There comes a point in many long-term blogger’s blogging life when they make the decision to blog for money or not. For some blogging niches (personal finance in particular) monetizing a blog is a very intense decision. It took me several years to make the decision and then another year to wrap my head around how to do it in an ethical and transparent way. And, I figured out the way to make blog affiliate income without being sleazy. Fortunately, it’s not hard.
*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*
Blog Affiliate Income
Is an incredibly enticing way to make money. Because, let’s be honest, once you figure out how to make affiliate income once, you know that you can duplicate the process. In fact, one of my favorite things is to get affiliate income notifications. LOVE IT!! But, there are some really important things to think about. Affiliate marketing is not MLM Marketing. Ideally, you’re sharing a good or service that you’re obsessed with and have actually used. Let’s work through how to monetize and not be sleazy. And, of COURSE I’m sharing affiliate links when appropriate n this post.
- Share with integrity-don’t promote products that you aren’t 100% in love with. There is a reason why I had a hard time sharing HostGator/Bluehost. I just couldn’t do it. Yes, every blogger who hosts their own blog needs a blog host. But, we don’t have to settle for the McDonalds of blog hosts. I spent time looking for a better blog hosting company before deciding to share (and move to) SiteGround. I noticed for the past two years that people were becoming increasingly unhappy with those companies. And, I had two blogs one hosted with each service. And, while they got the job…done…I wasn’t shouting from the rooftops to get people to use them. And, given that every blogger that owns their own site needs a web host-that was lost income. In fact that was a minimum of $50 a referral or more depending on how many referrals I earned. Instead, I took my time and waited for a company that people LOVED. And, the company I found was Siteground. Now, when I share Siteground I feel comfortable that people will receive great service, I like the tutorials, and the price is equal to what they would pay for service from other companies (starting at $3.95 a month). When you share with integrity, you don’t have to second guess “the share.”
- Win/Wins Affiliates-I spend a lot of time looking for affiliates that I consider win/win. What in the heck do I mean? Both your reader and you WIN when using the affiliate that has been shared. Here is an of a win/win affiliate: Ibotta. I love Ibotta for several reasons. First, it’s a Colorado based savings app. I’ve actually met the CEO several times and I’ve even participated in user testing as a side-hustle. I love that you can save on your shopping. And, when people sign up under my affiliate link they will receive $10 towards their first payout after they redeem their initial savings. I will receive $5. That’s a win/win. We both earned money, we both will save money on spending that we would already do.
- Problem Solvers-Focus on how the affiliates you share will help solve problems for your readers/listeners. The affiliates that you find will depend on the niche that you’re writing in. The affiliates that I share for my Colorado blog are slightly different from what I share on this blog. I’ve also looked for universal problems that both groups may have and use affiliates that address both their needs. Rize is a savings platform that I share. It’s a great way to help people save for what’s important to them. And, once they sign up and complete the sign-up process they get $10 and I get $5 (win/win).
- Problems my Colorado Blog Readers Have-They are looking for jobs, need to save money in general, may be visiting and have tourism related needs. I share an affiliate called Hired (for tech based jobs) that helps people find jobs in Colorado. That’s something that is useful for them. And, even if it NEVER pays me-it’s still a great affiliate for my readers.
- Problems for this (my personal finance blog)-Need to pay off debt, save money, earn more, may be online entrepreneurs (other bloggers).
- Don’t try to sell people on something they don’t need. This makes me crazy when people do this. I had several people reach out to me asking about purchasing a specific course. It is NOT a cheap course. And, I could have made GOOD money referring it to everyone who asked. But, I felt that some would benefit from the course and others would. In fact, I felt that it made no sense to encourage people to purchase the course and I told them (and saved them a TON of money). Again, I would have made great money with that affiliate program. But, why in the heck would I encourage people to spend on something that they don’t need? Shady.
- Be a True Fan-Actually use the product or know a minimum of 10 people who use and are OBSESSED with the item. How can you refer something that you’ve never used? Can you share any talking points about the product? How do you know the positives and negatives of the affiliate you’re sharing? DO you know how I made $2,000 accidentally with ThredUp? I’m a huge fan of the site so it was easy for me to geek out about it. You won’t be able to make money on affiliates that you don’t know. People will be able to tell that you don’t know the product.
Umm…and some more…
- What’s the Benefit?Be able to explain the benefit of the product without a hard sell. It should be obvious why someone would want to use it. You shouldn’t need to beat people over the head with why they should use a product or service. It should just make sense.
- Serial Affiliate-Don’t date every affiliate program. Commit to 10 or less and be 150% obsessed. More than 10 affiliates is confusing to your readers, hard to share, and dilutes your ability to share each affiliate obsessively.
- Disclose candidly (because you should)-You’re obligated to share that you’re an affiliate of a program. I disclose this: on livestreams, my podcast, on my blogs, Twitter. Basically, anytime I share a link-I disclose. I did it TWICE in this blog post. I shared the regular disclosure in italics. And, I said “Of, course I’m going to share affiliates in this post.” There is no confusion about the fact that there is the potential for me to earn affiliate income because of the links that I shared in this post.
- Don’t DM people about an affiliate-Recently, I’ve had people reach out to me about purchasing products that they’re affiliated with. These are products that I’ve NEVER indicated an interest in or a need for. And, it was clear that they have no idea what I’m into.
- Closed Facebook Groups-If you’re sharing affiliate links in a closed FB get permission from the administrator-don’t be slick. I run a closed FB group and I always can tell when people are trying to share a link. The best way to ethically share a link is to: be a guest in a livestream for the group. When you’re planning for the livestream ask if it’s ok to share an affiliate link for such and such product. Caution-the affiliate should NEVER be something that positions the FB group admin negatively (if they share a different affiliate for the same service). Be very aware of optics. In fact, I post in Sandy Smith’s Hustle Crew quite a bit. When I have a resource that solves a problem for her group and happens to be a an affiliate program-I ask permission before sharing it. ALWAYS. Do not breach that trust. And, yes, I was able to make sales ethically this way.
- Don’t Throw Other People Under the Bus-Just because I don’t like a business, good, or service doesn’t mean that I go off on a friend who colleague who does. I can try to change their mind…or, just understand that their experience with that affiliate has been different from mine. Stand in your own truth and keep on moving.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
If you are looking for a reasonably priced course that helps you with the backend process of building up your blog’s affiliate income. I really like the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and think that it’s currently underpriced. I’ve actually been surprised that Michelle hasn’t increased the price for the course. My one complaint-I wish it had video. I’m a reader, but, people have different learning styles. I would love to see videos of Michelle’s travels and what affiliate income has been able to do for her life. Given that she made $1.5 million dollars last year…affiliate income is treating her well.
Want to Start a Blog?
I love blogging! It has been an incredible experience, transformed my life, and connected me with a ton of amazing people. Blogging is a pretty cheap activity and I recommend hosting your blog with Siteground. Many bloggers have begun leaving HostGator and BlueHost and moving to Siteground. Myself included! Read why I’m leaving HostGator and BlueHost (I have 2 blogs one on each hosting platform) and moving to Siteground.
If you’re a new blogger Siteground will cost around $3.95 a month (depending on the size of your audience). They have great customer service and tutorials on how to host your new WordPress blog on Siteground.
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In the beginning, I tried to promote all types of affiliates. I didn’t know what my audience liked and it showed. Last year I stopped promoting certain products. I even removed posts that contained certain links because those articles didn’t get any type of traffic.
I’m very careful that my affiliates make sense and help my readers. If they don’t, I can’t (and don’t) share them.