How To Add An Affiliate Program To Your Website: What You Need To Know Before You Dive In

There are plenty of ways to advertise your products or services, but worth-of-mouth takes things to another level. No article post, email campaign, or social media ad will drive revenue higher than recommendations from people whom your potential customers love and trust. 

However, word of mouth is difficult to generate when you don't have the right people to help you. It helps to excite your followers and customers enough to recommend your goods to their acquaintances, friends, and family. And with affiliate marketing, you can hold this power in your hands. 

Affiliate programs are one of the most ancient forms of marketing, and in this article, we will cover everything there is to know about how they can benefit your business and how you can add one to your website. 

What Is An Affiliate Program?

An affiliate program is a partnership in which a digital business pays an affiliate (e.g., influencers, bloggers, or another website owner) a commission to direct traffic to their page.

The affiliate does this through social media content, product reviews, blog posts, etc. If he or she brings a customer to the business, the merchant pays the affiliate a sale-based commission.

Commissions are usually based on how many customers the affiliate directs to the business or the people who purchase something or perform a specific action. This could be anything from signing up for a free trial to downloading an application. Some programs also pay affiliates based on the number of visitors to the business site's banner advertisements.

How Can Affiliate Marketing Benefit Your Business?

Affiliate marketing is a system in which you pay someone to promote your products or services and send traffic to your website.

Marketers are given personalized links (URLs) that contain special tracking codes, which can be used to find out which affiliate referred to what transaction.

Affiliate marketing has gained immense popularity in the last 10-20 years, with the industry's world sales expected to reach more than $12 billion this year.

With this in mind, it's no wonder businesses of various industries are now implementing affiliate marketing to drive revenue and increase brand awareness.

Another amazing advantage is that you can only pay for results (successful conversions). You don't have to reward affiliates unless their efforts have resulted in a sale for your business.

Affiliate marketing takes the advertising process to a brand-new level. For example, if you go for a PPC campaign, you will be charged for each visitor ad click, no matter if the click has resulted in a sale for you.

Apart from driving revenue, affiliate marketing can do wonders when it comes to promoting your business. Also, nearly half of marketers consider affiliate marketing as one of the best strategies for winning new customers.

If you provide great customer service, the leads you generate through the process may easily become loyal, long-term customers.

Your partners may have helped you in winning the trust of these customers, but once they become regulars on your website, you won't be required to pay commissions on further transactions any longer.

How to Add Affiliate Products to Your Website Through Your Blog

You can use affiliate marketing to promote your product or service on your site in many different ways. For example, if the blog on your site is about iGaming, your readers will likely be on the lookout for the most exciting games with the most lucrative bonus systems.

In this case, you could promote an affiliate link for a new game by writing an in-depth guide or placing cool banner ads on your website.

Review Posts

People are constantly looking for high-quality products worth their hard-earned cash. That's the reason potential buyers take their time learning about different products or services they think about purchasing. And that's where review posts come into play. They are used for advertising goods with a personal touch, making them one of the most trusted methods of promotion.

Below, we have listed some key points to know when creating review posts:

• Review writing is about going in-depth about the product or service being advertised, so when affiliates create posts, they must also have a solid knowledge of what they're promoting. A detailed and honest review is sure to bring a higher conversion rate than a generic promotion ad.
• Reviews always contain both the pros and cons of the goods being promoted. This should also be done with a certain hint of authority and confidence, as it shows that the writer truly has deep knowledge of a product or service.
• The review post writer should use a personal tone. Don't forget that readers are looking for personal recommendations.
• Take advantage of plugins like Word Press review to drive traffic, brand awareness, and authority through the star rating system.
  
  

How-To Content

How-to content is known for its ability to grab a potential buyer's attention in the stage of problem-solving. What's even better is that how-to posts rank pretty high in search engines like Google.

The creation of such articles involves writing simple guides on how to use products, their features, and how to solve certain problems while inserting carefully placed links throughout. This approach can do wonders, especially for products that are deeply technical and require more thorough instructions.

Native Banners

Here we have an ancient advertising method that still works like a charm, especially when promoting affiliate products. However, banners need to be placed smartly to increase awareness without poking out the eyes of your visitors in the process.

In addition, rather than linking banners straight to the product or service, try linking to your review to increase value.

Affiliate Link Promotion Through Videos

Videos are a perfect way to provide valuable information to people while simultaneously making a buck with affiliate marketing. How-to videos, product review videos, as well as unboxing videos place high in search engine rankings on YouTube and other such sites.

Product demos, tutorials, and introduction videos are excellent tools for boosting traffic back to your detailed reviews. Videos can also be great for building awareness while giving people the info they need. You can even experiment with visuals like animations to show how a product works, but simple talking-head videos can be just as persuasive if done right.

Social Media Promotion

Campaigns on social media sites can be extremely beneficial when focusing on the content instead of the offer. Affiliate link promotion done straight to social media won't see the same success as promoting content like videos and articles that have affiliate links carefully and smartly placed in them.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is vital when it comes to content promotion. If your articles are deeply optimized for search engines, the benefits in terms of traffic to your website can be immense.

Keep in mind, however, that organic search rankings may take time to materialize as ranking for a particular search item, especially for high traffic. The trick is to use keywords and write solid, in-depth articles that people will find helpful. And if people are interested, so will the search engines.

Coupon Codes

As inflation takes a firm grip on the world, more and more people are looking for money-saving options for their products and services of choice. People are always searching for the best deals, and when an item is on sale, they are keen to take advantage of the offer.

Searches that involve a desired product or service followed by the word "coupon" are extremely common, so if you can include a tasty coupon deal in your in-depth review, you'll increase your chances of success tenfold.

Email Marketing

The great thing about email marketing is that every person on your list knows what you're all about and has agreed to give you their email address, meaning they already have some invested interest in your product or service.

This opens up a world of opportunities for you to boost conversion and deeply engage your audience through personalized and well-timed content. But just because someone subscribed to your newsletter doesn't necessarily mean they want to be bombarded by emails every hour — especially if you're promoting something they don't find relevant at this particular time.

Be mindful of who you're sending specific emails to and whether it is likely to be relevant to them. For example, if you're a brand that sells male and female bicycles, and a female customer subscribes to your email newsletter, make sure that the offers you send them align with their sex. Other key factors to consider, regardless of the product or service you're selling, are demographics, engagement levels, and buying habits.

Driving Customer Loyalty & Acquisition For Your Website

Apart from driving customers to your site with content, you need to make sure that your website is set up in a way that makes people want to stick around. Here are 4 things to keep in mind:

1. Make Sure Your Website Is Easy To Navigate

Is your website organized correctly? Is the information easy to find? Make sure to structure your page in such a way that customers can find what they're looking for in a glance or two. You should include an in-depth help section and a knowledge base, as well as a FAQ page for the most common issues/questions asked. Go even further by making it easy for customers who have more pressing questions to contact you and get back to them as soon as possible. Showing people that you care is the first and most important step to building a long-lasting relationship with them.

2. Treat Customers As VIPs

New customers should always be celebrated. However, the ones you should treat like actual royalty are the ones that have stuck with you for the longest time.

So, when you offer exciting deals to woe new customers, make sure the offers you create for your regulars are at least twice as enticing. Customer appreciation events and loyalty programs are bulletproof methods for boosting customer retention and making players feel like true VIPs.

3. Focus On A Smooth Onboarding Process

To maximize chances for success, every website/app needs to have a well-thought-out onboarding process. Failure on that front can lead to low website/app engagement down the line.

The onboarding process needs to be as seamless as possible and is crucial not just for the introduction to your website but also for retaining them as long-term customers.

Ideally, you should include several registration options, including account creation/signing up through social media, to simplify the onboarding process and ensure less hassle for users.

Show people what your site/app is capable of while they go through the onboarding process, but don't overdo it. Don't overwhelm them with too much information about features — here, a balanced approach is the best approach.

4. Don't Take Your Customers For Granted

Many businesses in various industries are great at making that first sale. However, customers are often ignored while the company goes after new leads.

And even after dedicating time and spending tons of cash to acquire new customers, not many take a step back to think about why customers often leave quickly. They then find themselves in a situation where they have to constantly replace the customers that walk away, which hinders them from making substantial steps toward growth.

The right thing to do here is to acknowledge that the sign-up is just the start of the customer journey. This is when the customer is still excited and waiting to be impressed by what you have to offer and thinking about what you will do to remove their doubts and anxieties.

Assure them that they have made the best choice and prove how much you appreciate them.

If your customers are not active, offer them something exciting; show that you genuinely care; make them an offer too good to be ignored. For example, if you're in the iGaming business, it could come in the form of a solid bonus, 50 or more free spins, or a free betting tournament with attractive prizes. Whatever you choose, make sure to make it fun because the happier the customer, the more likely they are to keep coming back for more.

A Dedicated Affiliate Platform For Your Business

To take your business to the next level, you will also need an affiliate marketing platform with a proven track record of driving revenue sky-high.

Powered by Smartico.ai, TheAffiliatePlatform is a comprehensive software solution that allows for multi-brand campaign creation and tracking while keeping each brand's affiliate registrations and access separate.

With this affiliate system tailor-made for online casinos and sports betting, you can build strong partner relationships and expand your affiliate network on your terms. Its flexible tools can also help you optimize your affiliate marketing spending with surprising efficiency.

This white-label platform is designed specifically for casino, poker, sportsbook, and fintech operators.

In addition, TheAffiliatePlatform offers the following features and benefits:

• Collaboration With Partners — Dedicated Account Manager is part of the service via any of the instant messaging apps (Slack, Skype, Teams) and Jira.
• Convenient Pricing — We don't charge by your results, clicks, or conversion — one price for all.
• Ease of Use — Allows your team total control over your entire affiliate operation, including overseeing your team of affiliate managers, affiliate management, real-time reporting, payments, and comprehensive BI reporting.
• Total Control In One Customizable Platform — Tap into the power of a fully customizable affiliate management solution designed to manage your affiliate marketing campaigns, payouts, creative assets, and more. Upload, update and manage all your creatives across your entire affiliate network.
• Track Everything In One Place, Build The Partnership You Want — TheAffiliatePlatform can make your next campaign the most successful one yet. It is a powerful affiliate software platform bringing casino and betting operators advanced solutions for creating, running, and tracking multi-brand affiliate marketing campaigns.
• Comprehensive Feature-Rich Tracking — TheAffiliatePlatform provides real-time and accurate conversion tracking and records via API integration, FTP solutions, traffic sources, and media placements. It also features broadly advanced no cookie dependencies methods like Server 2 Server (S2S/Postback), Image pixel, iFrame, Client JS Block and Facebook pixel, which are ideal for advanced affiliate marketers.
• Multi-Product & Multi-Brand System — TheAffiliatePlatform allows for multi-brand campaign creation and tracking and keeps the affiliate registrations and access separate for each brand. Different commission plans can be assigned per product and brand. Unite your iGaming brands into one affiliate program and manage them from one admin panel.
  
  

TheAffiliatePlatform offers many more tools, and, driven by customer requests, new features and functionalities are released every month. To book your free in-depth demo, please click the "Request a demo" button at the top of the page.

Wrap-Up

There are many ways to promote your products or services on your website. However, if you're still a rookie in the field, we recommend that you stick to the tried-and-tested approaches as you learn and grow. To recap, keep in mind the following ways to promote your product or service:

• Review posts
• How-to articles
• Native banners
• Videos that link to your long and short-form posts/articles
• Social media posts that link to your articles/posts
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Coupon codes
• Email marketing
  
  

TheAffiliatePlatform team wishes you the best of luck!