In part one, we covered how to monetize your blog with contextual ads like Adsense and ad networks. Here we go beyond placing ads on the page to:
- becoming an affiliate
- sell a product or service
- create a membership site
- consult / speaking engagements
Affiliate Income
An affiliate is someone who receives a small portion of each sale that they refer – like an independent sales representative. You are virtually unlimited in how you market the products that you are an affiliate for. For example, you may write a post about them, give away an item with purchase, or leave an add in the sidebar to name a few. Most contracts (that you should read BEFORE you sign up) will forbid using rebates (wherein you pay them a part of your commission to get them to purchase the product) to make the sale.
Affiliate Marketing Guidelines:
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Be upfront about links that will pay you back. I don’t like doing this, as I feel that it makes my opinion seem ‘purchased’ or somehow less honest, however it is required to comply with the USA Federal Trade Commission. Why do I (a Canadian) do it? Because I want to be seen as ‘above board’, with high integrity, and transparent (even if I grumble a bit about it).
If the bloggers in the US decided to implement this with enthusiasm, they could singularly redefine the standard for integrity on the internet.
- Add “*aff link” to tweets and facebook status posts
- Add a full disclosure statement as a page in your blog
- link to “Blog With Integrity“ if you agree with the contract
- Your income from affiliate links is directly proportional to the amount of marketing that you do for that product
- Only sell those products that you can get behind personally
- Select products that will supplement your message, and serve your audience. The idea is to always add value to your website to encourage more visitors, and keep the regulars.
PS – We have an affiliate program that pays $30 for EACH limousine service or design ordered.
You can also find more products to offer to your readers, by signing up at various Affiliate Marketing companies. This link has a list of 153 different marketing networks – each offering over 100 products!! But since I’m a bit of a chicken (and you should be too) when it comes to risking my reputation, I will recommend the same ones that Darren Rowse does:
- Amazon Associates Program
- Clickbank Affiliate Program,
- Commission Junction Affiliate Program
- Linkshare’s program
At the very least, that is a good place to start.
I was going to go into the other 3 topics – speaking, producing an article, or otherwise freelancing, but I think we’ll save that for another day. Go digest some of these links, and be sure to have those ad networks working!
See:
my Ad Networks post
If you’re new here, you may want to see our 5 Guiding Principles and What Do We Do posts.
Check your favorite sites for affiliates.
Since I have a site about video people are constantly asking what software/hardware I use so I’m trying to get affiliate links available for those.
Don’t forget your host service. It’s easy to add a small button out of the way somewhere for your host and hosts usually have a nice payout.
A resources page is a great way to unobtrusively list your affiliate links.
Thank you for some great ideas to help gets ranked higher in Google. I have made a few videos and need to get more made. Also need to get some press releases written.
Thank You:)