Many don’t have much luck with affiliate banners on their website. The general consensus in the blogging and affiliate marketing world is that affiliate banners just don’t convert well.
Actually they do. I have a website that about 90% of my sales come from affiliate banners. There is however a good reason that these banners convert.
They are highly relevant and targeted.
Relevancy and targeting seems to be an area that many bloggers don’t pay that much attention too and their sales reflect it. Targeting your audience and providing them with relevant products that offer solutions is the formula for a successful blog.
It’s the often the difference in a blog that makes money and a blog that doesn’t.
You Affiliate Banners Must Be Highly Relevant to the Topic
I have a little website that is on Himalayan Salt. Nothing on this site is about anything that doesn’t have to do with Himalayan Salt.
I have a banner linking to the Himalayan Salt Shop.
I have it at the top, in the sidebar and often link it at the bottom of each post. Jut a banner. A banner that isn’t even all that attractive.
I also tried an affiliate banner on Mountain Rose Herbs. I thought well people interested in the health benefits of Himalayan Salt might also like organic herbs right?
Wrong. Not one sale to those herbs in over 4 years.
It’s not relevant. It’s not what my reader was looking for.
They land on my blog post because they are looking for Himalayan Salt and that is exactly what I give them.
Please note that I also often say in my blog post above the banner that I buy all of my Himalayan Salt products from the Himalayan Salt Shop.
A little personal recommendation goes a long way once you have built a rapport with your reader.
When Affiliate Banners Don’t Work
Let’s take a look at this site for a minute. It’s not so narrow. It’ more broad. A lot of topics are covered here.
From keyword research, Seo, Targeting your Audience, blogging mindset and so much more.
Let’s say I have an affiliate banner for a hosting company in my sidebar.
Here is the thing. Most people that land on many of these topics already have a hosting company. They aren’t looking for that.
The conversion is going to be low if at all.
If I want a hosting banner to convert, I need to place it into posts that are relevant to hosting. Maybe a post about how to choose the best hosing company or what to look for in a hosting company.
It doesn’t belong on my sidebar, or in every post that is for sure. That’s like playing a slot machine. Pulling that lever over and over again and hoping for a win (sale).
Sure you might get an occasional chance sale, but placing random banners like playing a slot machine is not a stable strategy.
Typical Banner Mistake
Sometimes we have this one blog post that converts like crazy. We think well I am selling that product like wildfire so I am going to put a banner of that product on my sidebar.
We don’t consider that not every blog post on our site is relevant to that product.
Getting Affiliate Banners to Convert
If you want affiliate banners to convert, you need to understand your audience. When people do a search in Google, Pinterest, Youtube or wherever, they don’t land on your home page. They land on the blog posts (or video) on the topic that they searched.
You want to narrow it down. You give them what it is they were searching for and a solution to match.
If you were on this blog searching keyword research, it wouldn’t be wise of me to have a banner on hosting. It would be more wise to place a banner for a keyword tool or maybe one of our courses on keyword research and seo.
Think about your reader. Give them what they came for and you will see your conversions rise. It’s that simple.
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