If you have tried to make money with affiliate marketing, you already know how difficult it can be as a new blogger.

Let me guess..

You added a bunch of affiliate ads to your website and now you are just waiting for the money to start rolling in.

Weeks pass, then four or five months go by, and you’ve made a total of $11.37 in affiliate income.  That’s a far cry from the thousands of dollars that other bloggers are claiming to make in just one month!

You’re doubting yourself and your blog, and doubting that you will ever be able to monetize your blog with affiliate marketing.

If you’re depending on those ads to bring in the money, then you’re right – you won’t be make any money with affiliate marketing.  It takes thousands of pageviews EVERY DAY, consistently, to successfully monetize a blog with ads.

So, get those ads off your website right now!  They are serving no good purpose and are actually having a NEGATIVE impact on your blog.  Those ads slow down your website and annoy your website visitors.

Let’s be real.

If you visit a new blog for the first time and it takes forever to load – what do you do?  You get annoyed with waiting and close out of the post, and probably never return.  That’s the reality…you’re losing valuable traffic that is interested in your content!

Without a TON of steady traffic, you can’t successfully monetize your blog with ads!

That doesn’t mean affiliate marketing isn’t a great way to monetize your blog.  In fact, in my very first month of blogging I made over $500 in affiliate income with:

• No ads on my website
• Less than 500 pageviews for the month
• Only 27 email subscribers

No, it wasn’t a fluke.

I’m just an excellent problem solver and believe that there is always a solution.  When I set a goal for myself, I find a way to make it happen.  Yes, there’s a lot of trial and error and tons of research to find the right system, but if I can do it, so can you.

5 Ways To Monetize Your Blog With Affiliate Marketing As A New Blogger

This post contains affiliate links.  If you use my links to make a purchase, I may receive a commission. You will never pay more for a product by using my links, but you will help to support the efforts of this blog, so Thanks!

As I mentioned earlier, get rid of those ads!  Right now.  You’re about to learn the most effective ways to monetize your blog with affiliate marketing.  You’ll even increase your traffic and email subscribers as you increase your income!

Getting Started

To make the most of your affiliate marketing efforts, you’ll need to know which products and services will be most appealing to your audience.

The Right Product

First, make a list of at least 20 products and/or services related to your niche that would benefit your readers.

If you’ve already tried some of them yourself and have a few favorites, be sure to include them on your list.

If you’re having trouble thinking of what type of products you can promote in your niche, download my free cheat-sheet of 50 affiliate marketing product ideas.

The Right Affiliate Program

In order to actually promote the products on your list and make money, you’ll need to establish an affiliate relationship with the merchants.

This can be a daunting task if you try to approach each merchant individually.

The easiest way to find merchants and get paid is by joining FlexOffers.  FlexOffers is the #1 affiliate network for bloggers and will give you access to over 12,000 merchants!

You’ll find all of the big merchants, as well as thousands of smaller businesses that would love to work with you.

Once you’re approved with FlexOffers, you can search the products on your list to find all of the merchants offering commissions for your marketing efforts.

Each month, you’ll receive one payment from FlexOffers that includes your earnings from all of the merchants you’re signed up with.  Finding merchants and tracking your commissions is easy with FlexOffers.

Related Post: New Blogger’s Guide To Affiliate Marketing

Once you’re set up with the merchants, you’re ready to start earning!

 

Affiliate Disclosure

Whenever you are using affiliate links, you are required to include an affiliate disclosure.

Here are the rules about disclosing affiliate links:

• You must notify your readers that you are using affiliate links
• You must tell them that you may be paid if they use your affiliate link
• Your reader should not have to click through to another page to read the disclosure
• Your disclosure must appear before any affiliate link is used

Too many bloggers make the mistake of telling readers “Click here to read the affiliate disclosure”.  Eventually, not disclosing properly could lead to penalties.

The disclosure statement earlier in this blog post is the correct way to be transparent with your readers.  Here it is again, so feel free to copy and paste it into your own blog posts.

“This post contains affiliate links.  If you use my links to make a purchase, I may receive a commission. You will never pay more for a product by using my links, but you will help to support the efforts of this blog, so Thanks!”

1. Related Products

Whenever you write a blog post, there’s always a relevant product or service that you can suggest to boost your affiliate income.

Nadalie Bardo from It’s All You Boo does a great job of sharing related products with her audience in her blog posts.  Check out my guest post on her blog, How To Start A Profitable Business That You Love, to see what I mean.

Her affiliate products are placed sparingly at the beginning and end of the post, and blend in nicely with the format of her post and her branding.  The products offered are appealing to her readers and make sense for her niche.

2. Round-Up Post

List posts are very popular in every niche, and creating a round-up post of your own is an effective way to increase your affiliate income.

Here are a few examples of round-up posts that will not only increase your traffic, but also your income:

• Top 10 Lipstick Shades For Redheads
• 10 Essential Oils That Reduce Anxiety
• 5 Tropical Getaways For The Perfect Honeymoon
• 5 Affordable Cameras For Travel Photographers

Make sure that your post gives a thorough description of each item on the list.  Don’t forget to give your opinion on each item.  Tell your readers what’s great about each item, but also share your insight on what could be improved.

Just check out my post 10 Books That Will Inspire You To Be True To Yourself, written on my other blog, Life of an Addict.  Bang.  10 affiliate products in one post, perfect for people in addiction recovery, which is my target audience there.

Once you’ve written your round-up post, just add your affiliate links to the text and images for a boost in your income.  You come off as helpful instead of salesy.

There’s an unlimited number of possibilities for creating round-up posts that your readers will love and appreciate.

3. Review Post

Your readers consider you the expert in your niche and they trust your judgement.  Your honest opinion about relevant products and services helps them with their own buying decisions.

Only write a review for products you’ve actually used, and report on both the good and the bad.  You never want to lose the trust of your audience, so don’t try to sell something that you wouldn’t buy yourself.

If you want to write a review for a product that you haven’t tried yet, this is where your affiliate relationships can provide more than just an opportunity for commissions.

Get Free Products

Reach out to the merchants offering the products that you want to review.  Tell them you are interested in trying their product and sharing your experience with your audience.

Most merchants will gladly provide free product in exchange for a blog post review with a link to their products.

Increase Blog Traffic

Take it a step further and ask them to co-host a giveaway with you by providing a second free product to give away to a reader.

Promote the giveaway in your blog post and on social media.  Giveaways are an excellent opportunity to increase the traffic to your blog.

Everyone loves free stuff!

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Increase Email Subscribers

Using your review post to host a giveaway will not only increase your traffic, but also increase your email subscribers.  Ask readers to join your email list in exchange for an entry to the giveaway.

Use a service like Rafflecopter to manage the giveaway and keep things legit.  Your readers can earn additional entries by sharing your giveaway on social media, giving your blog even more exposure!

Choose Wisely

More traffic is always great, but the right traffic is what matters.

Choose your giveaway products wisely, making sure they are very specific to your niche.  You want to attract email addresses from people in your target audience – not just random people looking for a freebie.

The affiliate account manager can help you create a strategy that will be a win-win for the both of you.

Related Post: How To Write A Blog Post – 13 Vital Steps

4. Email List

People join your list because they like your content and trust that you will provide them with valuable tools and resources to solve their pain points.

Everyone on your email list is a potential customer, so why not pitch your favorite affiliate links?

If you know of a great deal on something your audience will love, share it with your email list.  Be sure to tell them about your experience with it (never pitch something you haven’t used and loved yourself).  Tell them how it will help them, too.

Check with your account manager to confirm that it’s okay to promote with email marketing and don’t forget to include an affiliate disclosure in the email.

5. Preferred Partners Page

No matter what your niche is, there are a number of products and tools that you use regularly.  As I mentioned, your readers consider you the expert, so they’re interested in what you use to get results.

Create a Preferred Partners Page (Favorite Products, Recommended Resources, or similar) that includes all of your favorites in one place.

Honesty is always the best policy, since your readers are relying on your opinion when they click your affiliate links to buy.  Your Preferred Partners should only include those merchants that you swear by.

Include a brief description of each item and a call to action with your affiliate link.

Add the page to your main menu or your footer menu for another source of passive income.

Other Ways To Monetize Your Blog

I learned a long time ago that affiliate marketing is an excellent source of passive income.  But, it’s not the only way to monetize your blog.

If you want to take your blog to the next level, find other ways to monetize, too.

Offering your own products and services means you earn 100% of the profits, not just a portion, as you do with affiliate marketing.

Here are a few ways you can earn money with your blog and eventually make blogging your full-time gig:

• Coaching & Consultations
• Paid Webinars
• EBooks
• Printables
• Online Courses

Your Turn

Now you have new ideas for promoting your affiliate links without having to clutter up your website with tacky ads.

Have you tried to monetize your blog with affiliate marketing?  What was your experience?  Are there other ways that you have found to successfully monetize?  Leave your answers in the comment section below.  I love your feedback and it helps me with future posts.

I’d love it if you’d take a moment to share this post on social media or pin it to your favorite blogging board.

Happy Blogging!

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