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Blog monetization – especially through affiliate marketing – has never been hotter. However, if you’re new to the game, you may not know where to begin. This is especially true if your blog is brand new, or if you’re only recently getting serious about your business.
Fortunately, affiliate programs make it easy even for beginners to monetize their blogs. In short, affiliate programs are set up to promote sales for a business, typically through the affiliate’s blog or review site.
When an affiliate marketer links to the business on their site and a sale is made through that link, both the business and the marketer make money.
In this post, we’ll introduce four affiliate programs you can use to monetize your blog in 2021. We’ll then show you how to use PrettyLinks to cloak your affiliate links and make your marketing more effective. Let’s get started!
3 Affiliate Programs You Can Use to Monetize Your Blog in 2021
There are plenty of affiliate programs to choose from, but these are some of the more well-known and trusted options available. Whether you choose to work with them all or just one, each is worth checking out.
1. Amazon Associates
As one of the largest online marketplaces, it’s no surprise that Amazon has its own affiliate program. It’s known as Amazon Associates, and enables marketers to link to the hundreds of thousands of products sold on the website.
Of course, the largest benefit of this particular program is the wide range of products available for sale. This means that you can find items relevant to almost any niche, regardless of which industry you’re in. Amazon Associates also offers linking tools, which make it easier to create your own affiliate links.
Amazon Associate’s commission rates range from 0% (on gift cards and wine) to 10%. This is certainly one of the lower-paying programs, but it’s great for marketers who are looking to promote a large number of products on their website. While each commission is small, purchases can add up significantly over time.
2. eBay Partner Network (EPN)
As one of the first online marketplaces, eBay is certainly well known. However, what you may not know is that eBay also has an affiliate program, the eBay Partner Network (EPN). Similar to Amazon, this program offers a wide range of products you can promote on your website.
To make your job easier, EPN offers link generators and product feeds that you can use. It also features one of the highest payout rates for affiliate programs – 50% to 70% per sale – and you receive payments on a monthly basis.
3. Clickbank
Clickbank is a program that focuses on digital information products. It offers several categories, including Arts & Entertainment, Health & Fitness, and Fiction. This means the majority of affiliate marketers will find something to sell on their website.
This program also provides banner ads and images that you can use on your website to promote products. There’s plenty of help available in the form of a comprehensive Knowledge Base, as well as a useful “getting started” guide. The commissions offered through Clickbank are set by the vendor, but you can earn anywhere from 1% to 75% of the net sale price (with a maximum payout per sale of $150).
How to Use PrettyLinks to Cloak Your Affiliate Links
PrettyLinks is a link shortening and branding tool that also enables you to track links. Once installed and activated on your WordPress website, you can begin using it immediately to create custom links for use both on and off your site.
These custom links are beneficial for affiliate marketers, as they enable you to create branded links. This can improve your brand awareness, as well as bolster your credibility. PrettyLinks also enables you to track your links, no matter which affiliate programs you’ve chosen.
To begin, install the plugin and go to PrettyLinks > Add New Links on the left side of the WordPress dashboard. Here, you can enter your Target URL (the affiliate link your program provided), and your Pretty Link (the slug you’ll use at the end of the link):
You can also choose your Redirection type (we recommend 307 redirects when using affiliate links), and even set up advanced tracking and dynamic redirection.
Conclusion
As a beginner to blog monetization, you have plenty of options available. However, affiliate marketing is still one of the simplest and most effective strategies. Using the right techniques, including link cloaking, you can build a profitable and successful affiliate business.
In this post, we’ve introduced three affiliate programs you can use to monetize your blog. You can take part in all of them at the same time, or simply focus on one or two:
- Amazon Affiliates: A lower-paying option, but one that’s perfect for high-volume affiliates.
- eBay Partner Network: A high-commission program with plenty of product categories to promote.
- Clickbank: A digital information products program, with varying commission rates.
Do you have any questions about affiliate marketing, or how PrettyLinks can help you to implement it effectively? Let us know in the comments section below!
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