What is the best way to link to an affiliate offer within a blog post?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Comenius, Mar 10, 2009.

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  1. #1
    I have a question about how I should be linking to an affiliate offer from my blog.

    Right now every day I post a new, 200 word news summary of what's happening in my niche. I include my main keyword phrase at least once in the post. I bold the keyword phrase, and then link it to my affiliate offer. The link's title attribute is also set to my keyword phrase.

    I'm concerned because I seem to be building a lot of link strength for my main keyword phrase that is pointing away from my site, which can't be helping me organically rank for it.

    I'm further concerned that my link essentially feels like a bait and switch, as I'm not explicitly calling out that the link leads to my affiliate offer. I'm not "selling" the offer at all, just linking to it within every post wherever I've worked in my keyword phrase.

    Shouldn't I be linking my main niche keyword phrase back to my blogs home page in order to help its organic ranking?

    If so, how should I be linking out to my affiliate offer? Should I be adding a little blurb to the end of every post selling the offer, and then linking to it?

    Also, is it a good idea to be linking to my affiliate offer on every single blog post? On most posts it's the only link.

    Or is it better not to link to my affiliate offer at all within the blog posts, but rather point visitors to an internal pre-sales page that then links out to the offer?

    I'm really new to affiliate marketing and I'm doing my head in trying to figure out the right formula. I really appreciate any advice from anyone with direct experience and success!
     
    Comenius, Mar 10, 2009 IP
  2. gopalkr

    gopalkr Member

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    #2
    I am really in knowing the solution as I too write affiliate blog posts to make money on my blog. That can affect our page rank and only page rank is what lets us get that work.
     
    gopalkr, Mar 10, 2009 IP
  3. UncleBS

    UncleBS Guest

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    #3
    Add rel=nofollow to your affiliate links and they shouldn't pass any link juice away from your site..
     
    UncleBS, Mar 10, 2009 IP
    Comenius likes this.
  4. Comenius

    Comenius Peon

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    #4
    Good tip to use nofollow on the affiliate links, thanks! :)
     
    Comenius, Mar 10, 2009 IP
  5. Comenius

    Comenius Peon

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    #5
    Just an update with what I've been learning on some other forums. A lot of recommendations to place the affiliate offer in the sidebar along with a compelling sales call to action. I think that will be my approach.
     
    Comenius, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  6. dangregory

    dangregory Peon

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    #6
    If you can create a free report related to your niche, and include your affiliate links as "recommended resources" within your report, this can be a nice way to do a soft sell. Also including photos of your affiliate products plus links in your sidebar is good.

    Personally I don't find good conversions with text based affiliate links. I always find or create a picture and attach my affiliate link to that, along with a call to action or a brief benefits phrase -- like "Fastest way to thinner thighs - click here!"

    If you're too subtle about your links, using text only, you probably won't make as many sales.

    Dan
     
    dangregory, Mar 11, 2009 IP