How Can I Be Successful at Affiliate Marketing When My Audience is Small?
The first step to affiliate marketing is to have a product to promote.
But after that you need an to whom you are going to promote that product.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “I don't have an audience! My blog is tiny right now! Don't I need to concentrate on growing my blog before I can make money with it?”
I agree that you need to work on growing your blog, but I disagree that you do not have an audience. Bigger does not necessarily mean better. Would you rather have 10 followers who are truly interested in everything you say or 1000 followers who are just there because they entered a random giveaway, signed up for a freebie, or accidentally clicked the like button on your Facebook page? Having 10 people who know you and care about what you have to say can be just as profitable as having 1000 who don't even know how they got on your email list.
If you have 1 follower, make that relationship worthwhile to that person and you will find that they will be more than willing to buy through your links when you offer a helpful resource.
(Likewise, if you have a million followers, strive to view each person as an individual with needs that you can help meet rather than just as a random mass of people.)
Your audience is not limited to just your blog either. Here are some other places you can find your audience:
- Your personal Facebook account
Please, please don't be the person who posts 10 times a day about whatever miracle product, oil, makeup, nails, etc. that has changed your life! That is not how you make sales. That is how you annoy people and make them never want to see you again. Be a true friend. Never make your conversations about how you can make more money. I understand that you might honestly and truly love the product, but other people do not understand that, so please don't talk about it all the time.
However, if you are involved in other people's lives because you truly care about them, there will be plenty of times that it will be appropriate to suggest a product as the solution to a problem they are having. Sometimes they will flat out ask for suggestions and if you are involved in their life in an ongoing basis, it is not tacky to use your affiliate link when you give your own suggestion for a product that would help them with their problem.
Additionally, you can occasionally put out an affiliate link on your status update if you are truly trying to help others by recommending the product. This is especially true if the product is on sale and you want to make sure people who were thinking about getting it know about the sale price.
- Facebook groups
The same principles apply for Facebook groups as apply for your personal profile. Be genuinely involved in people's lives; don't just look for every opportunity to drop an affiliate link. But when you are involved in the conversation, those opportunities will occasionally come up. Don't ignore them when they do. (Please be aware of the rules of the group, though. Some groups do not allow affiliate links at any time.)
- Your blog's Facebook page
Use your page to either link to articles on your blog that have affiliate links included, or use your affiliate link directly on your Facebook page.
Understandably, your reach is limited sometimes on your Facebook page. Take a look at the Facebook crash course in the Facebook group for help improving your page. We also recently had a discussion about PostPlanner, which I have been using for a couple weeks now and absolutely love.
- Forums
The same ideas would apply here as apply to Facebook groups. Be genuinely involved in the conversation and follow the rules.
- Your email list
If you are not actively building your email list, you are making a big mistake.
What are more people going to see? A billboard on one specific road or a flyer that lands in every mailbox in the city?
What are more people going to see? An ad on Facebook that may or may not get shown to followers or a letter from you that lands directly in every single follower's inbox?
There is no faster, easier, and lucrative way to do affiliate marketing than through your email list. There's just not. If you are not finding time to build your list, you need to make some time.
Again, the same principles apply. Always be genuine. Don't make every email a sales pitch. Just be helpful and involved and opportunities to share your favorite products will naturally arise.
Think Twitter is dead? I know for certain it's not! Every single time I get myself over there, I get clicks on what I post. Sometimes LOTS and LOTS of clicks. It truly baffles me. But it doesn't have to make sense. If it works, do it!
7.Pinterest
The beauty of Pinterest is that you don't have to have a ton of followers to get seen. Pinterest is a search engine. Use the right keywords, and people will find your content.
When you create evergreen posts that include affiliate links and pin them to Pinterest, anyone and everyone can find those posts. What's great is that sometimes people are searching for a certain keyword because they're shopping for it. If they're shopping for something, what do you think they're going to do when they find it? That's right, they're going to buy it.
Instagram is a great way to show your authenticity to your followers. You get to show them a little of the behind-the-scenes life at your house. If you get a new product in the mail, post it to Instagram with the affiliate link in your profile. Show people the things you use and love and then tell them where they can get it for themselves.
- Other social media
I haven't personally dabbled in too many other platforms, but if you're on other social media platforms, use them! Don't be afraid to use your affiliate links when you're following the principles of authenticity that I've mentioned over and over.
- SEO
Don't overwhelm yourself with this at the moment if it's not your strong point. Just take one step at a time. But if you do understand a little bit about SEO, write optimized posts about products. You don't have to have “followers” for people to find your posts via search engines. And just like on Pinterest, when they're searching for a product it's because they're shopping for it. And when they find it they're planning on buying it.
- Real life relationships
Now you're not going to make millions using affiliate links this way, but regardless, when you take the time to recommend a product to someone, I think it's fair for you to get paid for it. Say your friend tells you she loves your lip gloss and you tell her where you found it and how ridiculously low-priced it is. You can tell she's planning on hopping online to order some for herself. It's not at all inappropriate to say “You can order it at such-and-such, but if you wait until I get home, I'll email you a link and I'll get a little credit if you order through that link.” Chances are your friend will be tickled that she's getting some lip gloss and that you're getting something out of it too.
See? Your blog doesn't have to be huge for you to have an audience. Your audience is in lots of different places. Just focus on cultivating relationships and using affiliate links where it makes sense. Keep practicing and it will be more and natural to know when it's appropriate and when it's overkill. (Hint: less is better if you're not sure!)
I've got lots more ideas that I'd like to share when it comes to affiliate marketing, but this is really long already so I'll stop for today.
If you have any questions, though, feel free to shoot me an email or ask in the Facebook group!