How to Start WordPress Affiliate Marketing
In the digital sphere, affiliate marketing is a promotion of other companies’ products on your website. The model is simple – you publish affiliate links on your blog or website and get a commission every time someone makes a purchase through that link.
As the world’s most popular blogging platform, WordPress has had a significant role in the rise of affiliate marketing. This dictated the development of specific tools and plugins for WordPress affiliate marketing that allow bloggers and website owners to make the best of this monetization strategy.
If you want to learn how to set up a blog and start making money from it, stick around to hear the tips from the master of this domain. We talked to Istiak Rayhan, the founder of RoadToBlogging.com and the owner of WPLeaders.com. Both sites are dedicated to bloggers and WordPress users, so here are some things you can learn from Istiak about WordPress affiliate marketing.
How do you manage to successfully maintain both Road To Blogging and WPLeaders?
I’ve started Road To Blogging in 2012, and I’ve built the blog from scratch. But in the case of WPLeaders, things went a bit differently. I bought it from Hesham Zebida, so it took less time to turn WPLeaders into a successful blog.
When it comes to maintaining these blogs at the same time, I have a small team of writers, designers, and developers who help me with day-to-day work. I am mainly in charge of publishing, while the team handles the rest of the work.
What is the number one skill someone has to master if they’re starting a blog?
Content writing. Content is the most important part of a blog. If you fail to create high-quality content, you won’t build a successful blog.
When did you realize your blog isn’t just a hobby?
I didn’t start blogging as a hobby. I knew that I could make some money from blogging via AdSense, but I had no idea that blogging could be a full-time career. Once I started making around $1000 per month, I decided to leave the traditional workplace and turn blogging into a full-time job.
What is your number one tip for getting started with affiliate marketing on WordPress site?
Choose a good niche and use the right affiliate marketing WordPress tools. Keep in mind that not all of the niches are suitable for affiliate marketing. You need to make sure that there are enough affiliate programs in the chosen niche. Finally, it is important to use the right affiliate marketing plugins and theme.
In your experience, what is the most common mistake people make when trying to build an affiliate marketing blog with WordPress?
Not monetizing the blog from day one. Most people wait to generate large traffic before they add affiliate links on their blogs. It’s a wrong strategy. WordPress affiliate marketing doesn’t require a lot of traffic. All you need is some well-targeted traffic.
In your opinion, what are the best affiliate marketing plugins for WordPress?
Here are some of the plugins I use and recommend.
- ThirstyAffiliates – an affiliate link management plugin.
- WP Table Builder – helps with building comparison tables for affiliate products
- WP Coupons and Deals – protects affiliate sales by making users click on the affiliate links
- Ultimate Blocks – helps in building engaging and conversion-optimized content
- Thrive Leads – a list building plugin for WordPress
By the way, some of these plugins are developed by our team.
Are there any downsides of affiliate links that might affect SEO?
Yes, too many affiliate links on a single page might affect SEO. That’s why I recommend using an affiliate link management plugin like ThirstyAffiliates to make affiliate links SEO friendly.
How to choose the best affiliate program?
When it comes to choosing an affiliate program, I always check the reviews of the affiliate product or service. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high paying program or not. The product or service should be top-notch. In some cases, I even try out the product by myself.
What is your number one tip for improving traffic on your blog?
Keep your old posts fresh and up to date. This single trick can increase your traffic dramatically.
What do you do for fun?
I like reading books, traveling with friends or family, and playing billiards sometimes.
We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!
Rockey Simmons
Excellent article! I really am just getting going with monetizing my site and affiliate marketing so this blog was extremely helpful.