I hate sales. The main reason I learned SEO and marketing was to make people come to me, so I didn’t have to come to them. The last thing I want to do when creating content is turn off my audience with salesy messaging. To be honest, I’m not a fan of subliminal manipulative content either, and let’s be real, most content on the internet is manipulative.
Everybody is trying to sell you something.
Search the web for the best free SEO tool – and every list is going to include paid tools with free trials or free tools with incredibly limited functionality. Free only means you are the lead, and they plan on making money from you clicking a link.
But hey, that’s okay. You want to do the same thing, don’t you? Making money with an affiliate marketing blog is great, and not necessarily evil or bad. There are better, more ethical ways to get the job done so you can make money and help your audience in the process. Let’s get to it!
Know Your Niche, and Your Audience!
It’s always best to build a website around a topic you know and love, or at least like enough to read and learn about. Don’t just go to ClickBank and find the most profitable product because you watched a tutorial of someone else doing it. That’s backwards, and nowadays, unlikely to work. Maybe 10 years ago. But not today. There’s simply too much competition.
Not long ago, I was tasked with building a landing page for one of the most commonly promoted CB products, a well-known woodworking product. It’s completely spammed up. The only reason my client wanted to promote it was because he watched a tutorial of another guy promoting it – and because it earns a very high dollar amount per sale. Which is reasonable, but after thousands of dollars in advertising and content creation – he gave up. He was losing money, trying to promote a scammy product.
He didn’t actually know about the topic, nor did he care about it. All the content he created was promotional, just repeating the same sales content and talking points he was told to copy.
Start with a topic you know about!
For example, I got into auto detailing a few years ago, and spent months researching, buying products, and learning everything I could about the subject. I was thinking about starting a mobile detailing business. I didn’t go that route, but it’s still a hobby of mine and I definitely wash my vehicles more than I need to…
However, I started a blog once I knew a lot about the topic. I knew the questions I had when I started learning how to detail cars. Some of them I didn’t have until I physically detailed a few vehicles and had to handle some filthy stuff. This made it easy for me to HELP others, as my goal was to basically tell my experience, recommend every product that worked for me, and explain how to handle various scenarios when detailing a vehicle.
At that point, recommending a product was natural. I ranked #1 for some very competitive keywords, and my content resonated well with my audience. I sold hundreds of polishers and pressure washers within a few months. All from Amazon, a place people trust. Everything was about helping my audience and recommending products they trust, from a store they trust.
Focus on Providing Value
Rather than bombarding your audience with blatant sales pitches, prioritize offering value through your content. Whether it’s informative blog posts, engaging videos, or helpful tutorials, aim to educate and empower your audience. Share actionable insights, tips, and recommendations that genuinely enrich their lives or solve their problems. When your audience perceives your content as valuable, they’ll be more receptive to your affiliate recommendations.
When I created a guide on how to restore headlights, the products came naturally and nothing about it was promotional. I recommended the best products for the job, or at least the ones that worked best for me.
Selecting the right niche is important, because it will make it easier for you to actually provide value to your target audience (or any audience).
Be Transparent and Authentic
Transparency is key to building trust with your audience. Disclose your affiliate relationships openly and honestly. Clearly communicate when you’re promoting affiliate products or services, and emphasize why you believe in them. Authenticity shines through when you genuinely endorse products or services that you’ve personally used and found beneficial. Share your authentic experiences, including both the pros and cons, to provide a balanced perspective.
I prefer to use Amazon Associates, because I know many people feel comfortable purchasing from them. It also allows me to make commission recommending nearly any product I have ever used. Everything is on Amazon.
Don’t let the products you’re trying to promote get in the way of being authentic!
Authenticity is everything! You cannot build a large following and maintain it without providing them with authentic content. There’s a reason Gary Vaynerchuck blew up on social media – he is authentic and only speaks on things he believes to be true. He doesn’t push bullshit.
Who else? Alex Hormozi (sales). Neil Patel (seo). Sam Sulek (bodybuilding/fitness). All authentic.
For each one of the guys mentioned above, is a thousand copycats! It’s okay to model your content strategy after someone else, but make sure you stay authentic and try not to copy everything they do.
