372: Affiliate Marketing That Actually Makes You Money

[00:00:00] If making money with affiliates hasn't worked for you yet, it's probably not your fault. Most creators treat it like an afterthought, and that's exactly why it doesn't convert. But when it's done strategically. Affiliate income can be a reliable source of your monthly revenue, if not the number one source of your monthly revenue.

[00:00:21] Welcome to the Thrive Podcast, where we believe creators deserve more, more money, more freedom, and even more love for what they do. I'm Bree p, your coach for content creators, and I know the struggle. The long hours, the endless ideas, the feeling that success is just out of reach. But here's the truth.

[00:00:42] You've got what it takes in this podcast. It's your shortcut to getting there from strategies that actually work to behind the scenes insights. We are unlocking your potential one episode at a time. So if you're ready to turn your creative hustle into a thriving business. Let's get started. This is episode two of the series all about monetizing your content, and it was inspired by our monetization growth plans inside of Bold, fluent because every content creator, including you, needs to be able to make money and grow your audience in a way that works for you.

[00:01:20] That's why we built over 25 unique growth path combinations to help you do exactly that. So when you join Bold Fluence, we're gonna walk you through those options and help you choose the path that feels best for your goals. This episode is behind the scenes peak at what that looks like. So why is affiliate marketing perfect for beginners and busy creators?

[00:01:44] Number one is that there is a low barrier to entry, which we love. You don't need to create your own product. You don't need to source anything. You don't have to go pitch a whole bunch of brands. You just have to apply for some different programs. It also works well in blog posts, email, social content, and video.

[00:02:07] So no matter what your favorite platform is, so you're going to pair it super easily with whichever audience growth plan you choose. Affiliate marketing is going to work for any of them. It's really ideal for creators with smaller audiences when paired with trust and strong recommendations. You don't have to have a ton of followers to make affiliates really, really work for you.

[00:02:32] So what do you need to get started? My suggestion is choosing three to five affiliate programs that align with your content and values. And we have an entire blog post that links, it's called our Mega list, um, where we link a whole bunch of different programs, tell you how to find them. Give you pros and cons of each.

[00:02:49] So we will link that in the show notes. We're also explain in that blog post just how commission structures work. So things like cookies, last click, different types of payouts. That's what you need to figure out, just how it works, and we break most of that down for you, either in that blog post and also, of course inside of bold points.

[00:03:12] The other thing that you need to get started is just to know what your audience actually wants help with. You can see by scrolling on Instagram, scrolling on TikTok, and see which reels perform really, really well and why. Right? So it takes, yes, some digging in and some researching and figuring out what does my audience need help with?

[00:03:35] What can I provide to them? But once you do, you can just go crazy. So that leads me to step number three is how do we share links that convert. The key here is adding some personal experience and context to every link. So ones that fall flat are just ones that aren't relatable, that don't have anything to do with you that you don't really need, right?

[00:04:02] But also for the content creator that is creating it. Let's say you've been following them for a long time and they share something that is out of left field or just feels like, eh, that's just not necessary. Those ones aren't going to land as well. But when you're able to just really hone in and be like, no, this is something that I love and I use every single day, or my kids love or my husband loves, or This is how I use it in my home.

[00:04:28] Showing it in a way that really works for you and is authentic. That is what helps things convert. Focus on sharing content in a way, like let's say a roundup. Like, here's five different ways to add cozy to your home, and it's five different products that you share. Cute little B-roll videos throughout your house.

[00:04:47] Or maybe it's a review of something that you purchased and showing them how you use it and why you use it. I did this recently with a bagel recipe. And I wanted to share and support this content creator who wrote a book, and so I showed off my delicious bagels and linked the book on Amazon, and I'm able to do two things in one.

[00:05:12] I'm able to make some affiliate income, and I'm also able to support that content creator. Tutorials are also huge. Whether you are showing, um, something for your home, whether it's a cozy little craft, whether it's, you know, a recipe. There's so many different ways that you can show somebody how you're doing it, and so many different ways that you can film it from a point of view or overhead.

[00:05:37] All different kinds of really fun, creative things that you can showcase. And then linking all of the different products that you used. You can use call to actions like, I use this every week, or Here's this thing that I recommend and why. All three of these different things are ways to share links and get them to convert more for you.

[00:05:58] We have this and so much more inside of bold fluence for you. So what are some common roadblocks and how do we work through? If you're seeing low clicks or conversions, I want you to really look at the traffic source. So look at the platform. How is it working for you as a whole? And also content clarity, right?

[00:06:15] Like going back to really deep diving into what does your audience need, and is that something that you're providing? Are you being really crystal clear with your content? Are you being awkward AF and it is not landing because you feel super uncomfortable? Try something different. Try a voiceover. Try more of like an A SMR type of style video.

[00:06:38] There's different things that you can try and see if it lands differently, but often if you keep sticking with the same thing over and over and over and over again, they're like, it's not working. It's not working. It's not working. You have to change something up. Alternatively, if you try something once and you're like, Ooh, that crashed and burned, that doesn't necessarily mean that that style was bad.

[00:07:00] It could just mean that the algorithm didn't pick it up. So try again. We need to test things more than once in order to see what is working and what is not. Another roadblock could be just sharing too many links and overwhelming. So make sure you're simplifying. If you're sending something in a dm, don't send a hundred links.

[00:07:19] If you're sharing things on stories, don't, I mean, some content creators post, you know, 20 stories in a row with different links. It again, that's just gonna kind of come down to testing your audience and seeing what really lands with them. I work with some girls who. Posting 20 different stories with different links, works really well for them, and I work with some where that just crashes and burns and does not, their audience hates it, so it can be overwhelming.

[00:07:48] My suggestion is to test things. The other roadblock or kind of pain point. It could be that you're not emailing your list or guiding them towards your recommendations and you're just kind of helping. They stumble upon them maybe in a blog post or something, right? I hear that all the time. Like, oh, well I put 'em in a blog post and I'm not seeing any conversions.

[00:08:08] Well, if you have, you know, low page views. You are not going to see conversions, right, because you're not letting people hear your voice and see the recommendation. It's more so just like visually saying it and then clicking on something. Those are going to convert quite a bit lower, typically, and if you have, let's say, only 500 people that saw that blog posts, that's not that many people that have the ability to even click on it in the first place.

[00:08:36] So keep that in mind. So inside Bold fluence, what does a 90 day affiliate growth plan look like? We break it down into three sections for that 90 day plan. The first one is picking your partners and creating strategic content. So choosing three to five affiliate program and then brainstorming content that naturally weaves your audience in and publishing those first posts or videos with links.

[00:09:01] So getting everything set up and if you need help getting set up with. Mini chat or figuring out which affiliate programs are right for you. We're there to support you with all of that. Then month two, you're going to share, test, and track things. So you're gonna promote your affiliate content across social, your blog, email, and use really strong call to actions and test formats.

[00:09:24] So test things like, how does a tutorial work? How does a list work? Or things I use posts, how does it work when I film this way, or if I do. Music only, or if I do voiceover, if I talk to camera. Testing, testing, testing. And then for the third month, it's optimizing and building a system. So you're gonna identify what are the, what is that top converting content.

[00:09:49] We're gonna track your earnings and create a monthly system for updating links and planning affiliate forward content. I love affiliate income because it's not random. It's really the result of building trust with your audience, recommending product well and making it easy for your audience to buy. And you can do that with 500 to 500,000 followers.

[00:10:11] You don't have to have a huge audience to get started. So some mistakes that I would love for you to just flag so that way you can avoid them. Number one would be only linking in Instagram stories or LTK and expecting big results. The truth is that you really have to create video content for social, create reels, get that content out there, utilize affiliates, links across the board, email, blog, multiple social media platforms in order to see better results.

[00:10:43] Don't share links with no explanation or no personal connections. So something just random probably isn't gonna land. Another mistake is not tracking what's working or not. Often we're like, yeah, I'm testing things, and you push things out there, but then are you really going back and analyzing things, looking at the number, and really diving into the data and tracking things.

[00:11:04] Then the fourth mistake that I want you to avoid is signing up for too many programs and getting overwhelmed. I really strongly encourage you just to sign up for a few that makes sense for you, that really align and going all in on those you can add as you go. But really, there's so many programs out there and you can do really well with just a couple of them, and oftentimes at the beginning, it's gonna be a lot easier to do that rather than spreading yourself thin.

[00:11:33] So how does Bold Fluence help you make affiliate income your main income source? We give you plug and play templates for affiliate posts, emails and product roundups training on where to place links, what to say and how to drive clicks, a content calendar, support for planning, affiliate friendly content, and of course coaching and community to help you troubleshoot your strategy as you go.

[00:11:58] Affiliate marketing doesn't have to feel spammy or salesy or random. It can feel really authentic and fun. And inside bold fluence, we help you make it feel natural and strategic, but also incredibly profitable. So if you wanna repeatable system. Then I highly encourage you to join us inside of Bold Fluent, so we could help you turn your content into profit, and let's make affiliate income easy and fun.

[00:12:27] See you there.

[00:12:31] If this episode helped you, help us grow, leave a review, share it with a friend, and tag us on social media. We can't wait to cheer you on.