5-Affiliate marketing mistakes (and how I learned a hard lesson). Not understanding these basic inputs will provide no chance of success
Affiliate marketers have a battle to be seen
Unless you are read and followed no one will click your links and thus no sales will result.
A pretty simple formula really however the big question resides around being read.
First of all you must be on page one of a search term. Over 80% of searches never go past the first three free listings so if you are not there you will not be found.
- Keywords. An in-depth understanding
- Traffic. Is there any?
- Your meta and heading must be compelling
- Linking. Use Pretty links so you know what is happening
- SEO. This needs to be right
Keyword understanding is essential.
Understanding Keywords is paramount to success
Keywords or more correctly Key phrases are the basics of all search terms. It is a balance between competition and traffic and both need to be on target.
Fortunately we have some tools to help us with this otherwise it would really be a difficult task.
When someone searches for anything they type in a series of words and those words are the Keywords that take them to a result. Google ranks all those words and positions them according to their rules.
I use three different tools to gain the information needed to make a wise decision. Remember I said traffic and competition, well, too much of either and you wont be found, similarly too little has exactly the same results. No one looks at you.
I looked up affiliate marketing for beginners and found among others two results
Same page and vastly different results so what went wrong.
Seeing your traffic makes a difference.
Using the tools before and not after
The first is Jaaxy a Wealthy Affiliate product .
This tool will give you most of what you want in terms of volume and competition. Pick volume of around 100 a month and competition under say 50 or 5 pages.
Next we look at Ubersuggest by Neil Patel. a bit more difficult to read but more information.
Finally the important Google search. Google writes the rules so they know.
Ubersuggest also has a Chrome extension that provides the estimated visitors numbers as seen above. They will add to the traffic count.
Using a headline tool helps write great introduction text.
Now we have a headline and Meta description to complete
The above examples both appeared on page one so why did one get more traffic?
The first thing is the headline.
Affiliate marketing for beginners 7 steps to success makes a promise.
I struggled with this for a long time until I found a great free tool by MonsterInsights. This tool rates your headline and tells you what you are doing wrong, or right in some cases.
Many experts will tell you to keep your headline short however they are wrong. The headline needs to draw readers in to answer a question, provide hope or come up with a solution to a problem.
7 Steps seems to be better that 2021, ( what's more you wont have to change it)
You need power words and promises to pull them in.
Next is the Meta description the lines below the headline. This must explain what your article is about and whether it is worth reading for them. It needs to contain your key phrase as well.
These three items are a package that need to be the best available on the page. Your time to grab a reader is only about 2 seconds so it must be good.
| Key Phrases are the start | Search for traffic and competition |
| A great headline is necessary | About 55 characters is ideal |
| Meta description | Get them in with a promise |
Affiliate marketing mistakes and bad links
Use your links sparingly and distance them apart
Being an affiliate marketer gives you the opportunity to link to many and varied income sources. Most of us have a whole bundle of affiliate links depending on what we are writing about.
First of all writing for Mobile content is necessary at all times because this is where Google takes its ranking from.
However having links close together for a mobile phone creates a blurring of the data and they can't be used.
Secondly readers are there for information and too many links creates distrust in what your article is about. Links must be directly associated with your article and provide more information.
Finally you have several link types but three are important
| Internal links | Linking to other data within your blogs |
| External Links | Taking them to further information |
| Authority links | University's, Health services even Wikipedia |
In conclusion, limit your links, write for mobile optimisation and include authority.
Using good SEO is also critical to success
WordPress is my media of choice so I am able to use Yoast SEO. In fact I use the premium version because SEO is so important.
http://Yoast.com
Content structure must be designed with readers in mind. Lots of headlines, short sentences, a few graphics and no spelling mistakes.
Writing must be positive and use ample transition words to connect structure.
You are not writing an engineering white paper. You are there to entertain and keep readers on the page from beginning to end. Provide a solution or answer a question is your destination.
Keeping them on the page creates an opportunity for taking them to a destination where you get paid. You are an affiliate with an ambition to make money. Therefore getting readers transported to the money page is your objective. Your blog or article is the devise to the printing press.
Don't get all hung up on price winning articles, find the hot spot that gets action and exploit it as well you can.
In most cases the web page you are directing your readers to will be designed to sell the product, that is their job. Your roll is to build interest and move them on to spending money.
Affiliate marketing mistakes and good SEO
| Good SEO is important | Try Yoast SEO |
| Entertain and inform | Include references |
| Move readers to a sale | Using great linking structure |
Understand your history and analyse your results
When you don't know where you have been, can't see where you are going and have no idea of traffic you are in the middle of a nightmare.
Firstly Google analytics is available free to everyone. It has such an extensive range of stats
that can tell you many variables. If you are using WordPress then a great plug-in is Monster Insights. (The same one for your headline analyser) This puts all the vital stat on your front page so you are reminded constantly to check your results
My conclusion to affiliate marketing and the lesson I learned
The principal lesson is that many variants make the whole and they all need to be in line. Like music it is not just one note but a range of inputs to create a tune.
Affiliate marketing is like that. You need to line up all the ducks to capture interest and intent in a part of a second.
Therefore you should concentrate on each variable and get them all correct every time. Any one failure may well cost you a reader and importantly a chance of income.
You are an affiliate to make money and we sometimes get so wrapped up in our content that we forget that important principal.
The best place to start an affiliate journey is with the training at Wealthy Affiliate. From starter to professional there is something for everyone and your entry is free.
They understand the business better than any one so even being in the forum provides healthy tips and advice.
Furthermore you can get answers on a range of issues in several ways designed around a quick finish to your issue.
5-Affiliate marketing mistakes (and how I learned a hard lesson) by Peter Hanley
