Basics for Earning Affiliate Income
Have you decided to put monetize your website and post some affiliate links but don’t know where to start? This is just a simple list to help you remember some of the basics from earning affiliate income through your website.
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Related: Should You Put Affiliate Links On Your Author Website?
Start Simple
Start with just a few products, companies, or services that you believe in. Don’t post ads all over your website to the point where your content is lost and your visitors are annoyed.
Keep it Relevant
Stay within your niche or book genre and chooses affiliate products or services that compliment your content, but that doesn’t compete.
Keep it Balanced
Don’t over post affiliate links without having content on your website. Make sure you have solid content and a good way to know how balanced to keep it is to follow a basic 80/20 rule with 80% content to 20% affiliate.
Use an Affiliate Disclosure Statement
Follow the disclosure statement rules for the FTC so that you don’t run into legal difficulties.
Related: FTC Affiliate Disclosure Information
Link to Businesses and/or Products You Know and Trust
This doesn’t mean you have to have used every single product or service that you want to link to, but you should have some kind of faith in what you link to for your visitors because you need to consider your own reputation as well.
Start with Established Companies
e.g. Google Adsense, Amazon, etc. – when your earnings have accumulated to the payment threshold, you want to be sure you receive your commissions and working with well-established companies is a good way to make sure of this.
Consider a Merchant Network
e.g. ShareASale, CJ – merchant networks make it easy to find several companies within a single account. This makes it easy because you can get all your links in one place, fill out a single W9 tax form, and receive a single payment for multiple merchants.
W9 – Tax Info
Any affiliate program that you join should have a W9 tax form for you to fill out. This protects them and you. It’s a very simple form and most can be done online with an electronic signature, or you can print, sign, scan, and return. Most companies will give you one to download and fill out, but if you need a copy – Click Here.
Look for Affiliate Programs for Companies You Already Do Business With
Check their website footer – if you do business with a particular company that you absolutely love their products and services you might want to look for a link, usually in the footer, where you can sign up for an affiliate program with them. You’ll see below that I have an affiliate program where I give 10% commissions on all referrals.
Looking to start a successful online business? This post will give you everything you need to know to get started!
If you have any questions about earning affiliate income on your author website, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Have a wonderful day!
