On this post, I tell you about the different levels of affiliate marketing:
- Linking means you go and get an affiliate link to a product and add it to a blog post, tweet the link or whatever.
- Reviewing means you actually use and test the product (e.g. read a book, install and test a software program, test drive a car, etc.), and then publish a review of the product.
- Promoting means you put time and effort into actually selling the affiliate product (and not just link and/or review).
The idea with the 3 levels is that as you level up, the likelyhood of making sales increases, but at the same time, the amount of work goes up.
Preface
In my book, joining an affiliate program, copy-pasting a swipe-copy to your email list is not promoting. That's linking. Placing a banner with affiliate link on your blog is not promoting, that's linking.
Promoting brings you the best results, reviews work very well too, linking works, but it will not bring the results you can get from reviewing and promoting. All levels can and do make money, but in very different way. Linking relies on traffic volume, promoting relies on relationships and trust.
Linking is the first level. The second level, reviewing, is important in order to find the best products for the last level, promoting. As you go to the next level, the time you put in increases and the number of products on that level decreases.
- You can do plenty of linking (or choose to do very little)
- Reviewing takes time, so you probably can't do it as much as linking
- Promoting works best when you focus your effort into a few products, so keep the numbers low
Now, let's take a look at what each of these levels actually mean.
Linking
First of all, using affiliate links is necessary in order to make commissions online, unless specific coupon codes or such are used, but in this context, linking means using affiliate links without additional "selling" like a review or recommendation of the product.
Making money through affiliate linking is not much different from contextual advertising, the money comes (if it comes) with volume. The click-through rates are probably much smaller than with reviews and promotions, and the conversion rate into sales is very likely even smaller.
Linking is the least effective affiliate marketing, since you are "just" linking to a product. You can make money, but probably not much, because you're not "pre-selling" or promoting what you're linking to. Linking is how most marketers start after joining their first affiliate program, thus I refer to it as the first level.
Even when "just linking", you need to consider if you want to be associated with something. I do this with any kind of linking, not just affiliate linking. I only link to places I think are beneficial to the reader, whether it's an additional tips, further reading or some product related to the content I've done.
For example, I link to someone who has also written a book. If I do short intro of that person, I might link to that book on Amazon. If I haven't read the book, I'm telling "this person has written this book" without actually recommending it. Since I'm linking to it, I might as well make it an affiliate link, right?
Some people choose to do this, some don't do it all. Those who don't do linking, think it's not worth to do this, so they either don't link at all or link without affiliate links.
Moving from linking to reviewing means that you have first-hand experience of the product. When you have used and tested something yourself, your recommendation and the affiliate link gets a lot more weight.
Reviewing
When doing reviews, you go through a 3-part process
- choose a product for testing and using
- test, use and evaluate the product
- do (and publish) a review
If you haven't used the product before (you are looking for new products to promote), the product must match the criteria from the affiliate program evaluation checklist.
Firstly, it must be worth the time you put into it. Since you put time into testing and reviewing, making a review should be worth it. Note that reviewing can be beneficial even if you don't make money directly from it. For example, you can review a free product and that review can benefit you and your blog, even that you don't make any sales since the product is free.
Secondly, if you think it's worth the time, you can start testing and using the product yourself. How could you review a product if you haven't used it, right? For a product or service you're using already or have used before, these two criteria have already been met.
Lastly, the third criteria, does the product meets the needs of your following, will tell whether or not you recommend the product to your following.
If it doesn't meet the needs, or the product is not good, it does not mean you should not publish a review. It comes down to decision, do you want to publish bad reviews or not.
To summarize reviewing,
- first choose the products to test and use (starting from products and services you are already using is a good start, like a book you've read, a tool you are using, etc.).
- Then evaluate the features, advantages and benefits of the product.
- Based on this evaluation, you can decide if you do a review or not. If you think the product will benefit your following, or you also publish neutral or negative reviews,
- the last step is to do and publish the review (write, record an audio or video).
Going from reviewing to promoting means you refer people back to your review or promote and recommend the product in other ways.
Promoting
Promoting an affiliate offer is the third, the highest level, and the most effective way of affiliate marketing. This is where you really put an effort into selling the affiliate product yourself.
Reviewing can be a preceding step for choosing the products to promote, but it is not necessary, although doing a review and then referring back to that review is a great way to promote a product.
For example, you can do affiliate promoting by recommending the affiliate product within your own products, offering bonuses for those who buy the product through you or teaching your following how to use the product.
When choosing a product to promote, the products you choose to promote should check well with all three criteria of affiliate program evaluation:
- Does it meet the needs of my followers?
- Is the payout worth the effort (ROI)?
- Have I used or tested this product myself?
Since you are putting yourself, the trust you have built and your time into promoting the affiliate products, the products you promote must be worth it (both financially and effort-wise). In order to keep the trust, and keep it ethical, you should have used and tested the product yourself.
You should not waste time on anything that will not benefit your following, in fact, promoting something that is not good and beneficial can have negative effects on your business. With every affiliate promotion you do, you put your influence and trust on line. And no amount of money is worth enough to lose the trust you have built over time.
Conclusion
- When choosing products for any level of affiliate marketing, look for products and services that complement your own offering (your own products and services).
- You can link and review to many products, but only choose a few products that you put more effort into via promoting and selling.
As you build the trust with your following and your influence grows, you can see better results as you move to the higher levels of affiliate marketing. Remember to keep it real and honest, choose the affiliate products carefully, and do plenty of free content in between the reviews and promotions.
As always, questions and comments are more than welcome and encouraged. Please, share your thoughts and views on affiliate marketing on the comments below.
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