Will Hoekenga 63 Comments Last Updated May 25, Because blogging costs are many — web hosting, email lists, domain renewals, social media tools. They all cost money — and every month your blog comes up short. Of course, you already know one popular option for monetizing your blog — you could create a product. And besides, creating and promoting a product takes time. Many bloggers have heard of it, but for a silly reason completely ignore it….

You introduce your readers to a product, and if they happen to make a purchase as a result of your introduction, you get a commission as a thank you.

When done the right way, affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful ways to earn some money from your blog and actually help your audience.

Do some people abuse affiliate marketing for their own gain? People who will do — and say — anything for a quick sale? But for as long as people having been selling things to other people, unscrupulous operators have always lurked on the fringes. People like Pat Flynn. Even, yup, you already knew it — Jon Morrow, the man behind this very blog.

All three of these massively popular and respected bloggers promote affiliate products as a way of earning more revenue from their blogs. How are they able to do so, while also maintaining an enviably close relationship with their audiences? Not only do these five rules give you an ethical blueprint for affiliate marketing , but they also provide a system for building long-term trust with your audience. The question you should ask instead is this: Answering that question will point you toward the products, tools, and resources that will help your audience accomplish what they desire.

All you have to do is come right out and ask them. The first time I ever built an email list, I added a simple P. What do you do, and how can I help? Your response will go to my personal inbox instead of a robot. Simple, conversational — and a surprisingly large percentage of people took the time to write back and tell me exactly what they needed help with. You can incorporate this type of P. Once you understand the needs your audience has, ask yourself: Fortunately, everyone was able to laugh about it.

Offering a product to your audience sight unseen , risks a similar catastrophe. And your readers might not be as forgiving as those dinner party guests. Well, depending on your in-laws, maybe you would! But you get the picture. Using a product that you recommend also opens the door for a better way to promote that product, according to John Lee Dumas:. No sales pitch in the world can outperform a story of personal success from a person the audience trusts. Consider how many outstanding experiences you can create and, ultimately, how much trust you can build.

If you get a sizeable commission — great. If the commissions are recurring — even better. But consider these details bonuses or cherries on top rather than key factors that guide your decision-making.

Luckily, many product creators also develop high-value free resources for you to promote instead — resources that ultimately tie into an offer to buy one of their products. Recently, John Lee Dumas made his affiliates very happy by offering exactly this type of free resource.

Back in January , Jon Morrow sent out an email recommending a new free video series from Danny Iny of Mirasee about building online courses. I have absolutely zero problem recommending him. Maybe the only guy.

So, go watch the videos. He will add value to what you do. Maybe even engaging in a few unscrupulous tactics to squeeze every last dollar. So how in the world is he earning so much affiliate income month after month? Creating walk-through YouTube videos which provide massive value on their own even without a hard sell at the end always perform best for me.

To give another example, networking expert and Smart Blogger contributor John Corcoran wrote a post on his blog featuring this video showing how to use the relationship management tool Contactually to handle email follow-ups:. Not only is the video genuinely useful, but it subtly signposts the fact that this is a tool John personally uses.

Additionally, if you really want to go above and beyond and you should , Pat Flynn recommends offering support for the products you recommend:. Go out and find a product your readers will genuinely love. Andrew May 14, Affiliate marketing is something that I did all wrong in the beginning. A huge no no. You NEED to do that so you can get the full user experience yourself in order to promote it properly.

One thing I noticed about affiliate marketing is that you have to do something to separate yourself. Like what pat flynn did with blue host or offering additional, complimentary products with that affiliate product … so it boosts the value. Will Hoekenga May 14, I think almost everyone gets affiliate marketing wrong at first, including myself.

Back in the day, I thought it would be as simple as just dropping a few Amazon affiliate links here and there in my posts. Like any other worthwhile strategy, however, you get out what you put in. Gael Breton May 14, I love where affiliate marketing is headed to be honest. If you combine that with free trials, it makes selling while adding value to your crowd relatively frictionless and people thank you for it. Lisa May 14, Jon just about had me buying our course — and I helped write the course.

The email was a great example, and it speaks to the quality of the work you and Danny are doing. Evan Stevens May 14, You are able to tell someone why you use, what benefits it provides and how it could help them.

No sales pitch needed! Keep up the good work! The Guy Who Flies May 14, The overwhelming majority of reviews or recommendations on my site are actually things I have personally bought or used.

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My previous requests for feedback from my audience as to what they want me to focus on received no response. I guess I need to keep on trying. For anyone new to this just remember affiliate marketing is not easy.

It is hard work. Alex May 14, Bonnie May 14, Joann May 14, Royalty Free Music May 14, So now I am a huge advocate for promoting free content. Ideally, I think that the content should be interesting to your ideal audience. And even supportive of whatever you would like to eventually sell. If anyone is interested in learning more about how I am growing my business, just shoot me an email. TighterWriter May 14, Thanks will i totally agree with the rule 1, perfectly going to use this tips in building a better relationship with my audience thanks.

Mohinder Verma May 15, I thinks this post starts from where most of the bloggers stop thinking about making a perfect blog. I think my search ends here and I have kept a note of few points which was lacking in my blog posts. Will Hoekenga May 15, Brigitte Lepoix May 15, I will concentrate on selling my own stuff first and grow up my list before anything else! Nothing wrong with building your own products first.

Rob Lawrence May 15, I make a point of using affiliate links, from people I know and trust, if they recommend a product. Win for the buyer being recommended a good or great product from a trusted source who has gone to the trouble of testing it and recommending the product or service. Win for the person who has gone to the trouble of raising the awareness of the service or product.

Win for the supplier of the product. Out of interest, your chats with Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas — are they available for public consumption? Thanks for the additional insights here, Rob. Regarding the chats with Pat and John, shoot me an email at will.

Katherine Swarts May 15, There are some graphic novels, humor collections, etc. If you start with these questions you should end up with products that are compatible with your particular niche. Greg Strandberg May 15, Is anyone worried that a heavy reliance upon affiliate sites could be perceived as unnatural in the eyes of Google?

Hey Greg, not sure I understand your question. Are you concerned that Google might penalize you for putting too many affiliate links on your own site?

Greg Strandberg May 19, John Corcoran May 15, The funny thing is I never started promoting Contactually because I thought it would make money. Sherman Smith May 15, I really like these posts. At first I was going about it all wrong LOL.. One thing you put emphasis on is to focus on the needs of your audience. The best thing you can do is to just ask them flat out. Being interested in their business and concern about their struggles will definitely go the right way.

If not, point them in the right direction. This builds a great reputation for you and this can go a long way! Will Hoekenga May 16, Yeah, flat out asking your audience how you can help them seems a little odd at first. Kevin Duncan May 15, I highly concur with your tip to only promote what you use.

I use and love Rainmaker, so I promote it. Thanks for the great post, Will, and congrats on getting to guest blog for such a wonderful site! Thanks for the kind words and for sharing, Kevin! Agreed about BBT — definitely an honor to write for such a quality site. Academic Papers May 16, Nowadays articles is growing up and thanks for sharing this nice information with us. Dennis Seymour May 16, I got into it the wrong way, with the wrong education. Peter Banerjea May 16, Hi Will, Good post.

What I really like about affiliate marketing is how it benefits subscribers. I recently bought a Ryan Levesque product because Jon recommended it. I would probably not have considered it if I had come across it in any other way. Affiliate marketing is a great way for customers to know that they have an offering they can trust.

When you trust somebody like BBT readers trust Jon , recommendations really help you cut through the noise and find resources worth investing in. Hey Will, Completely forgot to mention something! I had been a leadpages user for a few months when Jon promoted you guys- last year. Obviously that raised my confidence in Jon and leadpages to higher levels. Will Hoekenga May 17, Shoot me a link on Twitter if so!

Peter Banerjea May 17, Damian May 17, When I finished reading your article a question flashed in my mind. Or how do you choose the right affiliate? Nico May 19, Covers a lot of the ethical parts of affiliate marketing.

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If you have a long term engaged audience then these tips are really important as it helps with getting repeat customers.

Arbaz Khan May 19, To make passive income through affiliate marketing, you should know everything about the product that you are going to promote. I have seen a lot of bloggers who make insane amounts of money by promoting products that they personally use. The best example here would be Pat Flynn. Will Hoekenga May 19, Shikhar May 19, Laurie Stone May 19, Thanks for the good advice. Hey Laurie, I can confirm that traffic building never ends.

It never hurts to have more. What is so attractive about affiliate marketing when you first start off in the blogging world? None was so attractive as being an affiliate marketer. So, I jumped on the bandwagon and rode hard. But, with little knowledge on how things worked I fell flat on my face. Make a long story short, the dreams of setting on the couch, and raking in all the millions was a failure.

With over a year stuggling to make it, I stumble upon Jon Morrow. The rest was history. I am still a rookie, with rookie questions. Dose anyone know of a great blog, or something dealing with landing pages. Lorraine Reguly May 20, Biplob Karmakar May 21, Hi Will, Online earning is not so easy without any good guidelines.

Especially those involved with Affiliate Marketing, Thanks for sharing such a valuable post. SK Bansal May 21, Guys Check this 15 AWESOME METHODS TO ACCESS BLOCKED SITES.

AK May 21, Guys check these awesome methods to increase android phone battery life http: Guys Do you want to Unlock your pattern lock of android phone check this http: Guys check this my site and comment if u need any help http: Samantha May 23, Matthew Olszewski May 29, Perhaps it makes sense when advertising your own products.

The Ethical Way to Earn Money Online (Even If You Have Nothing to Sell) • Smart Blogger

Kevin Collins Jun 04, The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

Deborah Owen Jun 04, I have a c 3 nonprofit charity http: Is there a way to do this on my WordPress blog? If so, could you give me some directions on how to do that? I love your tips. You can admit it. You secretly wish your blog was more than just a hobby. What you need right now is a way to earn a little money from your blog without a ton of work. Some revere it; some despise it. Some use it; some abuse it.

Freeze you in your tracks, or Lead you down a slow road to ruin. The most effective way to promote affiliate products is to have genuine success USING the affiliate products. Recently, I was the number 2 affiliate for the launch of Easy Webinar. The reason I was able to have such a successful launch is because my audience saw me using their platform to run streaming webinars 7 days a week and report the results via our income reports.

Fire Nation trusts us and the results we have, and it turned out to be a total win win! It may seem to go against the grain, but free is proving to be incredibly valuable for our affiliates in With the launch of FreePodcastCourse.

Both of the courses are great funnels into our paid communities, but only after delivering massive value. Danny has made almost as much money as me from online courses. I only partner with the best of the best. Ready to get started with affiliate marketing? It will walk you through the complete process of earning affiliate income while also adding massive value to your audience. Great post Will, I love where affiliate marketing is headed to be honest.

Great article once again. Thanks for reading, and the kind words! Thanks for this article and all the advice. Thanks for the useful post! Where would we best find fitting affiliate partners though, how would you go about that? This is the information I was looking for. This made me re-think of my current affiliate marketing practices. Thanks for writing this! Glad to hear it was useful for you.

That should help attract the attention of the right people. Aaron, the Custom Music Guy Aaron at FreeCustomMusic. Thanks Will Hoekenga for sharing such a wonderful and helpful post.

Mohinder Paul Verma BloggingFunda — A Community of Bloggers. Win for the buyer being recommended a good or great product from a trusted source who has gone to the trouble of testing it and recommending the product or service Win for the person who has gone to the trouble of raising the awareness of the service or product Win for the supplier of the product.

Thanks for the further insights and round-up. This is an article worth bookmarking and sharing! Hi Katherine, I think this issue is solved with the first two questions I recommend asking: Thanks so much for the mention Will! I love your approach here. It was a great example. Hey Will, I really like these posts. Thanks for sharing Will and I hope you have a great weekend!

Hi Will, Love your work on LeadPages, so I was thrilled to see you writing here on BBT! Have a good one, Will! Great post Will, love how you structured this and told a good story. Hey Will, thanks for your interest! I have sent you the link.

Hey will, That was an amazing resource. Thanks for shating all these valuable info. Thanks for sharing all that valuable info. If he can make money, then anyone can. Awesome Post Thank you so much.

Wil Thanks for the great read, first off. Dose anyone know of a great blog, or something dealing with landing pages Again thanks for the great read Your Friend Jason. Thanks for the great advice! How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free. WANT MORE GREAT ARTICLES? Authority Beginners Comments Content Marketing Creativity Design Email Engagement Entrepreneur Facebook Launches List Building Marketing Mistakes Money Motivation Newsletters Pinterest Popular Promotion Resources RSS SEO Standing out Tools Twitter Viral Marketing Visual Content WordPress Writing.