Let me confer with my associate,” he says, holding up a finger. “One second. Make background noise.” He turns to Michael.

Immediately everyone is clamoring to be the loudest, even Luke, who launches into a really awful rendition of “Feeling This.” Ashton hears him and joins in, both of them screeching the song as loud as they can go, with Zack contributing by chiming in on I’m feeling this! every time it comes up.

“Okay, okay, enough!” Calum shouts, just as they reach the chorus. Everyone falls silent, but Ashton nudges Luke and gives him a small grin, and Luke returns it, cursing the butterflies in his gut for all the racket they’re making.

“It has come to the attention of the panel,” Michael begins, and Luke snorts, “that it is, in fact, five minutes to midnight.” A small outbreak of gasps from the circle, some authentic, some, specifically Rian’s, sarcastic. 

“I thought Calum was giving me this dare,” Ashton says.

Calum glares at him. “I am,” he says. “Ashton, I dare you to pick someone here to kiss at midnight.”

“Not me,” Jack says immediately. “No offense, Ash, but I’m taken.”

“Yeah, ditto,” Alex says. “I mean, if you really want, I’m sure Jack and I can work it out, but —”

“Nope,” Ashton says dryly. “Sorry to disappoint, but I actually have no interest in kissing either of you for any reason at all.”

“I think that was mean,” Jack says under his breath to Alex, and Alex just kisses his cheek.

Ashton props his chin in his hand. “Well, there’s a lot to consider here,” he says pensively. Luke’s heart is beating too loud. Ashton won’t pick him when there’s — well, when there’s the whole circle to choose from, and even ignoring those already spoken for, that leaves Rian and Zack, both of whom would be better choices than Luke. “I mean, it’s not gonna be either of you,” to Jack and Alex, “or you,” to Calum and Michael, “so I guess it’s either Rian, Zack, or Luke.”

Luke tries to fight the blush rising on his cheeks. He keeps his mouth shut, swallowing the many cries of me, you can kiss me at midnight! building up under his tongue. Even if he says it as a joke, it’ll come across desperate, and when Ashton inevitably chooses Rian, Luke will look that much more foolish.

“I’m okay with it,” Rian says, shrugging. “I mean, no pressure, but I don’t really care.”

“Same,” Zack says. Ashton hums, then turns bodily to Luke.

“What about you?”

Luke stares. “What about me?”

“Are you okay with it?”

“With…kissing you at midnight?”

Ashton’s lips quirk up. “Yes, Luke, that’s what we’re discussing.”

Luke’s mouth feels dry. “Uh, yeah. Whatever you want.” Fuck, even that sounds far too inclined. 

Ashton surveys the circle again, making thoughtful hums to himself as if deep in thought, gaze flitting between Luke, Rian, and Zack, until Calum, exasperated, says, “Ash, it’s two minutes to midnight.”

“Fine,” Ashton says. He turns again to Luke. “Kiss me at midnight?”

Luke’s heart leaps into his throat. “Seriously?” Then, “Um, I mean, yeah, sure.”

Ashton grins. “Cool.” And then he turns back to the circle. “Should I bother asking someone? Are we gonna watch the ball drop?”

“Not if you’re smooching this one,” Alex says, jerking a thumb at Luke. Luke makes a face at him to mask the way his insides are completely flipping over themselves. It’s not the Olympics, he tries to tell them, but they aren’t listening.

“Yes,” Zack says, more helpfully. He stands up. “Let me put it on.” Gesturing at them, he adds, “Talk amongst yourselves.”

“You don’t decide when we talk!” Jack says, as Zack goes to connect his laptop to the TV and set up the stream. Zack flips him off behind his back.

Everyone breaks off into quiet conversation, but Luke’s buzzing. Ashton elbows him gently. “You okay?”

Luke jolts and tries to laugh it off. Hopefully it doesn’t sound as nervous as it feels. “Good, yeah,” he says. “I’ve never actually kissed anyone on New Year’s, so. First time for everything.”

Ashton smiles warmly at him, and Luke feels it in his fingers and toes. “Well,” he says smoothly, “best make it good, then. No pressure on me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be good no matter what,” Luke says, and immediately decides he should be banned from speaking forever. No matter what? Could he possibly sound more infatuated?

Ashton tilts his head. “No matter what?” he says. “Your expectations aren’t very high.”

“I just —” Luke bites his lip. He’s backed himself into a corner now. Fucking hell. “Um, I meant — it’s —”

“Luke, relax,” Ashton says, patting his knee twice. “I’m teasing.” With this, he pushes himself to his feet, then holds out a hand for Luke. Luke takes it and allows himself to be pulled upright as well. The look in Ashton’s eye is kind, and Luke expects to see the teasing Ashton had mentioned, but it’s absent. “If it would make you feel better, we don’t have to do it. It’s just a dare.”

“No, I want to,” Luke says, solidifying his decision that he should never be allowed to talk ever. Ashton raises an eyebrow and Luke feels himself blushing scarlet. “I mean…”

“You can want to,” Ashton says. “Do you want to?”

Luke swallows. “I don’t — that’s not a fair question.”

“Fine,” Ashton says. “I take it back. But in case you were wondering, I want to.” 

Luke stares at him. “What?”

“Kiss you,” Ashton clarifies. “At midnight, and otherwise. In general.”

“Ten seconds!” Calum shouts, and the entire room explodes with the sound of the countdown.

“Oh,” Luke breathes. “That’s — oh. In that case, I do want to.”

“Eight!”

Ashton smiles. “Good,” he says happily. “You had me worried a second.”

“Six!”

“Sorry,” Luke says.

“Don’t let an apology be your last words of the year,” Ashton says.

“Four!”

“Okay,” Luke says quickly. “I want to kiss you. Final words.”

Ashton’s smile grows wider. “I want to kiss you too. So much.”

“Two! One! Happy New Year!” 

Cheers erupt throughout the room, and Luke and Ashton both lean in, captured in a kiss that’s sweeter than any Luke’s ever had and warm from the spot they connect all the way through Luke’s skin, filling his brain with static, nothing but Ashton on a loop.

When they break apart, Ashton brushes their noses together. “First of many, I hope,” he says, and Luke beams.

Maybe there’s something to be said for truth or dare, actually.

[diabolikmosquito]

Just-Watched Thoughts on S3

Alright time to write this while I’m still here recovering so I can go to bed already. I might add more/clean this up once I get some proper sleep. Tagging it but putting Castlevania Season 3 spoilers under a cut just in case people haven’t got tags hidden and such. Here goes-

Overall I’m honestly just kinda shocked? I think it’s because a lot of things were easy to predict (that the cult might be trying to bring back Dracula, something was up with the Judge, Hector was obviously gonna fall for Lenore’s bs, etc.) so when things happened I didn’t see from a mile away.. 

When I was only like an episode or two in, things actually felt a little stunted to me? Something about it felt like “This is what people liked from before, right??” particularly with certain action or such, but I feel like it picked up pretty quickly from that. I’m still kinda in winding-down-emotions mode so I can’t really definitively say what storylines I liked and which ones I disliked for the most part. I liked Isaac’s, and the design of the... Hivemind Magician? Was all pretty sick. It felt like the first thing that was actually a massive challenge for him, and nearly overtook him, but he overcame it and even came out of it thinking through what he wanted for the future. It’s a nice change from seeing him steamroll anything that came his way. 

I like that Trevor and Sypha’s storyline ends up with them not getting their heroic grand time like they did last time. Yes, there were sacrifices made, but before it still felt grandiose: they’d worked together to kill Dracula, something the world didn’t even think possible for the most part. This time, they sacrificed a lot more and ultimately didn’t win a thing other than their own lives, and were helping a hidden monster in their process of killing other monsters. What a crushing thing for them to have to go through, and I think Trevor’s conversation with himself before (and later with said monster, ironically enough) about missing parts of his old non-heroic non-adventuring life was pretty somber and interesting. 

The whole Lenore/Hector route was exactly what’s expected from the beginning, but it was done well for what it was, and I don’t think they were trying to fool anyone with the direction it was headed. Carmilla’s plot was.. eh, more or less not much seemed to actually happen, but it did introduce us to the awesome vampire sisters so I’m more than down with it. I wish we got a little more about Saint Germain’s whole deal with that portal and such, who he was looking for and how he knows they’re still alive in there, but I assume that’s a next-season kind of thing. I’m gonna ramble if I write anymore so here’s a more concise/clear list:

Things I liked -  Trevor and Sypha’s chemistry! I thought it was good the first couple seasons (which apparently puts me in the minority?) but they felt much more compatible as a couple this time around. The little exchange about the “taste for rougher things in life” is wonderful, and I definitely snorted when she sleep-bapped him in the face. - The tidbits of funny dialogue! Seems to still be a show specialty. Some of them were understandably a bit funny (using “Nope! speedwalks away” in place of “shut it” is pretty good), and others weren’t funny but I just found it hilarious (e.g. Morana’s repeated fancily-stated things that boiled down to “... Lenore, seriously, TMI”) - The soundtrack! Not really any surprise, despite it not being the famous Symphony of the Night tracks people clamored for trust me I totally get that and despite it still not being released even from season 2 much less 3,  it was very nice to listen to.  - The vampire sisters! While it was obvious from the beginning Lenore was the “cutest/nonthreateningest-looking of the scary bunch but actually the scariest” one I liked the energy they all had, especially Striga and Morana and their relationship. I liked that we got to see Carmilla’s attitude bouncing off of other vampires who (while respecting her skill) also called her out for it from time to time. - The references! I’m sure there’s more and I’m a dumbass who only spots the obvious ones, but... the fact there’s demons that’re exactly ones out of the ol’ Symphony of the Night game again, like the Malachi and Fire Demon. It’s so dumb but I love shit like that, especially since they obviously stray far from the game canon and don’t have to do that but do it anyway. - Some of the action scenes. I cannot mention what I like without mentioning the parts that made me go “... Okay, yeah, that was badass.” You know the ones! When Cho busted that sword with her hands, when Sypha chopped that angel-like demon into pieces. ... A lot of the stuff Sypha did, actually, I’m glad she got some more epic moments to kick ass this season. I thought the earlier action scenes of the season were just alright, but by the last fight it was definitely starting to feel like that awesome dynamic fight style we saw in season 2. - The fact Dracula saw an opportunity to return and didn’t want to. Not much to say here other than the obvious - I feel like that’s extremely fitting, and I’m glad they made it clear without bringing him back and having him be angry/regret it or something like that. Without any dialogue, even. - The ending.. somewhat. It destroyed me a little on the inside, but I actually like that nobody really had a happy ending. Particularly if there could be another season, it feels really fitting. I’ve seen some people complaining “They ended up where they started! Trevor and Sypha are back on the road, Isaac’s traveling with his army, Alucard’s alone in the castle and Hector is a slave” but I couldn’t disagree more. Of course if you boil it down to the words themselves, it’s “the same,” but did ya see the sheer trauma literally everyone was put through? Obviously some had it worse than others (and we’ll fucking get to that) but nobody came out unscathed. Everyone’s now had some belief challenged or retreated further into a fear/mistrust that already existed - previous events planted the seed for it and the hell the cast went through gave it growth. 

Trevor and Sypha are going to have to challenge their goal they’d been following since working together/getting together: they can’t just go headlong adventuring and fixing people’s problems, because things like this can happen. Their new allies and the entire town were slaughtered or trapped somewhere, and the man they’d trusted and been helping this entire time was a serial killer, particularly of children. Alucard is drifting into a state of consciousness not unlike his father before he met Lisa, but potentially in a worse place since he’s witnessed and felt true kindness, but has retreated away from it even so due to the betrayal he’s suffered at an already-fragile time for him. Isaac has to reconsider what he’s going to do once he has his proper army, and even if it’s worth it to get his revenge or to carry out Dracula’s original plans. Saint Germain.. I mean, he’s in psychodelic hell searching for that person and presumably a way out, I assume it’s tragic. Hector’s learned a hard lesson in trusting and is going to have to figure out if his freedom is worth risking pain or death. Likewise I think the characters grow this way. Even if it was a happy ending, or an ending where everyone “wins” some small victory somehow, I think it’d ultimately have been worthless if nobody was fundamentally changed by the end of the season.

Things I didn’t like - The sex scenes. I’ve seen a lot of people like “If you’re gonna put in gratuitous sex then actually include Trevor and Sypha??” and I’m gonna have to disagree with that. While I love the ship and all, I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt and say sex scenes weren’t thrown around randomly or just to flex the rating - they were only tied to actual story, hence why I’m down with the bedroom stuff of the show’s main ship only being alluded to. However, I gotta say that the long broken-up sex scenes mixed with battle/action was not the way to do that. I think I know what they were going for (it definitely drove my anxiety up having those scenes back to back with intense action/violence, I can tell ya that!), but it just wasn’t a good idea. Yes, they were obviously made to be uncomfortable (particularly since I’m pretty sure one of them was dubious consent at best?) but that was reflected well just in a few key frames/actions - it didn’t need to be drawn out and mixed with the action. It made me want to skip through (I didn’t out of fear I’d miss battles, which isn’t really good design) and I’d like to bet parts of the finale are unwatchable for some. For the record, yes you could say “well they got into an adult-rated show, deal with it,” but the fact of the matter is up until now sexual violence/discomfort wasn’t heavy-handed and in-your-face like this. Non-sexual violence was definitely all over the whole series, but it’s still a bit like whiplash considering. Also, the fact people think the scene with Alucard was at all chill. I see it from a story standpoint (though I honestly think their motivations were weak and there’s other ways to betray someone/get their guard down), but I think the people going on about “power bottom” and this and that are forgetting that the absence of a no is not a yes, particularly with someone severely emotionally damaged after spending months alone not only without a support group but without any contact, immediately following the death of his father by his own hands. I’m no expert but I don’t think that’s someone in the proper state of mind to consent to anything sexual, even if there were a couple weeks or whatever of spending time with these new friends. He very well might’ve been on the way to a stress disorder before they turned his world upside-down and frankly I’m wondering how he’s going to be faring come the next season (assuming there is one.) That’s more of a fandom gripe than the show itself I suppose but it’s worth a mention. - The pacing. It’s hard to pinpoint it, but something about it felt off, especially in the first half. The best way I can describe it is when you pump the gas and brakes because your brakes aren’t working great and you’re loosening them up - maybe it was necessary to get things going, but it’s a bit destabilizing/odd for anyone in the car. I think it’s what contributed to that stunted sense I got until things picked up a little more. You can see it more in just how packed with stuff the latter half is, some things which could’ve been planned a bit better through the whole season. - Sumi and Taka. I honestly felt that they wanted to get in a way to have a punch-in-the-gut arc with Alucard (not a bad idea, I am one for tragedy), wanted to kill off some characters who were actually important, and decided to do these both with one stone. I don’t think they were successful on the second part, because these two absolutely contributed to the stunted feeling I had about some of the season. They had a good start in terms of backstory, and the idea of two people working together to fight vampires without having some big legend tied to their name to drive it (e.g. Speaker magicians, Belmont legacy, Alucard’s heritage), as well as a connection to/fleshing out of one of the nameless generals, sounded like a great concept. A great concept, but it was rushed I felt, to the point that their motivations for turning on him were so packed and squished in they just weren’t believable if we’re supposed to believe these two were sane. They had some sort of mental/trust issues due to their backstory - that’s fine, and could contribute some emotional problems. However if their distrust in Alucard had been given more time to fester and grow, more little comments of Alucard’s brushing off their attempts to learn about specific things, and more cues from him that could be misinterpreted by them as him causing trouble and lying (not just them not believing him by itself), it would be more believable that the past and misinterpretations of the present get into their head and poison their thoughts of him. You can plant a seed of doubt but just like any other character bonds, it has to be given time to grow. Alucard’s rapid bonding with them could be attributed to his loneliness, trauma, and need for a support system, but you can’t make that excuse for Sumi and Taka’s motivations going from “Hm.. I wonder what he isn’t telling us” to “We need to emotionally gut him and then kill him” basically overnight. Edit:

I forgot to add a conclusion last night, so I guess the TL;DR is season 3’s a good 7.5/10 for me, -1 for the overall pacing, -1 for missing a bit of the punch from before, and -0.5 because the last few episodes jumped me with a bat and I let it happen.

[sergeanttpoliteness]

idk if you’re taking requests or anything, if you aren’t ignore this, but if you are I would die for a classic, upside down spider-man kiss with the loml spider-noir. poor guy would probably be very surprised at first but suddenly its his favorite thing to do. thanks I love you and your work!!

AND➝ mayhaps…. a first kiss with noir? if u have time! 

sorry for answering so late nonnies! i feel so bad about that, i promise i wasn’t ignoring y’all. same goes to the few other requests i have in my inbox right now! 

——-

➹ inconvenient feelings➹ (spider-noir x reader)

word count: 2.5k

a/n: can you tell i had no idea what to call this lol. i didn’t edit either bc… oof. i’ve been struggling a lot with writer’s block (nothing new, honestly lmaoo) lately and someone close to me recently passed away and i haven’t quite… been able to wrap my head around it?? i don’t know, not to be a little bitch but this week consisted of a lot of school stuff, emotions, and anxiety so thanks @ the people who requested this bc i needed to write some wholesome stuff. also thx at my bestie for helping me out w ideas, ily broz. anyway, there’s some minimum ripeter x reader although it’s solely platonic! hope you all have a lovely week (:

taglist: @marvelousmorales

It’s not convenient. Convenient was that one person with the pretty smile whose eyes seemed to possess an affinity to him that one time at a jazz club, or the singer with the honey voice and smooth runs more soothing than the late night singing of a mother to her child. A poor goon who smooched his fist whilst it collided with his face could even fit the designation, really— but what mattered, the simple component they shared, was that all three were just a speck in a sea with no end; an eternal blue void with only more possibilities hiding in the pitch-black depths neither he nor the light’s fingertips could touch. They were safe. Uncomplicated.

Peter stared out the window, at a completely distinct world, far from a city in a vintage film: the ongoing the mechanical song of speeding cars, the newer and taller lit up buildings, the blinking golden lights, identical to a field of a thousand miniscule suns. This was not convenient. It’s… so different— like day and night, water and fire. This meant to swim out of the ocean he belonged to and reach for a foreign land, to run after a mere drop of water when a whole fucking body existed behind him. It’s not safe. It’s complicated.

Your sleepy eyes roamed the same page for the fifth time with no precise purpose, more disoriented than a newcomer in a large city until they traveled and spotted their true destination: Peter’s own sight deeply engulfed in the view outside, the twisting of his brows every now and then filling your mind with wonder and curiosity at what could possibly be running through that brain of his. You could’ve continued with the ogling like the damn creep you were (seriously, you gotta stop it with that, you told yourself), but you slipped and made a mistake— the most laughably absurd misstep— worse than trying to take a picture of a stranger and then, to your utmost terror, the flash going off— which wouldn’t have occurred in the first place if you’d paid your electricity bills on time. Your apartment wouldn’t have been plunged into darkness, and you wouldn’t have, without thinking, your head clearly not in its right place at the moment, slightly tilted your phone and directed your phone’s flashlight right at the side of his face. You quickly pulled the beam of light away, as if that would work; however, his gaze drifted to you. “Sorry.” You blurted out, acting casual and pretending to focus on the journal on your lap. “You were so quiet, I thought you had fallen asleep.” You lied.

“No, I’m awake.” He said, furrowing his brows to himself— of course you already knew that. You mumbled a small ‘good’, holding the notebook close to your face, like a child staring through the window of a pet shop at some puppies, shining the ‘smartphone’, he’d learned, over the pages. You bit your lip, your shoulders shaking with your surfacing laughter.

“Oh, man, this one’s so dumb.” You snickered before running your finger up the paper, clearing your throat. “October 8th, 1999. Today I came back from my camping trip with Peter, Ben, and May. We ate a lot of s'mores— Uncle Ben makes the best! We also told some scary ghost stories, and I even made Pete scream. It was awesome. You will not believe what happened!” You read the last sentence with a dramatic tone, similar to that of a terrible news headline from a sketchy website, making yourself more comfortable on the L shaped bench seat and leaning into Peter’s side.

Peter tensed at first, but slowly, he pushed himself to relax after you rested your head on his shoulder, a quiet voice in the back of his head speaking against his desires, echoing the terrifying thought that he could get used to this. “I don’t know, enlighten me: what happened?” He asked, amused. You lifted your finger, eyebrows raising gradually, building up the suspense. He waited, and waited, and waited, until, finally—

“I have to go eat dinner. I’ll tell you later.” You finished with an unhumorous voice and a poker face. Yet again, he awaited in silence, interested. Man, you took this suspense thing quite seriously— wait.

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s it?!” He looked down at you and you nodded. “Oh, c'mon! You just gonna leave the reader hanging like that?”

You shrugged, wearing a shit-eating grin, loving his genuine disappointment as you flicked the page. “Sometimes that’s just the way it is.”

“Oh, what malarkey!” He laughed softly. You crinkled your nose— malarkey. What a dork.

You resumed scanning the barely discernible handwriting, the corner of your mouth tugging upwards. “Alright, this one does have an ending.” You sat up, rolling your shoulders back only to go back to your position of hunching over the journal. “April 3rd, 2000. I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long, I forgot I had this journal. Something crazy happened.”

“The end.”

“Shut up.” You shushed him, shaking your head. “'I hung out with Peter today. We rode our bikes, had a race down the hill near my house, and I also got a butterfly to land on my finger. Man, I love insects!’ …and I still do.” You smiled and he glanced down at you, his mouth twitching. A peculiar glow in his chest grew, fueled him after he recognized that you felt comfortable enough to share this part of you with him; an insight on the stories that carved you into the person that you were today, the being that made every classy, pearly white grin and musical prodigy so boring, so undesirable.

You shuffled on your bum to turn and face Peter, continuing, “We came back home to play some more. We were sitting in front of the TV when, suddenly, he said my name, and like a normal person would, I looked at him…” You inclined forward, voice quieting, looking up at him.

“You won’t believe what happened.”

His eyes darted heavenward and he groaned. “Oh, lord.”

“He kissed me!” You cried out, with as much emotion that past you spilled onto the paper with the five exclamation marks and the three times you underlined the sentence. You slammed the notebook shut and let out a strangled clamor. “I still remember it very clearly. It was just a peck, but he fucking… smashed his mouth into mine, it hurt so much and my lip started bleeding and everything.” You giggled, abashed, rubbing your eyes.

Peter’s brows rose with surprise, pondering how an alternate seven-year-old version of him from another universe had more balls than him. He had to admit, though, the scene playing in his head was more entertaining than unfortunate. “And what’d you do?” He questioned, his mouth twitching.

“He was just curious and wanted to see what kissing someone was like, so we promised we wouldn’t talk about it ever again. He was so embarrassed, though, and felt so bad for making me bleed that he almost started crying.” You recalled, chuckling as you eyed the cursed diary one last time and placed it beside you. “What an idiot. I miss him.” You sighed, peering up at him, grinning. “What was your first kiss like, huh?”

It was comical, almost, the raging blush that trickled his face, the greyish tint screaming for the world’s attention. It was just a Peter Parker thing, you guessed: blushing like there was no tomorrow. “Uh, my first kiss?” You nodded. “Well… it happened when I was eighteen.”

You put the side of your head against the wall, eyes going round, your inquisitiveness close to that of a kid listening to a grandparent’s story. “Was it romantic?” You wanted to know everything: who the person was, the place, the context. Did he enjoy it? Did he make the move? And if so, then was there a chance that, maybe…

Unlike you, he did not have much interest in the subject; he stuttered, searching for a way to move on from the memory before he imploded. “I don’t, I don’t think anyone’s first kiss is romantic.”

You squinted at him, noticing his obvious attempt at dodging the question, but chose to spare him. Just for a few milliseconds, though. “Have you ever had… a perfect kiss?” You said, unsure of how to word such a silly question. He shook his head and you hummed, silently taking in a quick breath, your gaze moving to your right. “Have you thought about what you want it to be like?”

Should he say it? He wanted to. He really did. But he couldn’t, even if his eyes almost flickered down to your lips. “Who thinks about that?” He muttered. Perhaps he had. Perhaps he’d been guilty of having the thought slither into his mind once or twice— possibly more than just that. Perhaps it’d pestered his mind as of recent, like that damn small scratch on his glasses that won’t go away no matter how many times he tried to wipe it away as if that would even help. Perhaps it returned as you unconsciously licked your lips and raised your shoulder, a bashful grin growing on your face.

“I have, when I’m bored. An upside down kiss with a cute guy.” You admitted, your eyes narrowing afterward, only just now realizing how bizarre the idea was once you said it aloud. Your impatience throbbed in your head so badly you didn’t mind the embarrassment as much, though. You really were doing this, huh? “I think I found the cute guy.” You hinted, your heartbeat pounding in your throat.

He understood the insinuation, of course he did. But what better way to run from your feelings than close his trembling hand into a fist, pretend to be clueless, and act like an idiot?

“Who’s the lucky fella?”

Didn’t think he was so stupid, you grumbled in your head, masking your faint irritation. You pressed your lips together, sight on your cushions. “Someone I like quite a lot.” You vaguely said, voice distant. “Though I don’t think you’d understand— you’re not one to fall in love, no?”

It was half a joke but half a real question, one with solely one right answer you yearned to hear from him if you got lucky enough. Peter blinked nervously, fear burning in his stomach, clenching his insides as his tongue dared to break free from his control, from his cowardly spell. “Lately I’ve had someone in mind.” He breathed out, close to breaking out in a sweat. He watched how your eyes dimly lit up, hesitance impeding the light from fully glowing.

“Really? And who is this ‘someone’?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Tell me.”

“Not now.” He gulped. You pouted, begging with your eyes. “N-no.”

“Are you ever gonna make a move?”

Peter drew his lower lip between his teeth, feeling dizzy just by thinking about it; the downfall of the relationship once the distance became too much, once the malaise with no cure finally rotted the adoration, infested the heart, decayed it. “No.” Same answer. Same bedeviled word that boomed in his head whenever his emotions were close to getting the best of him.

“Why haven’t you done it yet?” You whispered, not caring anymore about how obvious you were

being. He frowned. Why hadn’t he done it yet?

“I don’t know if I should.”

“Why not?”

Why not? His own thoughts repeated, betraying him. The confusion unlatched the cage, released all the questions and doubts about his reasons and dread. They crowded his brain, rang in his ears. “It’s… it’d be too hard to keep the relationship alive.” He retold more to himself and the storm of interrogations than you.

Your brows snapped together, your own fear knocking on the door again. “Is it not worth it to try, though?” It’s what you’d told yourself: the antidote to unfreeze your limbs and wave goodbye at the concern hanging in there, because… was it not?

In the overwhelming haziness, he finally looked at you. It’s what he needed to come upon a realization, a truth he knew all along but crumbled and threw away. Everything hushed, one single, final phrase in the quiet of it all.

Convenient wasn’t what he wanted.

“It is.” He said under his breath.

You heard him, and your eyes twinkled. “Well, then make the move.”

He couldn’t help it anymore. His eyes found your lips.

“I will.”

You stared at each other for a moment, anticipation never more warming than right then as it fluttered in your chest. To your biggest disappointment, he broke eye contact and stood up. “Close your eyes for a moment.” He ordered, his face indistinguishable in the dark now that he was further away.

“Creepy, but okay.” You huffed, your eyelids fluttering shut. “You better not be running away right now, you’d break my poor ol’ heart.”

“Don’t worry, that’s not the case.” You heard him say. You trusted him, which could’ve been a terrible choice. The total silence that followed didn’t put you to ease at all, honestly. Maybe you annoyed him so much with your questions that he was about to murder you, and if that’s what was happening, you were quite sad, to say the least.

Your eyelids were itching to open and you lifted a brow, straining your ears to distinguish any sign of his presence. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re not gonna believe what’s about to happen.”

You snorted at his reference, but his voice was… oddly close. You opened your eyes, and— “Oh, fuck!” You yelped and jumped back in your seat. Damn right you weren’t gonna believe what was about to happen, for Peter dangled from the ceiling right in front of you, upside down.

“Is it too much of a strange idea? I was going to simply stick to the ceiling upside down, but then I thought… that’d be… worse.” He clumsily explained. You looked up at the web he hung from, laughing in disbelief.

“What the hell are you doing?” You repeated, but you weren’t mad— your large smile backed that up. You couldn’t figure out if it was a blush creeping up his face or if it was from the fact that he was upside down. Both, maybe.

“I’m making a move.”

You giggled, glad you confessed what you considered to be a perfect type of kiss to him or else you wouldn’t had witnessed how absolutely ridiculous he looked right now. “So you’re willing to help me check 'kissing someone upside down’ off my bucket list?” You smirked.

He grinned. “It would be my pleasure.”

You bit your lip, placing both hands on his head. “Alright, then.“ 

You leaned forward, the tip of your nose brushing against his chin. You softly kissed the area below his bottom lip to tease him, but he didn’t want to wait any longer. Not after so long. Quickly, he enclosed your own bottom lip with his mouth, lastly fully aware that inconvenient truly was magnificent.

[voidwaren]

Teen Wolf prompt anon again~ If you're up for a challenge shuffle your music and write a drabble to the first song that comes up! I would love more Sterek but you can pick the pairing

I wrote more for this prompt than I have all month for Camp NaNo…

so the song I got when I shuffled was Who Do You Love by Chainsmokers & 5SOS, but you all know me. I don’t do established relationships, so this went in an entirely different direction from the song. I had a hell of a lot of fun with it though, so thank you so much for it! also sorry it took me a hot sec to get it out!

it’s very lightly Sterek. I can’t not have a little, okay.

“Where the hell does he go at night?” Stiles mumbles to himself as he shuffles through the most recent stack of blurry, useless photos courtesy of the security camera stationed outside of the temporary Hale apartment complex. Sure, he didn’t technically have clearance to even touch the footage, but what his dad didn’t know wouldn’t kill him. Probably.

“Why do you care, Stiles?” Scott replies, his werewolf hearing apparently having picked up Stiles’ speculation. He’s draped over the back of the couch like a three-year-old, though, so Stiles doesn’t think his opinion matters right now. “He’s an adult,” Scott continues when Stiles only huffs in annoyance. “He can go wherever he wants.”

“Maybe he’s patrolling,” Isaac offers, throwing himself onto couch until he’s taking up all the room Stiles hadn’t, and then some. Stiles pushes him, but he doesn’t budge.

“Alone?” Stiles asks dubiously. “He has his dumb moments, yeah, but he also has you guys now. Why wouldn’t he take one of you?”

“I think he takes Erica, actually,” Isaac says helpfully. Stiles glares at him.

“And you didn’t think to tell me this before I started all of this research?”

Scott wrinkles his nose. Isaac mouths “creepy”, which Stiles totally sees. “You’ve only been doing it for like an hour,” Scott points out.

“An hour I’ll never get back!”

The collective eye roll he gets in return tells him he’s getting nothing useful out of the two, so he decidedly gathers up his photos and stuffs them into his backpack.

“Where are you going?” Scott finally asks, only once Stiles has started cramming his feet into his sneakers.

“I’m going to ask Erica what she does with Derek at night.”

Isaac makes a gagging noise. It’s downright poetic in its execution. “Gross, Stiles,” he whines.

Stiles throws a pen at him, which he doesn’t even remotely manage to deflect. Werewolf reflexes, his ass. “She’s dating Boyd, stupid.”

“So? It’s Erica.”

“She’s not like that,” Stiles asserts as he clambers out the door, ignoring the small voice in the back of his head asking him if he ever really knew her in the first place. He’s not even securely in his Jeep before Isaac and Scott come blundering in, seating themselves firmly in the car seats before Stiles even manages to think of a reasonable reason why they can’t come along.

Guess backup couldn’t hurt.

*

“Uh, no. I don’t go anywhere with Derek at night.”

Stiles stares at Erica. Then, he turns and stares at Isaac. When Isaac looks confused, Stiles gestures violently at Erica. Twice after Isaac throws up his hands in a gesture meant to convey innocence.

“She’s not usually home when I wake up to pee!” Isaac exclaims. Stiles narrows his eyes, and behind Isaac Scott rolls his in exasperation.

“That doesn’t mean I’m creeping around with Derek, Isaac,” Erica says drily. Stiles opens his mouth to ask what she does do, but she holds up a finger before he can. “Not answering that,” she says, leaving absolutely no room to argue, even for him. Stiles deflates.

“Then where do you go?” Isaac pushes.

A fleeting look of embarrassment crosses Erica’s face. It’s gone so fast, Stiles isn’t totally sure it was there in the first place by the time it’s replaced with one of annoyance. “None of your business,” she bites.

“Actually, it is,” Isaac points out. “We’re pack. I’m supposed to know where you are.”

Erica gives him a wicked grin. “And you think that’ll make me break?”

Isaac doesn’t answer her, and that tells everyone in the room his answer.

“Alright, okay,” Stiles starts so they can move on with the conversation before it got ugly. “So if Erica isn’t the one ditching with Derek, then how the hell are we going to figure out what he does when he vanishes into the night?”

“We could track him?” Scott offers. Stiles shakes his head.

“Nope. No. Not a single one of us is stealthy enough to get away with that. Next.”

Scott pouts in his direction, but Stiles ignores it. Erica looks thoughtful, her head tilted towards the ceiling.

“Do you think he’s meeting up with someone?” Isaac offers.

Stiles strokes his chin a la BBC Sherlock. “Maybe. That would explain why he’s gone so long throughout the night. Maybe he’s doing things with them.”

“You think he’s sleeping with an enemy?” Erica asks, throwing Stiles through a total loop.

Stiles gives her a startled look. “What?”

“You don’t think that?”

“Well NOW I do!” Stiles exclaims.

“I thought that’s what you were implying.” Erica shrugs likes she’s sloughing off any potential guilt she might have for planting that idea in his head. “What did you think before?”

“That he was just fraternizing,” Stiles says helplessly.

Isaac frowns. “I thought you said you just thought he was being weird and stuff.”

Scott nods. “Yeah, who said anything about enemies?”

“Erica.” Stiles gestures at her for good measure. She grins, evidently pleased with her chaotic evil nature. “She literally just said that. Now I’m thinking it.”

Isaac looks unconvinced. “That fast?”

“My brain works very fast,” says Stiles, offended. “It’s the ADHD.”

“Okay, you know what?” Erica says, placing a hand on Stiles’ arm. It’d be charming if she wasn’t so rough about it. “How about we just ask Derek?”

“Do you know where he is?” Scott asks.

“With Boyd at the apartment.”

That’s all Stiles needs—he’s shrugged off Erica and made a beeline for the door before anyone else has moved, and Scott says something he doesn’t quite catch. Stiles was on a mission and, dammit, he was going to get to the bottom of his.

*

“I knew it!” Stiles exclaims loudly the moment he bursts into the room, Scott, Erica, and Isaac clamoring in behind him like the graceless supernatural beings they were. Derek and Boyd look up at them in confusion, and Stiles belatedly realizes they’re bent over a map spread out on a table. Stiles points at it aggressively. “You’re planning something!”

“… What?” Boyd asks after a beat.

“With the enemy,” Isaac tacks on gravely, still very accusing. Boyd looks at Derek in bewilderment, but he’s still looking at Stiles like he’s debating if keeping him alive was really worth staying out of jail for. Boyd turns his confused look back on Stiles and the others behind him again.

“What,” Derek starts, slowly, and with a large amount of pure, unadulterated annoyance, “are you talking about?”

“Stiles is under the impression you’re fraternizing with the enemy,” Scott offers. Stiles turns to glare at him, but it’s too late now that he’s made it look like Stiles was the only one thinking this.

“Thanks, Scott,” he says drily.

“Actually, he thought you were sleeping with them,” Isaac corrects.

“Thanks, Isaac!”

“More than one,” Erica adds on.

“Erica. Seriously?”

“What?” she asks in faux innocence, turning those damn big eyes on him. “I’m not wrong.”

“That was your input into the collective query, okay! You!”

Erica shrugs. “I’m still not wrong. You thought it after I suggested it.”

Stiles opens his mouth to continue arguing the matter, but he’s stopped by the relative force of Derek’s hand coming out and smacking him in the chest. It’s not a hard blow, exactly, but it does startle Stiles enough to stop him from talking, which he thinks was the point.

“Can you all shut the hell up for a second?” Derek begs, his tone gruff and very obviously annoyed. Probably yet again with the fact he got involved with a bunch of teengers. Stiles knows he’d be pulling his hair out by the roots if he were in Derek’s position.

They all quiet, waiting patiently as Derek visibly processes the information he’d just been given. When he finally opens his mouth again, Stiles can’t help but tense up, which is kind of embarrassing considering Derek hadn’t removed his hand yet.

“You thought I was sleeping around with—” Derek stops, his face wrinkling up like he was trying to recall what it was exactly they were accusing him of. “—multiple enemies?” Erica snickers, and Derek turns his glare on her. She quiets, but the smirk doesn’t drop from her lips.

“It was a reasonable conclusion,” Stiles says weakly. Derek turns to look at him. His expression is so close to incredulous that Stiles is starting to feel bad he even thought anything like that in the first place. “Fine,” Stiles mutters, “not that reasonable.”

After a moment where no one says anything, Derek pinches the bridge of his nose. He looks like he’s in pain when he says, “All right. This is ridiculous. At night?” He drops his hand and Stiles is not-so-vaguely reminded of the time he accused his dad of intentionally foiling any attempts Stiles had made at getting him a date. Much like now, he’d been very, very wrong in his deduction. (Turns out, Stiles just hadn’t been a very good matchmaker, and his inconsistent oblivious nature was genetic.) “I’m conferring with Druids to make sure nothing weird can sneak up on us. Apparently, none of you idiots realize they do most of their work under the moonlight.” He gives Stiles a pointed look at this. Stiles lowers his gaze, because he did know that from all the research he’d done when Scott had first gotten turned. And Derek knew he knew that.

“Why didn’t you just tell us that, then?” Scott asks.

Derek only turns and looks at him. “I wasn’t asked.”

Scott looks at Isaac helplessly, who looks at Boyd, who looks at Erica. If she in turn looks at Stiles, he doesn’t see it, because he’s looking at Derek again and feeling like the biggest of dickholes.

“Well, we fucked up,” Isaac announces after they’ve all had a moment to settle on this collective conclusion.

“Shocker,” Erica mutters.

“Now that we’ve figured out that none of you know how to ask the source before jumping to asinine conclusions,” Derek starts, arms crossed, “I’d appreciate if you all would leave.”

“We live here though,” Isaac tries weakly, but lowers his head dejectedly when Derek only glares at him.

“Didn’t want to be here anyway,” Erica grumbles.

They all slump out of the apartment, leaving Boyd behind, and Stiles starts the drive back to everyone’s respective places he’d found them at in the first place. Scott tries to broach the subject only once during the drive, but Stiles decidedly ignores his attempt and loudly declares a need for greasy food before his father got home instead. That gets everyone hungry, and they stop at an In-N-Out on the way. Erica steals more of his fries than Stiles is entirely comfortable with, but she doesn’t even try to talk about what just happened, so Stiles lets her without too much protest.

*

When Stiles finally gets back to his own place, sans Isaac and Scott (who both were dropped at Scott’s place), it’s nearly dark and his Jeep smells strongly of grease and American fast food goodness. His dad isn’t home yet, so Stiles knows that means he’s in charge of dinner for the night. He’s barely turned his engine off when Derek appears out of nowhere and sticks his head through Stiles’ open window.

“You want to tell me why you’ve been logging video information on me?” Derek asks, scaring the absolute shit out of Stiles, leaning in the window of the Jeep and looking entirely too Abercrombie & Fitch Model while doing it for Stiles’ liking. Stiles determinedly glares at his steering wheel once he’s finished flailing and generally acting like a spazz. “Which, correct me if I’m wrong,” Derek continues where Stiles doesn’t answer him, “is illegal to do? I could report you and get a restraining order.”

“You won’t,” Stiles says immediately. Derek raises both his eyebrows. “You need me,” Stiles asserts. He’s looking at Derek fully now, and Derek meets his gaze.

“I don’t need anyone,” he replies in that gruff, annoyingly sour way of his.

“Keep telling yourself that.” If Stiles rips his keys from the ignition, he thinks he has a fair reason to be doing it. “And don’t tell my dad.”

“I don’t talk to your dad if I can help it.”

“Well,” Stiles says, “good.”

Silence falls. Stiles can’t get out of the car with Derek blocking it, but he debates launching himself across the seat to get out the other side if only so he doesn’t have to sit here being awkward, yet again, with Derek Hale. Didn’t this guy know anything about tact?

(Okay, maybe Stiles himself wasn’t exactly the best judge of that. Still. Derek made everything awkward, and Stiles wanted nothing more to get out of the conversation—if it could be called that.)

Derek ruins Stiles’ potential attempt at jumping across his car by speaking and messing up his thought process. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Stiles glares at him. “Duh. I don’t have to.”

“You’re stalking me, Stiles.”

“It’s not stalking!” Stiles protests, twisting around in his seat until he’s almost face-to-face with Derek again. “It’s precautionary surveillance.”

Derek just gives him a look. “You’re getting footage illegally from my apartment complex’s security cameras because, why exactly?”

Stiles doesn’t answer right away. He knew exactly why he was doing it and he doesn’t have to ask how Derek knew exactly what Stiles was doing. Derek knows how to break into houses undetected. “I don’t trust you,” Stiles finally says, and, to his credit, he kind of mumbles it to his steering wheel guiltily. He might not have been Derek’s biggest fan, but telling him he didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him to his face wasn’t exactly something Stiles wanted to do. At least, not right now. Under different circumstances, maybe.

Derek doesn’t answer. Stiles dares a look at him. He looks pissed, but Derek had a habit of looking pissed at most times of the day. Stiles is pretty sure he just had RBF. “I need to change that,” he says, sounding more like he was talking to himself than to Stiles.

Stiles blinks at him in surprise. “What?”

“If our packs are going to be working together in harmony, you need to trust me.”

Stiles has no idea what to say to that. He’s faintly sure someone just abducted Derek and replaced him with a faulty copy that only looked exactly like Derek. “I’m not exactly an important figurehead in Scott’s pack,” he finally says.

Derek shakes his head. “Scott’s a total idiot. He looks to you more than you must realize.”

“I don’t know about that,” Stiles answers honestly. “Is it really that important? I’m not a trusting person by nature, you’re in for the long haul if you’re going to try winning my trust.”

Derek pauses, and an expression Stiles can’t quite name passes over his features briefly. “Yes,” he says, strangely earnest. Then, completely out of character, he says, “I need you to trust me.”

Stiles stares at him. Swallows. And then, like the absolute idiot he is, opens his mouth and says, “Well, big guy, maybe you should take me out to dinner first before you go about trying to woo me like that.”

That does it. Derek looks at Stiles like it’s physically paining him to have to listen to anything coming out of his mouth, and Stiles is pretty sure it really is. Then, Derek shakes his head and finally moves out of Stiles’ window. “Come to the pack meeting on Sunday,” is all he says, and then he turns and stalks off into the night.

“What pack meeting on Sunday?” Stiles calls, but Derek doesn’t answer. “Well, fine,” he says to himself, slumping back into his seat. Guess he was going to a pack meeting on Sunday, and Derek was now going to try his darndest to win Stiles’ trust.

When exactly is his life going to stop getting so weird?

[imagines-forthe-soul]

Can I request a scenario with dabi ?! When his s/o is quirkless and got in trouble with other villans? Not something extreme but more like a bank robbery and he literally panicked since he knew those villains who won't hesitate to kill at all.. so let's say dabi is doing a hero job unintentionally just for his girlfriend but ends up rescuing everyone and all heros got confused 😂 but at least they know even villains have heart

I hope you enjoy this, love! Sorry it took me so long to do, but I really hope you like the way this turned out!

Warnings: Violence, implied sexual themes(?), blood, spelling mistakes maybe, idk what else, DABI

Dabi:

Looking back at it, you should have known something was upwhen your entire week had gone so well. You had gone the week with nothing butgood luck and smiles, but now it had all turned to ashes when you decided to goto the scruffier parts of town to get some money your parents had sent down foryou. All the other banks that accepted your type of card had been filled to thebrim with people due to it being pay day, and most of the ATMs in your area hadbeen shut down, drawing people to the ones that were functioning, lines stretchinglong into the parking lots and streets. 

You hated going to this part of town, but you knew not manypeople would come out of their way to use the crummy bank down here, and forgood reason. On your long walk towards this bank, you had stubbed your toe onseveral rocks, almost twisted your ankle after stumbling into a pothole, andripped open a hole in the bottom of your shoe.

 When you were finally in thebank, the lines weren’t as long, which was good. Your timing perfect since youhad caught this bank before rush hour set in, but little did you know that iswhat a few shady looking people within the bank were hoping for. Having a bankrobbery right before rush hour when most of the police officers were mainlycruising about, getting ready for the inevitable rush of traffic to soon swarmaround them was a perfect idea. By the time the police were notified, theywould have to fight against the heavy traffic to come to this specific bank,the bank that was miles away from the city, the bank that you just had to cometo today and this time. 

That’s how you had found yourself in your current situation,lined up along the farthest wall within the bank, trembling in fear with manyof the civilians who had come to this bank at the oh so perfect time. Thugsdressed in dark clothes pointed their guns and readied their quirks at the lotof you, threatening to use them if anyone so much as moved. Civilian men, women,and children surrounded you in fear, looking onward at the villains before themas they threatened and harassed the bank tellers, shouting and demanding asmuch money they could fit in the stereotypical money bags they had brought withthem.  

This is not how you wanted to spend your free time today.Already having been exasperated by today’s previous events, you really weren’tin the mood to be held up. You were sure you could subdue at least one of thesethugs, having had some run-ins of your own with villains that looked much tougherthan these ones, but these guys were armed and there were too many people atrisk. You raked your mind together, trying to think of something you couldpossibly do to get yourself and everyone else out of this situation. You lookedaround the bank space, trying to locate some sort of weapon you could use orany object that could be used to cause a distraction, but nothing turned up. Witha light frustrated sigh, you patted around your person, hoping that you hadsomething on you that you could use. You dug around in your pockets, feeling anumber of different object brush against your fingertips.  

Before pulling any of them out, you looked over at the thugs,most of them occupying themselves with getting the money whilst the rest busiedthemselves with idle conversation, weapons and quirks pointed leisurely at youall lined up against the wall. You figured with all of them mostly distracted,you could silently pull the items out of your pockets for you to examine. What youhad on you was nothing special or exactly useful: lint, Chapstick, some gum, andyour phone. 

 Your phone!

 How could you have been so dumb! You bit your lip, trying tokeep down your excitement upon finding something useful to use, but yourexcitement soon died when you weren’t sure who you should be calling. There wasalways the obvious choice, the police, but you were sure that the sirens andflashing red and blue lights would alert the thugs and have them go on arampage. You couldn’t imagine how many people could possibly get hurt if somethinglike that were to happen. You grit your teeth, trying to think of a betteroption and before too long, it hit you. 

 Despite the other people around you silently shaking their headat your actions, frightened that you would alert one of the thugs and get anyof them hurt, you hastily typed at your phone, writing a message to the only personyou knew would be able to handle this situation without problem and still beable to get you and everyone else out unscathed. 

Ten minutes had passed since you made and sent that message,chewing on the inside of your cheek as you waited for your ‘savior’ to come. Thethugs had grown impatient with waiting for the tellers to fill the bags totheir desired amount and now had begun harassing the civilians around you,threatening their lives and jostling them about. Eventually, one of them hadpicked you, standing you up and holding a blade to your neck.

 “If you don’t start hustling, this pretty girl right here isgoing to end up a whole lot less pretty. You really want her death on yourmind?!!” Shouted your captor, holding you in an iron grip as he pressed theblade closer and closer to your neck. You winced at the stinging feeling of theblade cutting into your skin, the hairline slash being enough to bring tears toyour eyes already, blurring your vision. Your heart clamored against yourribcage, your breathing staggering as all you could do was just stay still asif to not let the blade do anymore damage it has already done. 

 For a while, no body moved, looking towards you and yourcaptor in fear and worry, breaths stilled, bodies immobile. It was only when thesound of shattering glass and the smell of smoke filled the air did peoplestart moving, trying protect themselves from the glass shards and the heat ofthe blue flames that entered the bank. Flames that you recognized and more werethan happy to see.  

“You should put that knife down before you end up hurtingyourself and your buddies,” the raspy voice coming from the smoke said, soonstepping forward and showing who it belonged to; Dabi, your boyfriend. A smallsmile formed on your face as you saw him, your eyes meeting his for a moment,but the moment was ruined as the thug hold you wrenched your neck back,pressing the knife harder against your throat, this time drawing blood.  

Big mistake. 

 If there was one thing you knew for certain, it was thatDabi didn’t like other people touching what was his. Being his girlfriend meantbeing a part of his property, and he’d be damned if he let anyone or thing messwith what was his. 

 Before the thug could even utter out a threat, Dabi hadalready advanced towards him, blue flame shooting form his hand, directed rightat the man holding you. As he got closer, Dabi pulled you free from the man’sgrip, holding you to his chest protectively, watching as the man flailed andburned, his screams bringing a smile to his face as you watched in horror.  

Your gaze shifted from the burning thug to the civilians andremaining around you, watching as they too looked frightened. A few of thethugs were horrified into salience, their knees visibly shaking. The resthowever, weren’t as foolish as to just stand around watching and instead tookaction, charging towards you and Dabi.  

Yet another mistake.  

With a simple wave of his hand, Dabi had ignited blue flamesaround them men, trapping them in a circle of blue hellish flame that slowlycreeped closer to them. All the while, you clung to Dabi’s side, standingbehind him as to not fall victim to the heat of his quirk.

 Once he was done, he sneered at the thugs, giving a dry laughbefore turning towards you, placing a deft finger on your neck to wipe away thethin line of blood that was trailing down your jugular. “Come on, we’re leaving.You owe me for this shit.” He said, wiping the blood on his shirt beforegrabbing you by the arm, ready to haul you out of the bank.  

You let him drag you along for a few beats, momentarilystunned by the events that had just played out, but soon you are knocked backto your sense, pushing Dabi’s hand away from you. He looked back at you, eyebrowquirked in question. You exhaled, soon taking in a deep breath before youpointed behind you at the scared and struggling civilians trying to make theirway out but were constantly blocked by Dabi’s flames.  

He followed your finger, looking between you and them andthe exit to the building. He had a strong urge to just leave you and thembehind, rather leaving and letting you help them, but he knew that if he didthat, he wouldn’t hear the end of it from you.

 With a deep sigh and one last look to you, he raised hishands towards the flames blocking the path of the civilians, clenching it intoa fist and letting the fire surrounding them die out, stepping aside as theyall rushed out of the building, leaving you and Dabi behind to follow them out. 

“You really are a pain. First you text me some shit about arobbery whilst I’m relaxing and then you make me save some shit civies. You oweme big time.” He says to you as the both of you begin to walk out. You rollyour eyes at his words, holing onto his arm.

 “You would rather have me call upsome other hero or the police and end up dying because these thugs got butthurt about it? When you save me, you’re still saving a civi. This time you didthat helped out a few more. I’m proud of you.” You tell him, hugging onto hisarm.  Dabi is unmoved by your words however, his eyes and mind elsewhere,more specifically, on a few bags of money the thugs had the tellers collectingfor them. He removed himself from your grip, walking over to them nonchalantly andslinging them over his shoulder, soon walking back to you. 

“Dabi!” you shout, frowning at him, “You can’t take those!” 

 “Would you shut it, woman. You need money to get that cutchecked out. And like I said, you owe me. This is the first part of yourrepayment.” He said, standing in front of you, expression black but you couldsee it in his eyes that he wasn’t planning on leaving this money behind.  

You sighed, crossing your arms over your chest. “Fine…keepthe money. I’m not using it though. I can pay with my own money.” You told him,puffing your cheeks out in defiance. The two of you then began walking out ofthe bank, keeping to the outline of the crowd that had formed as to not beenseen by the police that that finally arrived.  

You were happy to be safe and out of that situation now,hugging your boyfriend’s arm as he lugged the bags of money over his shoulder. Asoft smile made its way onto your face, looking up at him with admiration. “Imeant what I said about being proud of you…You really did a good job today.” Youpressed a kiss to his arm as he grumbled, though didn’t push you away.  

“Shut up about it. Shut up about all of it. I don’t need anymore people knowing about it than there already are. I just want to go home andget the rest of what I’m owed.” He said, though a puzzled look overtook yoursmile at his words.  

“What else do I even owe you? You have your money.” It was Dabi’s turn to smile, laughing darkly before hespoke.

 “You owe me a blow job and a night of raw fucking.” A blush made its way onto you face and you gasped up at him,eyes wide. 

 “What’s wrong with you! You’re such a pervert!”

[eggcount]

Names

Friday, April 24, 2020

Egg Count fans have been clamoring to know - do the new chicks have names and what kind are they?  (Well, no one asked about the breeds, but I'm sure everyone wants to what kind of chicken starts out as a mini-bear chick, but was just too polite to ask!)

So, there are five chicks - two Rhode Island reds (the little brown ones), two Americana (the mini-bears) and one Buff Orphington (the tiny yellow one).  The mamma hen (Melly) is a Blue Laced Wynadotte.  I just looked up the email from when I got her and she was described as "an incredible mama hen. She lays and goes broody and will hatch multiple clutches a summer if you let her"  So, I guess she is fulfilling her destiny!  She does seem like a really great mama.  And the babies love her!  Running all over her, coming around to greet her and get a little kiss.  Don't worry,  I am putting pictures in!  And you can see them on You Tube -https://youtu.be/a8c0cYC4A0M That is from last night - their first night with their new mama! 

On to names.  Celia, of course, was given the responsibility for naming them.  She came up with 21 names.   I dutifully wrote them all down on a piece of paper that Celia calls  "the calendar" because of its resemblance to a calendar (duh).  I have appended the list so you can judge for yourself.  btw, Celia and I spend a lot of time video chatting together with her telling me stories and me writing them down.  We're doing a recipe book too.  I'm sure everyone will want a copy.  Also, very cool zines.  She's a pretty good story teller and getting better at plot and adding the details.  If anyone wants a copy of her zines, let me know.  They can all be sent in a PDF with instructions on how to fold them.  Zines are very cool for people looking for a new hobby during the stay-at-home.

Now, I'm digressing.  Names - she came up with 21 names including Picture Frame (my favorite), Light and Ponytail.  Oddly enough, HeiHei did not make the list despite her recent devotion to Moana.  I've never seen the movie, but the internet describes HeiHei as "one dumb rooster—the village idiot, in fact" so maybe she picked up on that.  Not the Rooster part - male names were on the list, but the dumb part.

Her idea was there were going to be 20 chicks, but she wasn't disappointed when we just got five.  She just gave them multiple names. She totally rejected Picture Frame with a strongly worded "That's not a name, Bubbie".  Thoroughly chastised, I decided not to mention Lamp or Ponytail. 

To finally get to the point - drum roll please - the names are:

Mini Bears:  Georgie and  Peppa Fluffy Maggie Brown ones: Lulu belle and Anna Max And the little yellow one is Elsa Max. 

And here are their pictures:

Chicks in their travel box (notice how huddled they are!)

Mini Bear in Cupcake Wrapper Skirt

Brown Chick in the Brooder with Cupcake Wrapper Skirt

Babies and Mama Hen

Elsa Escaping!

Chicken Name Calendar with excellent portrait of Celia eating a chocolate covered banana in the margin.

[lindabodecom]

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it’s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

The post Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

source https://smartblogger.com/affiliate-marketing/

[felixdgreen]

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it���s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

The post Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from IM News And Tips https://smartblogger.com/affiliate-marketing/

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it’s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

The post Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/affiliate-marketing/

[janesnodgrass]

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it’s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

The post Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it’s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

The post Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: A Step-By-Step, Comprehensive Guide

If you’ve ever wondered how to earn passive income from your website, this is post is going to become your new Bible.

Not only am I going to teach you the basics of affiliate marketing, but we’ll also dive into some real examples from professional affiliate marketers who are making thousands or even millions of dollars per year.

In other words…

Want to make a few extra bucks on the side without doing much?

I got you covered.

Or maybe you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer and quit your day job?

You’ll find this useful too.

Let’s jump in.

Table of Contents

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

How to Decide Which Products to Promote

7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

How to Start Affiliate Marketing

So What Is “Affiliate Marketing,” Anyway?

Well, here’s our (somewhat long-winded) definition:

If you’ve been listening to us for a long, you’ve learned that bloggers make money by building an audience that trusts them, and then offering products or services that will genuinely help that audience.

Affiliate marketing is really just a quicker way to offer products and services without creating them yourself.

In practice, it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea — getting a commission on a sale. You introduce your readers to products or services from trusted companies or individuals and get a commission on any sales to customers you send their way.

For bloggers, that means you find a product or service that you like, promote it to your readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale that you make.

Simple idea, right?

Let’s see an example.

In our WordPress hosting post, we give readers the ins and outs of how to choose an excellent host. A portion of readers want to know who we recommend based on those criteria, and so here’s what we say:

The arrow is pointing to an affiliate link. If anyone clicks on that link and buys from them, we earn a commission

Bloggers can include links like this in blog posts, emails, social media posts, and much more. We’ll get into all the possibilities later.

For now, though, it’s important that you know exactly what affiliate marketing means — as well as its potential for you as a blogger.

  Why Affiliate Marketing Rocks for Bloggers

At Smart Blogger, we’re big fans of selling affiliate products and services.

Here are three compelling reasons why we think you should look into it, too:

You can monetize your blog sooner than you would if you created your own products from scratch.

You can learn what types of products your audience is clamoring for, reducing the risk of any future product launch of your own.

You can get your readers used to the idea of buying from you — and increase their level of trust (as long as you pick the right products and services to sell).

All pretty significant advantages to you as a growing blogger.

But that’s not all. There are additional benefits to affiliate marketing as well.

It’s easy to implement. You share a link with your readers and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about tracking sales, providing customer service, setting up payments, or anything else. All that support is handled by the merchant.

It doesn’t require you to have a support team in place. Affiliate marketing is completely doable even if you’re a one-person show.

It doesn’t require specialized expertise. You don’t have to be a world-renowned expert in your niche. You only need to be familiar enough with your topic area to know what products are good and worth recommending to your audience.

It’s low-effort and low-risk. While affiliate marketing isn’t exactly passive income, it doesn’t require a significant time or money investment on your part.

Sounds pretty good in theory, right? Let’s see if affiliate marketing is right for you.

  The Types of Bloggers Most Likely to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate income can look pretty attractive, but you need to have a few things in place first if you want to succeed.

For instance, don’t jump into the deep end if you’re still figuring out how to start a blog.

Instead, make sure that:

You’re producing regular content on your blog. You have to give a lot of free value to your readers to build your credibility before you start asking for sales.

You have an email list with at least 500 subscribers. If you can attract and keep 500+ subscribers engaged around your topic, you have a foundation with earning potential.

Hold Off on Affiliate Marketing if…

If you already have a list of at least a few hundred people and are planning to sell services like coaching, consulting, design, writing or other professional services (as in legal advice, finance, or real estate) in the short term, it’s probably best to hold off on affiliate marketing.

That’s because for service providers, your best bet is selling services first. It’s simply your most profitable way to start monetizing.

You can consider adding affiliate offers into the mix once your money-making machine from services is running smoothly.

Still with me? Great!

  How to Sell Affiliate Products (Without Selling Your Soul)

Affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap in some circles because of unethical marketers who annoy their readers with junk ads, offers that don’t apply to them, or general spam.

These bloggers have given affiliate marketers an unsavory reputation.

But when affiliate marketing is done right, it’s a positive, powerful “engine” for generating value for you and your readers.

The bloggers who succeed understand this simple truth:

Your relationship with your audience, and the trust that you build with them, is your single most important asset.

The importance of trust can’t be stressed enough. You have to invest the time and effort to constantly nurture trust with your audience — and take care never do anything to betray that confidence.

So whenever you’re tempted to cut corners or venture into the murkier regions of affiliate marketing, just remember you’re risking the relationship with your readers. In other words — don’t do it!

The Simple Golden Rule for Success

Here’s our foolproof rule for success as an ethical affiliate marketer:

You should only become an affiliate for products that you have personally used — even if that means purchasing a product so you can kick the tires and decide if it’s something you can recommend.

Why? Because your reputation’s on the line.

Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you need a new doctor, mechanic or building contractor?

You ask for recommendations from people you trust. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools.

But when you get advice from friends that turns out to be bad, you can’t help but wonder, “What on earth were they thinking?”

You probably won’t value their opinion as highly the next time around — if you even ask them at all.

As a blogger, you can’t afford to have your good name damaged because you didn’t do your due diligence and check a product out thoroughly.

And doing it right makes everything so much easier.

When you can honestly and wholeheartedly recommend a product or service that you’ve tried and liked, your marketing will simply work.

You won’t feel sleazy or unethical. You’ll be legitimately excited about the product — and your audience will appreciate your authenticity and feel confident buying from you.

That’s a good place to be — for both you and your readers.

But in case this is all sounding a little too to good to be true, a few cautions are in order.

  Behind the Hype: The Realities of Affiliate Marketing

Most good things have a downside, and affiliate marketing is no exception. But if you’re aware of the potential trade-offs and pitfalls, you can enter into it with your eyes open.

So let’s start our reality check with a few cautionary points.

Quick and Easy to Set Up Doesn’t Mean Instant or Free

Selling affiliate products is certainly quick and easy when compared with creating, marketing and delivering your own products. But that doesn’t mean it’s a breeze.

You’ll have to take care in choosing which products to represent — and you’ll need to invest time and at least some money into finding the best affiliate products for your readers.

And you can’t expect miracles or overnight successes. You’ll need some trial and error to discover what works and build a mix of offers over time.

Earning While You Sleep Doesn’t Mean “Set It and Forget It”

No blog income is truly, completely passive. If you’re looking for an “easy button,” don’t become a blogger!

Even when you’re set up with some affiliate offers, you have to continue the work of growing and engaging your audience — and that means creating great content and building trust with your readers.

Without a loyal and engaged audience, you’ll struggle to find success via affiliate marketing. And without a growing list you’ll quickly “burn out” the audience you already have.

The best way to think of it is like this: affiliate marketing is a money-making add-on to a successful blog, not an alternative to a successful blog.

Even Smart Bloggers Can Make Dumb Choices

Many bloggers have been fooled by unscrupulous merchants. If an opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is. Even if a merchant is above-board, they might not be a good fit for your audience.

Likewise, you shouldn’t let yourself be seduced by the tactics of less ethical affiliate marketers. You can find numerous tips and tricks in affiliate marketing forums that might help you make a quick buck but could quickly break trust with your audience.

Here are some quick tips to help you stay safe:

Never pay a fee to become an affiliate — that includes membership or setup fees. Merchants who charge you fees are running scams on rookies who don’t know any better.

Don’t let yourself be pressured into using “black hat” strategies to drive traffic to your site — e.g., aggressive SEO tactics that focus exclusively on tricking search engines instead of pleasing humans. This kind of activity can alienate your audience and get you banned from search engine listings.

Don’t promote a product until you’ve subscribed to your affiliate partners’ email list and know exactly what your readers can expect in terms of follow-up marketing. Your potential partner may have a more aggressive style than your readers are used to, and that can reflect poorly on you. If there’s a big mismatch, don’t promote the product.

Now that you know the pluses and minuses of affiliate marketing, let’s dig in for a behind-the-scenes look.

  How the Affiliate Marketing “Engine” Works

Even though it’s based on a simple idea, affiliate marketing can be complicated, especially when you start getting into the nitty-gritty details.

The section will help you understand the most important concepts without drowning you in technical detail.

Let’s start with some basic definitions.

Affiliate Marketing Glossary

Affiliate marketing has its own terminology, which can be confusing at first. But if you become familiar with these concepts, you’ll be well on your way.

Here are a few terms it’s important to know:

Affiliate — the partner who promotes the merchant’s products for a commission. Also called the publisher.

Affiliate agreement — a contract that both parties agree to specifying the rules, responsibilities, rates to be paid and other legalities.

Affiliate link — a trackable URL that identifies the affiliate as the source of targeted traffic to a merchant’s site. (A click on an affiliate link counts as a referral.)

Affiliate network — an online marketplace where merchants list their products and where affiliates can find products to sell.

Affiliate program — a program set up by merchants to pay commissions when affiliates refer people to their products.

Commission — a percentage of the total sale that is paid to the affiliate for referring the sale.

Cookie — in affiliate marketing, cookies are used to assign a unique ID to the buyer in order to tag the purchase as being referred by you. Cookies usually have a predetermined lifespan, so that even if the buyer doesn’t purchase right away, you will still get credit for the sale if it occurs within that timeframe (often 60 days or more).

Customer — the end user or purchaser of the merchant’s product or service.

Merchant — the owner or creator of the product or service. Also known as a retailer or brand.

Referral — credit for a click or a sale that occurs when the affiliate sends traffic to the merchant’s site.

The Mechanics of Getting Paid for Promoting Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing can get pretty technical. Fortunately, you don’t need to know all the details to get started.

The actual mechanics run in the background, thanks to the merchant’s affiliate program software.

But here’s a quick look behind the scenes:

When an affiliate joins the merchant’s program, he or she is given a unique ID and a specific URL to use when promoting the product.

The affiliate includes the link in their blog content and/or subscriber emails and invites readers to click it to find out more.

When a potential buyer clicks on the link to visit the merchant’s site, a cookie identifying the affiliate is placed on their computer. The cookie ensures that the publisher is credited with the referral sale even if it occurs days or even weeks later.

Whenever a buyer completes the sale process, the merchant checks the sales record for a cookie identifying the source of the referral.

If the merchant finds a cookie with an affiliate ID, the affiliate is credited with the sale.

The merchant makes reports available so that the affiliate can see their referrals (clicks) and sales.

The merchant pays the affiliate commission at the end of each payment period.

Here’s a graphical overview to help you visualize the process:

The flow is pretty straightforward once you understand it, and it works the same no matter what kind of product you’re promoting or how established you are as an affiliate marketer.

So let’s look at the typical progression for a blogger who’s serious about making affiliate marketing a major source of income.

  The Three Levels of Affiliate Marketing Mastery

As you mature as a blogger and affiliate marketer, you’ll pass through three distinct stages — each one with its own strategies and typical earning levels.

Knowing what level you’re at is important. If you try to skip ahead and use strategies you’re not ready for yet, you’ll likely fail.

Use these descriptions to figure out where you are in your blogging journey and build from there.

Stage 1: Getting Started

You can start selling to your list once you’ve proven that your topic has legs — i.e., you have enough engaged subscribers to prove your blog is a viable money-making platform.

Generally speaking, you’re ready for this stage once you have 500-1,000 email subscribers and at least 10% of them are opening your emails. At this point, you can start testing products to see what your audience is likely to respond to.

Applicable strategies: Experiment with a few products or services to find a “core earner” and round out your affiliate offers with a few complementary digital products (ebooks, packaged services, download products, etc.).

Typical earnings: Up to $250/month, enough to cover your expenses and maybe the occasional treat.

Stage 2: Ramping Up

Once your blog is more established and you have a few thousand subscribers, you’ll be ready to up your affiliate sales game.

At this stage, you’ll be publishing quality content on a regular basis and continuing to grow and engage with your email list. You’ll be starting to build relationships with influencers serving similar audiences.

You’ll also now have some experience selling to your subscribers, and you’re beginning to understand what they like and need from you. You’ve found at least one product that’s earning consistently and may also have plans for your own products.

Applicable strategies: Continue to look outside your core offers to find additional solid-earning products and services. Seek to identify additional smaller-earning offers that also sell consistently.

Typical earnings: Around $500–$2,000 per month — a nice part-time income.

Stage 3: Full Time Earner

You’re now considered a top-tier blogger, with an email list of 10,000 subscribers or more.

It’s easier now to network with the big influencers because of your accomplishments and reputation. You’ll be invited to participate in major product launches and promotions.

You’re also a pro at selling to your readers, building sales funnels and writing sales pages.

Applicable strategies: Build closer relationships with the “big name” authorities, participate in high-ticket product launches, and run your own major email campaigns.

Typical earnings: You’re now making a full-time income from your blog!

Of course, relatively few bloggers will successfully progress to this final stage, but you can still achieve significant success and satisfaction from the earlier stages.

Also, some bloggers may deliberately deviate from this path. For instance, if you’re serious about creating your own products, you might start to replace affiliate products with your own offerings around Stage 2.

In other words, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate sales, using the experience to generate revenue and learn what your audience will buy, then pivot to your own products with a much greater confidence in your product focus and your subscribers’ willingness to buy.

Now that you know the typical stages bloggers go through on their affiliate marketing journey and figured out where you belong, let’s dig into how you find the best products to promote.

  How to Decide Which Products to Promote

You can represent many different types of products and services as an affiliate.

Some are more profitable than others, but usually most of your affiliate income will come from one or two “ringers” — core products that just about everyone in your audience needs and which also pay a good commission.

As you progress, you can add complementary products to round out your offerings and help your audience in new ways, but identifying your core earners is an essential first step.

We highly recommend that you start with digital products, services and courses for this simple reason:

They usually have greater earning potential.

Digital products generally pay higher commissions than physical products because there is much less overhead to produce and distribute them.

They also have the advantage that the merchant is often an individual rather than a company, so you can build a personal relationship with them that will increase your status as a blogger and future success as an affiliate.

That said, physical products can be a good option for certain niches, but we’ll focus on digital products for the most part (although we revisit physical products below).

So what’s a potential ringer?

Your best bets are mid-priced ($200–$2,000) courses or services that could potentially benefit almost all of your readers at some point in their journey.

Once you start generating steady affiliate income, you can offer other similar products, hosted services or ebooks that allow you to help more people (or help everyone more thoroughly).

Let’s look into the product options for bloggers.

Option #1: Digital Downloads

Digital downloads are online resources that your readers can access instantly, without having to wait for a package to come in the mail (as is true for physical products).

They could be audio or video files, PDFs, ebooks or even links to webpages where the content lives online.

Examples:

Books or ebooks — Books that are either self-hosted on your merchant’s website or downloaded from Amazon, iBooks or other online sellers  

Software — Downloadable programs, games, apps, plugins and cloud services

Mobile applications — Some of the hundreds of apps that are available through the iTunes Affiliate Program and other mobile app affiliate networks  

Music, movies, TV shows, and more — Media offered through Amazon as well as the iTunes Affiliate Program and others

Advantages

Digital downloads are an easy way to get started and help your audience with pressing problems.

There are no overhead costs of production, shipping or storage.

Your buyer can access and begin benefiting from their digital product immediately.

Disadvantages

Many ebook, software or other download products are relatively inexpensive. You’d have to sell a lot of them to make any significant money.

Our recommendation?

Do it! But expect higher earnings from other options on this list.

Option #2: Online, Hosted and Professional Services

When it comes to selling services as an affiliate, it’s important to concentrate on those which will be accessible to your entire audience no matter where they’re located (as opposed to service providers who serve local customers only).

In other words, don’t limit your earning potential by geography.

Your best bet is to represent online, hosted or professional service providers/influencers you’ve worked with in the past and have full confidence in.

Examples of professional services:

Designers (99 Designs, Zazzle, Designmodo)  

Media or creative businesses (Media Content Advantage, John Melley Voice Overs & Production, Music Radio Creative)

Marketing services (Sprout Social, Hootsuite)  

Masterminds and membership sites (Serious Bloggers Only, Freelance Writer’s Den, Digital Marketer)

Research or consulting services (Questia, Touchstone Research Store, Snow Consulting)

Accounting, finance, or legal advice (as permitted by law) (Find Legal Forms, Motif Investing, Greatland)  

Niche specialties – pop culture, travel, tourism, nightlife, crafts/artisans (Pet Care Supplies, zChocolat, Silvercar)

Examples of online/hosted services:

Website platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Lead generation services (Thrive, Leadpages)

Email service providers (AWeber, Constant Contact)  

Website services (e.g., hosting, anti-spam, security, etc.)

Media (Wistia, Vimeo, Telestream, various WordPress plugins)

Course platforms (Zippy Courses, Ruzuku, Teachable)  

Virtual Assistant or customer service support (Zendesk Partners program, VA Affiliates, TempsASAP)

IT support, cloud-based storage, backup, security or other technical services based on monthly subscriptions

Advantages

It’s easy to become a service affiliate, and it helps your audience manage important tasks that require specific expertise.

There’s likely a higher earning potential than from digital downloads because services are usually offered at a higher price point.

Many hosted services will offer a recurring commission – meaning you’ll get paid for as long as the customers you refer continue to use the service.

Disadvantages

Some of your favorite professional service providers (ones you have experience with) might not have affiliate programs in place.

Our recommendation?

Do it! Especially if you can find an excellent service provider who can potentially help nearly everyone in your audience at one time or another and who can be a strong, steady income generator.

Option #3: Online Courses

Online courses are an important subset of digital products, especially for bloggers, and the market is huge. They’re so popular that they deserve their own category on this list.

Online courses exist on just about any topic you can think of. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, with higher-priced programs promising big results for students.

Examples:

My Garden School

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting  

Suze Orman’s Personal Finance Online Course

Advantages

Courses are one of the best ways to help your audience achieve a goal that’s important to them or move past a roadblock that’s been keeping them stuck. You can deliver incredible value with little effort on your part.

Courses are often offered at a higher price point than other digital products, so your earning potential is higher.

Courses are popular. It should be easy to find other influencers in your niche whose courses can help your readers.

Disadvantages

You’ll have to spend time working through and reviewing courses to make sure that they deliver on their promises (to protect your reputation).

Our recommendation?

Do it! Help your readers in a big way, and earn big at the same time.

Option #4: Physical Products

If you decide to represent physical products on your blog, your best bet is to choose high-quality, distinctive products that that will appeal strongly to your specific audience.

Avoid commodity products that your readers can buy anywhere — the commissions are so small you won’t make worthwhile money unless you can drive tremendous traffic to your site.

Commissions on physical products are usually fairly low because of the overhead of production costs, storage costs, shipping, etc. So unless you are planning to build a large review or shopping site, physical products will probably be a very small portion of your blogging affiliate income.

However, if you have a favorite tool of your trade, a must-have gadget that will make your readers’ lives easier, or a high-quality recommendation that you’re sure people will be thrilled with, go ahead and offer it.

You’ll build goodwill even if you don’t make a lot of money.

Examples:

Niche shopping — Product Review Mom (parenting), Compost Mania (gardening), Roemer’s Workshop (hobbies), Pinch of Yum (food)

Tech or gadgets — Engadget, Gizmodo, Craziest Gadgets  

Cool stuff — This Is Why I’m Broke

Advantages

Once you have an established blog, companies may approach you and offer you free product in exchange for a review. (You should always disclose this, as it could be seen as a conflict of interest.)

If you can afford to purchase products on your own in order to test them, you’ll be seen as a truly objective reviewer.

Disadvantages

Commissions on physical products are usually a lot lower because of the overhead, so you’ll have to sell a whole lot more product to make a decent income.

Buying products so you can review them before promoting them can be expensive.

Our recommendation?

Offer physical products only under certain circumstances:

They’re directly related to your blog topic and something your audience absolutely needs.

They’re not commodities. Specialized and distinctive products reflect better on you, boosting your reputation and credibility.

Products might be a good fit for how-to, hobby, fitness, cooking, fashion, food blogs and similar niches.

You should now have plenty of ideas for types of products you can represent.

Here’s how to go about finding the best options for you.

  7 Simple Steps to Affiliate Marketing Success

Follow these seven steps and you’ll be well on your way to building your own affiliate marketing machine, even if you’re just starting out.

Step 1: Identify the Desirable End Goal

The key to finding products that your audience wants to buy is knowing the goals they hope to achieve and the obstacles that are holding them back.

Once you understand your audience’s aims and what’s keeping them from achieving them, you can find products that help them get where they want to go.

Don’t worry — you don’t have to be a mind reader. You just have to know how to listen to what your audience is already telling you.

The easiest and best thing to do is to tap your current readers for details, but even if your list is small, you still have lots of options.

Let’s see how to discover your audience goals and roadblocks.

1. Mine Your Readers’ Emails and Blog Post Comments

Gather up and read through feedback you’ve already received from your readers through email or comments on your blog.

2. Go Ahead and Ask Them by Email

Send your readers an email and ask them what their biggest frustration or obstacle is right now, and how you can best help them.

3. Look For Clues Left in Public Places

Read the discussions in online forums in your niche as well as on sites like Quora. Amazon book reviews on your topic are also enlightening.

Whatever source you use, look for statements that start with phrases like:

“I wish…”

“I’d love to…”

“Someday I’d like…”

“I’m frustrated by…”

“I can’t seem to get past (barrier or challenge)…”

“I hate it when…”

Collect your responses into a spreadsheet or document and look for commonalities.

Then choose a much-wanted accomplishment that you know your readers can achieve if they complete certain steps.

Examples:

Gardeners — Grow a year-round indoor herb garden

Personal finance — Build an emergency fund

Career — Get your next promotion

Step 2: List the Steps Needed to Reach the Goal

Once you’ve found a desirable end goal, list out all the steps that your readers need to take to get there from where they are now.

You’ll find your audience’s objectives, stumbling blocks and challenges in these steps. Once you know these, you’ll be able to look for products to help your readers along their way.

Let’s use our example of the indoor herb garden.

The steps your readers need to take probably look something like this:

Find sunny or well-lighted spots in your home

Get the right kind of pots with drainage

Use a good potting soil

Choose plants that will thrive indoors

Find a good fertilizer

Transplant properly

Water and humidify correctly

Sound about right? Good.

Now you can start identifying your audience’s needs.

Step 3: Determine What They Need to Get Ahead

Look at each of the steps you’ve outlined and figure out what types of tools or resources your readers need to accomplish each step.

They might need physical products such as fertilizer, or they may need software, services or knowledge that they can get from a course or book.

Any tools or resources that are either essential to success or dramatically increase its chances (or provide greater ease or speed) are good candidates for affiliate sales.

Here are some examples for specific groups:

Gardeners — pots, tools, fertilizer, potting soil, reference books, a course including how-to videos

Emergency fund builders — a separate bank account, places to sell their old stuff, tips for making money on the side, financial planning services, an ebook on saving money on major purchases, a course on changing money habits

Job seekers — a book on salary negotiation, resume rewriting services, a course on professional networking using LinkedIn

Here are some recommendations for each of the main blogging niches to help you generate ideas of your own:

Business and Entrepreneurship — Productivity apps, business growth courses, masterminds, books and ebooks

Career — Resume and cover letter services, aptitude or personality assessments, courses and ebooks on networking and negotiation, mastermind and networking group memberships

Creative Endeavors — Media services, website and online services, marketing courses, virtual assistant services

Freelancing — Writing and marketing courses and memberships, ebooks, training programs

Gadgets and Technology — Physical products, apps, software, games

Marketing — Lead generation tools, CRM services, email services, website services

News, Culture, and Entertainment — Movie streaming apps and memberships, restaurant/food review apps, music subscriptions, toys, games, hobbies

Parenting — Physical products, courses, support groups, memberships to discount sites

Personal Finance — Budgeting or accounting software or apps, courses, membership sites, newsletter subscriptions

Self-Improvement — Books and ebooks, courses, tracking apps, coaching services, masterminds

Social Media and Blogging — Hosting services, WordPress themes, email service providers, web services, media services

Using these examples as a guide, brainstorm a list of all the products that you think would help your audience the most.

We’ll narrow down your list in the next step.

Step 4: Choose a Product to Promote as an Affiliate

As an ethical blogger, you’ll always be constrained in the products you choose to represent in one of two ways:

Either you’re limited by your experience to products that you’ve used and liked, that have affiliate programs and that are a good fit for your audience, or

You’re constrained by the products you can get access to in order to evaluate them, either by buying them outright or getting a free sample or trial.

No matter which approach you take, expect to have to invest time and money into researching the best products for your audience.

Here are your three options, listed in order of preference (with your best option listed first).

Option #1: Promote Products You Already Know and Love

This is probably the most common way bloggers get started with affiliate sales.

You become an affiliate for something that you’ve used yourself, had a good experience with, thoroughly tested and feel good recommending. You should be fairly confident that others will get the same results you did (or better), as long as they do the work.

If you’ve found great success from a course, mastermind, or ebook that your readers could also benefit from, it only makes sense for you to spread the word and share your results.

Do an inventory of the products, services and courses you already have experience with. You might have a list of a dozen or more.

Which of these would you be thrilled to promote? Cross out any that don’t fit the bill.

Now simply check to see if the merchant has an affiliate program (some won’t but you’ll probably be surprised at how many do).

Do a Google search for “affiliate program” + [product name], or simply email the merchant and ask.

Then run your remaining options through this Good Affiliate Product checklist:

You’ve previewed the product so you know its quality (given, in this case).

They have a solid refund policy that you trust they’ll honor.

They provide good customer support (and you’ve tested it).

You have a good story to share about your experience with the product.

The offer fits your audience’s needs and won’t abuse the trust you’ve built with them.

The products that tick all the checkboxes are your best opportunities for affiliate income. As time goes on, add as many of these products to your mix as you like.

You’ve found your first product! Apply using the merchant’s process and start promoting.

If you’re just dipping your toe in the water of affiliate marketing, this first option may be enough to get you started.

However, most bloggers will want to try one or both of the next two options, too.

(And you’ll have to explore these options if you don’t have an existing product you love that is also a great match for your audience and offers an affiliate program.)

Option #2: Partner with Influencers to Represent Their Products

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways for you to build relationships with the authorities in your niche is to promote their products to your audience.

So if you don’t have any product, course or service in mind already, try this approach next.

Start by asking for recommendations from people you trust. Spy on your favorite influencers’ sites to see what they have to offer. Check each product’s social proof and testimonials and see if they pass the Good Affiliate Product checklist above.

Bloggers who have affiliate programs will often have an application process (sometimes formal, sometimes not) that you can go through to be approved.

Usually, you’ll need to show that:

You have a decent-sized email list.

You’re serious about producing content on a regular basis.

There’s a good fit between your audience and the influencer’s audience.

If you have all of these things in place, you can approach the influencer and simply ask. Sometimes — especially if they already know you — they’ll even approach you first and offer.

Also, it helps if you’ve been building a relationship with the influencer prior to asking them to become an affiliate.

If you want to work with top influencers doing huge, Jeff Walker-style launches, you might need to invest months or years in building those relationships.

Note: Requesting an interview is a great way to start getting to know an influencer. After that, just keep nurturing your relationship and building your list. You will probably need 5,000-10,000 subscribers to start gaining attention from the biggest authorities.

Good product candidates (ones that could become core offerings) will fill a vital need for your audience:

They’ll move them past some step that they’re struggling with.

They’ll provide assistance that your readers ask you for all the time in their emails and comments, but that you don’t (or can’t) yet provide yourself.

They’ll be tools or resources that are essential to completing the steps they need to take to succeed.

If the influencer is serious about building affiliate relationships, they may have program information on their website and/or they may have already mentioned the opportunity in emails to you.

If not, just ask!

Let them know that you’re familiar with their work and whether you’ve had positive experiences with their other products.

Here’s how to approach an influencer and get the scoop:

Subject: Possible affiliate relationship?

Hi [First Name],

I’m wondering, do you have an affiliate program for [course name, ebook, your services]?

I have a blog at [your blog] helping [audience] with [mission]. I’ve got [X number] email subscribers and good engagement from my list.

I’ve [followed your blog/read your book/taken your related course/used your related service] and [say a little about the results you’ve achieved]. It seems that [prospective affiliate product] could also be a good fit for my audience.

Is there any way I can review [product] to be sure?

Let me know. It would be great to be able to help my readers [achieve desirable result] with [product name].

Best,

[Your Name]

If you don’t already know any influencers in your niche offering what you’re looking for, try a Google search for

“affiliate” + [product] or [topic] or [company]

For example, a search for “affiliate build emergency fund” shows these results:

Out of this list, the Busy Budgeter looks promising.

You could check their site to see whose products they are promoting, and look into whether it would be right for your readers, too.

If you find some excellent products using these first two options and want to stop here, you’re all set.

However, if you want to keep exploring opportunities (now or in the future), go ahead and move on to Option #3.

Option #3: Find Products via an Affiliate Network

If you don’t have any direct experience with or knowledge of products in your niche that could help your readers, you can often find good affiliate products on affiliate networks.

But be aware — this approach requires that you invest time into research and money into purchasing products to try out, more so than the first two options.

That’s because there’s less trust and prior knowledge involved from the outset. You have to do your due diligence to protect your reputation and the credibility you’ve built with your readers.

When you work through a network, you typically won’t know the merchant ahead of time and usually won’t build a relationship with them (your business relationship is with the network).

Two of the most popular and reliable affiliate networks are Clickbank and Amazon Associates.

As one of the biggest affiliate networks, Clickbank represents physical products as well as digital downloads. Be sure to research and test potential affiliate products the best you can before signing on. There’s a lot of junk on Clickbank, but there are high quality products as well.

Buy products that look promising and test them. Most aren’t very expensive.

As usual, review all potential products through the Good Affiliate Potential checklist.

Here are a some specific tips for finding affiliate products on Clickbank:

Review the steps your readers must take and decide what major category your solutions will fall under — for example, business, computers, health and fitness, etc.

Look for a gravity score of 30 or more, because these products have a proven track record of selling well for a number of different affiliates. Products, especially new products, with gravity scores under 30 may work but are more risky. Gravity scores of greater than 100 mean the product’s popular. You could have competition, but don’t worry about that. The important thing is that there’s lots of demand.

Look for commissions of 65% or greater, or at least $18 per sale.

The product’s description will specify if they offer a $1 trial (not all will).

Check out each product’s return policy as well.

[If you’d like more information specifically on Clickbank, check out this comprehensive guide from Authority Hacker.]

Here are some tips for finding affiliate products on Amazon:

You can find digital downloads, including books, courses and more, in the Amazon Associates affiliate program.

Look for at least 20+ reviews. Read the reviews carefully.

Again, if you decide to promote physical products, try to find high-quality, high-value, specialized or unique products that your audience will appreciate — mediocre or poor-quality products will reflect badly on you.

You can review and vet products on your blog for quality and value, saving your readers time and headaches. You may even be able to claim a tax write-off for the expense of any purchase.

Aside from Clickbank and Amazon, there are many good networks to find physical goods:

Many online retailers have affiliate programs, including Target and Walmart. Your best bet is to check with your favorite retailers.

Commission Junction has a wide range of products from mostly quality sellers.  

Once you find a product or two that are likely to be great offers, you need to apply and get approval.

Step 5: Get Yourself Set Up as an Affiliate

Whether you work directly with a merchant or through a network, you’ll have to apply, be approved and provide certain information so that you can be paid.

At a minimum you’ll need to provide:

Your personal/business contact information for tax and reporting purposes

Your bank account where commissions will be sent

In turn, the merchant must provide you with:

An affiliate link. Whenever you post about the product, you’ll use this trackable link. It will have a long tag at the end of each link that includes your affiliate ID.

Here’s what some typical affiliate links look like.

Example link that directs to the merchant’s home page

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199

Example link to another page on the merchant’s site

https://merchantsite.com/dap/a/?a=1199&p=merchantsite.com/page.html

You’ll also usually get some tips and useful assets for marketing the product (often found in a welcome guide or on the affiliate reporting site).

These could include:

An affiliate guide as well as instructions on how to use the platform and summary of policies such as payment

Marketing tools like banners and sidebar graphics

Sample email/webpage swipe copy

Ongoing communications from the merchant about promotions, new products, etc.

If you use a network like Amazon, you’ll get your own link for each of the specific products you promote.

Be sure to check your specific network’s help or support pages for more information.

Tip: If your audience is global (which many bloggers’ are), you might want to check out geniuslink for tracking overseas sales through Amazon, iTunes and Microsoft Store.

Step 6: Start Promoting Your Chosen Affiliate Products

Few things destroy a good relationship with your audience as quickly as too many pushy sales messages. The last thing you want is for readers to think you care more about squeezing every last penny out of them than you do about helping them succeed.

So make sure to balance out your offers with lots of valuable non-promotional content. Every once in a while (say, every one in four emails) you can include a specific call to action to ask your readers to buy a product.

Remember, free content builds a reservoir of goodwill with your readers. Keep filling that well by giving and people will be much more open to sales-related emails when you send them.

In addition to emailing your list, you’ll also cross-promote your offers in many different ways, at different times and through different media.

Many of these promotional efforts will be “soft sells” — links, reviews, resource pages or informational posts added specifically to gently guide your readers toward products that they may need.

Start off by collecting all the social proof that you can:

Quotes from readers on their successes using the affiliate products

Testimonials from others (i.e., not your readers) who’ve enjoyed success

Your own results using the product

Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income recommends becoming an authoritative, credible source of information on the products that you sell.

But what does that mean exactly?

Well, people are often a little skeptical of the information they find about a product on the merchant’s own site, assuming it’ll always paint a glowing picture. This means you have an opportunity for your blog to become the go-to destination for more even-handed information about the product, describing its positive and negative points.

Let’s see your options for promoting your affiliate products.

Option #1: Add Affiliate Links in Key Places on Your Blog

Don’t let your biggest asset go to waste. Make the most of your website’s real estate by using these tried-and-true methods to get your readers’ attention:

Use a Resource page — Resource pages can be very effective when you drive traffic to them from posts, guest posts or other promotional efforts.

Promote your products in a sidebar on your blog — Sidebars are less effective than they used to be, but using one may still be worthwhile.

Use Hellobar or a popup or exit gate — These marketing tools (often WordPress plugins) can be very effective.

Here’s an example of ProBlogger’s resource page:

Option #2: Create and Promote Custom Content

Custom content strategies will be the backbone of your affiliate promotional efforts.

Use as many of the following different strategies as make sense for your blog and audience.

Note: All of these strategies assume that you are already sending traffic to the latest content you’re creating by emailing your list on a regular basis (at least two to four times per month) to let them know what’s new.

A) Write Reviews

You can write detailed reviews of products, courses, books or software products you promote as an affiliate.

Your reviews can focus on a single product or compare competing products side-by-side.

The second approach arguably builds more trust and gives you the opportunity to promote multiple products at the same time, giving your readers the information they need to choose between them.

B) Write Definitive Content on a Related Topic

You can write a definitive, comprehensive post on your site to educate your readers and “soft sell” your products.

For instance, you could write an ultimate guide to setting up a WordPress blog and include your affiliate links to your favorite hosting providers.

Whatever the topic, make sure that it’s evergreen content — information that’s likely to be useful and valuable for years to come.

You can create blog posts, videos, infographics or anything similar — but whatever you do, it should not be a sales page.

Finally, your content must be excellent — make sure it’s an authoritative list post, an epic how-to post, an ultimate guide or some otherwise epic content.

C) Write Guest Posts to Promote Your Definitive Content

The advantage with writing content for someone else’s blog is that you get to tap into their (hopefully large) audience.

When looking for potential targets, make sure that the host blog’s readers are likely to be interested in your post’s topic and looking for solutions to problems your affiliate products can solve.

Also, do your research to check that the host blog gets a fair number of comments and/or social media shares and that they credit and link to guest authors.

Most blogs won’t allow the author to include their own affiliate links (but it’s worth checking). The next best thing is to link to the definitive content on your own blog, either naturally within the body of your post or in your author’s bio.

D) Conduct Interviews

You can interview people who’ve had great success using the product so that your audience can hear their stories — think of it as a kind of audio testimonial.

If the merchant is an individual rather than a company, you can also invite them to chat about how their product works and why your readers will find it useful.

E) Create Valuable Bonus Content

Assuming it’s allowed by your affiliate agreement (sometimes it’s not), you can create bonus content, exclusive to your readers, that helps people get even more value from the affiliate product.

People love bonuses! You can create many types of bonuses fairly quickly and easily while still giving your readers excellent value.

By the way, this is a fantastic way to differentiate yourself from other bloggers representing the same products.

Here are some example bonuses you could offer:

Step-by-step checklists

Quick-start guides

Video overviews or demos

Complementary or discounted services (e.g., coaching calls)

Option #3: Craft Promotional Emails for Your Subscribers

Your email list is your biggest asset when it comes to driving traffic to your offers.

Assuming you’re already emailing your list on a regular basis — for example, every Tuesday, every two weeks, etc. — you can also run occasional promotions where you email your readers more frequently.

If your mailing list software allows it, you can segment interested readers onto a separate interest list, so that only people who raise their hands will receive your free informational and promotional emails.

But even if you can’t segment your list, you’ll want to provide lots of valuable content and build anticipation for your product offers.

Here are some quick ideas:

Promote your offers indirectly by sending emails linking to your free content (blog posts, reviews, etc.).

Offer occasional special deals exclusive to your readers (discounts, bonuses, etc.).

Run “social proof” giveaways — ask your readers to share their experience with your process or product in return for a chance to win.

If you’re promoting a low-priced product like an ebook, digital download or hosted service on an ongoing basis, you might do something as simple as using a P.S. or signature link in your regular emails, with occasional emailed links to custom content.

For courses, masterminds, services or higher-earning products, you might do something closer to an official launch once per year with softer launches once per quarter.

And of course, always follow your merchants’ lead. If they run major launches twice a year, for example, you can participate in those and take advantage of the natural momentum these launches often create.

You may have a different promotion plan for each product.

Example Email Sequence

Custom email sequences are especially effective for your core products.

You’ll usually send out a series of five to seven emails spread out over a timeframe spanning a week or two.

These can be run in parallel with your normal blog emails or you can “pause” your regular content for the duration of the sequence.

A sample seven-email series might look like this:

A welcome email (if they’ve joined a new interest list) or a content-rich email talking about the problem the product solves

More helpful content (no selling)

First mention of the product, positioning it in relation to the problem, with a link to a sales page

More free content with advice that’s valuable regardless of whether the reader buys the product, also including another link to the product

A “bigger sell” to incentivise the reader to buy using scarcity (e.g., “Only 50 places available”) or time urgency (e.g., “This deal ends in 48 hours”) *

Additional helpful information, testimonials and/or social proof, and a reminder that time is running out

An eleventh-hour last call to let readers know that the offer is closing soon

* Warning: Only use scarcity or urgency tactics if they are genuine and you intend to stick to the limits or deadlines. Telling readers a deal ends for good at midnight, then offering it again the following week, is a surefire way to lose their trust.

The important thing here is to try different approaches for each product, see what your audience responds to best, and don’t give up!

Option #4: Run Exclusive Live Events

Finally, you can run live events to introduce your audience to your products.

Webinars are the most popular way to do this, and you can host them on your own or as a joint venture with the merchant. (Usually, though, merchants will only participate if you can attract a certain number of attendees.)

If there’s already strong interest from your readers in a particular product, you can make it the focus of your webinar, giving attendees one of the following:

An interactive walk-through showing how you use the product, including tips and tricks you’ve learned along the way

A demonstration of specific features of particular interest to your readers

A personal case study of the results you achieved using the product

More typically, the webinar will focus on a particular outcome that the audience wants to achieve and then position the product as a way to achieve those results more easily or quickly.

A common way to separate webinar content from product content is using the webinar to explain what you need to do to achieve a certain goal, and leaving the product to dive into (or facilitate) the how.

Importantly, the webinar should be valuable even to people who don’t end up buying the product.

To give an example, if you were promoting a software product that automates blogger outreach, your webinar could talk about high-level strategies for outreach that attendees could implement manually, then position the product as a time-saver that lets you focus on the relationship-building instead of the initial outreach.

Tip: to get the most from a live event, remember to publish and promote your webinar replays for people who weren’t able to attend first time around.

Don’t Forget to Track Everything to Discover What’s Working Best

Whichever options you choose for promoting your affiliate products, you’ll want to know which are producing the best results.

Pat Flynn recommends Pretty Link for this. You can create clean, easy-to-use-and-remember links plus get analytics so you can see exactly where people are coming from and what strategies are working best for you.

Most importantly of all, be patient. Don’t expect to get any of this right the first time out. Keep building a strong foundation of content and continually test and try new things.

Step 7: Comply with Legal Requirements (and Best Practices)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you let people know you’ll earn a commission.

But even if it isn’t required by law where you’re located, we recommend it. It’s just good business.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent. People will appreciate your honesty and want to support you to repay you for making their lives better.

So wherever you share an affiliate link, whether it’s in blog posts, web pages, or emails, let your readers know that you stand to earn a small commission if they buy through you — and if they choose not to use your link, no worries.

Assure them that you wouldn’t recommend any products if you hadn’t used them yourself or were confident they could help them.

It’s also a good idea to create an Affiliate Disclaimer page on your website.

Here’s an example of our own disclaimer page at Smart Blogger:

We’re also clear on how those affiliate links might look within blog posts.

And finally, thank people before and after for using your links.

  How to Start Affiliate Marketing

That dream you’ve had of making money while you sleep isn’t just a silly fantasy.

It’s a completely achievable reality.

Sure, it’s not as easy as pushing a magic button, but with a little knowledge and persistence you can definitely do it.

Once you’ve gained a respectable following, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging.

And the best news is that it’s so easy to get started. All the steps are spelled out in this post.

Simply identify the one big thing everyone in your audience needs to reach their goals and start there.

Choose a great digital product that you believe in and share it. Tell the story of your successes.

Provide lots of valuable content that helps and educates your readers, and take care not to be too salesy.

Be honest and transparent. Nurture the trust that readers place in you.

And finally, be patient.

All your efforts will pay you back with that sweet “cha-ching” of overnight deposits into your bank account.

About the Author: Leanne Regalla is a content writer and strategist for membership-based businesses at Writing That Resonates. Quickly avoid the common mistakes that bore your readers and drive potential customers away with her Compelling Business Writing Checklist.

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