If you maintain blogs and niche sites, one of the best ways to monetize those blogs is through the tactical use of affiliate links. With the downturned economy and advertising market, Google AdSense is often not as profitable as most blogger hope. There are many bloggers and niche site owners with product oriented sites earning far more in revenue from product sales via affiliate links than AdSense. However, many newbies are perplexed by how to increase their affiliate and earn significant revenue through this monetization method. In truth, proper affiliate link placement takes some advanced marketing skills and since every niche appeals to a slightly different market, most bloggers have to learn their market by trial and error.
However, after years of maintaining some successful and not so successful niche sites and blogs, I have learned that profitable affiliate links have a few things in common. One thing in particular I have noticed is a case scenario in which affiliate links in images can earn significantly more that affiliate links in text.
When Affiliate Links Work in Images
There are many bloggers who simply throw their hands up in the air and claim that affiliate links in images just do not work. They then choose to place all of their affiliate links in text – but guess what these bloggers usually do not see high revenues from affiliate sales. This is because, at least from my experience, affiliate links in images can work very well if properly presented.
Think about it from your readers’ (and potential buyers’ point of view) – If you write a somewhat generalized article about any ole thing in your niche and upload a feature image, your readers have no reason to click that image. Readers will not even know if that image is clickable, let alone know where the image leads too. In order for affiliate links to work in images, a few criteria must be met;
- The article MUST be product oriented. Articles that do not discuss or review a product have poor affiliate sales in general, text or images.
- The affiliate link in the image MUST be transparent. This means uploading an image of the product with the affiliate site’s logo, like Amazon for instance, and star rating from reviews. This way the reader knows that this image leads to a page on Amazon.com, where they can buy the product. Hiding or disguising affiliate links in text or images is useless; remember you only get paid if a reader clicks and then buys a product via your link. If they unintentionally get to a random product page there is almost zero chance they’ll buy and your click through rate will be skewed.
- The affiliate link in the image should be a deep link, linking directly to the product in question, not simply a general product page.
- The article or review should be truly helpful, insightful and serve as a genuine recommendation for the specific product at hand. When all of the above criteria are met I have found that my affiliate links in images get significantly more clicks than my in-text affiliate links. When the criteria above are met, you are presenting a convincing recommendation to a buyer with the clear opportunity to buy through your site. This is one of the most effective ways to get both more clicks and more importantly, sales.
This guest post was written by Jessica Drew, a freelance writer and editor who blogs about a variety of money making topics such as earning a living online, frugal living and .
