Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to turn a blog or YouTube channel into a source of passive income. Just imagine earning extra bucks from your newest review or unboxing video! With so many companies taking advantage of affiliate marketing (around 84% of content publishers add affiliate links to their content), using sidebar ads or adding random promotional links to your blog or social media posts won’t get you far.
If you want your affiliate marketing activities to really pay off, you need to spend time creating high-quality affiliate marketing content that will be useful and engaging for your readers and convince them to stay on your channel or blog a bit longer. If you take the time to consistently create and offer your readers relevant and varied content, you will not only build trust with your audience, but also make them more likely to listen to your suggestions, purchase the products you mention, and thus provide you with a consistent income from affiliation.
The good news is that you have plenty of options when it comes to affiliate marketing content that will help your readers make good buying decisions without sounding too pushy. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of 10 great affiliate marketing content types that you can try right away.
1. Reviews
Reviews are one of the easiest and most commonly used types of affiliate marketing content. Simply write when and how you found out about a given product, why you decided to try it out, and how it helped you. Also, point out all things you liked and didn’t like about using the product and mention things that you think could be improved.
Why share the flaws or problems if you want to sell a product?
Because highlighting what you don’t like about it shows your audience that you aren’t trying to paint it as something perfect, but are objectively identifying both the good and bad sides to help them make the right decision. If you’re a mattress manufacturer, for example, instead of highlighting only your best mattresses and their features, you should also point out who it’s not suitable for. Or, why it’s a bit expensive (assuming it is).
The main goal here is to give your readers enough information about what makes a product worth buying without being overly salesy.
2. Product comparisons
Product comparisons are incredibly helpful for internet users who are planning to buy specific products and want to know how they compare to their alternatives. Comparison guides clearly show the main similarities and differences between several products, the strong and weak points of each, and pinpoint which product has the best value for money. All of this information is extremely valuable for anyone who wants to pick the best product out of many options. Providing this type of information builds trust in your expertise and might encourage readers to use your affiliate links to make a purchase.
As with reviews, you should focus on giving your readers plenty of information to help them make a final decision rather than pushing a sale.
3. Videos reviews
In addition to a written review or comparison post, you can also produce a video version of your content and post it on your blog or website. Internet users often prefer content in this form because watching videos takes less time and energy than reading a wall of text. In addition to that, videos can be more entertaining and interactive. According to several studies, viewers retain 95% of a video message compared to only 10% of an identical message shown to them as text. Embedding a comparison video inside a blog post article will not only strengthen your affiliate message but also please your readers by giving them the choice of reading or watching a review.
4. How-to articles and videos
Another type of content that you can use for affiliation purposes is how-to articles and videos. Rather than just saying that the product you are promoting is excellent, you can show it to people in action and explain the results you achieved by describing or recording a specific task that you used it for. Alternatively, you can educate your audience on how to get the most out of a given product by sharing your tips for using it. Since “how-to” content provides detailed instructions on how to solve a problem or need that people have, they are incredibly popular with internet users who simply love to watch a product or service in action.
Videos are especially popular as they have the added benefit of directly showing how to use a given product and what steps to take to perform a specific action. In fact, how-to tutorials are the most popular form of Instagram video content. They might be especially helpful if you’re promoting an app or computer software with many features.
Moreover, “how-to” videos are equally popular amongst skincare and beauty bloggers. Showing how a promoted cream or foundation works by sharing before and after photos brings better results than just quoting the product description and its benefits.
5. Webinars
A huge number of businesses use webinars to educate their followers on topics related to their industry while promoting their products, so why shouldn’t you do the same? With webinars, you can showcase your knowledge in a given area by answering questions from the audience, and integrating your products into your answers. You can also promote your affiliate products by offering unique discount codes or limited-time deals for webinar participants.
Moreover, webinars are no longer as complicated to prepare or broadcast as they used to be, so creating one is an excellent way to build your mailing list and boost sales. With various video conferencing tools available nowadays, running your own webinar is a quick and simple ordeal. If you eventually scale your webinar business, you can even use evergreen webinar software, which automates and personalizes the process even further.
6. Ebooks
You’ve surely seen plenty of companies using various guides, eBooks, and studies as bait in exchange for your contact information (email or a phone number). You can use ebook software and create well-written and eye-catching guides that are packed with useful tips and use them not only as powerful lead magnets– they’re also a great tool that you can use to gain your audience’s trust. They can provide a substantial amount of valuable data and tips for free, far more than you could ever fit into shorter content forms. As an added bonus, you can insert your affiliate links right into the eBook’s contents.
7. Seasonal content
Each season of the year has its own trends, products, and services that rise and fall in popularity. Marketers have been using seasonal events and special occasions to promote products and boost sales for years, and affiliate marketers are slowly starting to catch on.
Think about what seasonal trends or special occasions you could use to promote your product and then build content around this topic. For example, create a list of “must-have” skincare products for the cold winter season or mobile apps for summer travels, and then share this list in relevant communities.
8. List roundups
Finding a product, service, or knowledge about a certain topic that you are currently interested in can be a challenge– given the overload of choices and information we’re bombarded with at every corner. That’s why curated lists (such as the best iPhone accessories, apps, or articles) are so popular.
Curating these kinds of lists can save your readers tons of time and hassle while giving you a competitive edge. Simply do some research, create the list, and add your affiliate links to the list.
9. Checklists
Readers love all sorts of “to-do” lists, which summarize everything they need to do to achieve a certain result. To-do lists should provide clear instructions on what to do, when, and why. Bonus points if the checklist is printable, so people can get a physical copy and tick off the items as they go.
Checklists can be used in all industries. If you have a cooking blog, for instance, you could create a checklist for one of your recipes complete with the list of the required ingredients. Alternatively, if you promote an app or software, you could make a step by step checklist on how to complete a specific task using your tool.
10. Infographics
Infographics have had the biggest increase in usage among B2B marketers in the last four years. It’s no surprise that, if a regular image is worth a thousand words, an infographic is worth several times more. Infographics are images combined with statistics, facts, tips, and any other relevant information.
And they work surprisingly well– studies show an 82% increase in readers’ attention spans and recall through the use of colors in visuals. Readers remember visually attractive charts, images, and other infographic elements much better than simple text content, so infographics are an amazing tool for educating your readers on industry facts, statistics, or news.
What’s even better is that infographics can be easily added to your blog or social media account, and they can be shared equally as fast, as infographics receive 3x more shares than any other type of content.
As an example, you could use infographics to improve your program’s brand awareness by showing your readers the most interesting facts and data related to the product or area you are promoting.
Conclusion
Content marketing has a good reputation and high popularity for a good reason. Offering useful and relevant information in an engaging format is one of the best ways to gain your audience’s trust while building up your reputation as an industry expert. And with a bit of creativity, you can quickly boost your affiliate reach and your revenue as well – especially if your newest video or infographic goes viral. Try out some of our ideas for your next post – maybe it will turn out to be exactly what you needed to kick-start 2021.
