6 Tips to Write Content for Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a primary source of income for many bloggers. However, in order to make money at Affiliate marketing, you have to know how to create engaging content that seamlessly incorporates your affiliate links. That can be a real challenge. You don’t want your readers to think you’ve sold out, or that you are more interested in pushing products than enlightening them.

Of course, the best way to make your affiliate marketing efforts work is to drive traffic with interesting and engaging content. After all, the more engaged readers you have, the more likely your affiliate links will get attention.

To help you get started on the right path, we’ve provided six content writing tips for a successful affiliate marketing effort.

1. Keep Your Focus on Your Readers

Your reader should always remain your focus when you’re writing any content. That remains true when you are focusing on affiliate marketing as well. When you select topics for writing, think about what your readers want, what is interesting to them, and what will help them solve their problems.

When you write about affiliate products keep that user-centric focus. What is it about the product that will benefit your reader? How can they use it to make their life easier?

2. Find Ways to Include Products in Your Stories Without Being Too Salesy

The best affiliate marketing content should feel organic. It shouldn’t seem as if you are selling a product. Instead, you should come across as a trusted source, even a friend that is simply recommending a product.

To do this, keep your recommendations wrapped in stories whenever you can. For example, if you tried a kitchen product making dinner for your family, write about your home life over the past few days, and bring up your home-cooked meal. You can then discuss your experiences with the affiliate product without it seeming forced.

This keeps your focus on interesting product and creates trust. Also, when you discuss products in real life situations that creates credibility. Showing people that you’ve enjoyed something is much more compelling than simply telling them. Write in detail and use plenty of visuals to create an interesting narrative around your affiliate products. Use tools like Animoto, Trust my Paper, and Grammarly to help.

3. Emphasize Products You Know  Your Customers Will Love

This is another area where your customers should be your priority. Yes, it’s helpful if you love your products, but your focus should be on the products and services you know align with the wants and needs of your customers.

Don’t feature products that you dislike. At the same time, remember that your tastes may not match those of your audience. In these cases, your audience wins. They are the ones who are most likely to buy the products you promote. They should be on your mind when you select which products to emphasize.

Look for products that are beneficial. When you describe them, keep the needs of your customers in mind as well as their tastes.

4. Prioritize Honesty And Credibility

You have a large number of followers because your readers trust you. You can maintain that trust as an affiliate marketer. You do have to make a commitment to taking an honest approach to this. Emphasize products that you’ve tried, and that you like. Yes, it’s okay to promote products that you don’t love. We’ll get into that below. However, you should have some personal experience with any product you endorse. There are so many products available for you to market. Stick with the ones that either connect with you or your audience.

Why is this important? You have earned the trust of your readers. They are going to believe that your recommendations are genuine. If they come to believe that you are only promoting products to make a quick buck, that trust will quickly erode. That’s not something you can recover from easily if at all.

When you do recommend a product, be detailed. Tell them precisely what you enjoyed about the product. Share a real-life example of that product making your life easier or bringing you enjoyment.

5. Give Your Honest Opinion

Nobody is going to believe you if you claim every product is a home run, and that you absolutely love it. Taking that approach will make your posts seem like a sales pitch. Also, when you do have something that you want to praise to the rooftops, your audience won’t get excited about it.

You should never slam an affiliate product. What you can do is give a constructive point of view with a positive spin. For example, you can focus on the positive aspects that you did notice. You can also write about the product from the perspective of one of your readers who might enjoy the product.

Imagine that you’ve tested out some workout bands. You don’t care for them and prefer to workout at the gym. You can still describe the workout bands in a positive light, then recommend them to your readers who want to workout at home.

Eventually, you will come across a product that you simply cannot endorse. That’s okay. There are plenty of other products. Affiliate marketing is a ‘long game’. Never sacrifice your credibility or the needs of your audience market a product you simply cannot approach.

6. Handle Feedback Diplomatically

Chances are, your readers aren’t going to hesitate to tell you what they think about your products. When feedback is positive, that’s wonderful. You can simply respond with the thanks to reader, and possibly engage them with some follow up questions.

The real challenge comes when that feedback is public and negative. It’s something that’s bound to happen, and you will need to be prepared to respond in a way that is empathetic and productive without allowing things to devolve. You can use these tips for handling negative customer feedback online.

Final Thoughts

The most successful affiliate marketers write about products that truly resonate with them. They provide honest and helpful details about the products. Most importantly, they focus on the readers’ needs, even at the risk of making a few extra bucks. By doing this, they establish themselves as a credible marketer whose priority is keeping customers informed and entertained.

Author Bio: Marie Fincher is a writer who contributes frequently to 3to5marketing. She has a degree in marketing and specializes in the use of written communications to connect with customers. In her spare time, Marie enjoys running, reading, and spending time at the beach.