How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews & Profit: Ultimate Guide 2021

How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews for Affiliate Cash

In this post, we’ll give you a step-by-step guide and the best tips for how to write affiliate product reviews (even if you’re a beginner).

Writing affiliate product reviews is not only one of the best ways to monetize your blog, but also the most effective way to make money with affiliate marketing.

Affiliate product reviews are not only one of the best ways to monetize your blog, but also the most effective way to make money with affiliate marketing. Learn how here. Click To Tweet

And the benefits are not just financial, as we’ll see. No affiliate marketer or blogger who understands the benefits of writing affiliate product reviews wants to miss out on this opportunity to boost his traffic, his authority, and his income.

But how do you write an effective product review for your affiliate website? Anyone can write a product review, but not everyone knows how to write a good one. How do you write a quality product review that builds trust and converts to sales? 

That’s what you’ll learn when you read this ultimate guide to writing affiliate product reviews. (This also works for service reviews.)

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A. What Affiliate Product Reviews Do: And Why Should You Use Them On Your Blog?

A product review gives someone’s personal perspective and/or experience with a product, telling them what it can do, and whether it’s a good buying choice for them.

There are many reasons why people search online for reviews of products.

Perhaps they heard about it but aren’t sure it’s what they’re looking for,

  • or they’re looking to see what it can do,
  • whether it’s a good or bad product,
  • whether they can get bonuses or discounts,
  • what other people’s experience with it is,
  • how it compares to alternatives, etc.

What Types of Affiliate Product Reviews Are There?

Affiliate product reviews can be found in several formats. Here are some common formats.

1. Detailed Examination Product Review.

One of the most common types of a product review is the in-depth review which looks at all or most features or aspects of the product and reaches a conclusion about it.

2. Product Comparison Review.

Another type of product review is called the product comparison review but really is a comparison and contrast review.

In this you

  • present the main features, benefits,
  • pros, and cons of each product,
  • show how they match up against one another in each aspect.
  • Then make a recommendation on which product is probably better as a whole (or which is better for what.)

Product comparison reviews are great for making money through affiliate marketing because they allow you to share multiple affiliate links. So even they decide not to buy your primary recommendation, they may still decide to buy another of them through your affiliate link, so you still get a sale commission.

3. Product Tutorials

These are the least salesy types of affiliate product reviews. They aren’t about whether to buy the product, but rather how to use it.

If this is done in the context of solving a problem, your readers may be convinced this product is the solution they need.

They may also want to see a tutorial to see how it works before investing in it, or if it has the capability they are looking for.

However, people looking for product tutorials usually have a lower purchase-intent rate, so it doesn’t convert as high.

4. Product List Posts

This can be something like “The 5 Best Autoresponders for Affiliate Marketing“.

Product list posts can overlap with product comparison reviews and perform both roles at once, but a list post often doesn’t go into as much detail, because the main purpose isn’t evaluating products, but rather presenting the options and telling a little about each.

Benefits of Creating Affiliate Product Reviews

1. Financial Benefits of Affiliate Product Reviews

It’s important to know that online product reviews are hugely influential when it comes to product choice.

Research shows that 91 percent of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. And they make that decision quickly: 68 percent form an opinion after reading between one and six online reviews.

Source: Inc.com

If you are promoting a product through affiliate marketing, why would you miss out on one of the most effective means of persuading them to buy that product?

As an affiliate marketer, creating product reviews is an indispensable tool–perhaps the most important–in your marketing toolkit. In fact, some affiliate marketers are successful from product reviews alone!

2. Product Reviews Target Potential Buyers

Product reviews are perfect for promoting affiliate products because they target people who are already in the buying mindset. If people are searching for a product review, it’s likely because they’re considering buying it and want to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth for it.

3.  How Product Reviews Help Your Website

The benefits aren’t just financial. Product reviews also help you grow your audience through targeting search keywords, bringing new people to your blog.

4. Product Reviews Help You Build Your Email List

Additionally, an increase in traffic also you gives you the opportunity to build your email list, another of the most effective ways to promote your affiliate links.

5. Grow Trust and Authority

Writing product reviews are an excellant place to start out in affiliate marketing with a blog since you don’t need any special expertise. 

It helps you establish yourself as an authority (on a particular type of product) and build trust with your audience as you provide them with value and grow your own experience.

6. You Provide Value to Your Audience

Even if you’re hoping readers will buy the product after reading your review, you aren’t writing a commercial. An affiliate product review is a content marketing method that should provide value to your audience by giving them the insight into the product (or service) they are looking for.

7. You Can Get Free Stuff!

Since product reviews can help a company grow their sales as much as 18%, merchants are often wiling to give out free copies or trials of a product in exchange for a review.

This more often with digital products than with physical products, since they don’t want to lose money without promise of return, while digital products can usually be given without any cost on their part.

Of course, they aren’t always willing to do this, especially if you are new and unknown, but you have nothing to lose by asking.

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B. How to Become an Affiliate Product Reviewer With a Blog

1. Choose a Niche.

While it’s possible to have a blog where you just review random, unrelated products, if you want to build and engaged audience that stays interested in what you have to say, you should choose a particular niche or theme topic for your blog, and write reviews for related products.

In addition, you should keep in mind your target audience–their demographics and interests–so you can give them what they’re looking for and keep them coming back.

2. Build a Website For Your Blog.

If you want full control over your blog, and not have to worry about the rules of the platform you’re on, you should build your own website on your own domain.

That also gives you the advantage of being able to embed or install popup subscription forms to gather an email subscriber base.

How to Build A Blog:

It’s quite simple to build a blog. 

  1. Buy a domain name. Choose a domain name that represents your blog niche. Domain names are available from places like Namecheap, Bluehost, and HostGator.
  2. Get a web hosting service plan. This is where your website data willl be hosted so others can access your website when they visit your domain. Affordable webhosting plans are available from places like Namecheap, Bluehost, and HostGator, and you can even get a free domain name if you buy a webhosting plan and register your domain name at the same company.
  3. Install a CMS (Content Management System)/website and content builder and manager like WordPress, Hubspot, Wix, etc.
  4. If you’re using WordPress, choose a theme for your blog. You can get an attractive and professional theme from EnvatoElements.
  5. Write blog posts. In addition to this guide on how to write product reviews, we have another guide on how to write a blog post in general.

3. Choose a Product to Review

How should you choose a product to review? There are a few things to consider.

  1. Your familiarity with the product. It’s easier to review a product you already know and use. You’ll have more insight into it than reviewing products you’re less familiar with.
  2. Relevance to your niche. Your audience reads your blog because it gives them useful information regarding the niche your blog is about. If your niche is cooking and food recipes, and then you start promoting VPN affiliate programs, how well do you think that will turn out?
  3. Whether it has an affiliate program you are eligible for. Of course, you can write a review for any product, but you won’t be able to see financial returns on it unless you’re a product owner or affiliate.
  4. How the commission is. If you’ll only get a low commision rate, you might want to reconsider whether it’s worth your time.
  5. Your audience’s interest in that product. You are writing, not for yourself, but for your target audience. You should primarily be concerned with what they are interested in.
  6. Your own interests. If you are uninterested in the product or topic you are writing about, it will likely come through in your post, even if unintentionally. And that’s very unproductive.

4. Join the Product’s Affiliate Program.

The process should be pretty straightforward. Just submit an application form and wait to be approved. (But since approvals are not guaranteed, you may want to apply for the program before you write your review).

If you are a member of Amazon Associates, the eBay Partner Network, ClickBank, or Fiverr Affiliates you will be pre-approved for their products and services so you don’t need to get approval for each product.

5. Write product reviews.

I’ll show you how exactly to do that below, but before we get to that…

C. Before You Write That Review: 4 Things To Do

1. Create a Score System For Rating Products in Your Reviews

A product scoring system provides not only provides you standards for evaluating products but also makes it convenient for readers looking for a quick and simple verdict on a product. (And they do want that.)

A product scoring system is composed of two elements: metrics, and a rubric.

  1. Product Metrics.  Metrics are the characteristics of a product you will be using for the overall evaluation of a product. If you are reviewing multiple products, you should keep the metrics consistent.
  2. Review Rubric. A rubric is a measuring scale that uses various symbols, numbers or words to represent particular value levels. The five-star system is one of the most popular rubrics. So is the 1-10 scale.

Doubtless, you are often influenced in your own purchasing decisions by the five-star review rubric on, e.g., Amazon products.

2. Do Keyword Research

Are people even looking for reviews of the product you want to review? If not, it’s not worth spending the time writing a review for it–at least, a review of its own. 

You may still choose to give a short review of it in a larger context, such as by presenting it as a solution to a problem in an article targeting other keywords, or in a product comparison review.

3. Gain Insight Into the Product

Without this, you can’t write a review. But how can you learn about the product?

a. Use the Product.

Nothing beats a review based on one’s personal experience with a product. It gives you authority, makes your review more authentic, and provides you with knowledge of the product you may not otherwise obtain.

You don’t always have to buy the product. It doesn’t hurt to ask the product owner if he is willing to provide a free copy, sample, or trial of a product in exchange for a review.

What if you can’t get a copy of the product or for some reason can’t buy or don’t want to buy it?

Well, although this is not ideal, you may still choose to write a review, but it must still be well-researched.

You may also want to be transparent about the fact that you have not personally used the product, but have researched the product as best you could, and are sharing what you have learned from your sources in order to help your readers make an informed decision about buying the product.

b. Research the Product

  • Check out the product’s website, to learn what features they advertise.
  • Contact the product owner to learn more about the product if necessary.
  • Read other reviews of the product. (Amazon user reviews are especially helpful because they are usually honest opinions (though not always the fairest). Read both positive and negative reviews.
  • View videos by other users.
  • Try the product out for yourself.
  • Add details about the product that other reviews don’t have to gain an advantage over your competitors.

4. Gain Insight Into Your Audience

Since you are writing to satisfy your audience, it’s imperative that you have some knowledge of them.

Before anything, you’ll need to identify who your target audience is. What are their interests, needs, wants?

While writing your review, keep in mind your ideal buyer. Creating a customer avatar will cause you to be more thorough in your assessment of them, and ensure you don’t forget your target customers.

What kinds of questions are they asking? What do they like or not like about the product? What characteristics do they value most or are looking for in a product?

Reading other users’ reviews, search query research, and browsing user forums can help you gain insight into your audience.

One helpful free keyword research tool to help you see what questions people are asking about a topic is AnswerThePublic.com.

If you are to write an effective review, identify what their pain points are. Most likely they are willing to pay to get rid of those problems.

Some common issues that will motivate people to buy are

  • making money,
  • saving time,
  • building relationships,
  • and fulfilling their dreams or wishes.

In addition, learning the reasons why they won’t or wouldn’t buy a product helps you be more effective because you can then counter those objections ahead of time.

Your goal is to understand the customer well so you can make the product highly appealing to him and have him realize there’s no good reason not to buy it. (Assuming it is a good product.)

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D. The Key Elements of an Affiliate Product Review

  1. Scoring system
  2. Pros and cons
  3. Features and benefits
  4. Price
  5. Visuals (images, videos)
  6. Objections (reasons they won’t buy)
  7. FAQ, related questions
  8. Social proof
  9. CTA
  10. Alternatives/comparison
  11. format

E. How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews: Format and Structure

While there is no exact format for structuring your product review, you should always use some format in order to write well and convert readers.

Every good blog post should

  • contain a good headline,
  • catch readers’ attention in the introduction,
  • lead with value and interesting content in the main body,
  • and end with a conclusion that wraps things up and gives a call to action.

A product review is no different.

The following is a suggested format and step-by-step process for writing affiliate product reviews.

1. Create a Headline For Your Affiliate Product Review

Create a headline that immediately lets them know the subject–a review of a such-and-such product.

It’s also important to include your product keyword in your title for SEO purposes. For example, it should contain something like “Aweber Product Review” or just “Aweber Review.” Following that, you can add a secondary keyword or something unique to catch their attention.

2. Write an Interesting Introduction for Your Affiliate Product.

  • Your introduction is for drawing your readers in and introducing the product.
  • You can also gain their attention by making a strong or bold claim about the product and what it can do for them. (Just don’t mislead.)
  • You may choose to discuss other claims made about the product, and then proceed in your review to evaluate whether those claims are true or not.
  • It may also be good to mention what kind of users the product targets, so people know whether they are that target category, and hopefully gain their interest if they are.
  • Don’t forget to bring up any aspects of the products that are important or interesting for your readers to know.

3. Give a Short Summary/Overview With Your Verdict And Ratings.

Not everyone will read your full blog post or review. Some just want quick information. So it’s best to include your affiliate link as early as possible in your review (and throughout your review). Preferably in the form of a button, to make it more click-enticing.

In addition, you should consider immediately following your introduction with a short summary of the key product features (in a chart, table, or bullet points list) or a product comparison table if you are revwing multiple products at once.

4. The Main Body of Your Affiliate Product Review

Now we’ll get into the real substance of your affiliate product review.

In your middle section, you’ll go into detail discussing the product, including your own experience with and opinion of it.

What can you include in the main body of your affiliate product review?

1. What The Product Is About and Why It Matters

What kind of product is it, and who is it for? Why should one use it? What makes it unique, and stand out among its competitors?

Who is the product for, and who will best benefit from it?

2. The Product (& Company’s) History

Who is the product creator, and why did he create the product? What has it done for people? How has it changed things for the better?

3. Your History With the Product

Relate your own experience with the product whenever it’s helpful.

How did you come accross the product? Were you searching for a solution to a certain problem? What were your initial impressions of the product? Why did you choose to get the product?

What was your experience with it? Did it live up to claims made about it? How did your first impressions change, if they did? Would you get or use it again or recommend it to others? How has it helped you?

Here you can include your own screenshots, pictures, or videos of the product, and before/after photos.

(You don’t have to answer all these questions.)

4. The Product Features and Benefits.

Detail all the main features and explain how the product works, and how it will help them.

F. Common Mistakes Made By Affiliate Product Reviewers

1. Giving Every Product a Rating of  “5 Stars” (or Other Bragging)

I know it’s tempting to rate all or most of the products you promote as 5-stars (or an equivalent). You want people to think this is the greatest thing ever so they’ll buy the product through your affiliate link and make you money.

But did you realize that this tactic will make you way less money in the end? It’s a bad idea for at least two reasons.

First, it harms your credibility. Since every product has drawbacks, portraying products as perfect displays your bias, so folks will be less inclined to trust your reviews.

Secondly, mentioning some negative aspects of a product often boost conversions. This is not because people like it, but because it makes you seem less biased and more credible in your evaluation.

2. Sounding Like (or Being!) Salesmen

This is yet another one of the most common mistakes made by affiliate marketers writing product reviews.

As an affiliate marketer, there are indeed times where it is appropriate for you to make the “hard sells”. Nevertheless, you’re quite mistaken if you think a product review is one of them.

A sales page is one thing. A product review is another. If you’re pushing a hard sell, you’re writing an advertisement, not a product review!

Instead of trying to push a sale, inform the readers about the product, so they can feel that buying the product is the right and best decision for them.

Moreover, you may have noticed–as I have–that many of the “product reviews” out there sound exactly like the merchant’s sales page. In fact, in plenty of cases, that’s exactly what they are. 

They just copy and paste the sales page, maybe change a few things, and glorify it with the name of a “review.” (They even leave the pronouns the same, as if they were the product owners!)

And that brings us to the next problem.

3. Writing Plaigerized & Fake Product “Reviews”

Whether you’re plagiarizing the sales page, copying someone else’s review and claiming it as your own, or writing a fake review, it’s a bad strategy that will hurt your business in the long term.

You may fool some people, but many people will see through it, especially if they’ve seen the same material used by others doing the same thing.

It undermines your credibility.

Though plagiarizing may be the easier route, it causes you to miss out on a great opportunity to develop your own voice and a fan base that wants to hear your unique take.

Of course, it’s not possible (or even desirable) to be completely original. Since you’ll need to talk about the same things others are, there will be a necessary degree of repetition. But it’s still important to put things in your own words as best you can.

Plagiarism also causes problems with SEO. Google doesn’t like duplicate content. And regularly posting duplicate content could cause Google to take action against your site, lowering your rankings, or, in the worst case, removing you from indexing altogether.

4. Using the Word “Scam” in Their Review Calling Products a Scam

Recently, having questions about a certain product, I looked for a review of that product. One of the search results had a headline containing the words “SCAM EXPOSED!”. 

Upon visiting that clickbaity headline, I discovered that the review had nothing to do with exposing a scammy product, but rather was trying to sell it.

It shouldn’t surprise that I did not trust that review and quickly looked for another one.

If the product is a scam, then promoting it makes you a scammer too!

If the product is a scam, then promoting it makes you a scammer too!How to Write Affiliate Product Reviews & Profit: Ultimate Guide 2021 Click To Tweet

On the other hand, if the product is not a scam, then calling it such is dishonest and can hurt the reputation of an innocent person or business.

Either way, it’s wrong. A person of integrity does not stoop to such tactics, even to make a few bucks.

(This, of course, does not rule out you making a review that exposes a genuine scam.)

5. Needlessly asking if a product is a scam

Unless you have reason to believe that a part of your audience thinks or is likely wondering if a product is a scam, then it’s pointless to ask such a question.

If the product comes from a well-known or established company with a good reputation, or if that’s true of the product/service itself, then most people aren’t asking if it’s a scam or not. They’re more interested in other questions–such as whether it’s the best product for them.

In fact, presenting the product as a potential scam may unintentionally trigger a negative emotional reaction, making it even harder to sell to them!

Against the rules!

Add to the above the fact using “negative words” in your review like “scam” is often forbidden by the terms of the affiliate agreement.

In general, then, it’s best to avoid negative words like “scam” in your reviews (and review titles). Unless you are actually trying to discourage them from buying the product.

6. Overusing Headlines (and Other Over-Repetition)

I’ve come across someone’s product review channel on Youtube and saw that every video contains the headline and banner “…is scam or legit?”

Apart from incessantly displaying his ignorance of proper English grammar, it’s not wise to continually use exactly the same headline in your reviews.

Not only does it get old and look unprofessional, but also makes you look unoriginal. It gives the appearance that you don’t put much thought into your reviews. You’re just following a template. It’s harder to appear credible that way.

6.  Not Giving Enough Information About The Product

If you leave your readers unsatisfied with your review because it doesn’t give them the information they’re looking for, they likely will go visit another review site that does.

And that means if they make the purchase, it will be by clicking on someone else’s link, and you lose out on the commission that was just within your grasp.

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G. How to Write an Effective Product Review that Sells: What to Include

1. Product Features and Benefits

Detail all the main features and benefits, explain how the product works, and how it will help them.

You can use the format of writing a subheading for each main aspect of the product, followed by a paragraph or a few about it.

Showing how each feature will benefit your readers will prevent your list from becoming a dry boring list of specifications and will be more effective.

Keeping in mind your target buyers, relate the features and benefits to their pain points, by relating how the product will help them with those issues, or help them do what they want.

2. Product Pros and Cons

That you will want to include all the great things about the product is a given. But many fall to the temptation of omitting the cons, or telling people there is none. While they think to increase conversions, they are actually hurting them.

Including the negatives about a product greatly increase conversions, according to studies.

This is because you need to build their trust in your recommendations. And since everyone knows there are drawbacks to every product, your opinion seems spurious, or at least biased, when you say there are none. So they’ll not put much weight in your recommendations.

You don’t need to mention every single con about a product, just the main ones they are likely to encounter, and keep it brief.

Note also that the cons need not be an inherant flaw in the product or service, but can be a subjective objection, such as that it is too simple or too advanced for their purposes. It’s possible that what is a con for one person, may not be a problem for another, and could even be a plus. So there’s no need to be afraid to mention cons.

The cons can be balanced out by telling them how the cons can be overcome or minimized, or how the positives outweigh the negatives.

Moreover, to soften the cons, you can refer to them not as bad things, but as opportunities for improvement, where you would like to see more from the product.

If there are too many cons, or they are severe enough to turn off buyers, then perhaps recommend other similar product they can check out, and, if possible, include your affiliate links and/or links to your reviews of those products.

In fact, that could even be the whole purpose of your review! To show that a particular product is undesirable, and which is better. That can be an effective tactic.

Have trouble finding cons? Then remember that a con might not be in what a product does, but in what it can’t do. You can also check out other reviews to see what they don’t like.) The cons can even be about the company itself (as can the pros). The product can be ok, but the company has terrible customer support, for example.

3. Mention Alternative Products And Make Comparisons

Why mention alternatives?

Not everyone is going to be convinced to buy the product you’re featuring in your review. But why let them leave your site to search for a similar product and lose out on a potential customer? You can fix that by mentioning alternatives and linking to them with your affiliate links and to other reviews if you havethem.

Unfortunately, however, it’s not always possible to make a commission from the alternatives, but even if you lose a customer (that time), your loss may not be entire. If he finds your review good, he may decide to return for your opinions on other products.

Additionally, including alternative problems could actually help you sell the main product you’re reviewing, by comparing it to others and highlighting its advantages over others.

4. Social Proof: Case Studies and Testimonials

Your review will be reinforced if you include not only your own opinions and experience but others as well. Especially if they are case studies. People love case studies. And if the featured people were in a similar position as them, they’ll be more likely to believe it will help them too.

5. Product Pricing And Bonuses

It’s best to include a pricing section in your review since people want to know how much something costs before making their decision about buying it.

While a high price could discourage them, you may have convinced them that it’s worth the money.

A low price will incentivize them to buy the product. Even more, if you have bonuses and/or discounts to offer.

You could use a product chart or table for displaying the price.

But do be aware that you can’t always include the price, especially if it frequently changes. Amazon in particular strictly bans you from mentioning the price of any product in your affiliate promotionals.

Also, don’t forget to tell them where to buy it (using your links)!

6. Add an FAQ Section

Adding a Frequently Asked Questions section is great for SEO and may get your answers featured in Google Answers even if your page doesn’t rank at the top of the search results.

7. Craft Your Conclusion

Having written the main body of your affiliate product review, all that is left is to wrap it up with a conclusion summarizing the main points and giving your concluding thoughts.

You’ll give your verdict on the product(s). And if you find it worth buying, you’ll advise them to buy it, telling them where to buy it. Or if not, recommend an alternative.

Just don’t forget to make it easy for them to buy with your affiliate links. Create a clickable button (image or CSS).

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H. Key Elements to Include in an Affiliate Product Review: Summary

We’ve already touched on most of the key elements, so let’s look at a brief list of them, and then touch on a few that haven’t been mentioned yet.

  • A scoring system
  • Keywords for SEO
  • An attention-grabbing headline and introduction
  • The target users the product is for
  • Product features and benefits
  • The pros and cons
  • A highly visual format
  • Effective writing style
  • Details, and descriptive examples
  • User tips
  • The pricing & other relevant purchase details
  • Your verdict and honest opinion
  • Comparison with other products
  • Product alternatives
  • Social proof/testimonials
  • FAQ
  • Conclusion
  • Comment section

1. A Highly Visual Format

It’s no secret that people are highly attracted to visual formats. Entire social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are visually-based.

Even in your blog posts, it’s essential that you include visuals like images and videos.

Your product reviews can contain your screenshots, pictures, or videos of the product to show what it looks like, and let your readers see it in action for themselves.

Not only does it keep their attention more, but makes your review more believable and convincing.

Oh, and though this should really go without saying, always include an attention-grabbing featured image or banner in your posts. You can easily create one using a tool like Canva, which I often use for the same purpose.

2. Format the Text

In addition to breaking up the text with visuals, format the text to make it more appealling so you won’t overwhelm them with plain text.

Employ frequent subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet points, lists and more. Consider adding review/summary/features boxes to your review as well.

3. A Comments Section

Allowing comments on your blog or website enable a sense of community. It’s also great for SEO, because Google takes lots of comments to mean users are getting a great experience from your blog.

On the other hand, you’ll need to be able to deal with spam comments, which can hurt your SEO.

I. How to Write a Compelling Affiliate Product Review: Tips & Style

1. Just Be Honest

One thing I’ve continually emphasized in this guide on writing affiliate product reviews is the need to be honest. To make it in the long term (or even the short), it is essential to build trust and authority with your audience. Without honesty, that cannot be accomplished.

That’s why many product reviews add “honest review” to their headline (but it isn’t necessary to do that).

Don’t pretend the product is perfect. Be willing and admit both pros and cons. Avoid overt bias, which will hurt your reviews.

2. Understand Your Target Audience

As explained earlier, the more you understand your target audience and their interests, the better you can craft appealing and relevant content for them.

3. Be Personal in Your Affiliate Product Review

A product review shouldn’t be a mere list of specifications. That’s not what people are looking for. Well, not that alone. They want to hear an authentic perspective on a product from someone familiar with the product.

Use a personal, a natural, conversational, yet authoritative tone in your affiliate product review. Make sure to speak directly to your readers, and use terms like “you” and “your”.

Moreover, use your knowledge of your target audience to speak their language, using their vocabulary and appealing to their interests. It helps to browse user forums and comment sections.

Consider including (relevant) stories in your review. They’re very effective for engaging their interest and connecting with your audience.

4. Use The AIDA Technique to Boost Your Sales

For many years, marketers and salesmen have used and taught the AIDA method for persuading customers. AIDA is an acronym standing for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

a. Attention

The headline and introduction to your product review needs to capture their attention and keep it. Tell them why they should pay attention to what you have to say.

b. Interest

Having caught their attention, you must also capture their interest by being empathetic and engaging their emotions.

c. Desire

It’s not enough to get them interested. To get them to buy the product, you must make them want it.

Appeal to their emotions. Show how it will help them fulfil their wishes or solve their pain points.

d. Action

This, your call-to-action (CTA) can be to get them to buy the product using your affiliate links, subscribe to your blog, or check out your other reviews.

5. Build Your Authority

Your ethos or authority takes time to build. When you become a trusted source for helpful and honest reviews, you will see not only your traffic but your conversion rate increase.

In addition to the quality of your content, it also helps to employ a professional webdesign, include a profile picture (which can increase conversion rate), and include testimonials for social proof.

6. Social Proof

Concurring material from other sources makes your review stronger and more persuasive.

This can include short testimonials, quotes from other users, case studies, before and after pictures, embedded Youtube Videos, and other sources.

It’s even more effective if the people whose experiences are featured were in the same place as those reading because it leads readers to consider whether the same results can be acheived by them as well.

7. Include the Downsides of the Product

Both Pros and Cons are needed for a balanced, and hence more convincing, review.

8. Go Into Depth

Your affiliate product review should be the last they’ll ever need to read about that product(s).

Not only because you’re trying to be helpful, but because if they find you’re review inadequate, they may visit other reviews and purchase the products through someone else’s affiliate links instead of yours. So by being skimpy you’d lose a commission that could have been yours if you had put more work into it.

To convince your potential customer to make the purchase,your affiliate product review should contain all the elements necessary to help and persuade them to make that decision.

That includes:

  • informing them so they know if the product is for them (and if it’s not, you can recommend an alternative affiliate product)
  • showing them why need they need the product: how it will help them overcome their problems or acheive their goals
  • giving them all the features and benefits of the product that make it great for them
  • telling or showing them how the product works, tips for best use, and how he can use in integration with other tools (if applicable)
  • case studies; yours or other’s experience with the product
  • letting them the pros & cons of the product
  • comparing and contrasting the product to its alternatives and why it’s unique
  • FAQ: answering the questions people want answered
  • explaining why it’s worth the money

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9. Give Them An Education

You may be desperate for a sale, but just telling them to buy a product doesn’t work. At least not unless they’re already convinced. But in that case hard-selling wouldn’t be necessary. They wouldn’t need a hard shove or command, but a gentle nudge.

While appealing to their emotions is one of the elements of persuasion (does Ethos, Logos, Pathos sound familiar?), you should also give them logical and factual reasons to buy it.

Seek to persuade with education.

People can spot a salesman when they see one. And if you just sound like a salesman who’s all about telling them to buy the product, your review will lose credibility and trust. People don’t read reviews to hear sales pitches. If they want that they can go straight to the merchant’s website.

That isn’t to say you can’t ever emphasize that you think they should get the product, but it mustn’t be based on your desire to make a sale. But rather by convincing of the genuine value the product provides to them.

10. Bribe Your Readers to Buy the Product

Ethically, that is.

Offer them a coupon or discount (if you can arrange that) or bonuses. Bonuses are one of my primary motivators for buying a product. Sometimes I will get a product mainly because I want all the great bonuses being offered, even if I may not want to get the product by itself.

11. Copy the Pro Marketers

No, I’m not talking about copying and pasting their reviews. I’m talking about imitating their formats and styles. See what they’re doing, and what works for them, and implement it in your own reviews. Additionally, reading their reviews may bring to your attention aspects of the products that you missed.

But of course, it’s still important to develop your unique style to make yourself sound more authentic, develop authority, and attract an following.

You can also improve on what others have done, and observe to avoid mistakes they may have made.

Make them your models.

12. Follow a Format

While no product review format is absolute or set in stone. Some general forms have emerged that are highly effective. You may want to take a look at some product review templates, and adapt them for your use.

J. Bonus Tip

Try converting your affiliate product review into different formats, such as a YouTube video (find out how to crush it with YouTube here).

Most of the tips and principles here on how to write an affiliate product review also apply to video affiliate product reviews on Youtube or other social channels.

K. Conclusion

Whew! That was a long post, and it took me a long time to write this post on how to write an affiliate product review.

Let’s wrap up the key points.

Writing affiliate product reviews is one of the most effective ways to make money online with affiliate marketing on your blog, with many side-benefits.

But in order to be effective and successful in the long-term, you’ll need to provide genuinely helpful, honest, insightful, and thorough content that appeals to their desires and addresses their pain points.

Gain insight into your target audience and product, and follow the tips and steps in this how-guide, and you’ll be well on your way to writing effective and profitable affiliate product reviews.

Note to You:

Hey, I’d like to ask one small favor of you.

Given how much time and work I put into creating this complete guide as a helpful and informative guide for you to write successful affiliate product reviews, I’d appreciate it if you’d share this post on social media, (and link to it on your blog if you have one). I want as many people to benefit from it as possible.

Thanks for reading. If you found this review guide helpful, please share your feedback in the comments below. (Likewise if you have any tips of your own you’d like to share.)

SUBSCRIBE to get more affiliate marketing tips and resources like this.

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How To Write A Great Blog Post: The Complete Guide You Need To Succeed

How To Write A Great Blog Post: The Complete Guide You Need To Succeed: CyberMarketSpace Article by Isaiah Quidera

Do you want to learn how to write a great blog post?

If you don’t have a method or system to guide your blog writing, you’ll quickly run into problems. Writer’s Bloc, inability to write or finish writing and ineffective writing are symptoms of being unmethodical.

What you need is a step-by-step process to guide you from start to finish, even if you have no previous experience writing for a blog.

That’s exactly what I aim to provide you within here.

In this complete guide to writing a blog post, we’ll look at everything you need to know to successfully write an effective blog post.

A. What Is A Blog And Why Have One?

The WordPress blog post editor.
[The WordPress blog post editor.]

A blog is a website, or a part of a website, that has regularly updated content, and is written in a more personable manner than other types of website content, such as a straight news article or sales page.

In the past, blogs were mostly associated with individuals who wrote about their life experiences and reflections but now have also become an inseparable part of most online businesses.

Blogs are essential for both individuals and businesses to build relationships with their consumers.

There are so many benefits to having a blog.

It provides value to your audience, brings your website organic traffic, builds trust, credibility, and relationships with your readers, creates an engaged audience, enables you to provides you with an effective way to build your email list or promote products, and hence gives you a great way to make money online.

Every product marketer needs to build a blog at some point, in order to achieve long-term (or substantial) success in his efforts.

B. How To Create A Blog

If you do not yet have a blogging platform of your own, it’s simple and easy to create one.

Step 1. Choose a niche for your blog.

Your niche is the main topic your blog will be focused on. Choosing a niche, as opposed to blogging about various random topics, will help you build an engaged and interested audience. It’s also better for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Our niche at cybermarketspace.com is internet marketing, and particularly affiliate marketing, but you can choose from whatever niche you are interested in. Just make sure it’s something other people are seeking as well.

If you intend to market products on your blog, you’ll also need to consider whether your niche will provide you ample opportunity to promote products relevant to your niche. For example, promoting gardening tools on a cooking blog isn’t going to convert well, and may annoy your readers.

Step 2. Pick an appropriate domain name.

Your domain name is the name of your website, your primary website address. Example: cybermarketspace.com.

Your domain name should make sense in the context of your niche, and be relevant to it. In addition, If you can include the name of your niche or main keyword in your domain name, it will be better for SEO.

To get a domain name, you’ll have to pay a recurring fee to a domain name registrar service, like Namecheap, for a few dollars a year. I registered cybermarketspace.com with NameCheap because of the low price, and have been very satisfied with them.

Step 3. Host your website online.

Next, you’ll need a quality web hosting service to get your blog online. Webhosting plans provide you with a server to host your website on, upload content, install software, and create email accounts, among other things.

Web hosting plans can be purchased at an affordable price at Namecheap, or from other web hosting services like Bluehost and Hostgator.

But if, somehow, despite the low price, you can’t afford a web hosting plan right now, get it here for free!

Step 4. Install a Content Management System, such as WordPress.

Unless you want to hire someone to code and design a website for you or do everything yourself, it’s better to install Content Management System. I use and recommend WordPress, used by nearly 80 million other websites. It’s free, easy to use, contains an ocean of plugins, and integrates well with third-party apps.

With great web hosting services like Bluehost (the #1 web host recommended by WordPress), Namecheap, and HostGator, installing WordPress is as easy as the click of a button!

EasyWP. It's time for the fastest WP host

Step 5. Select and customize a WordPress theme

You have a large number of free themes to choose from, but if you prefer a professional theme, EnvatoElements is a popular source for professional WordPress Themes.

Step 6. Start Writing!

This is what it’s all about!

Now that you’re ready, we’ll go into the exact process you need to write a blog post.

C. How to Write a Great Blog Post: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide

So how exactly do you write a blog post?

Step 1. Select the Subject of Your Post.

The first thing to do is to choose the topic of your post–what you’ll write about.

This shouldn’t be hard since you have already chosen the niche for your blog (see above). Now you just need to focus on keywords related to your niche.

How to do this? Brainstorm! Alternatively, you can input your main keyword in a keyword tool to find related keywords.

You can use free keyword tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, Answer The Public, Google Trends, etc, to find relevant keywords that get traffic.

Step 2. Research Your Topic Keyword.

Use a keyword research tool to check whether your target keyword generates enough monthly searches to make writing your post worth it. At the same time, you’ll need to make sure the competition isn’t too high for you to rank in Google’s search results.

A rate of 1000 monthly searches is usually good, but if the competition is high and you’re a new blogger, shoot for lower volume keywords first (as low as 100/month or less).

In addition to search volume, it’s equally necessary to double-check search intent. I.e., what people are looking for when they use a particular search term. Are they searching for a product to fix an issue, a tutorial, an article, a diagram?

How do you check search intent? Google the term and see what kind of results show up. If other articles and blog posts appear, that’s a good sign.

Step 3. Write Your Blog Post Headline.

Yes, write your headline before you write your blog post. In fact, write several of them to choose from.

Your headline should be your guide to writing your post. Your post should be written to deliver on your headline. This keeps you on topic, and from going off on a tangent, only to struggle at the end to bring the loose strands together in a single headline.

It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but at least have a working title before you write your post. Even the headline I chose for this article changed by the time I finished drafting it. This post turned out to be much longer than I originally planned!

image
[Brainstorm and write down many different versions of your headline.]

Here are some tips for writing an effective headline.

1. Create an attractive title.

  • Many people don’t read past the headlines, so make it interesting enough to catch their attention!
  • It could come in the form of a question that the audience is interested in an answer for, or a How-To headline.
  • To get their attention, promise readers the answer to a problem that irks them (you may need to do research to discover what their main problems are). Be specific, so you don’t overpromise, or end up with a vague answer.
  • Use case studies. They are not only specific, but also interest people in learning how to replicate the success mentioned.
  • Use strong language, using power words, and literary tactics like alliteration and rhymes, to make your title attractive. But just don’t try to be overly clever.
  • Don’t try to be a ‘wise guy’, using sophisticated, unfamiliar, or ambigous words. They won’t interest your readers; it turns them off.
  • If you’re not writing about a topic that interests your readers (not just you), you’ll get very few readers and followers.
  • Eliminate impotent, empty, and unnecesary words.

2. Optimize for search engines.

  • If possible, compress your headline to 65 characters or less. After about 60 characters, headlines start to get cut off in the search results. So no matter how clever the rest of your headline may be, people won’t even see it.
  • If you can do so naturally, put your target keyword in the headline.

3. Learn from those that know.

  • “Copy” the style of great headlines you see, and use templates, if they help.
  • Overtime, however, you’ll learn your own style, and once you have one, make changes only gradually, so your readers aren’t jolted by your sudden change.

4. Impress upon the senses.

  • Avoid abstractions in favor of concrete, sensory words. They engage and leave a more lasting impression upon your readers.

5. Don’t give it away yet!

  • If you give away the solution in your headline, people may feel they don’t need to read your post, now that they know the answer, or can look up more about that next.

6. Don’t do that hateful thing.

  • Don’t mislead people, intentionally or not. It breaks trust and credibility, and leads readers away from your blog.
  • Misleading can happen not only by lying, but by overpromising. You want your readers to leave satisfied with the answer you’ve given, and ready to hear more of what you have to say.
image 1
[Thou Shalt Not Mislead.]

Step 4. Do Your Research.

man writing laptop pixabay
Research before Writing.

You don’t have to know everything about your topic before you write about it.

Here’s a secret many bloggers won’t tell you: bloggers often don’t know anything about a topic until they decide to write about it!

But the important thing is that you research the topic before writing about it, else you can’t provide anything of value to your audience. Write down what you learn in case you don’t remember it later. (I mean, what would be the use of research you can’t use later on?)

Pro tip: Always check your facts, and use authoritative sources so you don’t end up embarrassed later on.

5. Organize Your Raw Content in an Outline.

Having researched your topic and taken notes, it’s time to arrange that content in an outline. You can do this with sections, tips, lists.

You can be as detailed or as general as you wish. As an analytical person, I like to be as detailed as possible, but whatever works for you.

6. Write Your Post!

The preparation stage is over! Now let’s get into the actual drafting stage.

There are two ways you can write a draft. You can do it (1) in one sitting or (2) gradually write a section at a time.

The first is preferable since it helps your post flow better, and you from forgetting ideas as easily. But time constraints and long complex topics may compel you to take the latter course instead.

What you write will be based on the outline you have created.

7. Create a Captivating Introduction.

Apart from the headline itself, the intro is the most crucial part of your blog post, because you both need to capture your readers’ attention to keep them from just taking a quick glance and leaving your site, perhaps forever.

Grab readers’ attention. You can try this by telling an interesting story or funny joke, being empathetic with your readers, or grip them with fascinating fact or statistic. Or you can describe your post’s purpose, explaining how it will address a particular problem relevant to your readers’ experience.

Tips for writing an effective introduction:

1. Step inside their their perspective.

It’s a common mistake to make blog posts sound too academic. That’s not the way a blog should be. After all, this isn’t high school or college class, and unless you interest your audience, they’ll simply leave.

To capture your audience, you need to be empathetic with them and make them feel you are reading their minds.

Trigger them–in a good way. As you write, feel the emotions you want them to experience, and when that transfers into your writing, you’re audience is likely to feel them too.

2. Draw your readers down the page.

Interest them, and keep them interested.

  1. Open your post with a question or short sentence. This is more inviting to the reader than a large paragraph block.
  2. Gut your Intro.  Cut out all unnecesary words.
  3. Get things moving quickly. You can slow down later.
    • Use brief sentences.
    • Use brief paragraphs. Preferably no more than 3 sentences each.
    • Let each sentence connect with the other, so things flow smoothly down the page. Reading your page aloud will help you check the flow.
  4.  Make your readers crave the solution.
    • Allude to their fears. Refer to the consequences that will or could occur if the problem is not solved.
  5. Present your post as the solution.
    • Tip: Ask a question that addresses the problem facing your audience, then explain how your post helps them overcome that obstacle.

8. Deftly Draft The Body of Your Blog Post.

At this point, having done your research, you should be able to write your post based on what you know. But if you feel the need to research further, you are free to do so.

This is where you deliver on your promises; and more.

The content of your body is based on the outline you have previously made.

Tips for writing the content of your blog post:

  1. Break up the text. Don’t intimidate your readers with long walls of text. Use subheaders, sub-subheaders, etc, to break up the text, help your readers navigate or scan your post with ease, and to support the main headline. Bullet points and numbered lists also help break up the text (as do images, discussed below).
  2. Stick to a format, and formula.
  3. Give your audience something unique.
  4. Be generous with your knowledge, and thorough. Give readers what they need to know. (Don’t annoy them (for example) by saying they need to buy your product or go somewhere else to find the answer to the question your post was supposed to solve.)
  5. Just as you should start out strong, so should your ending be.
  6. Each section of your content should be structered and written to support your headline and intro.

9. Creating the Conclusion.

Let your conclusion be motivational.

Show your readers how far they’ve come, what they can do after reading your post, and what things will be like once they put what they’ve learned into action.

Raise their expectations.

Above all, it’s important to tell them they must act by creating an effective call to action–telling them what you want them to do next. This can be something like asking them to subscribe to your email list or signup for something, download an ebook, etc.

Pro tip: Never introduce new information in a conclusion! A conclusion should (briefly) reflect what went before and what to do next.

10. Enhance Your Post With Images.

So you’ve finished writing your blog post. Congratulations! But there are still a few more steps to take.

Every post should have images.

Photos and infographics help break up the text wall, add interest, and explain complex topics in a simple, understandable way.

As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Where can you get images for your blog post? There are three sources to choose from: (1) free images, (2) stock (paid) images, and images you make yourself (or someone else on your behalf).

1. Free images.

I am somewhat amused when I see people giving credit to Google as their image source. Google is not a source for free images! They only display images, most of which have a copyrighted or other restriction on their use.

To get free images, you can use a site like Pixabay, or Pexels that provides you with free images.

Unfortunately, however, free image sites will often leave you unsatisfied, unable to find the graphic you were looking for.

2. (Paid) Stock images.

These are images you pay for a license to use. You can buy quality photos and images from sites like Shutterstock, iStock/Getty Images, and Alamy.

3. Create images.

Creating unique images, and especially infographics, is great for SEO, a free way of getting backlinks.

Fortunately, it’s easy–even for people with no experience–to create aesthetically pleasing graphics using tools like Canva. (The blog banner at the top of this page and the infographic at the bottom of this post were both created using Canva.)

And, of course, shooting your own pics is another way to get free images.

10068 90349810068

11. Proofread Your Blog Post.

  1. Correct basic writing errors.

You’ll need to fix obvious writing issues like grammatical and spelling errors, and improper word choices.

Grammarly, a free writing app for desktop or mobile, is an excellent tool for doing that.

It also helps to get others to read and proofread your post and give their feedback. With Grammarly Premium, you can also have real, professional editors proofread your work.

Also, check the flow of your article by reading it aloud.

You needn’t be a perfectionist. While you should polish your post as best you can (and continue to do so), there simply isn’t enough time to make it perfect.

2. Revise your writing style.

Avoid: repeating yourself, abrupt turns, going off on tangents, being inconsistent, and using uncertain, ambiguous, weak, or unnecessary words.

What you should do: write smoothly, engage the senses, put things in their natural and logical order, and be consistent.

Don’t worry about cutting things out or adapting them right before publishing.

3. Double-Check Your Format.

Are you using subheadings generously? Bullet points? Is your post scannable? Are you using enough short sentences? Short paragraphs? Do you have appropriate topics and tags?

4. Review your visual appearance.

Does your post have a featured image? Is your post visually engaging (including the formatting)? Is it easy on the eye?

12. Optimize Your Blog Post for Search Engines (SEO).

1. Include a meta description, a 150-60 character summary of your article, in your post. Use action verbs like “discover…,” “learn…,” “read…,”. Metadescriptions give people a snapshot of your article which they see in search engine results.

It’s easy to create a metadescription if you use the Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin.

2. Include your target keywords in your post title and subheadings.

3. Create anchor text. (Clickable text that links to another page) that links to other pages on your website.

4. Have at least a couple of H2 (format) headlines that include search terms.

5. Make your website mobile-friendly. Mobile traffic will make up a big chunk of your traffic.

13. Publish Your Blog Post!

This is really the easiest step of them all. If you’re using WordPress, just press the Publish button and it will be live!

image 2

At least…if you were using the WordPress editor. But what if you were using something like Google Docs? No problem, you don’t have to go through all the trouble of reformatting and so forth.

Just use Wordable to easily upload your blog post from Google Docs to WordPress. That’s what I did for this post!

D. Wrapping Up.

How to write a blog post. Info-graphic by CyberMarketSpace.
[How to write a blog post. Infographic by CyberMarketSpace.]

Well, you’ve come a long way toward understanding how to write a blog post–from start to finish.

Now the important thing is for you to go forth and write!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more articles like it, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Have any other tips for writing a blog post? Feel free to share them in the comments! And don’t forget to share this article on social media to help others begin or improve their writing journey!

[Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links.]

The Best Ways to Promote Your Affiliate Links Online [With or Without a Website]

The Best Ways to Promote Your Affiliate Links With Or Without a Website by Isaiah Quidera CyberMarketSpace
Looking for #affiliate promotional methods? In this comprehensive #guide, we’ll explore the best #affiliatemarketing platforms, methods, and strategies for promoting your #affiliatelinks, both with and without a website of your own. Click To Tweet

(If you’re new to affiliate marketing and looking to get started, or are trying to understand the key terms and concepts, see our previous post here.)

I. What are “Affiliate Links”?

Since we’re going to spend the rest of this time learning looking at ways to promote affiliate links, let’s make sure we know what we’re referring to and how to acquire them. 

When you sign up for an affiliate program, you are given a unique URL (exclusive to you) that contains your referral ID or username.

When people click on an affiliate link, they are redirected to the sales page (usually containing promotional material) on the merchant’s website.

Here’s a couple of examples from my affiliate links:

http://quidera.sqribblex.hop.clickbank.net/

Sqribble ebook creator website
[Clicking on the affiliate link redirects to Sqribble’s website.]

https://jvz7.com/c/2142769/337315

VidScribe website
[Clicking on the affiliate link redirects to VidScribe’s website.]

Affiliate links also install a cookie in the visitor’s browser (when clicked) which enables the merchant to give credit to the affiliate for the sale. Unfortunately for the affiliate, if the customer blocks or rejects the cookies, he likely won’t get credit for the sale.

II. Ways to promote your affiliate links on your website

Do you need a website to do affiliate marketing? No, but you’ll be missing out on a lot if you don’t have one, as you’ll see when reading this guide.

Here are the top ways to do affiliate marketing on your website.

1. Writing blog posts or informative articles

This is one of the best methods overall. It gets you plenty of search engine traffic, provides readers with a lot of value, helps build your credibility, and gains the trust of your readers. So they are more likely to follow your recommendations and buy the products you are promoting (AKA, a higher conversion rate.)

What to do: Share your affiliate links in your blog posts by recommending products in your posts or integrating your links with your content.

Example: posts in our Blog.

2.Write Product Reviews

This is a subtle, but popular and effective subtle promotion method. Many people look for product reviews when interested in buying a product because they want to learn more about it and hear other people’s experiences with it. Often this will influence their decision on whether to buy it.

What to do: Write a review of your product sharing your experience with it, giving your honest views on it, what you liked about it (or didn’t, but be careful with the latter). Give an overview of the product’s outstanding features, and direct the user to where and how they can buy it, or learn more about it on the merchant’s website.

Example: IMReviewer

[Speechelo: product review page]
[Speechello: Example of a product review page for affiliate marketing.]

3. Product Tutorials/How-To Guides

What to do: Write an in-depth guide on how to use a product or some feature of it. This is especially effective if you thus showcase the product’s use and features as the solution to a problem, to help your reader do something they want to get done.

4. Product Comparisons

A product comparison is like a mini-review of several products focusing on their similarities and differences in chosen aspects.

What to do: You can use a product comparison to highlight the advantages of certain products over others or to demonstrate the uniqueness of each.

A checklist is one common product comparison method.

[Aweber vs Mailchimp: Product Comparison Chart]
[Aweber vs Mailchimp: Product Comparison Chart]

5. Affiliate Banner Ads

An affiliate banner ad is a clickable image (ad) that contains your affiliate link.

Some affiliate programs provide you with premade banners. All you need to do is add the code to your website. If you use WordPress, you can do with the Custom Html block (or Shortcode).

image 2
[Example: Aweber provides affiliate banner ads]

[Above: example of a banner ad.]

III. Ways to promote your affiliate links that don’t require you to have a website

1. Email Affiliate Marketing

Your email list is your most valuable asset. Building an email list allows you to contact your audience directly and personally without depending on search engines and social media algorithms, hoping your audience will see your content. It’s one of the most profitable forms of marketing.

What to do: Create a landing page (you can do that with Aweber or Leadpages) offering some valuable freebie (like an ebook) that they can receive only by submitting their email address. This kind of landing page is called a squeeze page, and the offer is called a lead magnet.

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If you’re a newbie and looking for an easy way to get started, Covert Commissions provides you with done-for-you squeeze pages and done-for-your automatic email campaigns promoting your affiliate links. All you need to do is add your Affiliate ID in your dashboard and connect your autoresponder (like Aweber). 

If you have a website, you can use pop-ups as well as landing pages.

And yes, you can do email marketing even if you don’t have an email list of your own. No, I’m not talking about spamming. That will get you in plenty of trouble. I’m talking about running email solo ads and safelist marketing.

a. Solo ads

One of the best places to buy solo ads is Udimi. It gives many sellers to choose from, showing their average conversion rate and other ratings. It also gives you free live-time tracking for all clicks on your links. Even better, you can choose to have them write the solo ad for free if you don’t have your own.

Buy solo ads - Udimi

b. Safelist Marketing

A safelist is a mutual mailing list for marketers. Since all the members have agreed to receive marketing emails, they can’t get marked as spam. 

The major downsides of using safelists are that (1) you will receive a stream of emails in return that can quickly take up your time, and (2) with all the other marketing emails they receive each day, you’ll get a much lower conversion rate. But I guess you get what you pay for, and it’s usually free to join. 

For the second reason, I would advise mostly advertising free products to generate leads for building your own email list.

Safelist Examples: InstantAdPower.com, Worldprofit Associates, Mister Safelist, AdExchangeAdvertising, Stay At Home Mailer, Viral Credits Mailer, The Lead Magnet.

2. Using Social Media

You must go where the people are if you are to succeed. And nearly half the world’s population uses social media. If you’re not using social media to promote your business, you don’t know what you’re doing.

Two different methods of promoting your links on social media are available to you.

1. The Direct Method: This is where you directly share your affiliate links and pitch a sale.

2. The Indirect Method: Send them to a landing page (such as a blog post, or product review) to learn more, and this page contains your affiliate links.

What social media platforms are available to you?

1. Facebook

What to do: Share posts on Facebook in groups, in your bio, and your regular posts. Some groups allow you to promote your affiliate links but be sure it’s ok so you don’t get banned from the community.

You’ll be more effective if you regularly share posts that provide value to your followers/readers, rather than just annoying them by spamming their feeds.

2. Twitter

Tweets being as limited as they are, you may want to use the indirect method instead of sharing your links directly. You can also add your affiliate website to your bio.

3. Instagram

As popular as Instagram is, it’s a bit trickier to use for marketing than others. Only those with 10 thousand or more followers can share links in their feed, put links in your bio, and direct people to go there.

4. Reddit

Reddit apparently does not allow for affiliate links, so use the indirect method on Reddit and link to your blog posts or landing pages that contain your affiliate links.

Try to be helpful when sharing links, as simply link-dropping will not be appreciated.

5. Medium

Medium allows affiliate links, but you must clearly disclose your affiliation on whatever page you share your affiliate links on. It’s not the most affiliate-friendly platform, but it’s popular enough to give you a good chance at making sales.

3. Video Platforms

a. YouTube

YouTube being the second largest search engine in the world, you don’t want to miss out on using it. In fact, for many YouTube is their primary way of making a living.

What to do: You can promote your affiliate links as resources in your video descriptions, or with popups during the video. Use YouTube to create product reviews or tutorials.

b. Rumble, Vimeo

Vimeo and Rumble are YouTube alternatives and Rumble allows you to monetize your videos.

c. Webinars (or live videos on social media)

Webinars have the highest conversion rate of any marketing method. If you’re trying to sell a high-priced product, your best bet is to do a webinar on it.

You don’t have to go live if you don’t want to. Many webinars are pre-recorded and replayed multiple times.

d. Never forget to share your videos on other platforms as well.

4. Advertising (besides Solo ads and safelists)

a. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

With Search Engine Marketing, you’ll pay for ads that will appear at the top of the search results when people search for certain keywords.

You must verify that it is allowed in the terms of the affiliate agreement since some affiliate programs strictly prohibit you from using keyword bidding to promote your affiliate links.

b. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

In addition to SEM, you can pay for other ads for your affiliate links. You can purchase PPC ads from Google and social media platforms.

c. Free Advertising methods

In addition to safelists, you can get free advertising for your affiliate ads or banners.

You can either get a set amount of credits per month or earn ad credits for viewing other’s ads.

d. Traffic exchanges

What to do: For every site you visit, you get that many guaranteed visits to your site.

To do this, you’ll need to join a network like Traffic Splash.

5. Ebook

A clever way to promote your affiliate links is through an ebook. If you offer the ebook for free, it will serve double-purpose as a lead magnet as well as a marketing tool.

If you’re looking for an easy way to make and design ebooks (including some DFY), I recommend using Sqribble.

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Not a writer? No problem. Affordably hire someone on Fiverr to write an ebook for you.

6 & 7. Comment on blogs and forums

Only provide your affiliate links in blog comments if they are relevant and helpful, else you likely won’t get past moderation or spam filters. Even then they may not allow it, so it’s better not to link directly.

The same applies to commenting on forums.

8. Referral link sites

Some websites allow you to share your referral and affiliate links directly on their platform. In fact, that’s the whole purpose of their platform.

With Invitation, you can easily share your affiliate links and get free traffic automatically. It’s like a social media site for link offers. Sign up here.

Conclusion

Have any other ideas? Let us know in the comment section below! And don’t forget to subscribe and share this post on social media!

[Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links.]

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