7 Crucial Questions Bloggers Need To Ask Before Promoting An Affiliate Product!
There are so many companies you can be an affiliate for and it can be hard to narrow down which ones to choose. Asking the following questions will help you choose the best one for your blog
Are you new to affiliate marketing and just beginning to decide which companies you want to be an affiliate for?
Are you having a hard time figuring out which products to promote to your audience? I believe this blog post will help you then so keep reading.
In this post, I will discuss 7 questions you should ask yourself before agreeing to be an affiliate for a company or promoting an affiliate product. Some of them are pertinent to you being a blogger and some are pertinent to you being a business owner.
I wanted to marry those two trains of thought together to help you find your perfect affiliate products.
This post may contain affiliate links which means I get a commission if you purchase something after clicking on one of those links. But don’t worry. I’m not going to recommend something I don’t really believe it because that would just be wrong.
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– 7 Crucial Questions Bloggers Need To Ask Before Promoting An Affiliate Product
1. Does this product/company align with my values?
This is a question I ask myself a lot. Now I’m not saying that I have to agree with every little thing that a company does before I agree to be their affiliate. That’s unrealistic. But the company has to jive with my conscious.
I run a blog called Healthy As You Can and I promote health products naturally. A lot of health care products that are natural have a New Age influence to them and I just can’t get with that. I believe that getting involved in the New Age can be a slippery slope away from God and into false doctrine.
So for those reasons, those kinds of products are not something I’m willing to tell other people to use because I’m not comfortable with the messaging.
It’s possible that I could make a lot of sales from those kinds of products but if I can’t sleep at night, is it worth it?
No, it’s not for me. That’s something you have to ask yourself too.
2. How much do you make commission do you make on the sale of the product?
You also want to know how much of a commission you would make by selling a particular product. Some companies will give you up to 50% of the sale and some companies will only give you 5%.
If you would have to sell 100 products to make a decent profit, it may not be worth the time and energy.
It would be pointless to spend a lot of time and money promoting a product only to not be compensated well in the end. Sad face.
3. Will my audience benefit from this product?
So you’ve found a product that aligns with your values and you’ll make great commissions from its sales and you’re all excited. But hold up wait a minute.
What you need to know is this…Does my audience really need or want this product? If the answer is a resounding no then you may not have found the golden ticket yet.
We always want to be thinking of how we can add value to the lives of our audience. Are we just promoting a product because we really think our audience will find value in it or is it because we think we can get a high commission?
As followers of Christ, we need to not only be good stewards of our own money but we don’t want to influence others to buy stuff that they really don’t need.
As followers of Christ, we need to not only be good stewards of our own money but we don't want to influence others to buy stuff that they really don't need. Share on X
So if your blog is about being single and saved then you may or may not want to promote books that talk about how to have a healthy marriage…doesn’t really go together. We want to promote products that make sense for our readers. We want them to see the product and them say “yes, I’m totally interested in that”.
That’s the goal.
Here are 24 affiliate marketing opportunities that are perfect for Christian bloggers!
4. How regularly do they pay their affiliates?
Some companies send payments to their affiliates each week, some once a month, and other businesses only pay their affiliates every 4 months.
It is important for you to know how often to expect your commissions especially if you need the money in a hurry. It could be really exciting to see affiliate sales come in and at the same time frustrating and disappointing if you have to wait 4 months to get the money.
It’s also good to know the lowest payment threshold that you have to reach before you can receive payment. Many businesses will not send your commissions until you’ve reached a certain amount like $20 in commission.
Yet, there are some that hook you up with your money whenever the sale is completed which is quite amazing! Many companies won’t do that though especially if that company has a return policy for their products.
They will make affiliates wait until the return policy window has passed before they will gift their affiliates with the money. You’ll just have to decide for yourself how quickly you and your family need the money.
5. Does the business compensate you for recurring sales?
Something else to consider is this. Does the company give a commission for subsequent sales? Say for instance that you are selling a subscription-based product like Tailwind or Convertkit.
Something to research is to find out whether you just make a commission on the first month’s sale or if you make a commission for every month that that buyer is a subscriber.
That makes a huge difference in the amount of commission you will receive.
6. What marketing resources do the affiliates provide?
Something that can be a little frustrating to me is when I’m an affiliate for a product that doesn’t have a lot of promotional resources to choose from. Some don’t even offer a banner or a picture that you can use to help show the reader what the product looks like.
A company not having promotional resources is not a deal breaker but it is something to think about when you are planning your affiliate strategies. It does make it harder to inform and demonstrate the value of the products to your audience if the company doesn’t provide you many resources.
Click here to learn about the 3 best affiliate marketing companies for beginners!
7. Is it a product that either I’ve used, someone I know has used it, or it has lots of verified reviews?
Before we promote a product we need to ask either:
“Do I really love this product/find value in it”
“Do I know someone who has found value in it personally? or
“Are there lots of reviews that are trustworthy that I can point the reader to?”.
If the answer to all of these questions is no, then keep looking for a product that you can answer at least yes to one of these questions. It can be damaging to your reputation if you promote products that are not of good quality.
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– Next Steps: Find an affiliate marketing network to join and start looking for products to promote
Affiliate marketing can be a very lucrative business and a way to get a quick monetary win when you’ve started blogging. Just be sure to keep these questions in mind when you are trying to find a product to promote.
If you are wondering where to go from here, I would look into signing up with a free affiliate marketing network. One I highly recommend is Share-A-Sale.
Why?
Because…
1) Share-A-Sale is free to join. Click here to register for share-a-sale for free!
2)They have quite a few Christian or faith-based companies that you can be an affiliate for like Answers In Genesis and Restored 316.
And if you don’t cater to a strictly Christian audience then there are tons of affiliate product options to choose from on Share-A-Sale.
3)It’s easy to find companies to be an affiliate for. They have a user-friendly interface. I’ve used some in the past that were confusing for no reason.
If you’re new to affiliate marketing I would definitely start with ShareASale and look for companies to affiliate for that way.
So if you’re interested, I highly recommend you click here to join shareasale.com for free and start earning cash today!
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