Affiliate marketing is the promotion of someone else’s product or service in return for compensation, usually a percentage of the sales. Affiliate sales bring many people six-figure incomes while others earn nil. There are strategic differences in their approach. Many new bloggers are immediately seduced by the promise of big profits through affiliate sales and do not do the necessary research to make it successful. Just as with SEO and every other money-making strategy on the internet, study and effort trump enthusiasm every time. Whether you are just getting started with affiliate sales or you have been in the game and struggling for a bit, there are some fundamental basics that you can apply to be successful. Everyone and their grandmother will likely give you the opportunity to become an affiliate but not so many will help you do it effectively. Since success breeds profit, you’ll enjoy these powerful tips to help you increase your affiliate sales.

Build Trust

People buy from people they trust, its that easy. You can’t just plaster whatever material all over your pages to have a place to put your affiliate links. It is inherently important that you publish valuable content that your audience finds useful in their everyday lives. Establishing your site as an authority in your niche goes a long way toward building trust with an audience. Soften some of those pain points by solving a problem or being humorous. However you do it, your content must be valuable, or your site won’t get any ratings, anyway. Publish consistently relevant, useful content, and you will build trust with your audience. Build trust and your affiliate sales will skyrocket.

Choose Relevant Products

This tip seems obvious, but it seems that many bloggers fail to see it. You must choose to promote products that are relevant to your niche and your site. If you run a website selling fishing supplies to men, then there is no sense in advertising cosmetics. The ads will only take up space on your site and confuse your audience. Besides, a confused audience cannot fully trust your material which goes back to the first point. The best way to be successful with affiliate sales is to promote products that matter to your audience. If you aren’t sure, then do some research and ensure that you have data to back up your choice. Otherwise, you’re just wasting valuable real-estate on your site that could be earning you revenue.

Put Your Website Performance in Overdrive

People are busy and sometimes just totally impatient. Nothing turns a visitor off faster than just waiting, and waiting, and watching that little blue circle in the middle of a white page. Make sure that you are using a high-quality content management system where your pages load fast. You’ll also want to ensure that they display well across all screen types. Mobile-friendly business is not just growing; it has pretty much taken over. That should be obvious with the move to mobile-first indexing. You want your pages to load fast across all screen types, and they must be mobile friendly. Check your graphics, the size of images and anything else that can influence page speed. Make improvements where necessary.

Utilise the Power of Product Reviews

Products with positive reviews consistently sell as much as thirty times those without reviews. That is one good reason to utilise the power of reviews, but you also want to protect your credibility. You don’t want to promote a product of inferior quality because it can damage your reputation in the industry. Even if a product is initially performing well, you want to monitor reviews. All companies go through changes, so it is a good idea to check product reviews periodically to see what the audience is saying. Besides, if the audience isn’t happy with a product and it is consistently getting poor reviews, it won’t sell. It can also send your reputation down the tubes which can cripple your ability to promote anything at all.

Protect Your Audience and Yourself

First, it is essential to have a privacy policy in place to cover all the legal stuff. That is just common sense when you are selling anything. Second, you want to address anything you see as a negative up front and explain your reasoning. Some may disagree, and others may determine the risk is minimal, but they will all appreciate your candour. People value this kind of transparency, and they will reward you for it with repeated traffic. You also need to make sure that you are following the terms and conditions of your affiliate network. If you’re not, you can get your site banned, sacrifice payment and worse. It is best to err on the side of caution with regards to these types of things.

Use a Subscribe Box to Build Out a Recurring Client List

You may be surprised at how many people overlook this strategy. You can successfully build and utilise an email marketing list with affiliate sales. Email marketing continues to be one of the most potent mediums providing a very high return on investment, so you should include a subscribe box on every page. There is nothing wrong with utilising a call-to-action and asking audience members to complete it if you don’t go overboard. Many just getting started in affiliate sales never think to integrate email marketing for massive sales, but it is a compelling strategy that can put you in the winner’s circle.

Don’t Make it Look Like Affiliate Marketing is All You Do

Affiliate marketing should be secondary to providing valuable, relevant content. The second that it isn’t is when your site starts going downhill. Yes, affiliate marketing can bring in some eyebrow-raising profits if appropriately approached. As soon as it becomes the primary goal of your website, it will become unsuccessful. People come to your site to find information so don’t utilise a hard sell. It’s just a turn-off that undermines your authority in the industry or your specific niche. Besides that, it just isn’t useful. There are numerous algorithms built around ensuring search results only include high-quality content. Your website won’t be able to compete if you don’t base it on providing relevant, quality content to the audience.

Optimise Your Site

It’s no secret that affiliate sales require traffic. Even if your site has targeted traffic, a robust optimisation strategy can increase it. Strategic, well-balanced SEO efforts will improve your rankings and therefore increase traffic on your site. Do your keyword research, engage with your audience and make sure you are using a host that can provide a quick page load. You want your pages to load fast across all screen types and include one call-to-action. If you are exercising good taste and SEO business practices, then you will also increase your affiliate sales.

Analyse, Analyse, Analyse

Analysing the metrics should be something you’re used to if you have a website. It is no less critical when it comes to affiliate marketing. The metrics can show you which ads work and which ones don’t, in addition to which products your audience values most. There are many tools which can make this task a little easier. Analysing data should be a regular part of your routine if you expect to be successful. Look at the metrics and don’t second guess the data.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to make money online. However, all too often, marketers get caught up in the idea of instant, overnight success. If anything is proven, there rarely is an overnight millionaire. However, with these supercharged and proven ways to boost your affiliate sales, you can surely replace your daily 9-to-5 job within a year. One year to completely change your life is nothing to scoff at. So, make sure you read through all of these methods and make sure that you don’t leave a single one out.