Using Affiliate Sales As An Income Stream For Your Blog

When I work with clients, a lot of my time is spent on strategy, and helping to coach a client into what is possible.

This past week I met with a client who has a solid business plan. Her business has been growing steadily for the past ten years, she has a great web presence, and her products and services are well defined.

Like most businesses these days, she’s looking for new ways to bring in income. Her company is growing, but there’s always room for improvement.

So I mentioned affiliate sales.

Affiliate Sales
Most people are familiar with Google’s Pay Per Click advertising. By placing ads from Google on your blog or website, Google will pay you a fee for every time someone clicks on one of the ads. Depending on the traffic your site receives, you can earn anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars per month.

For a lot of businesses, Google Ads are to salesy. They want the primary focus to be on their products and services, not ads from other networks.

Yet for every business model, there are logical products and services that go along with your business model. They enhance it, and in some cases make your products and services sell even better. A couple of ideas are:

A web designer can sell domain names and hosting packages
A nutritionist can sell vitamin supplements

If you’re new to affiliate marketing, here’s a comprehensive list of affiliate networks:
http://www.paulsonmanagementgroup.com/affiliate_center/affiliate_networks.php

Because you are forming a business relationship with these networks, they will require you to apply and be approved before you start using their information on your sites. But with most, you can go in and take a look at the companies they represent before you get started.

These affiliate networks are just your starting point. They are built around companies that use affiliates as a large portion of their sales team. But for many industries, you may find yourself doing better with smaller, more personal business. And in many cases these businesses have affiliate programs, but don’t promote them through networks.

In order to find these programs, come up with a list of businesses that are complimentary to your own. You could easily promote their products or services in addition to your own. Then begin your search.

As was the case with my client, she had a handful of companies that she’s already worked with in the past. They have complimentary products, and they give finders fees when one of her clients uses them. By contacting these companies, we solidified the relationships, created a tracking system for referrals, and began building a small income stream that takes little to no work on the part of my client.

One important tip is not to grow your affiliates into a huge selection. The last thing you want to do is confuse your web visitors. Your affiliates should compliment, not overwhelm.

If you’re placing banners on your home page, think two to six advertisements. Keep it simple, professional, and use as an accent to your existing products and services.

You can also use your affiliate products and services as blog posts. Talk about the relationship, and how these products or services complement your own. Show people how to use them. Show them why they should trust you and your referral. And don’t be afraid to mention your affiliate relationship. The last thing you want to do is surprise a client and have them find out you made money on the referral through another source.

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