But you know what? The real work begins now! Promoting your content and affiliate link. With tons of content on the internet these days, it’s indeed difficult to garner your audience’s attention. On top of it, getting your audiences to click the affiliate link is even more challenging. 

Fret not, we’re here to help you. In this blog, we tell you how to promote your affiliate content and links so you get the most returns out of your efforts. Let’s get started.

Leverage your list of email subscribers

Your email list is a valuable asset. By building your email list, you own customer data without being at the mercy of third-party data providers and therefore control your communication with your subscribers. This ensures that your loyal fans receive your message without worrying about algorithm changes or policy changes on external platforms.

So, don’t delay and explore different ways of incorporating links in your newsletters. Create content that’s solely meant for promoting our product. Alternatively, you can include the link in non-promotional yet informative content. Let’s say you prepare a list of martech stack tools you tried and loved recently and you include the VWO platform in the list. The key is to make the link flow naturally within the content and position it prominently. 

Need inspiration? Pat Flynn is a big name in the affiliate industry and who better than him to inspire you? Look below how he chose to promote a software product and the corresponding affiliate link in one of his newsletters. Reads easy and organic, right? Also, he doesn’t miss a chance to promote his eBook while mentioning why he thinks reading it can help his audiences. 

Make the most of your blog posts

Including the affiliate link in blog posts is one of the oldest and proven strategies to promote affiliate marketing links. But some wonder if it’s even relevant in the times of digital boom and cut-throat competition with 32 million bloggers in the US alone. Surprisingly, the fact that 77% of people still read blogs online shows that blogs are still an important source of knowledge consumption and should be made the most of to reach more audiences. To establish trust with your readers, your blogs must be based on original research and reflect your authority on the subject. 

Your next goal is to make audiences click your affiliate link without making them feel compelled to do so. One way to achieve this is by putting the affiliate link in the content to make certain words clickable. See the two options below and decide which one you like as a reader:

1. Click https://vwo.com/free-trial/ to unlock the true marketing potential of your business.
2. Take a full-featured trial of VWO to unlock the true marketing potential of your business.

Of course, the second option is easier to read and more user-friendly as it weaves smoothly into your content. On the other hand, the first option looks a bit forced and when read in a flow, it can stand out as the right affiliate link promotion tactic. Inserting your affiliate link organically in your content is an art that you get better at with practicing. 

Influence customer decisions through product reviews and tutorials

Users reading product reviews and tutorials are usually said to be in the final stages of making a purchase decision. Now that they’ve done their research, they want to get their hands on a tool that will help them solve their problem. This is where promoting your affiliate link through reviews or tutorials that highlight your first-hand experience with the product becomes so important. 

Don’t hesitate to go analytical. Explain what you like about our VWO products and why you like them better than other tools you tried before. And precisely for this kind of content, place affiliate links toward the end of the content. Why? When the affiliate link is placed toward the end of the product review, it shows that your priority is providing an honest and informative review of the product.

John Chow is a superstar in the field of affiliate marketing, having earned millions in this industry.  Here’s an example of his way of promoting AWeber email marketing software. He ditched the usual long-form copy content and shared a video where he explained how to write for an automated email campaign using AWeber. And it’s only towards the end that he mentions that AWeber is offering a 30-day free trial for new customers. And like any smart affiliate marketer, he also promotes his personal content on a free video course at the bottom. 

Spread the word on social media

If you want to promote your content on social media, there are different formats you can experiment with! For example, try posting articles and snippets on LinkedIn or go for reels on Instagram and long videos on YouTube. Joining groups and communities on social media platforms – be it LinkedIn or Facebook – is also a great way to connect with potential customers and share your content with like-minded audiences.

But there are also nuanced differences in the different types of content you create. For example, creating content for reels and videos is fundamentally different. Reels are all about being concise and entertaining, while long videos give you more room to showcase your skills and knowledge. For instance, you could create a brief reel providing an overview of VWO Insights, and then elaborate on the details in a longer YouTube video.

When it comes to link placement, you can add them in the descriptions along with a few lines on the product you’re promoting. And since Instagram doesn’t let you add links to descriptions, don’t forget to keep updating the link in your bio as and when new affiliate content comes up.

While sharing affiliate links directly on forums like Quora and Reddit is considered spam, you can still include links to your content in your answers to questions. This way, you can attract potential customers without coming off as too pushy.

Don’t leave out podcasts and webinars

The recipe for successful affiliate link promotion remains the same even when you’re creating podcasts or webinars – create high-quality content and include relevant affiliate links in the description.

For instance, imagine you’re a digital marketer who hosts podcasts on marketing trends. In one of your episodes, you emphasize the significance of conversion rate optimization and share your trust in VWO for testing not only your website but also those of your clients. Simultaneously, you include your affiliate link in the description.

Dough Cunnington, an affiliate marketer, runs his podcast show called The Doug Show. In one of his episodes, he discusses prompt engineering with another expert and includes affiliate links for two AI products he endorses in the description. While he has kept the description quite straightforward, you can explain a synopsis of the podcast of your episode, so users can feel the context in which you’re promoting a particular product without having to listen to the entire episode. 

Maximize reach through short videos

Short-form video content, exemplified by platforms like TikTok and Instagram, has revolutionized our way of online content consumption. Today, we crave concise, creative, and personal content that helps us save time by sharing only the necessary information. 

Now, don’t downplay the effort required to create this content only because it’s brief. You’ve to work on creating engaging content infused with authentic storytelling to hook your audience. Your content should do a good job of piquing audiences’ interests and making them eager to explore the products or services you’re promoting. And to do that in a few seconds is not a cakewalk. 

If you regularly update your product reviews, place the latest affiliate link in your Instagram bio, and be sure to mention it in your posts or stories. Also, you can use hashtags to help broaden your content’s reach. 

Over to you

It can be quite challenging to cut through the clutter and promote your affiliate content and links to the right set of audiences. But hang in there! It might take some time, but when you have a solid plan, you can stay assured of great results and succeed as a VWO affiliate. We hope you found our tips on promoting your affiliate content and links helpful! Now that you have all these tips, it’s time to put them into practice, catch your reader’s attention, and watch your commissions soar. Good luck with your affiliate marketing journey!

Sign up from our page

Our VWO Affiliate Program page is full of relevant information. Read it thoroughly, and if it piques your interest, sign up for our program by clicking the ‘Become a partner now’ button. 

Download Free: A/B Testing Guide

Once you’ve filled out the form, you will receive an email in the next 24 hours confirming your addition to our affiliate partner network. 

Join PartnerStack

Want to know how we collaborate with all amazing affiliate partners like you? We use PartnerStack – it’s the ultimate platform for affiliate collaboration!

If you’re not already part of the PartnerStack (PS) community, don’t worry, it’s super easy to join. Just click here to create your free account. Alternatively, simply hit the “Login” button (check out the screenshot below!) and you’ll be directed to PS. But make sure that you use the same email address that you used to sign up for our affiliate program. If you have an account already, feel free to skip this step. 

The PS dashboard is super easy to navigate. Whether you want to access your affiliate link, track commissions generated, or access resources, you can view and control everything from your dashboard. No hunting around to find information – it’s all right there at your fingertips!

Create a custom link and quality content

The default affiliate link is provided to you in the ‘Links’ section on the dashboard. Just copy and paste it into your content and you’re good to go. It gets even better when you customize your affiliate link and make it unique to your brand. 

Incorporating the affiliate link strategically into your content is the most important step for this operation to be successful. Remember, very few readers will make that extra effort to click your custom link if they’re not convinced of the quality of your content. Similarly, producing top-notch content alone will not suffice if users fail to notice your referral link. Hence, these two aspects are very important and dependent on each other for success.

Because VWO products are highly technical and geared toward a specific niche, you should have an interest in A/B testing and CRO, and your content must demonstrate your expertise in these areas. To educate yourself on these subjects, access amazing resources right from your PartnerStack dashboard. Click the ‘Resources’ section and you’ll find everything from blogs and eBooks to webinars and knowledge-base articles.

Download Free: A/B Testing Guide

Choose the right platforms to drive traffic

To effectively reach your desired audience and increase their engagement with your affiliate content, it’s important to choose the right promotion platforms. As VWO targets B2B buyers, platforms such as LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, and YouTube, where this audience is most active, are ideal for promoting our products.

Your website serves as a central hub for your brand and content. Posting your content on your website is crucial, apart from promoting it elsewhere\. To target high-converting audiences, use long-tail keywords in your affiliate content. Additionally, building backlinks from reputable sources can help establish credibility with your audience, convincing them to convert.

Educate yourself on our commission structure

You can increase the likelihood of your audiences clicking the affiliate link by increasing its appeal. How? Hyperlinks that include dynamic parameters are lengthy and look unattractive, potentially discouraging users from clicking on them. You can shorten them and improve their readability. There are several other methods to increase clicks in this stage that you can explore.

In the second step when visitors click and convert on our website, we track unique IDs in each affiliate link to determine which partner generated a lead and ensure correct commission payments. At VWO, we compensate our affiliates generously. Here is the breakdown of the commission rates based on the revenue you generate for us:

• Up to $50k – 15%.
• Between $51k and $100k – 20%.
• Between $100k and $250k – 25%.
• Exceeding $250k – 30%.

And the best part? Unlike most affiliate programs, we not only pay for referrals but also for renewals from the same lead (for up to 4 years). Here’s the structure:

• 15% on every referral
• 5% on year 2 renewal
• 3% on year 3 renewal
• 1% on year 4 renewal

We process commission payments based on money realization. For instance, if we realize $5k in the first quarter, we will pay the affiliate a 15% commission in the next payment cycle. The same process will be followed for subsequent payments. 

Track performance

Ready to see how your affiliate campaigns are doing? Go to the performance section on your dashboard. Check out the number of clicks, referrals, rewards, and revenue for any given month of the year. Everything is updated every hour, so you don’t have to wait for ages to get the latest info. Did we mention that you can download the performance report with just one click? Yes, it’s really that easy. 

Get started now

You’re now convinced that joining VWO’s affiliate program is a breeze, right? If you still have any questions, check out our FAQ section. And if you want to learn how to become a successful VWO affiliate, be sure to read this blog! Start now and earn high commissions! 

And of late, affiliate marketing has emerged as one of the most popular means of generating passive income. 

The US has the biggest affiliate industry, with a whopping 39% share and over 81% of marketers investing in affiliate programs to drive more revenue. 

Download Free: A/B Testing Guide

VWO also offers you the opportunity to become a brand referrer. In this blog, we tell you more about how affiliate marketing works, what advantages it offers, and how you can become a VWO affiliate to earn attractive commissions. 

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is about you (as a content creator and brand referrer) promoting the products and services of other businesses.  When customers click your unique affiliate link and purchase through it, you earn a commission. 

The parties involved in an affiliate program are:

Affiliate – If you promote somebody else’s products or services, you become an affiliate or a promoter. 

Merchants – A company or a person whose products or services you promote, help sell, and earn commissions. 

Consumers – These people click your unique affiliate link to try the product or services promoted by you. 

What are the benefits of affiliate marketing?

This marketing tactic has taken the world by storm despite there being several other passive ways to earn. Let’s explore the reasons:

Cost-effective

Setting up your own business is super expensive. You need capital, manpower, technology, and whatnot! Whereas to become an affiliate marketer, you need your website and decide through which channel you want to reach your audience. It is comparatively easier to start here than in any other income stream. The loss is minimal even if it doesn’t work out for you. 

Flexible

Whether you want to work full-time, part-time, or as a freelancer, it’s totally up to you. You can work from anywhere in the world and join multiple affiliate programs. All in all, you are the captain of your ship. 

Career growth

As an affiliate marketer, you have the liberty to join as many affiliate programs as you want. When customers purchase from your affiliate links, you make a ton of money! Plus, networking with new people will give you more opportunities to explore and earn more. 

Steps to becoming a successful affiliate

Anyone can be an affiliate marketer, but not everyone can be successful in this field. So what should you do correctly to become a successful affiliate? Keep reading to know more.

Select the right niche

Kickstart the process by selecting a niche you are truly interested in. Remember, as an affiliate, you will have to produce a lot of content. If you choose a niche out of whims, it might get difficult for you to stick to it in the long run. And giving up would mean a lot of time and energy going down the drain. 

So ask yourself these questions: 

• What do I like doing?
• Does this work interest me?
• Can I invest significant time and effort in it?
• Do people say I’m good at something in particular? 

Whether it’s cooking, photography, SaaS, or crypto – choose a niche you’re confident producing content about. This way, your content will reflect your authority in the subject and build trust in your audiences. 

Similarly, at VWO, we expect our affiliates to take interest in A/B testing, CRO, and other optimization-related concepts. We believe someone with in-depth knowledge about these topics will do justice to our products and promote them effectively. 

Choose the most suitable platform

Now that you have selected your niche, you will need to choose a platform on which you can promote the products of businesses belonging to that niche. 

So, let’s say you are promoting a video editing tool. In that case, posting videos on YouTube can be a better option than simply writing a blog because watching videos gives audiences a clear and comprehensive view of the product, and therefore, understanding it in a better way. 

As a VWO affiliate, you can promote on any platform such as your

• Website 
• Social media handles
• YouTube channel
• Podcast
• Newsletter 

Just make sure your content contains your affiliate link with a unique ID that audiences can click to purchase products so that you get a commission. 

Find affiliate programs

Now, it is time for you to sign up for an affiliate program. As already mentioned, there is no upfront cost for you to get started. However, you may have to incur ongoing costs depending on how you decide to create the content. If you think you have to outsource the promotional content, in that case, you will have to bear expenses. 

It’s also for you to decide what type of affiliate program you want to join. Some are very niche products with fewer buyers, but the product creator pays you well. Similarly, some can be mass products, but promoting them may give you less money. 

At VWO, we have niche products and promise to pay our affiliates highly, provided they are eligible for them. To get started, sign-up with PartnerStack and find VWO’s Affiliate program through the list of available programs.  

Create great content on what you promote

Creating content that convinces your followers to try the product you are promoting is easier said than done. Before creating content around a product, ensure you have first-hand experience using it. You must use it for a significant time and then note your observations. 

Your findings should come across as authentic. From comparing it with other products to interviewing experts – make your research as in-depth as possible. Your safest bet is not talking about products you have not tried personally. 

You can promote any VWO product that catches your interest. The only prerequisite is the content should be high-quality.

Download Free: A/B Testing Guide

Drive traffic to your content

So, your content is ready. How do you bring quality traffic to it? Start with your greatest treasure – your email list. As newsletters help you build one-on-one connections with your audiences, talking about a product and promoting it in a newsletter may persuade them to try it. 

SEO is also a great way to drive high-quality traffic to your content. Include keywords in your content for which you want it to rank on search engines. Our pro-tip is to target long-term keywords. They may not have a lot of search volume but being niche-specific, users searching for them have higher chances of converting. 

You can also use pay-per-click (PPC) to drive high-converting traffic. But to keep getting that traffic, you will have to continue paying for advertisements. Keep in mind, if you opt for PPC, the costs to run ads will go out of your pocket. 

Click and convert

In affiliate marketing, click-through conversions happen twice. First, when audiences click the affiliate link in your content to check out the product or service you’re promoting. Second, when they visit the merchant’s website to make a purchase and convert. 

You’re in full control of the first click-through and can improve it in the following ways:

• Use storytelling to make your content appealing
• Place affiliate links in easy-to-find places within your content 
• Highlight callouts like buttons and boxes to catch the audience’s attention

To be sanguine of the second click-through conversion, look for merchants offering high-converting affiliate programs. 

At VWO, we take pride in high conversion rates and pay our affiliates highly accordingly. Our referral program offers tiered commission rates. You will receive a 15% or more commission for every referral that becomes a client. If your revenue exceeds certain thresholds during a quarter, you may be eligible for higher commission rates on the surplus:

•  *Till $50k – 15%
• * Above 51k and less than 100k – 20%
• * Between 100k and 250k – 25%
• * More than 250k – 30%

We release the commission according to money realization i.e. if we have realized $5k, for the first qtr, 15% commission will be paid to the affiliate in the upcoming payment cycle, and so on and so forth.

Measure performance

How will product creators differentiate your referrals from several other leads from other affiliates or even other sources? This is why a cookie is inserted into a user’s browser whenever they click on your affiliate link. 

The product creator or merchant can then track this action and understand from which affiliate the user came so they can pay out the commission. For instance, when you join the VWO affiliate program, we keep track of leads flowing into our system. If the same lead comes from 2 different affiliate partners, the one with the earliest timestamp will be considered valid.

All these make it important for you to track metrics. Understand what content performs well and what needs improvement. For instance, if your podcasts are generating more leads and sales than blogs, you can focus more on the former. Doing this will guide your next affiliate marketing strategies and increase your earning potential.

Join the VWO Affiliate Program

To succeed as a VWO affiliate is completely within your reach. If your passion aligns with what we do and what we offer, your success (and commissions!) is guaranteed. Most of your questions are answered in our FAQ. So sign up today and start your journey as a VWO affiliate today.