If you own a website or want to get into making websites it might be worth looking at including a few affiliate links. Which leads me to a shameless plug to one of ours!
Krystal hosting – this site is actually hosted with Krystal and they have been our brilliant host for a bunch of websites that I’ve owned. I can whole heartedly recommend them.
Anyway … shameless plug aside let’s think about what you could put on your website!
What affiliates could I use?
There are a whole host of companies that offer affiliate links so it might be worth checking the websites you visit regularly, or typing a website into Google and putting “affiliate scheme” or “referral scheme” after it.
You need to think about what your target audience would find useful or something that everyone and their dog might already use like Amazon or ebay.
For example; Perhaps you are talking about making money from affiliate marketing and are recommending a book, wouldn’t it be nice to put a link to the book with an image of it that people can click on and as a bonus you earn a bit from it as well?
From Nothing by Ian Pribyl
A fantastic book about making money online with a great section on Affiliate marketing and how you can really monetize your website – a must read!
What do I need?
A website – perhaps you have one already or maybe you are going to do your affiliate marketing through a social media account? Which ever way you do it you need to market it and get people interested!
NB – read the terms of your affiliate program. Some companies don’t like you putting affiliate links onto social media or may not want you to put their links onto certain types of websites.
Sign up for some affiliate programs – some websites host their own affiliate or referral programs but others may use third party companies who do it for them. If you sign up to a third party for one website, it might be worth looking at what other websites they also deal with.
Marketing – how are you going to get people to visit your site or click on those links? Are you using social media to drive traffic or are you driving traffic via a free and helpful email newsletter that you send out regularly?
Perhaps you just read a great book about marketing and want to share it with your readers:
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Wow I just read this fantastic book on marketing, such great and simple ideas for the small business why did no one tell me about it before?! Have a read and get marketing your small business.
Conclusion
However you decide to do affiliate marketing it can become a nice way to earn a little bit more cash. Remember though:
- Make it relevant to your target audience
- Plan how you will market your website or social media so that more people see the links and click on them.
- Remember it takes time to buildup a website and a following. Don’t expect riches right away!