8 Affiliate Marketing Tips & Strategies

Affiliate Marketing Tips for Shopify Stores ✏️

If you’re looking for a simple way to make money on the side of your business, affiliate marketing is a popular choice that many individuals execute.

With affiliate marketing, a small commission can be earned through the use of unique links, allowing the sharer to profit from the sales generated.

We’d say that these link sharers are right on the money, as experts have predicted that affiliate marketing will generate a whopping $8.2 billion in sales by the end of 2022.

So, if you’re wondering how you can help yourself to a slice of this oh so sweet pie, take a glance at our guide as we share 8 affiliate marketing tips that will enable consumers to make profitable purchases:

N0.1: Prepare Affiliate Content 📝

While affiliate marketing is an excellent option for eager enthusiasts to start making a side income, it would be foolish to launch a brand new website and expect the commission to roll in straight away.

Logically speaking, consumers need to be able to trust that recommended products are, in fact, good products. So, we’d resist the temptation that you may feel to spread the word of your new affiliate website before it’s up and running.

If you’re not sure where to start, perhaps a few words from a Pro affiliate marketer will steer you in the right direction:

“Over the last two years, by far the greatest performing sites for us have been those where we’d created 20+ pieces of content before making a website live.

It’s so easy to stress over how something looks but we know that until we get a certain volume of good content published, nobody will see the site.

My golden rule is to have a whole list of content pieces researched in advance and a good number written up so the site is launching with content in place.” - Stacey MacNaught

N0.2: Diverse Affiliate Partners

The next of the affiliate marketing tips within today’s guide is to be diverse. In other words, don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

While rare, a company always has the right to close down its affiliate program, deny payouts and/ or slash commission rates.

Therefore, a good rule of thumb is to never allow one affiliate partner to take more than 50% of your revenue. This way, if the worst does happen, you won’t be left out totally out of pocket.

N0.3: Disclose Affiliate Links 🗣️

Honesty isn’t necessarily one of our affiliate marketing tips and tricks, but it is something that you will need to implement when recommending products to an audience in return for a commission.

The simple truth is that consumers will not make a purchase based upon an individual’s recommendations if there is no trust between the two parties.

In short, if you choose not to disclose the fact that you are earning a commission for mentioning a product, but this fact is discovered elsewhere, the trust your audience members had for you will shatter.

However, it won’t just be the trust of your audience that will be lost, but that of the Federal Trade Commission too. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has strict rules on product endorsements that prevent affiliate marketers from misleading their audience.

In a nutshell, those who use affiliate links are advised to disclose any relationships that they may have with a retail partner, including the products for which you will be incentivised if sold.

For instance, if you were to create an article for your website, we’d recommend inserting a disclaimer at the top of the applicable affiliate content.

This way, the fact that the article contains affiliate links will be common knowledge among readers and the trust factor between you and your audience will remain intact.

N0.4: Share Discount Codes

It is common knowledge that merchants will often compile a list of online marketing materials for their affiliates to use as part of their strategy. Typically these materials will come in the form of banner graphics as well as email marketing copy.

However, if you’re currently working with an affiliate partner, it couldn’t hurt to ask if any active discount codes are redeemable for the products that you are spending your time promoting.

Coupon codes are a great way to convert members of your audience who haven’t yet tested the recommended products, as it is thought that as many as 89% of millennial shoppers will try out a new brand if there is a redeemable discount code on hand.

If you’re lucky enough to attain a discount code to share with your audience, the word can be spread by:

Sharing the code across social media with direct affiliate links.

Sending an email to your audience that directs them towards the sale.

Updating any affiliate-related website content to reference the discount code.

Adding the word ‘discount’ to the meta description of your review pages to encourage searchers to click through.

N0.5: Instagram Affiliate Shop 🛒

If there’s one thing you should know, it would be that not all affiliates will require a website to start generating a side income when using affiliate links.

Certain social media platforms such as Instagram are currently rolling out new features that will help affiliate marketers to receive payment.

In June 2021, Instagram announced that it was in the process of testing a new affiliate tool that had been designed to help creators make a living on the platform.

Instagram stated:

“We’ll begin testing a native affiliate tool that will allow creators to discover new products available on checkout, share them with their followers and earn commissions for the purchases they drive, all within the Instagram app.”

If you want our advice, we’d suggest spending some time on building a tight-knit community so that when the affiliate shop feature is ready to launch, you will have an existing audience to interact with.

N0.6: Product Reviews & Tutorials

Did you know that nearly nine out of ten consumers will look for product reviews before making a purchase? By writing reviews for affiliate products that are optimised for search engines, you’ll be sure to reach people who are already in the purchasing process for that specific item.

For example, let’s say that you’re publishing a review of Allbirds’ running shoes. All you would need to do is perform a little research and select a target keyword.

For this example, we’ve chosen “Allbirds shoes review”, a term that is searched by over 1,500 people every month.

Then, simply write the review and a commission will be generated from every sale made. These individuals are great users to target as they are already interested in potentially purchasing the product.

N0.7: The Ins & Outs 👀

Unfortunately, affiliate marketing often finds its way onto almost every make money fast scheme which comes with a barrage of individuals who are looking to make a quick buck as opposed to helping their audience. However, these people tend to fail - and quickly too.

“It is possible to separate yourself from your competition by having more knowledge than they do. Therefore, for you to be able to stand out as an affiliate, aim to be recognised as an expert, or at the very least a site where people can learn more about the things that you are promoting.

It is all too common for affiliates to select a few providers they believe will be of interest to their visitors without doing any research.

However, even if you are only looking for information about these things, you still want to know how and why people use them.” - Mark Valderrama, the CEO and Co-Founder of Aquarium Store Depot.

To do this, Mark recommends completing your due diligence before signing up with a new service provider. Furthermore, be sure to consider the opinions of others before trying it for yourself, even if it’s just the demo version.

While this approach might take longer to compel affiliate sales, when they are achieved, members of your audience will be more likely to trust the products that you recommend in the future.

N0.8: Product Round-Ups

The next of today’s affiliate marketing tips and tricks is to create product round-ups in which affiliate links and discount codes can be shared in one place. However, the question is - how can you be sure that the product of focus is worth the time investment?

Naturally, there’s always a chance that your product review could flop, generating minimal sales, causing you to wish that you had channelled your energy elsewhere. However, there’s also a great chance that the product could be a hit with your audience, causing a stream of income to pour in.

Like everything in life, affiliate marketing requires faith, trust and a little bit of advice. So, here are a few words from the Founder of Affilimate to set uneasy markets on the straight and narrow:

“One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen new affiliate marketers make is writing long and in-depth product reviews for products that just don’t convert. The result is a ton of effort and little to show for it in the end.

Instead, affiliates should switch around the order in which they create their content. Create product roundups (e.g. ‘best camera for travel’) first to test out which products resonate most with readers.

Once you’ve seen which products are converting, break those out into dedicated reviews and link them internally as supporting content.

This strategy not only helps you create affiliate content more efficiently, but it’s great for search engine optimisation.” - Monica Lent

The Shopify Affiliate Program 🙌

As we’re sure you all know, Shopify is the all-in-one platform required to start a successful online business.

Best-suited to entrepreneurs, educators and influencers alike, the Shopify affiliate program has been established to enable marketers to make money by recommending world-class business tools.

As an affiliate, merchants could earn a generous commission on any paid customer(s) that have been directed towards Shopify’s suite of commerce products.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to get started!