Tips on How to Choose the Best Affiliate Programs for Higher Commissions
Intro
When you’re starting out as a blogger or affiliate marketer, it can be difficult to find the right products to promote.
It’s also not easy to know what products will work best for your audience and get you the most commissions.
I’ve had experiences promoting something so hard and the commission I made is not even enough for me to withdraw it to my bank account!
Here are some tips on how to research and choose the right affiliate products for more commission:
List all the products you have paid for in the past
You will be surprised at how much you spent a year on subscriptions.
Take me for example, I paid software/apps subscriptions:
- 1Password (managing all my passwords) $59.88/12 months
- Astrill VPN (to surf the net safely while traveling) $180/12 months
- Copy.ai (to 10X my writing process) $259.20/12 months
- Epidemic Sound (music licensing for my YouTube) $54/12 months
- Medium membership $50/12 months
- Bluehost (domain hosting) $35.4/12 months
- Godaddy (email service) $71.88/12 months
In total, I pay $710.28 every year for software/apps subscriptions. And I am pretty sure someone is making an affiliate commission from my purchases.
If I am willing to pay $710 a year, someone else will too!
So here’s what we are going to do:
List all the products you have paid for in the past, including physical products, or digital products.
It could be software, applications, services, etc. Use an Excel sheet to list info including websites, pricing, and why you bought it.
The reason why I always choose online digital services/products with a subscription payment model is that it means the affiliate program likely also pays on a recurring base. This means you only refer someone once, but you get paid repeatedly.
And then we are going to the next steps.
Look for Products with Higher Commission Rates
Look for products with higher commission rates. The higher the commission rate, the more money you can make.
For example: If a product has an average selling price (ASP) of $100 and a 20% commission rate, then your total earnings would be $20 ($100 x 20%). If another product has an ASP of $50 but also has a 35% commission rate, then your total earnings will be $17.50 ($50 x 35%).
I joined Copy.ai affiliate program to promote this AI writing assistant, and it offers a 45% commission rate for the first 12 months.
So if anyone signed up to Copy.ai via my affiliate link and pay a monthly subscription of $49, I will get $22.05 every month for 12 months (.
And if someone paid $259.2 for an annual subscription (30%-40% off via my link), I receive $116.64 in commission (45% of the revenue).
Compare to promoting ebooks on Amazon via Amazon Associate Program, which only offers 4%-5% commission, promoting products with higher value and higher commission is the way to go if you want to make more money online with your content.
Check the Terms and Conditions
Once you have the product in mind, take a look at the terms and conditions.
This will tell you whether or not it’s worth promoting and whether or not there are restrictions on how much commission you can earn. For example, if they only allow affiliates to promote specific products within their network (such as just one brand), then that might be an issue for your blog or business.
You also want to check their cookie window — the amount of time after someone clicks through from your site before they become eligible for a commission payment.
If it is too short (less than 30 days), then it might be difficult to get enough referrals in order for them to qualify for a payout from the affiliate program.
Choose Products that You are Comfortable Promoting to Your Audience
If you’re not comfortable promoting a product, then it’s likely that your audience will feel the same way.
You need to be honest with yourself about whether or not this is something that would work for your audience.
For example, if you are an author who writes about self-improvement and spirituality, then promoting affiliate products related to weight loss or cooking might not be appropriate for your audience members.
In contrast, if you run a blog focused on cyber security or technology articles (for example), then promoting VPN or anti-virus software would be more suitable because they are related to the topic you are writing about.
Optimizing Strategy for Conversion
Use Keywords:
It’s important to use keywords that are related to the product you’re promoting.
You want these words to encourage people to take action, like making a purchase or signing up for something.
For example, if you’re promoting antivirus software, consider what people might search for, like “best antivirus” or “how to scan for malware.”
Images:
It’s important to use high-quality images that catch people’s attention and showcase the product’s features and benefits.
I always try to choose images that evoke a certain feeling or emotion, like security or excitement. You can even use official banners or logos from the brand you’re promoting.
Call To Action:
Lastly, you need to have a clear call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your content. This is a short message that tells people what to do next.
It’s important that your CTA is direct and easy to follow.
You can use language that creates a sense of urgency, like “sign up now” or “get started today.”
I always insert a short paragraph of Call To Action text at the end of my articles. This way I am making sure it receives maximum exposure to anyone who was reading my article. And I left it at the end of the article full of valuable information, so I think my readers are ok with supporting the author at no extra cost to them.
And More
The more research you do, the better your chances are of choosing the right affiliate products for your site.
The first step is finding a great product that will be relevant and interesting to your audience. You can do this by searching for keywords related to the topic of your blog or website and seeing what pops up in Google searches.
You’ll also want to look at other websites in your niche, as they may have recommendations on affiliate links they use themselves (or even have their own affiliate programs).
Another place you can find affiliate programs is the affiliate marketplace. For software and apps, I find PartnerStack amazing to get inspiration and easy to use.
When looking through these results, keep an eye out for products with good reviews and high ratings — this will help ensure that customers will actually buy them!
Conclusion
I hope this article has given you some insight into how to research and choose the right affiliate products for your site, so you can monetize your hard work in no time.
Want to learn more?
I’ve created a FREE Step-by-Step workbook about how I made more than $500 a month with affiliate marketing. If you want to do the same, download it here.
You can also join my weekly newsletter where I share insights and experiences about AI & Entrepreneurship.
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