One of the easiest ways to make a passive income is by having a website that uses affiliate marketing links on it. Each time someone visits an external site through one of those links and makes a purchase, you get a commission from the affiliate network. Of course, you’ll need to put some hard work and effort into setting it all up. But, once you do that, you’ll soon see the fruits of your labor.
While the process of setting up a website for affiliate marketing is straightforward, many people fail spectacularly. Why? The answer is simple: they don’t carry out the right tasks and in a particular order. As a result, their dreams of having a real passive income fade with each passing day! To ensure you don’t join the ranks of such unlucky online entrepreneurs, here’s how to be successful at affiliate marketing:
Register and use a keyword-relevant domain name
It would be best if you have a domain name relevant to the niche or theme of your website. So, if the topic of your site is about gardening, for example, make sure you use a domain name with “gardening” or a related keyword in the name. As you can appreciate, a domain name like “super-racing-cars.com” isn’t very relevant to a site that discusses landscape gardening and reviews things like lawnmowers!
If you’re stuck for keyword ideas, consider using a keyword research tool such as Google’s free Keyword Planner. You can then compile a list and use that to search for available domain names.
Host your domain on a fast server
One of the things that search engines consider is how long it takes on average to access a website. If you host your site on a slow-to-access web server, it can cause your domain to rank slightly lower in search engine results pages.
The thing is, high-speed web servers are inexpensive, and so there isn’t a reason to cut corners and attempt to save money by hosting on a slower, unreliable web server. Before you choose a provider to host your website, be sure to conduct some research into things like site access speeds, customer support, and ease of management.
Choose a reliable affiliate marketing network
You might not realize it, but there are scores of different providers out there that offer affiliate marketing links. You must use one or more that have a reputation for paying out on all valid purchases made through affiliate links.
Of course, it’s also worth pointing out that you could even work with brands directly to market their products and services on your site. The principle is still the same as with conventional affiliate marketing networks: you get provided with unique links where commissions from transactions get assigned to you.
Again, it makes sense to do prior research before selecting affiliate networks or link providers. Examples of some of the leading players include Amazon Associates, Affiliate Window, and VigLink.
Advertise your website
Last but not least, you’ll no doubt be aware that you should, in the very least, register your website on Google Search Console and provide a sitemap.xml file for it to parse. But, you’ll need unique, target visitors to access your site to click through your affiliate links and, of course, buy something so you can make a commission on each sale!
To achieve that goal, you’ll need to put in place an advertising plan that gets your site regular visitors. That’s the easy part; the hard bit is working out which advertising and marketing mediums will work for you and your site.
As you’ve got a new site, it makes sense to invest in some relevant, targeted PPC ads. Be sure to make the landing pages relevant to the ads. Doing so will mean your ads will more likely get shown at the top of the first page of search engine results.
Apart from paying for advertising, here are a few other ways you can drive traffic to your website:
- YouTube links. If you’re thinking of setting up a YouTube channel for your site, be sure to link to relevant pages on your website from each video description;
- Blog post links. You could contact owners of other websites, such as those that manufacture or distribute the products you wish to promote and ask them to link to your review pages;
- Social media links. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are just a few popular social networks where you could build up a following and encourage profile “fans” to visit your website.
Thanks for reading this blog post – and good luck!
(Cover photo source)