Affiliate marketing is one of the most successful and widespread business models currently in operation. The main reason for its enduring popularity is the fact it can be described as a win-win situation which is beneficial to the two main players. It involves retail organizations offering products for sale via third-party websites or blogs. These marketers sign up to promote items on behalf of a retailer and are incentivized to streamline their web platforms because the more purchases they encourage, the more commission they are rewarded. In one fell swoop, the retailer also cuts out their own marketing costs.
Setting up an affiliate program is a straightforward proposition, especially through a web platform such as WordPress. There are currently more than 75 million WordPress sites operating across the globe, and the good news is these web platforms are the ideal basis for an affiliate marketing program since they can be set up without any intensive knowledge of web design technology. So what are the main steps for launching an affiliate program via WordPress?
Products
The whole point of your marketing campaign is you will be endorsing products on behalf of a retailer, so by far the best option would be to choose items which you can write about with some authority, signing up to an affiliate program which will tie in with topics which you already write about in your WordPress blog.
The way affiliate marketing works is for the retailer to forward hyperlinks which can be embedded in your WordPress blog in order to attract customers to click-through to their purchase pages. But the WordPress site manager must do so much more than simply host these links. The hyperlinks must flow logically with the text, and not give the impression they have simply been dumped onto that page in the hope of attracting attention. Remember, your prime purpose will still be a WordPress blogger as opposed to an affiliate marketer.
WordPress
You will have to pay close attention to the web platform you are using to promote these products. You could be attempting to sell the most customer-friendly and bestselling popular items in the world, but if your website doesn’t look great, you are not going to be shifting anything.
WordPress offers clients a range of methods of making a website look desirable to casual browsers. The first thing you can consider is the overall theme. When you are at the initial stage of setting up your site, you can choose something appropriate for the product you have selected for your promotion. There are all sorts of widgets you can incorporate for sidebars, as well as plug-ins which are available to help you boost the overall look of your WordPress blog.
The good news is, WordPress also provides clients with a host of background information for your assistance in troubleshooting and development. There are many different tutorials for you to refer to as you enhance your website, and there are also user communities where you can request information and receive replies fairly instantly.
Affiliate networks
In a similar way, once you sign up to a CPA affiliate network, you can tap into the expertise of people who have been undertaking this form of promotion for some time and will also be able to offer you consistent advice, such as where there are new openings for affiliate marketing opportunities and further tools you could use during your enterprise. From then on it is really just a case of perfecting your promotion and ensuring your blog content remains consistent and attractive to potential customers.
