11 Affiliate Marketers Share Genius Tips for 2024

9 months ago 101
ARTICLE AD BOX

I asked 11 affiliate marketers for their apical affiliate selling tips in 2024.

Here are the tips they shared and however to do them.

Our affiliate selling  experts

Track out-of-stock products and update their affiliate links

Keep a choky inventory of your affiliate links to guarantee they’re working, and regenerate them erstwhile products spell retired of stock. This is similar moving a existent retail store—you wouldn’t fto your shelves spell bare without noticing.

Matt Giovanisci

How to do it

Don’t effort to bash this manually. Use a WordPress plugin to automate it.

I usage Lasso (an affiliate plugin I helped develop) and Genius Link to track links.

Matt Giovanisci

Neither of these are expensive. Genius Link starts astatine $6 per period for up to 2,000 affiliate clicks with other clicks costing conscionable $2.50 per 1,000. Lasso starts from conscionable $8 per period (annual pricing).

Recouping this concern is casual if your tract gets, well, beauteous overmuch immoderate postulation whatsoever.

For example, this database of the champion dehumidifiers gets an estimated 4,400 monthly hunt visits according to Ahrefs SEO Toolbar and recommends an out-of-stock product:

Estimated monthly integrated  hunt  postulation   to a top-ranking database  of champion  dehumidifiers
An retired  of banal  merchandise  recommended by the top-ranking page

Since the tract proprietor earns $10-$15 per sale, recovering conscionable 1 committee would marque utilizing the plugin worthwhile.

Build spot by recommending the champion products, not conscionable the ones with the highest commissions

Always prioritize products you spot implicit those with the highest commissions. This builds semipermanent spot with your audience.

Matt Giovanisci

How to do it

I’m acrophobic I person atrocious quality for those looking to marque an casual subordinate due to the fact that you request to really trial products for real. There’s nary different mode to cognize if they’re worthy recommending.

Here’s an anecdote from Matt showing conscionable however almighty gathering this spot can be:

When I was buying for a litter container for my cat, I bought a $400 fancy one. My woman thought it was insane. So I decided to bash immoderate probe and recovered Wirecutter recommended a $30 achromatic integrative tub. They gave each the reasons wherefore it was amended than a fancy one. And it was the champion and cheapest acquisition I’ve ever made. I present skip Google and spell consecutive to Wirecutter whenever I privation to bargain something.

Matt Giovanisci

Did you drawback that? Matt present bypasses Google and goes consecutive to Wirecutter because they prioritize practicality and simplicity implicit commissions—unlike astir affiliate sites.

Even if a tiny fraction of their millions of monthly visitors are similar Matt, they’ve apt earned thousands successful commissions from radical who spot them implicit Google’s apical results.

Estimated monthly integrated  hunt  postulation   to the Wirecutter

Negotiate amended rates with affiliate managers

Everything is negotiatable successful affiliate marketing. However overmuch a vendor is paying, they ever person country to summation their rates.

Mark Webster

My fig 1 extremity is to simply inquire for much money, wherever you person leverage to do so.

Jamie I.F.

How to do it

Put successful the enactment to physique genuine relationships with affiliate managers.

My fig 1 extremity for affiliate marketers is to prime up the telephone and physique relationships with the affiliate managers of the marque you promote. Or adjacent better, conscionable them successful existent beingness if you can.

Niche Site Lady

If this benignant of networking sounds similar your worst nightmare, effort partnering with idiosyncratic much extroverted who has income experience.

Are you an introvert who would alternatively dice than prime up the phone? Then prosecute idiosyncratic with income skills to assistance connected a gross stock basis. Your concern tin truly snowball erstwhile expanding commissions is someone’s main focus.

Niche Site Lady

Jamie’s constituent astir leverage is besides important. If you tin amusement affiliate managers however overmuch your tract is increasing oregon however overmuch postulation you’re sending to their competitors, they’ll beryllium much inclined to privation a bully narration with you.

For example, I callback Pat Flynn utilized to consistently urge Bluehost backmost successful 2013-2016. Given that his tract consistently attracted 70K+ monthly hunt visits backmost then, I’d ideate the folks astatine Bluehost were beauteous keen to support a beardown narration with him.

Estimated integrated  hunt  postulation   to Pat Flynn's website backmost  successful  2026

Build merchandise examination hubs with interior links

As an affiliate marketer moving a portfolio of websites, the astir powerful, but often overlooked strategy is interior linking. It’s astir connecting your website’s pages successful a astute way. Especially for affiliate pages, which are notoriously hard to physique links for gaining outer relevance and trust.

James Oliver

How to do it

James explains it best:

Start with a pillar post. This is your cornerstone content—a broad “Best X” nonfiction that covers a wide taxable successful depth. From there, make smaller, targeted posts. These ‘smaller’ posts, often referred to arsenic “Best X for Y” articles, should strategically nexus backmost to your pillar post.

James Oliver

For example, if you’re successful the mattress niche, you mightiness person a pillar station targeting “best mattress” surrounded by smaller, targeted posts similar “best mattress for backmost pain” oregon “best mattress for broadside sleepers.”

If you’re not definite what keywords to people for smaller posts, plug your pillar leafage keyword into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, spell to the Matching terms report, clump by Parent Topic, past look for ideas.

Clustering by Parent Topic successful  Keywords Explorer

James besides notes that you tin simply audit your existing contented and make examination hubs retrospectively.

Audit your content. Identify your pillar posts and commencement linking them with applicable “Best X for Y” articles. Align everything with hunt intent. This elemental strategy tin acceptable you isolated successful a competitory market.

James Oliver

Reverse-engineer affiliate links to find proven contented ideas and products to promote

Reverse engineering is the champion strategy successful affiliate marketing. It helps you basal your contented and tactics connected proven success. My favourite (and often overlooked) method is reverse affiliate linking.

James Oliver

How to do it

Find a competing website successful your niche, plug it into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, past spell to the Outgoing links report. This shows you each the pages the website is linking to.

Finding outgoing links successful  Ahrefs' Site Explorer

Next, filter for links to shortened domains commonly utilized by affiliate networks.

Here’s a speedy database to get you started:

  • Amazon: amzn.to
  • Awin: awin1.com, tidd.ly
  • Pepperjam: pjatr.com
  • Commission Factory: cfjump.com
  • ShareASale: shrsl.com
  • FlexOffers: clkmg.com
Searching for affiliate links

Sidenote.

Make definite to toggle “Any rule” erstwhile doing this.

Not lone volition this uncover each the products and stores the tract is promoting…

Examples of products the tract  is promoting

… but it volition besides uncover low-hanging affiliate opportunities.

For example, this sustainable surviving tract gets an estimated 2.5K monthly integrated visits to a merchandise review. As the leafage lone has links from 2 referring domains, it should beryllium beauteous casual to vie with.

Use the Traffic file  to find   low-hanging fruit

James besides uses this method to find contented ideas to beforehand specific products. He does this by plugging a circumstantial product’s affiliate nexus into Ahrefs past seeing who links to it.

For example, I precocious bought an indoor herb plot from a institution with an affiliate program. Their affiliate links person this footprint: clickandgrow.com/?sca_ref=. If I plug this into Site Explorer and spell to the Backlinks report, I spot implicit 19K pages promoting this product:

Use the Backlinks study  successful  Site Explorer to find   who is promoting a circumstantial  product

If I past filter for pages with fewer referring domains connected comparatively debased DR sites, I tin find immoderate low-hanging effect affiliate contented ideas. For example, this beginner’s usher to flat gardening lives connected a debased DR site, has fewer backlinks, and gets an estimated 146 monthly visits:

Use the DR and referring domains filters to find   low-hanging fruit

Don’t trust 100% connected SEO; diversify your postulation sources

It’s wide that Google presently has a declaration of warfare against the contented website model. This was marked by industry-wide losses successful postulation successful the September 2023 HCU update resulting successful penalties that were ne'er lifted by the contented sites that were affected.

Matt Diggity

How to do it

I’d commencement by gathering an email list, and galore affiliate marketers I asked agree.

Focus connected retaining your assemblage by collecting email addresses and consistently engaging them.

Matt Giovanisci

Don’t conscionable deliberation similar an affiliate, deliberation astir the idiosyncratic and absorption connected delivering what they need, don’t beryllium frightened to drawback details, travel up with immoderate benignant of magnet to drawback email addresses arsenic this volition summation the website worth if you privation to merchantability down the line.

Karl Hudson

Matt does this efficaciously connected Swim University by offering a escaped excavation attraction cheat expanse successful every post.

Example pb  magnet from Swim University

According to his homepage, this has helped him to physique a database of 175K email subscribers—people who helium tin marketplace offers to anytime he likes.

I’ve besides seen radical having immense occurrence driving postulation from platforms similar TikTok and Instagram…

For example, Sammie Ellard-King has built a pursuing of implicit 150K connected Instagram for his idiosyncratic concern brand, Up the Gains. He uses engaging video contented to thrust followers to his escaped “money personality” quiz successful his bio, which past recommends the champion contented (some of which promotes affiliate products) for each person.

Demonstrate a product’s worth earlier pushing coupons and bonuses

I’d accidental my extremity for affiliate marketers is to not pain each your bullets close disconnected the bat but really marque promotion tools consciousness special.

Gael Breton

How to do it

If you’re promoting offers via email, it’s each astir tracking and follow-ups:

Promote your connection astatine afloat terms via email, past way those who clicked the nexus and opened the email and beforehand the bonus/discount successful a follow-up email (allowing maine to beforehand twice, not just once).

Gael Breton

This is casual to bash successful astir email selling software. For example, you tin make a elemental automation regularisation successful ConvertKit that subscribes a idiosyncratic to an email series erstwhile they click a circumstantial link:

Setting up   a elemental  automation successful  ConvertKit

If you’re promoting offers connected your site, Gael suggests utilizing exit pop-ups:

On a web page, that would beryllium promoting the afloat price/no bonus mentation successful the main transcript of the leafage and adding the bonus connected an exit popular up, possibly with a timer, again to stress that this promo is peculiar / limited.

Gael Breton

You tin adjacent spell a measurement further and adhd genuine scarcity to your offers with a plugin similar Thrive Ultimatum that lets you make idiosyncratic time-sensitive offers. For example, you could springiness anyone who clicks your nexus 24 hours to usage the discount oregon assertion the bonus.

Rank impermanent posts to boost commissions and SEO

Ranking your impermanent posts helps you predominate leafage 1 for cardinal presumption and boosts your relevance and authority, ticking important EEAT signals (and yes EEAT is much than conscionable on-page, from our tests).

James Dooley

How to do it

A large mode to commencement is by offering to refresh posts with declining hunt postulation wherever linking to affiliate contented oregon products would consciousness natural.

For example, if you’re an affiliate for an indoor plot product, it would marque cleanable consciousness to update this guide connected increasing lettuce—especially since its hunt postulation is declining:

Declining postulation   to a usher  to increasing  lettuce, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer

Here’s however to find posts that acceptable the bill:

  1. Search for an manufacture word (e.g., “gardening”) successful Content Explorer
  2. Filter retired posts from large sites by mounting the DR filter to max 70
  3. Filter for pages with hunt postulation (e.g., 100+ monthly visits)
  4. Exclude homepages and subdomains
How to find   low-hanging opportunities successful  Content Explorer

From there, look for posts that marque consciousness to refresh wherever postulation is declining:

Example of a leafage   with declining traffic

Note that adjacent if the tract proprietor agrees to an update, they whitethorn not beryllium comfy with you including affiliate links successful the station itself. If that happens, nexus to affiliate contented (such arsenic a merchandise review) connected your tract instead. This should assistance to boost its rankings and traffic.

Drive radical to your tract with integer PR, past beforehand affiliate offers to them

I can’t judge much radical aren’t utilizing integer PR to physique almighty links and thrust hundreds of thousands of clicks to affiliate pages.

Sacha Fournier

How to do it

Sacha explains it best:

In a nutshell:

  1. Think of a newsworthy thought (with an affiliate angle)
  2. Build a dedicated landing leafage for it
  3. Pitch the thought to applicable journalists
  4. Integrate a related affiliate connection into your content

Sacha Fournier

For example, past twelvemonth Sacha launched Nahbucks!, a microsite showcasing autarkic java shops connected an interactive map.

Sacha's Nahbucks! microsite

The tract got featured successful respective publications including Business Insider, Yahoo, and more. This led to a immense spike successful referral traffic, which is erstwhile Sacha took the accidental to beforehand an affiliate offer.

I deployed a subtle exit intent popup promoting a java subscription program. This run unsocial earned respective 1000 dollars successful affiliate commissions wrong days of going live.

Sacha Fournier

Of course, coming up with and creating a newsworthy thought is the hardest part. If you’re struggling with that, cheque retired the examples successful my database of nexus gathering strategies. There are immoderate existent inspiring campaigns that should assistance get your originative juices flowing.

Follow the money, not traffic

For excessively agelong radical are conscionable focusing connected postulation and present we’re being attacked from near and right. It’s important to enactment adjacent to the money. By being connected apical of your numbers you’ll beryllium backmost successful control, alternatively of being thrown astir by Google.

Niels Zee

How to do it

Niels says it’s astir 4 things:

  • Optimizing for the champion converting offers
  • Getting higher committee deals
  • Learning what benignant of contented is astir worthy ranking for
  • Knowing your net per visitant to trial retired paid selling channels

To bash immoderate of this, you request data. This is wherever tools similar WeCanTrack travel successful handy, which pulls information from aggregate affiliate networks into Google Analytics oregon Data Studio truthful you tin marque much informed decisions.

I urge [WeCanTrack] to everyone I mentor. I’m not affiliated to them oregon anything.

Niels Zee

For example, it volition estimation affiliate gross per landing leafage truthful you tin absorption connected ranking your astir lucrative pages:

Estimated affiliate gross  per leafage   successful  Google Analytics

It volition besides estimation gross by postulation root truthful you tin absorption connected channels and campaigns that thrust the astir affiliate revenue.

Estimated affiliate gross  per postulation   root   successful  Google Analytics

Go beyond affiliate selling and make products for your audience

As an affiliate, you are ever going to beryllium the idiosyncratic successful the middle. Once you person served your intent of connecting a purchaser with a seller, neither person overmuch request of you anymore. Consider gathering your ain loyal assemblage and processing products for them. You tin repeatedly present 10x much worth this mode and turn your concern importantly higher.

Mark Webster

How to do it

Digital products person a little obstruction to entry, truthful I urge starting there. If your merchandise falls level connected its face, each you’ll suffer is simply a large hunk of time—not thousands of dollars successful improvement and manufacturing costs.

To get started, I deliberation Bryan Harris’s infamous merchandise motorboat plan inactive makes a batch of sense.

  1. Come up with a merchandise thought that mightiness involvement your audience
  2. Validate that thought by pre-selling to a conception of your list
  3. Create the product
  4. Launch to everyone other connected your list

If you’re much of a “just springiness it a go” person, you tin ever commencement with a low-cost merchandise that’s speedy to make and spot what happens.

For example, Matt from Swim University sells a elemental excavation attraction usher for $49:

Example merchandise  from Swim University

And Sammie Ellard-King from Up the Gains sells a fiscal readying spreadsheet for £39:

Example merchandise  from Up the Gains

Neither of these products apt took overmuch clip to create, which is perfect erstwhile you’re conscionable starting to merchantability your own.

Learn more

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. If you privation to larn adjacent much astir affiliate marketing, cheque retired these posts and courses: