Hi guys. Today I'd like to share a guest post from my good friend, Susanne Myers.

She's a smart cookie and I'll be having her on my Online Business Success Podcast soon, so be sure to listen to what she says. 🙂

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Tools That Really Help You Make Money With An Affiliate Program

 

Hi there, my name is Susanne Myers. I make a very nice living online and a large portion of that income comes through affiliate programs. Today I’ll share a few of my favorite tools that I like to see an affiliate program provide me with. I’ll also give you some tips on how to tweak and use those tools for maximum results. Let’s get started.

Graphics
They are always the first thing affiliates look for. Sure they are nice and easy to add to your site, but don’t expect a lot of sales from them, unless you use them right. Instead of just slapping them in the sidebar of my blog, I like to pick an affiliate product that pertains to the particular post or article I’m writing and then include it right there in the middle of the content.

Here’s a good example of just that.
Why Register A Domain Name to Promote an Affiliate Product

This post is about using a domain name to promote an affiliate product and I’m recommending my favorite domain name registrar right in the post. Note how it ads both visual appeal and provides some value to the reader. She reads my posts, likes the idea and is ready to register a new domain. One click on the graphic and she’s ready to get started.

Articles
I have a lot of content sites and getting new articles and posts added on a regular basis is a lot of work. I take all the help I can get and the articles provided by good affiliate programs are a great way to do that. Provided the information in the article is relevant and good, articles can convert readers into buyers.

I prefer being able to edit articles (changing the title, slightly rewriting the first paragraph, and improving the call to action in the article). Not all affiliate programs will allow you to rewrite the articles they provide you with, but it never hurts to ask. At the very least, come up with your own title and introduction for your page or blog post and then add the article.

With many articles, especially if you find them through an article directory, you’ll see only one little link in the resource box. That just doesn’t cut it. Glance through the article and see if you can turn some of the phrases throughout the article into anchor text for your affiliate link. At the very least, work a link into your introduction of the article.

Here’s an example of me doing all of this with an article on Article Marketing Tips by Jeff Herring. Since I found his article on Ezinearticles.com, I asked permission if I could use my affiliate link in his author resource box.

Brandable Reports
I love using brandable reports as an affiliate. By the way a brandable report is a short pdf on a particular topic that includes some offers and links to a product. What makes it brandable is that the product owner allows you to change the links in the report to your affiliate links.

These reports are a great because they are often passed around from person to person and can create quite a bit of traffic (through your affiliate link of course). Make sure the report prominently states that it can be passed around and shared, if not ask if it’s ok for you to add this text yourself.

I like reports that allow me to promote more than one program at a time. Often two or more people work on putting a report together and allow you to brand it with all their affiliate links. It’s a win-win situation. I’m often not even aware of the second (or third) affiliate program and will sign up and start promoting it which helps the owners of those sites, and my biggest advantage is that I can now potentially sell two or three things instead of just one.

I also like to ask for permission to include my own name and website link into the report as well.

Note from Nik: You can find bunches of these types of reports at Brandable Reports, Videos, Audios

Text Ads
Text ads are a great starting point when you’re working a recommendation for a product into an article, blog post or newsletter. But there just that, a starting point. You can almost always improve on the ads the affiliate programs provide you with and it helps to add a personal touch to them as well. If you’ve used the product (and I hope you did) and got results, share those. If there is a particular aspect of the product you liked or didn’t like, share that as well.

Reviews
Unfortunately not a lot of affiliate programs provide you with prewritten reviews for their products. But when they do, take advantage of them. As with all the other tools, use it as a jumping off point for your own product review.

I use them as a template to make sure I cover all the main aspects and benefits of the product I’m reviewing but adding a lot of my own experience with the product. It’ll make the review unique (which is good from a SEO perspective), but also makes it more effective because the readers sense that I put some thought into this and am giving them my honest opinion on the product. Don’t be afraid to point out the downfalls and shortcomings of the product. It’ll make you more believable. Then include how they can overcome those shortcomings.

Keyword Lists
Keyword lists are great. I use them as idea generators for my blog posts and articles that I write to promote a particular product. You can also easily expand keyword lists by plugging the individual keywords they provide you with into your favorite keyword research tool. Do your homework and look into each of the keywords they provide you with to find the gems that you want to rank for to create continuous traffic to your affiliate link.

Susanne Myers has been making a living online for the past three years and shares some of the tips and strategies she uses every day on her blog on all things Affiliate Marketing at AffiliateTreasureChest.com.

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Hey guys. I'd like to chip in with my thoughts on this, too, but it'll have to wait until next week. 🙂

 

However, if you have your own affiliate program and it does not have all of the items above for your affiliates, I would like to recommend you check out this link:

Get Easy Affiliate Tools Created Here

My friends will review your product and create affiliate tools for you that will pull in sales.

I'll be back with more soon!

Warmly,
Nicole