How To Promote Affiliate Links: 15 Creative Strategies That Work [Ep. 69]

By Jessie Festa. This episode on how to promote your affiliate link is sponsored by Travelpayouts and also contains affiliate links to trusted partners I think you’ll love!

Interested in learning how to promote affiliate links?

Well, you’re in luck, as in this episode of The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast, we’ll be going over 15 creative strategies for sharing your affiliate links and increasing conversions!

By the end of this episode, you’ll understand:

• Best ways to promote affiliate links that go beyond sprinkling links in blog posts
• Where to promote your affiliate links to increase sales
• Tips for increasing your affiliate marketing commission
• Important rules to remember when sharing affiliate links
• Ideas for collaborating with partners to create unique affiliate promotions
• And more!

In short, you’ll have loads of inspiration for sharing your referral links with your audience as well as getting new eyes on them!

How To Promote Affiliate Links [Podcast Episode Audio]

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Grow Your Blogging Income With Travelpayouts ($25 Bonus!)

This episode is sponsored by Travelpayouts, the largest affiliate platform designed for travel content creators.

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Kit. A feature-rich yet user-friendly email marketing platform made by bloggers for bloggers. My affiliate link gets you a 30-day free trial — no credit card required! Alternatively, you can join their free plan here.

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Creative Ways To Promote Affiliate Links [Episode Transcript]

If you’re a blogger, it’s likely that you monetize through affiliate marketing.

Or, if you haven’t monetized yet, it’ll likely be one of the first avenues you pursue since it’s such a great way to earn money through your content.

And while it’s pretty simple to get the hang of applying for programs and creating affiliate links, where many bloggers struggle is understanding how to actually increase their conversions.

To do that, you really need a strategy.

Which is exactly what I’ll be sharing in this podcast episode. More specifically, we’ll be going over how to promote affiliate products, including creative ways that go beyond sprinkling links in your content.

Increase your affiliate income with Travelpayouts

But first, I want to thank our sponsor for helping to make this episode possible, Travelpayouts.
One of the biggest struggles for many bloggers is monetization, though if you are interested in making money through your blog, a smart way to get started is affiliate marketing – which Travelpayouts can help you with.

Their platform features over 100 trusted affiliate programs all in one platform, like Booking.com, Expedia, Hostelworld, Viator, and more — all within one click of each other. And Travelpayouts’ commission rates are often just as high as direct affiliate programs, too.

A few other perks include being able to:

• Check all your statistics on one dashboard and easily see what brands are working best for your website
• Receive one monthly payment from all affiliate programs without delays
• Get answers to your questions quickly with their top-notch 24-hour support

Travelpayouts is already helping 300,000 content creators earn an income from their blogs and achieve their dreams. And they’d love to help you too.

To get started, click here and register with code JESSIE to get a $25 bonus on top of your first payout.

Feel free to even pause this episode to go grab that bonus.

Free blog monetization workshop

And while you’re doing that, make sure to also grab access to my 10 Ways To Make Money Travel Blogging workshop.

This free workshop shares 10 powerful strategies for growing your travel blogging income and turning your blog into a wildly profitable business – including affiliate marketing.

Plus, there are bonuses, a Q&A, and a limited-time replay.

So again, feel free to pause this episode to go grab your seat in the free workshop.

You back? Then let’s dive into our strategy on how to share affiliate links the right way.

Important affiliate marketing rules

• Always disclose when using affiliate links – at the top of your content, so that there is no way people don’t know you’re using them.
• Before promoting an affiliate partner, double-check how you’re allowed to use your links – for instance, are you allowed to promote affiliate links in email and on social?

With those rules in mind, let’s kick things off with…

Strategy #1: Have an affiliate for all of your bookable actions

Having an affiliate for bookable actions like hotels, tours, and travel insurance means you can monetize almost every post.

Whether you write a travel guide to Rome, Morocco, or Australia, it’s likely that the person reading will be interested in what to actually add to their itinerary, so tell them — with an affiliate link!

Okay, now let’s chat about one of my favorite ways to promote affiliate links:

Strategy #2: Create affiliate content optimized for buyer-intent keywords

I’ve mentioned this in past episodes, but it really is my favorite affiliate marketing strategy — and it can work for SEO-friendly blog posts, YouTube videos, and basically any content that gets found from people searching for answers.

In short, you want to choose keywords that attract searchers with their credit card in hand ready to purchase.

Buyer-intent keywords include phrases like:

• best
• [brand] vs [brand]
• top 10 + product type + in year

For example, you know someone searching “best waterproof hiking backpacks for women” is looking to purchase a backpack. This would be a great opportunity to promote affiliate programs like Amazon, REI, and Backcountry.

On the other hand, adding your backpack affiliate link into a guide to traveling Europe doesn’t attract people actually looking to buy a backpack.

For more information on how to use buyer intent in your content, check out this mini-workshop going over five profitable affiliate blog post types:

Strategy #3: Share a tutorial or strategy showcasing an affiliate product

Another type of affiliate content you can create is a tutorial video or blog post where you share exactly how to use a product while showcasing its benefits.

For instance, you might do a tutorial on how to use AirHelp to get reimbursed for flight delays and share how much you’ve gotten back in the past by using their service.

Alternatively, you might share a strategy that makes your affiliate a key component.

For example, a blog post or YouTube video on how to save money on flights can incorporate Scott’s Cheap Flights as an important step.

And this brings us to…

Strategy #4: Add affiliate links to a summary box under your blog post introduction

There is a good chance that many people who land on your 2000+ word travel guide don’t actually want to read the entire thing. Many people will likely just want the facts, like where you stayed and what you did.

To help serve these people, create a short summary box of the trip, and add affiliate links so people can book.

Personally, I like to make the box a different color so it stands out, and then have it just share the facts — like where to stay and what tours to book. Here is a visual:

Alternatively, you might share a quick tip with an affiliate link. For example, in my guide on cheap things to do in NYC, I share a quick tip that getting a New York CityPASS can help save you money on top local attractions.

Okay, the next strategy for sharing affiliate links is one of my favorites…

Strategy #5: Include affiliate link promotion in the posts that are already bringing you blog traffic

The best place to promote affiliate links is where the right people will truly see them.

Once per month, I like to look over the blog posts that are bringing in traffic to check that:

• I haven’t missed any opportunities to add affiliate links
• The affiliate links I do have aren’t broken or outdated

Every single time I do this, I find loads of missed opportunities, so I highly recommend adding this to your workflow.

Additionally, you can take this time to check in with your affiliate strategy to see what is working — and what isn’t — and adjust accordingly.

For instance, is there a blog post you really thought would bring in affiliate income, but hasn’t gotten many clicks? Why might this be? Is the post actually attracting people who would want to purchase this product? Is the link highly visible with bolded text or within a different color box or button?

It’s wise to check in on these things so that your hard work really pays off.

Okay, now let’s chat about how to promote an affiliate program through…

Strategy #6: Create a free email course that weaves affiliate partners into the strategy

If you’ve been in my community for a bit you know that email marketing is a big part of my blog growth strategy — and this includes creating opt-in freebies that get people onto your email list in exchange for the freebie.

What I love about creating free e-mail courses in particular is:

• There is a clear benefit for the subscriber — as in, they’ll learn something
• It can act as both your opt-in freebie and your automated nurture sequence
• You can use affiliate links — and place them in front of people who would truly benefit from them

For example, let’s say your free email course is about staying safe while traveling solo. Within the emails you send out, you might promote relevant items like pickpocket-proof garments and a slash-proof backpack with affiliate links.

Now, it’s not just email courses where you can promote these helpful affiliate links, but also…

Strategy #7: Promote affiliate links within your regular email content

If you send feature emails, you might teach strategies or share resource lists with links.

For instance, one email I sent to my travel blogger audience shared a list of my favorite design tools for creators with affiliate links. I know that people who opened that email with the subject line “7 tools that simplify graphic design for bloggers 🎉” are interested in discovering new graphic design tools.

If you send a newsletter, maybe you include a section that lists of your monthly favorites, or perhaps you insert a box below your signature that never changes and shares your travel must-haves with affiliate links.

I actually do this in my monthly travel newsletter and I include affiliate partners I truly use and love like Clever Travel Companion, which sells pickpocket-proof garments, and EatWith, a platform focused on connecting with travelers with locals to dine in their homes.

Here is a visual:

Ready for…

Strategy #8: Collaborate with an affiliate partner to host a free webinar or challenge that shares your affiliate link

As a blogger, you’re already teaching your audience about something — so why not take that one step further to offer a free challenge or host a free webinar with an affiliate partner?

The affiliate partner’s involvement can be as hands on or hands off as you’d like.

For instance, I’ve had affiliate partners teach full webinars that then pitched their product using my affiliate link at the end, and I’ve also put on challenges where I was the one creating the content and the affiliate partner offered participants a special bonus.

The important thing is that the teaching content is relevant to your affiliate partner, and that it includes a pitch to their product using your affiliate link.

For instance, if you’re an affiliate for a company like Scott’s Cheap Flights, you might reach out to them to collaborate on a travel hacking challenge or webinar.

I also recommend reaching out to your affiliate partner to see if they could offer a bonus or coupon to make your pitch more enticing. Simply sharing about Scott’s Cheap Flights is valuable, though offering a limited-time discount if even more valuable.

But, what if your affiliate partner doesn’t want to offer a bonus or discount?

Then offer your own bonus to those who make a purchase through your affiliate link during the time of the webinar or challenge promotion!

Again, just make sure it’s relevant to the teaching content. If your challenge is about travel hacking, have your bonus also be related to travel hacking.

And this brings us to how to market affiliate links through…

Strategy #9: Create a personality quiz that incorporates affiliate links into the results

Offering free quizzes is a great way to make your blog posts more engaging. They can also be used to grow your email list as well as your affiliate income.

How?

Include affiliate links in the results! For example, you might have a quiz that plans the perfect travel itinerary for someone based on their responses. In your recommendations, include affiliate links for all bookable actions — like hotels, tours, etc.

On that note, let’s discuss…

Strategy #10: Promote affiliate links on a blog resources page

As a blogger sharing advice on a specific topic, you likely have readers who are interested in hearing your suggestions about products related to your topic.

For example, if your blog is about travel photography, you might have readers asking you about your favorite cameras, lenses, and Lightroom presets.

Make it easy for your readers to find this information in a resources page linked in your main menu — and use affiliate links for your recommendations.

A bonus benefit here is that next time someone asks what photography equipment you use, you can save time with your response by simply sending them this page.

Now we’re on to…

Strategy #11: Promote affiliate links within your opt-in freebies

Okay so we talked about including affiliate links in your free email course; but, you can also include them in your other opt-in freebies, too.

Just to recap from a past episode, a few popular opt-in freebie ideas include:

• Printables like cheat sheets, checklists, and workbooks
• Resource libraries
• Webinars and challenges

If it makes sense, you can include affiliate links within these freebies.

For instance, if you have a cheat sheet that helps people pack carry-on only when they travel, you might share links to your favorite brand of compression sacks or packing cubes within the printable itself.

The beauty here is you have people who are truly interested in the tips you have to share, which is why they grabbed your freebie in the first place.

Now let’s expand on this a bit with…

Strategy #12: Promote affiliates within your digital products

You can also include affiliate links in your digital products, like online courses and ebooks.

As someone who creates online courses focused on travel blogging, I include a resource list of my favorite tools for bloggers.

Many of the links in this list are affiliate links — not because I’m forcing them in there, but because when I use and love a product, I typically join the affiliate program for that product.

The same goes for the workshops within my courses. For instance, in Travel Blog Prosperity I share a lot of strategies around SEO and keyword research, which I use Keysearch to do. So when I share about Keysearch, I also share my affiliate link and coupon code — which is an added benefit for my students.

By the way, here is my blogging resource list link in case you’re curious.

And this brings us to…

Strategy #13: Share your affiliate links on social media

Instagram, YouTube, Facebook / Facebook Groups, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok — these platforms all provide opportunities to promote your affiliate links.

For instance, you might share a tutorial video of how you pack carry-on only and then invite people to click your link in bio for the full packing list — with affiliate links.

If you have an Amazon Influencer Storefront — which allows you to create Idea Lists — you can also send people there as part of your social media strategy.

Or, maybe you do a Facebook Live haul on National Get Outdoors Day showing your favorite outdoor travel gear if it makes sense for your blog.

Or possibly you create a post sharing how excited you are about an upcoming event or product sale — and invite people to sign up with your affiliate link.

Really think about your own mission statement and what your audience looks to you for and get creative here.

Speaking of creative ideas, let’s talk about…

Strategy #14: Promote affiliate partners in a giveaway follow up email

I’m a huge fan of hosting giveaways as a blogger.

And while the giveaway itself should be free to enter, you can monetize it with affiliate links by following up with all entrants — or only those who opted into your email list to be fully GDPR compliant — and offering them a digital swag bag that includes free trials and discounts on affiliate products.

Personally, when I do giveaways I like to have 10+ prizes, and I usually reach out to affiliate partners to offer these.

So the way I frame my post-giveaway emails to entrants is basically “You may not have won prize X, but here is a coupon code to get it at a discount.”

Okay, let’s move on to…

Strategy #15: Share affiliate links within podcast show notes

If you’re like me and you have a podcast — particularly one where you’re sharing tips and strategies — then you can monetize it with affiliate marketing.

I mention tools that can help you blog smarter all of the time, and when I do I add them to the show notes with an affiliate link.

For instance, in a past episode mentioning email marketing, I talked about Kit and noted that my affiliate link snags new users a 30-day free trial.

Bonus tip: Ask affiliate partners for a raise

Remember, when you’re doing well with a program you can also ask to have your commission raised. Or, you might offer to sign an exclusive deal in exchange for a higher commission.

One of my Travel Blog Prosperity members recently did this with a tour aggregator site, who now increased her commission percentage in exchange for not promoting any other tour aggregator sites.

At the very least, you might do some collaborative outreach to see if your partner might want to work with you on a more creative campaign to help increase your commission, or to offer you a coupon code to help make promoting them easier.

Alright, now I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you feel inspired and empowered to start promoting your affiliate links in creative ways that can help you increase your travel blogging income.

Before you go, don’t forget to grab access to the free 10 Ways To Make Money Travel Blogging workshop. If you’re looking to monetize your blog, this powerful training can help.

Also, thank you once again to our sponsor, Travelpayouts. Make sure to sign up with code “JESSIE” to grab a $25 bonus on top of your first payout.

And of course, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes sharing these bite-sized strategies for bloggers who want to turn their blogs into profitable full-time businesses.

Happy blogging!

Master Affiliate Marketing With These Helpful Past Episodes:

The Ultimate Guide To Affiliate Marketing For Travel Bloggers

How To See Success With The Amazon Affiliate Program As A Blogger

How To Create A Resources Page That Grows Your Blogging Income

How To Use White Label Affiliate Programs To Monetize Your Blog

How Niching Down Can Help You Grow & Monetize Your Blog

How To Find Niche Keywords By Doing Competitor Research

How To Reach Your Blogging Goals Faster With Outreach Days

How To Update Website Content For Increased Traffic

How To Plan Out A Year Of Content In One Week

How To Sell A Blog For Profit

Click here for all profitable blogging podcast episodes.

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What tips would you add to this guide on how to promote affiliate links?