There are a quite a few tricks to finding real success as an affiliate blogger. In addition to choosing the right affiliate program and properly using the different affiliate marketing tools that it offers, you also have to consider what products to promote and then make sure you do so in an ethical way.
But what about SEO? Now, despite all the SEO myths out there, blogs have a number of SEO advantages. But how do you leverage them to actually promote products and refer sales, rather than just get a bunch of junk traffic?
My next few upcoming posts will each feature a different SEO tip specifically for affiliate bloggers. They’ll be aimed at helping you build longtail traffic that’ll keep earning you commissions long after you’ve linked to a product offer. This way, when consumers search for info on a product or service, they can find your blog post, and you’ll have a chance to make a commission by referring the sale.
Categorize Your Content
Some of the most valuable traffic that an affiliate blogger can get is users who are looking for product reviews. After all, consumers like to research products before buying them, and blogs tend to be regarded as more trustworthy sources of information because they are written by actual individuals.
On of the best ways you can monetize your blog, then, is to write product reviews that are relevant to your community of readers. Of course, these reviews are probably going to be read long after you write them, so you have to make sure that your new readers can find your old reviews. This is where the categorization comes in.
Whenever you review a product, make sure to categorize it as a “review” or “product review.” You also want to ensure that your blog is configured to have the category name in the post URLs. This way, when Google indexes the post URL, both the product keyword and the word “review” will appear there.
Also, indicate in the title your post that the post is a review. The title of the post is usually coded as a header tag, and search engines take such tags as an indication of what kind of content is on the page.
Blogs and SEO
One of the biggest SEO advantages that a blog has is structured content. Because everything is categorized and tagged, search engines have an easier time indexing the content properly. By taking advantage of this SEO features of your blog, you can really optimize your affiliate marketing content for the longtail. In addition to whatever current readers you might refer and earn a commission off of, you can also gain new readers in the future by targeting users who are probably in a buying-state-of-mind. And who know, you might even turn them into another happy (and profitable) customer.