You’ve decided that now’s the time. You’ve got the keyboard calluses, the archive and the readers. You’re ready to make some money from your passion for blogging. Sure, you gave up some real estate on the side of your blog for a search engine to place ads, but that’s not generating enough money to fill your gas tank, let alone change your lifestyle.
The real opportunity in monetizing your blog is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is where you place links on your blog (or Web site) for products that relate to your topic. For example, if you write about personal health and wellness, you would choose products such as diet and exercise books to promote on your blog – as your readers would be naturally interested in new products that will make them healthier.
When you place a link you become an “affiliate” of the person selling the product. If someone clicks on the link placed on your blog and then buys the product, you get a commission on that sale. Since commissions can be as high as 75 percent of the sale (For example, you could earn $22 on the sale of a book, instead of $3 or $4 a traditional retail model might pay), it’s a much better cash generator than getting paid a few cents for someone to click on an ad.
How to Get Started
There are a number of players in the affiliate marketing world. Two well-known companies are Commission Junction and LinkShare, as they feature many brand name companies as well as more niche offerings.
However, the largest player that is solely devoted to selling digital products (e-books, software, games, etc.) is ClickBank. The company has more than 110,000 active affiliates, 12,000 product publishers and 35,000 products (the aforementioned e-books, etc.). Something on ClickBank is bound to relate to your blog. The company also offer bloggers an online payment system so you don’t have to set up a separate “merchant account” to accept credit cards.
When picking an affiliate marketing company to work with, you have to do your homework on which services will work best for you. Here’s what to look for:
• How easy is it to set up an account?
• How much does it cost to sign up?
• What are the transaction fees?
• How many products do they offer?
• Do they have niche products that fit into your category?
• Do they offer payment processing?
• What kind of customer service is provided for your end customer?
• Is there a secure platform?
• Do they have fraud protection?
• How do they handle refunds if the buyer is unsatisfied with the product?
• How often do they pay?
• What is their reputation for payment, is it on time, consistent?
• What are others saying about the company?
Because affiliate marketing is an Internet-based business, there are literally thousands of people talking about this subject online. Take your time to read reviews and comments, and pick which company is best suited to fit your needs. Also, look at people selling things similar to yours. An affiliate network that works well for music, for example, may or may not be the best fit for cat trainers.
Like any other important business decision, doing your due diligence will pay off in the long run. And, it will give your blog the best chance to bring in cash, as many other bloggers already have already discovered.
