Affiliate marketing success depends on a convergence of many different factors—a product that can sell, a readership that’s in a buying mood, the right niche, and more. For all of these factors, though, the most important facet of any affiliate marketing campaign is likely the copywriting itself.
The old adage that some products “sell themselves” simply isn’t true, not in the affiliate marketing world. Your words are what do the selling—and your words are also what generate the blog traffic you need.
But how can affiliate marketers ensure that their content is creative and compelling enough to persuade readers, but also effective in generating traffic? Here are a few battle-tested tips to try:
n Here’s a very powerful little word to keep in mind: Versus. Anytime you can write a post about certain products or services, and throw in the term vs, you should. The simple reality about Internet readers is that they are lazy; in-depth discussion is ill-advised on the Internet, but a direct, side-by-side comparison always goes over well. A post titled Product XYZ vs. Product ABC is likely to catch the eye of readers—and of Google.
Another word to leverage, anytime you’re able: Best. People don’t Google to find the second- or third-best of anything. They want to find the best products, the best tips, the best strategies, and so on. In fact, many search queries are going to begin with, what is the best way to… So, including that word in your post titles is another great step toward reeling in those readers!
Another tactic, which often works—and should yield great search engine success—is to focus on problems. You’ll find that a lot of search queries are really seeking solutions, or answers, to a given problem. Write content that acknowledges a problem, and, ideally, offers a solution!
A basic rule of thumb is that people probably don’t want overly technical writing so much as they want very practical writing. That is to say, how a product or service works is important to an extent, but it shouldn’t be your primary focus, because it’s not the primary focus of your readers. Readers want to know what values or benefits they receive from the product or service in question. Make the content about your readers, and why they’ll be better off for buying the product in question.
Here is one final tip: Don’t start your content writing or blogging process with a list of keywords. This is no way to get good content, nor is it any way to succeed in Google rankings; the search engine algorithm is increasingly active in suppressing “keyword stuffing,” so why risk it? Instead start with a list of topics—and any keywords you need will flow organically from there.
Writing solid blog content is vital for selling your products—and even just for drawing traffic to your blog. Follow these tips and see how much your own content development strategies improve!