Big Goals to make a living from Affiliate Marketing
Many moons ago when I first starting my blog I was sure I could make lots of money from affiliate marketing. Looking back at my business plan that I wrote in the summer of 2015 its written there in the finance section, most of my earnings will come from affiliate income.
Um no. It didn’t happen! You see, I had come from a background where I had worked with affiliate partners at EE, when I spent some time as a digital sales manager. I looked after the marketing budgets which included affiliate marketing and worked with the marketing agency to get the right affiliate partners selling our phones and sims. It looked simple, put on offer on a website and the sales roll in, commission earned on a CPA (cost per acquisition) basis. Hmmm not quite.
Three Years Later
It transpires three years down the line, that most of my earnings comes from sponsored posts. I will work on a sponsored post for a brand and will promote that post on my social media channels for which I charge a fee. My objective is to diversify my income whilst growing it as well. I want to reduce my reliance on sponsored posts and have a different income split. The aim is to get to 50% for sponsored posts and 50% for everything else.
I have done some analysis of my March income. 75% of my earning came from sponsored posts, campaigns and SEO work. The remainder of the income came from affiliate earnings, freelance writing and my products (Blogging Your Way To Riches book & Blogger coaching). The affiliate earning from March were just £120. This is based on a cash basis, i.e. money received in my bank account, earnings from Jan/Feb.
A course that will help me to reach my Affiliate income goals
During March I did a course. How to Smash Affiliate Marketing as a UK Blogger. A course created by my blogger friend/colleague/advisor Emma Drew. She has done so well from affiliate marketing for as long as I have known her (more than two years now) and knows all the tricks of the trade. We have spent much time talking about affiliate marketing and she has given me plenty of ideas to think about on my site, but to be honest it was never a focus for me.
Doing this course has provided me with a focus. Emma has downloaded EVERYTHING there is to know about affiliate marketing into this course. Everything from disclosure to social media marketing to email lists to serving your readers. There is lots of information about finding affiliate programs and earning the most money possible. She shares many learnings from her vast experience including some warnings of where challenging things have happened.
And the really cool thing about this course is that it is written, and she talks through the course in video content as well. I love having the choice to read or to watch and listen. Personally, I have really enjoyed listening to the course content on video or listening to the content with headphones.
The course has been completed and I have added a vast amount of knowledge to the few bits that I already knew. And I have started to put affiliate marketing plans into place.
My affiliate success to date
Since completing the course I have tried the following, I have promoted a freebie magazine offer and have made £172. There is an old Topcashback post that I have refreshed on my blog and I have promoted it on social and now have £100 in referral payments waiting to clear. I have been including Amazon links wherever possible in posts, I have earned £3.50. Okay Amazon isn’t going to set the world on fire! I also have an Octopus Energy project that has earned £20 of affiliate revenue so far. That makes just shy of £300 in affiliate revenue in just one month. I am very happy with this for the first month after doing the course.
If you would like to do this ‘how to smash affiliate marketing’ course please click on this link. You will save yourself £5 as a special discount. The £44 investment will most likely be recouped well within the first month if you can do what I did!
This post contains affiliate links to products and posts where I will receive a small commission for recommending them.
34 Responses
Thanks, this is so helpful, I am just starting out and will definitely do the course. Very excited!
I also just read your book which is super useful and accessible too.
Wow! What an improvement having done the course! Sounds great (btw love your book and was the first one I read when starting my blog!) D x
Really interesting and sounds like a fabulous course. I really need to sit down and look into this properly soon.
I’ve found affiliate marketing a bit of a tough but to crack. I’m yet to make a penny from it and most of my income comes from sponsored posts. Need a bit more of a balance!
smashing it! Some great tips here. Love how you’ve refreshed an old post x
Loved doing this course too – must start tracking the impact of my new actions!
Thanks for this informative post! I am yet to monetise my blog but this has provided a good reality dose Rose @ Our House of Love
This is so useful, I’m definitely up for the course. I’m just starting out and need all the help I can get. Thanks!
Looks fab and something I am thinking of doing so this is a really great blog post thanks
Emma’s courses are great! And well done to you on your progress so far.
This is a really good one isnt it? Really loving the focus.
I’ve just written a post and remembered to put an affiliate link. I’m so bad at doing this on a regular basis!
I think the key is to find a product that really works for your audience that pays a nice affiliate amount and go for that. That is what has worked for me this month.
So exciting that you saw results so quickly! I’ve taken Emma’s course too and totally agree that it’s such a great resource.
I found the right deals and the right ways to promote. It was actually quite easy in the end!
I’m so thrilled by your progress so far, well done!!! Excited to see this continue to grow. Thank you for your lovely recommendation of my course <3
Thank YOU for the focus and the extra £300 this month!!
I haven’t started to monetise my blog yet but this definitely gives me some food for thought.
Great David, this will make a difference when you start to monetise.
The course if fantastic! I’ve got so many things to work on already and the little bits I have managed to do have already made an impact. Well done on your £300 so far this month, that’s brilliant! #MondayMoney
I really need to get my bum in gear with Affiliate marketing. Tempted to book some time off of work just to have some dedicated computer days to get on with it!
I know right, the course took me a few hours to go through and digest and then come up with a strategy.
useful tips thanks!
Thanks Jane:-)
Hi Lynn, Welldone for your progress on the affiliate front!! It certainly deserves focused attention and strategy to make it worthwhile.
Thank you, it does need focus, but I find if you cherry pick the exact right partners for your audience, you can do really well.
I’ve signed up for the course, looking forward to working my way through it… My first step towards making an income from my blog!
Brilliant Clare, I look forward to hearing how you have got on!
Thanks for this review and for sharing how it has worked for you. It is really helpful to have others share what wasn’t working for them, what they did about it and what difference the action they took made.
I have not yet monetized my blog but intend to do so in the next couple of months. Emma’s course was on my shortlist of courses to buy. With your review it’s right at the top now.
Fabulous. Emma is ever so good at explaining things in a simple way. You wont regret it.
Hi,
I am an author writing over 14 books in the next 4 years. 3 will be pyblished within 6 months and I need a marketing service for them. Can you do this? If so please email me about it. I will get websiote and ebook urls when my publisher gets them ready.
Thanks,
Vijay
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Thanks for it keep it up.
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