In my affiliate marketing series I have discussed that emailing generic affiliate program messages to your blog subscribers is not the best monetization strategy. I have also discussed why being dependent solely on banner ads might hurt your blog’s earning possibilities. In this article I will explain how I put this thinking into practice when promoting my favourite Wordpress theme.
Be the evangelist of the product you promote
In late December 2008 I decided to invest $87 and get my own copy of the Wordpress premium theme Thesis. At the time I did not even know about Thesis affiliate program so it was just a plus that I could promote Thesis and earn commission from sales.
I think Thesis theme is great, my blog has really improved since I started using it. It looks more professional, trustable and easy-to-read.
This is a first step in promoting a product. You must love it, you must use it. Otherwise it will not feel genuine and your readers can see through that.
Steps I have taken to promote Thesis on my blog
- I wrote a post on why I decided to go with Thesis. In posts like these you can include before / after Thesis screenshots and explain how your blog design changed when you switched the theme. Explain what that means to you as a blogger, to your loyal readers, to your new visitors, and to the potential advertisers.
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I changed the Thesis link in the footer of my blog. I did this by installing Thesis plugin called Thesis OpenHook and including following in “Footer” field of OpenHook:
<a href=”http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/”>HowToMakeMyBlog.com</a> is powered by <a href=”http://diythemes.com?a_aid=howtomakemyblog”>Thesis WordPress Theme</a>.
You can style this message and word it the way you want it. Make sure to change the link to your affiliate link that you find in your Thesis affiliate account. Also check the “Remove Thesis attribution” box in OpenHook to remove the generic footer message.
- I removed the Adsense banner that did not bring much revenue and displayed a Thesis banner instead. I also put link to my article about Thesis in prominent position on my blog sidebar and included a sponsored box about Thesis underneath each article. See here the code for the Thesis theme sponsored box.
- I wrote a post on how I customized my blog with Thesis theme. If you feel like revealing your secrets, include the codes you put into your Thesis files and show readers exactly how you did the customization. Your readers would love this as it makes it easy for them to style their own blog by basically doing a copy / paste.
600+ unique clicks, 12 sales and $400+ revenue
My Thesis articles got a lot of attention. I believe I introduced a number of new bloggers to the Thesis theme, I got some bloggers to finally take the plunge and buy the theme, and in general I think a lot of bloggers saw the value of having a clear, professional-looking and user-friendly blog design.
Since December 19th when I started promoting Thesis theme I sent 611 unique clicks to the Thesis site and 12 readers decided to buy Thesis either in standard or the developer edition. This resulted in almost $450 of revenue, a part of which I invested in getting the developer edition of Thesis so now I can use the theme on multiple blogs.
You can do this to any other product
This is just an example of steps I have taken to promote a product that I use, love and recommend. These steps can be converted to any other product that you have in mind.
What product do you love to use and that your blog readers might find interesting? Visit their website, they probably have an affiliate program. If not, contact the company directly, explain your situation and ask if they can agree an affiliate deal with you.
This is a much more active, trustable and real way of trying to make money with your blog. I find it works much better than when I just had some Adsense or some affiliate banners in my blog sidebar. If you want to promote Thesis, this is the link to their WordPress theme affiliate program.
Image by Laverrue
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Loving the product is essential step. I just had to turn down a hosting company because I like my current hosting company. However, right now, I am not writing articles or promoting it because I first aim to get more traffic so that the affiliate program pays up.
It will be meaningless to have a 125×125 banner without getting anything out of it.
Marko,
That’s the way to do it, my friend. This is excellent advice. I think that the way your blog is growing is a true testament to your effective use of these monetizing techniques.
Cheers!
George
The best thing I like about u..
your every word seems to be like that you not writing for yourself..You write keeping your readers in mind..
…
You deserve it..
Great gng my friend..
Good luck …
p@r@noid
Marko,
I agree 100% percent. If you have a affiliate product that you really love and use yourself that is the best endorsement possible really. Everyone that is into affiliate marketing should follow this example.
Hi, Marko:
The Thesis Theme is an awfully nice theme. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. And congrats on the 12 + sales. Nicely done!
Cheers,
Missy.
Yes, you have had success with the affiliate program because:
1. You practice what you preach. You love the theme, use it, and highlight why you like it.
2. It’s a great product. It practically sells itself.
3. You write great content. I think you have mentioned the theme at least 15 times on your blog. You don’t overdo it and say ‘buy, buy buy’, but you do show how it has helped you, and highlight changes to your blog, and how the theme made it easy… etc..
Congrats on your success with it. And this can also serve as good advice for other bloggers on picking an affiliate program which will work well for them.
Thanks for all the comments!
@Shirley – Velvet Blues – Good point! No matter how much you like the product it still will be hard to promote it if it is not useful. The product must be good and must provide value to people in order for it to sell.
Great post, I started looking around my desk to see what I was using, and to see if anything I already use could be an affiliate product to promote. Sure enough, I have a wacom tablet/mouse that I really enjoy and could easily be put into a post.
Great article Marko! Really handy advice.
I love the Thesis Themes. They really are very beautiful and functional. I am going to switch to using these with most of my new niche blogs and promote the affiliate program also.
@bmm – When you start using it, you will also see how easy it is to make changes to it. Short copy/paste codes can make big changes. Good luck with your Thesis blogs!
Another great article Marko. I see your blog as step in a process that I would like to work towards… some day I could have a blog like yours! I just need to write more apparently. I have written an article on my first experiences with Thesis and its my top post at the moment.
I recently read that it takes about 7 exposures for a potential buyer to become a buyer. How many Thesis articles did you write before you started seeing some purchases? (If you don’t mind me asking).
@Rick Henderson – Thanks for nice comments. I switched to Thesis and wrote the first article about it on same day: December 19th 2008. I didn’t write another Thesis article until January 29th 2009. And I made my first sale on December 31st 2008. So I guess I wouldn’t look too much into theories and just work on it oganically. Write the best you can, promote best you can, and hopefully it will progress the way you want it… good luck with your blogs!
Thanks Marko. I’ll have to read your article on creating content constantly, because that’s probably my failing point. I guess that’s why I have 3 – 4 blogs but I may have too many irons in the fire. However after a few months of blogging on different topics I’m noticing which ones are winners (get hits, hold interest) and which ones I should just regluate to the back drawer of my hobbies and not be too concerned about “monetizing” them and just do them because I enjoy them.
Hi,
I just bought Thesis a few days ago and I will surely try your technique out. I just hope to make my money back. Nothing outrages, just enough
As I write this, I have already made one sale from my affiliate link and hoping to make more. I must admit that Thesis affiliate program payouts are huge, the 33% is just over $28 now and thats amazing that they want to give us so much.
Thanks for these tips
I don’t like thesis theme… it’s not unique… everybody may buy it and activaate !!!!!!!!! IF somebody is looking for a really professional and good looking WP Premium theme with absolutele unique and customizing design for HIM, YOU must see my blog theme. I can do such pretty theme for you too!
Great post, I started looking around my desk to see what I was using, and to see if anything I already use could be an affiliate product to promote. Sure enough, I have a wacom tablet/mouse that I really enjoy and could easily be put into a post
Great informative post.
These are very good and effective methods. It proves that people can make money with affiliate programs and you’ve just proven how to do it.
Just to clarify, basically, you use the code for the affiliate program and embed it into a link as part of the review article. Remove the banner ads since they don’t get much PPC. But, essentially, when people click on the embedded affiliate link they are using PPC and you are getting paid for their click? Is that what you are saying?