Why You Should Use Affiliate Programs to Monetize Your Blog

Our usual focus here is on how to improve your blog content for affiliate marketing purposes. We discuss and advise upon the various strategies for attracting dating traffic and promoting your affiliate program’s messages. But what we don’t often go into is why you might want to put in all that effort. Why should you bother working with affiliate programs? What good can it do for you? Well, the main answer to that is financial gain. So many people consider joining an affiliate partnership program but become overwhelmed by the information. Even the language used can be baffling. So, they give up.

Here’s why you shouldn’t.

5 Reasons Why You Should Work with Affiliate Programs

1. To monetize your work

OK, so this is the obvious one. People blog for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s just a place to vent – which is great. For other people, it’s a way to improve their SEO. Quite a few people write blogs or produce vlogs to get free products. Affiliate marketing doesn’t get in the way of any of that. In fact, it can help to increase the success of each of these ventures. And has the added bonus of bringing you an extra income. For most affiliate program members, the income is just a side hustle. But if you do it well, it has the potential to become a fulltime job. If you work well, you can even generate a passive income.

2. To make use of your data

When you’re running a blog, you can have access to a huge amount of data. Especially if you have a mailing list. Once upon a time, the unethical would happily sell that data for a few extra dollars. That is not a nice thing to do. And today, it can get you in a fair amount of hot water. BUT it doesn’t stop you using the data as you would any other resource. If people are signing up to your blog or mailing list, it’s because they value what you have to say. Working with affiliate networks won’t compromise that. It just means that you can take the opportunity to promote some awesome products or services that your readers might be interested in – and get paid for it.

3. To optimize your conversion rates

Working without targets can be easy, but it can also make you lazy. Working with an affiliate program can give you something to focus on. When conversion rates can lead directly to cash, you’ll suddenly find that you’re a whole lot more interested in getting things right. This isn’t just good news for your blog and the quality of content you’re delivering to your existing readers. But it will also help refine your expertise and teach you how to make the most of your assets. Both of which are extremely useful core skills to have and could be handy in your future career… Whether working for someone else, or taking the plunge and going completely into business for yourself.

4. To find an endless source of content

One of the hardest things about managing a blog or vlog is the pressure to create fresh content on a regular basis. Even the most inspired of us run out of steam from time to time. If you’re working with affiliate programs you always have topics to fall back on. And if you’re clever, that can lead to extra cash.

5. To build trust

This might sound a little counterintuitive. You’re probably thinking, ‘surely people will trust me less if I start trying to sell them stuff promoted by affiliate programs?’ And that can be true… If you’re ‘selling’ the wrong ‘stuff’. The real trick behind succeeding in affiliate marketing is to choose your programs wisely. You need to select goods and services that might be of genuine interest to your readers. Not just because that will dramatically increase your chances of success and therefore your earnings potential. But because you will further cement your reader’s trust. If you recommend a dating site, for example, that genuinely helps a reader find ‘the one’, you’re going to find your biggest fan. And they’re going to talk about it. And probably thank you on your social media pages. And soon other people will be turning to you for advice to help them do the same. Because you’ll have become a trusted voice in your niche.

There are various ways to monetize blogs. You can advertise. Sell products. Create courses and ebooks. But working with affiliate programs has become the most popular option for very good reasons. It’s relatively quick. It’s relatively easy. It brings a whole host of other benefits. And it works. So, what’s stopping you from joining an affiliate program today?