Posted on June 11, 2009 by Brett

Becoming an affiliate partner is an indispensable part in your effort to make money blogging.  This is particularly true for first-time bloggers who have yet to attract enough traffic to their sites, or for those whose blogs still don’t have enough clout to sell advertising space.

First things first, however. What exactly does it mean to be an affiliate? When you sign up for an affiliate program, you agree to drive traffic and/or sales to your partner site in exchange for a commission. Affiliate programs like these abound; some of the most popular ones include Google Adsense, Amazon.com Associates, Clickbank, and Azoogle.

Given all these, however, affiliate marketing isn’t tantamount to instant money. Always, the challenge is to encourage people to click through to your affiliate’s website or offer page. After all, some people couldn’t care less about the sort of advertising on your site, or what those banners on your home page have to offer to them. And yet there are marketing strategies that you can implement to ensure that you’re doing justice to your affiliate program and coming up with as much profit as you can. Read on to find out how you can be a successful affiliate partner!

1. Simplicity is key:

Over time, it’s become more and more obvious that glitzy banners and flashy ads on your site don’t do as well as advertising that comes in the simple form of links. In other words, people are most likely to respond to an ad if it’s subtle and non-invasive, which is exactly what an ad link is like. Not just that – the difficulty with banners is that they sometimes take forever to load, especially if they require a demanding program to run successfully. Go with the simpler format, and your ads are likely to get much more attention and click-throughs than your banner ads.

2. Make sure that your blog theme and affiliate program are compatible:

If digital technology is such so popular, wouldn’t it make sense for you to put up ads for cell phones and digital cameras on your site?  Well, it would, if your blog were also about digital technology.  If, however, you’re managing a food blog, you might only confuse your readers with the product offers you’re waving.  Choose an affiliate program that’s in line with your blog’s current theme – doing so concentrates on your target market and eliminates unnecessary confusion.

Don’t stick to just one program:

Make the probability game work in your favour: sign up for multiple affiliate programs, and tweak them all so they work in harmony with each other. For example: you can use Google Adsense alongside other affiliate programs. Be sure to implement this in moderation, however. Most readers are turned off by excessive advertising, so don’t be too blatant about your intent to earn money. Instead, position your ads tastefully, in such a way that your readers don’t feel like their experience of your blog is akin to staring at a huge billboard.

4.  Come up with relevant product reviews:

What kind of products will your readers be interested in?  Since you’re serving a particular market with your blog, respond to their interests by coming up with product evaluations that can help them make better purchases.  And we aren’t just talking about any old review here – instead, we’re referring to a commissioned review from places like ReviewMe.com, where a blogger can get paid for evaluating a specific product.  Not only do you get to help your readers – you also stand to earn money for your efforts!

It’s not too hard to figure out how affiliate marketing works, or what it takes to be a good affiliate.  Refining your strategy with affiliate programs is just one of the better ways to make money blogging, and when it’s used prudently and wisely with your existing marketing strategy, your blog is bound to go places.