Publishers, want to know how to maximise your revenues with affiliate marketing?

There are many ways to generate revenues around your audience. But if there is one, well known to content creators, it is affiliate marketing. Affiliate Marketing is one of the essential ways to monetise your work as an influencer or the audience of your site as a publisher. A high added value partnership, non-intrusive and essential to integrate into your marketing toolkit to finance your content.

How can you do this? Read our article.

Affiliate marketing for publishers: back to basics

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy model in which advertisers only pay according to key objectives: a click, a purchase, a download (white paper, mobile application, etc.), a subscription to a newsletter, etc. The advertiser, therefore, entrusts a third party with the promotion of a brand or product. This is the affiliate (or publisher). The affiliate is a content producer who agrees to talk about the advertiser. Each sale, click, lead or download will generate a commission. This affiliate may be a new website, a blog, a micro-influencer on social media, a price comparison site, a deal site, etc. Monetising their audience enables the publisher to finance his/her content and development projects. And the advertiser is guaranteed to reach a qualified audience.

To achieve their objectives, affiliates promote the brand in a variety of ways. They use the tools they have at their disposal, including newsletters addressed to their communities, native content, videos, online advertising, etc.

Affiliate marketing: best practices for publishers

To become a publisher, the advertiser must agree to trust the publisher. A process that depends on the quality of the content, the qualification, the commitment, and the audience’s loyalty, as much as on the bond of trust that is forged between the two parties. This is where affiliate platforms play an important intermediary role between the two parties as they guarantee the quality of the partners in their network, provide the tracking solution and centralise the communication with publishers.

A consistent editorial line and quality content

To attract advertisers and visitors, it is essential to offer clear, understandable, and consistent content. When appearing on a third-party site, advertisers expect consistency in terms of positioning, values, and brand territory. A guitar seller will prefer sites created by and for musicians because they share the same passion. A cosmetics designer will go for online influencers whose central theme is makeup or skincare and well-being products, for example.

As a content creator, you need to be clear about your values. Who are you? What do you want? And what do you believe in?  Don’t neglect your editorial line. That is what defines you on an editorial level. Whether it deals with strong opinions and editorials or more factual information, it must be clear and not vary over time. You must be consistent to win advertisers’ trust.

Once the positioning is defined, you must offer relevant content to monetise your audience. This means content in a variety of formats with regular publication and on topics that create value through good storytelling. Don’t neglect your presence on social networks, either. Even if the decline in organic reach doesn’t make things easier, they are still a good place to build and nurture a community.

Collaborate with your advertisers

Using advertisers’ ready-to-use information and content (email kits, banners, promotional materials, good quality photos, etc.), it is easy to communicate professionally. Ask for specific information about the offer, and don’t hesitate to ask questions. Wording is important, so save time with content which can be used immediately and is easy to understand.  

Vary your affiliate programs

Some offers have a short shelf-life. This is especially true for well-targeted trading periods such as the sales, Christmas, back-to-school, etc. You need to update them frequently, both in terms of content and communication channels. This also helps to boost your visibility and to keep your audience interested. Ask for precise information about the offers and don’t hesitate to contact your affiliate platform who will be able to help you in the choice of the best affiliate programs according to your performance and your audience.

Be transparent

A relationship with an advertiser goes beyond the usual relationship between a customer and a supplier. It must be a genuine partnership which is based on trust. Don’t mislead your community, and make it clear that this is a sponsored offer with affiliate links. Explain why you agreed to this partnership (you like the brand, you believe in its values, you were a client before the partnership, etc.) and why you need it (financing new projects, recruiting a new person to your team, creating a new site, etc.).

Affiliate marketing is a simple and effective strategy for monetising your audience and maximising your revenue. You can disseminate information about the biggest local and international brands and choose the most suitable format for your content (banner, text links, voucher code, product feed, email, etc.). This will generate additional income that will help you grow faster

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If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Publishers team: publisher@kwanko.com