The affiliate marketing business model is very popular, since it’s super easy to get started, and doesn’t require any expertise or strong technical skills.
What’s more, WordPress is extremely popular with affiliate marketing websites, due to its versatile and scalable nature.
That said, while it might be easy to start, it could be a bit tricky until you manage to get enough visitors and traffic to your website, which is mandatory, in order to start earning money.
So, how do you get started, and what are the best ways to get traffic to your website based on affiliate marketing?
Let’s find out.
How to Get Traffic to Your Affiliate Website: Methods
- Implement good SEO practices.
- Create a blog.
- Write product reviews.
- Develop social media accounts.
- Use banner ads.
- Start making YouTube videos.
- Find niche groups and forums.
1. Implement Good SEO Practices
A key aspect of understanding how to get traffic for affiliate marketing is the utilization of guest blogging. Contributing to reputable blogs within your niche can drive a new, engaged audience to your site.
In theory, you can get unlimited traffic to your website, by implementing good SEO practices. That’s the magic of search engine optimization – it’s not an exact science, and it may take time to test, experiment, and try out different strategies until you find what works best for you, but once you find it, the benefits are worth it.
This is a proven method on how to get organic traffic for affiliate marketing, as there are dozens of affiliate-based websites out there that rely solely on SEO for their traffic, and they’re not doing bad, at all.
Here’s the deal, in a nutshell.
You choose the niche for your affiliate business. Then, you start a blog, strategize, write, and optimize your topics to achieve good SERP rankings. Eventually, you start creating reviews for the products you offer, and there you have it – if you’ve executed all the steps to perfection, you should be getting all the traffic you need.
By providing valuable content on these platforms and linking back to your website, you can tap into their established audience, thus increasing your own site’s visibility and credibility.
More about the latter steps – right now.
2. Create a Blog
Having a blog for your affiliate website is what can help you gain expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Let’s say you create an affiliate website, based on writing reviews for sports betting platforms.
The proper and logical step to take is to initiate your blog by writing about sports – educational, informational, and interesting topics.
Your readers will appreciate you trying to satisfy their curiosity, and would then be more likely to read your reviews about particular betting platforms, and ultimately register through your affiliate link.
On the contrary, if you just start spamming reviews, you may still grab the attention of some users, but most will probably be a little cautious whether to trust you or not.
Why wouldn’t you create a blog for your affiliate website? Some of the biggest industry leaders like Wirecutter, and Tech Radar have one.
Of course, you need to research the best action plan for niche blogging, in order to be able to truly make the best out of your blog.
3. Write Product Reviews
Following the line of thought from the previous two points, writing reviews about the products/services your affiliate website promotes, is an excellent way to provide readers with real insight.
It’s always good if you’re able to test the products/services you offer, as you’ll be able to share your personal thoughts, and experiences with your audience.
What’s more, nowadays, 95% of users read online reviews before they buy a product. It makes sense that would go for a product or service that has an unbiased review, and there’s no reason why that can’t be you.
It’s better if the review is unbiased since you might convince the people that something is awesome, and if it turns out that it’s not (according to them), they will lose their trust in you and stop following your reviews and visiting your website.
That way, users can read your review, and if they decide to purchase, they will most likely, directly go through your link, thus earning you an affiliate commission.
4. Develop Social Media Accounts
It’s the 21st century and social media is a must for almost every online business endeavor you start, especially for those that need maximum visibility and exposure.
Apart from regular social media engagement, identifying the best places to share affiliate links can significantly boost your traffic. This involves strategically choosing platforms where your target audience is most active.
Your affiliate website definitely falls under that category. After all, the more visitors you get to your website, the higher the chances that someone will click on your link, and you’ll get a commission.
Developing and maintaining social media accounts brings multiple benefits to your business. Here are some examples:
- It builds social proof.
- Increases your market reach.
- Develops customer loyalty.
- Brings in extra website traffic.
- Gathers user feedback.
5. Use Banner Ads
More often than not, ads are annoying and rarely does anyone enjoy seeing them. However, there are certain methods you can use to make ads, or sponsored content, feel less irritating, more natural, and even helpful.
Banner ads, in particular, are the most basic type of online advertising. Naturally, placing ads on your website is optional. Still, it is a good way to grab the attention of visitors and inspire them to do something you want them to do, like clicking on the banner and being sent to a particular page or website.
Of course, you should be aware of the so-called banner blindness, which has a negative effect on click-through rates, and ad revenue. Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to where you position your banner, and what type of call-to-actions you use.
6. Start Making YouTube Videos
YouTube is a great platform to promote your business and get extra traffic coming your way. The best part is that you don’t need to invest anything initially, in order to start. In practice, all you need is a smartphone or a good camera, and probably a script, so you don’t get stuck.
Naturally, you will need to upgrade your equipment if your channel hits the ground running, but you’ll be just fine starting out with whatever you have.
Understandably, YouTube search engine optimization has its own tips on how to rank better and achieve better visibility for your videos. You should definitely spend the time to optimize your videos and channel if you’re serious about making videos to attract more traffic to your website.
Understanding how to generate traffic for affiliate marketing also involves leveraging video content across various platforms. While YouTube stands as a primary channel, don’t miss out on Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and TikTok, where short, engaging content can attract a wide audience.
In addition to driving traffic to your affiliate website, you can also place affiliate links in your video descriptions.
7. Find Niche Groups and Forums
This is also an optional step, but why not take it, since it could drive extra traffic to your website for free? It should go without saying that it’s not a good idea to spam random forums and groups.
Instead, it’s much better to research and find the appropriate places, where you can share your affiliate links/website, and people will actually be interested.
Another good idea is to not just post a link, but also provide some context on what you are sharing. Let’s say your affiliate website is about hosting providers. You found a forum about tech stuff and an appropriate place for a post.
Then, you can write a short description stating how you’ve reviewed ‘X’ hosting providers, and established which is best for: in terms of price, support, etc.
Also, when researching how to generate traffic for affiliate marketing, don’t overlook the power of email marketing. Building an email list through your website and regularly sending out newsletters with valuable content and affiliate links can make a substantial difference.
Furthermore, in addition to forums and groups, you can also look for opportunities to gain extra visibility and traffic, on huge websites like Quora, Pinterest, Reddit, and Medium.
In Conclusion
There are many answers to the question of how to improve traffic to your affiliate website, and luckily for you, we’ve covered most of them in this article.
Needless to say, using creativity and experimentation, one can always try to enter new territories. So let us know, are there any other tactics you can use to bring more traffic to your affiliate website?
Team DevriX
This article is crafted by DevriX's seasoned marketing team, boasting over four decades of collective expertise in crafting sophisticated marketing funnels, devising comprehensive content frameworks and pillars, implementing engaging email campaigns, and creating impactful social media content designed for scalability.
Our marketing experts specialize in the complete spectrum of inbound marketing strategies. As an accredited HubSpot Agency Partner and a Semrush Partner, we engage in meticulous research, blending our extensive experience with the unique insights of our highly skilled team.
We set benchmarks in content creation by incorporating cutting-edge marketing trends, leveraging in-depth industry research, and utilizing state-of-the-art AI tools for data segmentation and captivating content hooks. Our proficiency extends across a diverse range of sectors, including working with SMEs, Fortune 1000 companies, global B2B brands, major publishing entities, WooCommerce platforms, business directories, and affiliate networks.
