I’m sharing five affiliate marketing tips that have contributed directly to my income, with none of the fluff or trials I went through to get there. It’s all about helping you make more blogging earnings today!
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Traffic and Marketing
When you start blogging, you have questions, especially about blog traffic and marketing techniques. How DO bloggers get so much traffic to their websites?!
This page serves as a resource for those bloggers who want to increase traffic and learn content marketing (inbound marketing). From promotion to Pinterest, this repository will help you formulate your marketing plan.
Included on this page are tools, tips, hints, and tutorials to increase blog traffic and market your business, and your blog. Note: for tips on marketing yourself, see the Blog Entrepreneur resource page.
Quick Tips and Reader Favorites: Blog Traffic and Marketing
- Getting traffic to a website is hard and it is NOT all about social media.
- Can you market a blog in 10-minutes? You can develop and hone your blog’s strategy in that time.
- What else can you do in 10-minutes? How about work to create compelling and shareable blog content!
- Is ‘social proof’ really important? Good gravy, yes! If you’ve changed domains or moved to HTTPS, here’s how to recover all of your social shares.
- What are some creative ways to increase traffic? Start here with Amazon Giveaways for Traffic or these 5 Creative Ways to Promote Blog Posts.
- How important is SEO to traffic? It’s about as important as water is to a fish! Understand SEO (checklist) and SEO+LSI to get more organic traffic.
- Keywords research (checklist) and learning how to find the right hashtags will also increase organic blog traffic. A little effort on the front end can work wonders.
- Does traffic plummet in summer? Sometimes, but there are ways to boost summer blog traffic.
- There are many types of blog posts to increase traffic.
- Sometimes I think PLR content is the best-kept blogging secret out there…
How to Advertise an Amazon Influencer Shop
We are sharing all the ways to advertise an Amazon Influencer Shop. From emails and social, to funnels and menu options, you can earn with this program!
How to Set Up an Amazon Influencer Shop
Before we get started on marketing your influencer page, make sure it’s set up correctly. Read this article to make sure you have everything straight because now it’s time to make some money.
READ: Amazon Influencer Program and Shop
Things NOT To Do With an Amazon Influencer Shop
First, let’s talk about things you cannot do to promote your Amazon Influencer shop.
Amazon’s hard-and-fast rule of no transitional pages applies to the Influencer Program as well as the Amazon Associates program. This means you cannot gate content behind a popup advertising your shop or create a path which takes a user from a content page to a shop page before sending them onto another page on your website.
Don’t do this because if you DO happen to earn any money from this practice, you’re going to get your account shut down. They will not give you any leeway.
Additionally, do not compete on ads using anything with the Amazon name. Big no-no, friends.
How to Advertise an Amazon Influencer Shop
Let’s get to the good stuff and learn how we can promote our Amazon Influencer shops!
On-Site Amazon Influencer Marketing Ideas
In Posts
Obviously, this is key for any affiliate marketer. Create interest by detailing how an item solved a problem, made your life easier, etc. If you “sell” the idea of the product, you’re more likely to sell the product once you’ve secured the click.
On Your Navigation Bar (Menu)
You can create a nav bar option for your shop to automatically open to your Amazon Influencer page.
Additionally, you can create a nav bar drop down for all the different Idea Lists (shop sections) within your Influencer shop. This is especially useful if you are blogging about specific categories.
Check out what I did for this site. It was really easy and there is a tutorial at the end of this article.
Promotions
When there are special events, such as Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, be sure to have a note on your top performing affiliate posts.
To find your top performing affiliate posts, go into your affiliate dashboard and select, “Content Insights.” Run your report – note you will have to choose a time frame and your website.
Export the report and find your top-referring and earning posts (they could be different).
Sidebar and In-Post Ads
Oldie but goodie – the sidebar can be invaluable if you have a decent amount of desktop traffic. PRO TIP: To increase conversions be sure to implement custom sidebars (article link).
If you’d like to create in-post ads, remember you cannot use the Amazon logo or any of their images. You can, however, create your own 728 x 90 skinny horizontal or a larger ad (square or rectangle) to get clicks.
Note: if you are earning well with your RPM, this might not be the best practice for you. For those who do not have an ad network, try creating an ad to share in between paragraphs of your content.
Off-Site Ways to Advertise an Amazon Influencer Shop
On Social
Yes, you can. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are all fair game.
As mentioned in How to Set Up Your Amazon Influencer Shop, you do not have to disclose on social. Be sure to read that article if you haven’t yet – it’s full of tasty tidbits like that.
In Weekly Emails You Send
First, you cannot link to an individual product – that is still against terms. You MUST link to the shop page or the individual list pages. Some great ideas are:
- at the end of an email (PS section works well).
- within the content to help with purchasing supplies for an activity or something which solved a problem for you.
- in your header image – if you use one. Use this as sort of as an announcement of your “shop” opening on Amazon. Note: you cannot use the Amazon logo.
Update Your On-Boarding or Funnel Sequence Emails
Some of the highest opened and clicked emails in any content creator’s funnels are the first couple of emails.
Be sure you mention your shop, especially if you create and share activities, DIY tutorials, how-to’s, or anything which requires a supply specific to your topic.
Every niche, every website, and every blogger will be able to create a list of products they use and love.
On Your Business Card
Yep, you can put the shop on your business card. Be sure NOT to cloak the link – Amazon hasn’t traditionally been a fan of that, so avoid it.
If you attend many conferences or meetups or you put on in-person events, this is a great way to advertise an Amazon Influencer Shop.
In Your Site’s Email Signature
Do you receive a lot of emails from readers or other influencers? Be sure to add a link to your Amazon Influencer Shop within your email signature.
Use a creative trigger text in order to promote clicks. A few ideas are:
- Check out our newest obsessions!
- Coffee chat recommendations.
- Stuff I can’t live without.
- Best Buys for ___ (topic or niche)
Over to You
I’ll be adding to this article as I discover new, effective ways of earning from the Amazon Influencer Shop program.
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Amazon Influencer Program and Shop: Will It Earn?
I am answering all of your questions about the Amazon Influencer Program – firstly, can you really make affiliate income with it? The answer is yes and I’m telling you how.
The Amazon Influencer Program and Shop
Months ago, I was invited to set up a shop on the new Amazon Influencer Program. It’s different from the Amazon Associates affiliate program, so I said, “Why not?”
In a few moments, I had added a few items and found it to be clunky. I also requested the ability to categorize the products I added (many times) and Amazon hadn’t yet implemented this feature.
I forgot about the Amazon Influencer Shop I set up. Forgot about it completely.
Due to a death in the family, I took more than a month off work. As I moved back into all the content creation, promotion, and checking of 7,429 emails, here’s what I discovered:
One of my Amazon influencer shops was actually making sales! A good number of sales!
What is an Amazon Influencer Shop?
Click here to see an example of an Amazon Influencer Shop. It’s clean, streamlined, and most importantly – it’s set up to make you affiliate income!
If you’re not yet familiar with the Influencer program with Amazon, it is different than being an affiliate.
The goal is to set up a shop front with your recommendations. Some highlights why you should create one if you haven’t…
- you can share the shop link in emails!
- it’s a valid link from any social media – ANY (lookin’ at you Facebook)
- they’ve now set up categories (FINALLY)
- you can add personal comments to each item
How to Get Started: Amazon Influencer Program
Sign Up.
Log into your affiliate dashboard and look for the Influencer tab. If you don’t have it (you should), email affiliate support.
Create Your Storefront.
Fill in your information (social channels, for example), add your profile image, and a header (if you like). For the Amazon Influencer Page header, I used PicMonkey to create a 1400-pixel x 300-pixel collage for mine.
Create Categories (Idea Lists)
For Ruffles and Rain Boots, I talk about quite a few crafting topics: hand lettering, rock painting, etc.
In order to send the appropriate group to the appropriate list, I have created categories. See my shop here for an example.
Add Items to Your Influencer Shop.
Add items by selecting your influencer shop tracking ID and add the item to your influencer shop lists (like a wish list). Be sure to choose the right one.
Then, go into your list and add comments on each product, if you wish.
Promote an Amazon Influencer Shop
Remember when I said you could use the Influencer Shop link in emails? Get to it, friend.
You can also send them to your shop from any blog post, social media platform, and even share the link on your business card or email signature!
Wanna know something else? You don’t *technically* have to disclose before you send them there. Whaaaaaat??!??!
If you check out my shop, you’ll see a little note that discloses for me. Oh. Yes. I do still disclose, but it’s up to you.
Sales and Reports
When you make your first sale, Amazon Influencer will send you an email. Y’all, I thought that was the cutest thing. 🙂
Additionally, you can see in the reporting section to see if your Amazon shop is making money (and which category is making the most).
Here is how it will show now in your earnings reports…
Over to You
Do you already have an Influencer Shop on Amazon? How is the Amazon Influencer Program working for you? What are you doing to promote your shop? What kind of analysis are you doing to position yourself for more affiliate income from Amazon?
Let us know below!
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How to Use Bucket Brigades to Skyrocket Time on Page
Learn how to use bucket brigades in blogging – they’re one of the most valuable copywriting secrets in content marketing. Increase time on page, decrease bounce rate, and turn skimmers into readers!
Bucket Brigades: A Copywriting Powerhouse
Bucket brigades will earn you more money from your blog.
Do I have your attention? I bet you’re interested if your goal is to earn money from your online business! How about if I added this little bit of information?
You might not know what bucket brigades are but I bet you’d like to:
- keep people on site longer and
- convert more sales.
Do you want to keep going? Sure you do! Now, I bet you’re thinking you can:
- increase ad revenue through better RPMs,
- reduce bounce rate, or
- get higher positions in search results.
Storytelling in blogging isn’t just about the message, it’s about the delivery.
Storytelling in Blogging
The next installment in our Storytelling in Blogging series will detail how to use the copywriting technique of bucket brigades to turn skimmers into readers and readers into fans.
But it’s not where you should start.
The series so far (the soon-to-be-released book goes into far more detail)…
- #1 – Telling the Right Story
- #2 – One-Time Stories and How to Use Trigger Anchor Text
- #3 – Why You Should Write Emotion (and How to Write Instead)
- #4 – Visual Storytelling in Blogging
- How to Use Bucket Brigades in Storytelling (this article)
- How to Use Storytelling Off-Site
Copywriting for Bloggers
It’s no secret in content marketing that readers get distracted (or bored) while reading. When you get sidetracked reading through your own content (or you use tools like heat maps to identify weak areas), you have located an ideal spot reenergizing a reader’s interest.
That lull in the story or wane in interest is a perfect place to add a bit of curiosity, intrigue, or suspense to keep a reader engaged.
This article isn’t going to highlight all aspects of copywriting and I promise, I go into more detail in the book about how to use copywriting for blog articles. For the sake of time and actionable advice, we’re going to detail how to use bucket brigades in blog posts to increase time-on-page and slash bounce rates.
Pro Tip: remember C.U.R.V.E. which stands for curiosity, urgency, relevancy, value, and emotion. This acronym is great for email subject line brainstorming and PERFECT for identifying effective bucket brigades.
What Is a Bucket Brigade?
One of the fundamentals of copywriting is to create a sentence which builds upon a previous one. Think of it as a bridge – a little snippet to get them to just read one more sentence.
And one more.
And one more.
Your goal is to get them to keep the reader engaged. It’s a mini call to action which says one thing: keep reading.
Where to Use Bucket Brigades
First, a warning. Bucket brigades should only appear in blog articles a few times (at most). Why? You’re using headings and subheadings to keep the reader moving. Images and storytelling also move the audience through your piece.
Because we’re not writing infomercials, we’re writing blog posts.
Now let’s talk about where in an article you can use this copywriting concept. Some of the most common places to use this copywriting strategy are:
- when you’re about to transition to a major part of the story
- if you’re transitioning to a new (but related) concept, throw in a bit of suspense or curious connector
- when the scroll gets slower or the interest starts to wane (use heat maps and read through yourself), entice the reader with a tiny call to action written all by itself on a line.
Examples of Bucket Brigades (Non-Sales Pages)
When working with clients, sometimes there is a mental block about these. The best example I can give you is how newscasters use bucket brigades to incent you NOT to change the channel.
Just before a commercial break, “Up next, a mother lifts this to save 42 children after a freak accident. You will not believe your eyes!”
Expanding on that idea (with a lot less infomercial fanfare), let’s talk specifics. Do you recall your trigger anchor text exercises? You seek the shortest, punchiest phrase possible to place within an article.
And you want to put them on their own line (or at the end of a short paragraph). You can highlight them with a bold or <strong>, however, know that if you’re writing in a conversational, “draw them in” way, you won’t need to do this often.
Here are a few phrases which act as bucket brigades:
- Do I have your attention?
- I can explain…
- Trust me, you haven’t seen this before.
- Think about that for a minute…
- But wait, there’s more! (This is sooooo salesy, but there are places this works – especially when used humorously.)
- What happened next was unthinkable.
- Consider what this could mean for you and for your family.
- Now put yourself in my shoes.
- But that’s just part of the story.
Take Action
It’s your turn to implement the concept of bucket brigades in blog posts. Go into Google Analytics and pull your highest landing page bounce rate post with the lowest time on page. There are many ways to find this, but I like to use Behavior > Landing Pages.
The results here might surprise you…
Using the past 30 days as your time frame, look through your top ten landing page traffic drivers and grab the one with the highest bounce and lowest time on page.
Use a little logic here and ask yourself, “Is this a post which lends itself to the use of bucket brigades?” Some craft and recipe posts might have a high bounce and low time-on-page because they’re checking ingredients or materials. If you believe this is the case, move onto a different post (or page) only after you’ve optimized the introduction.
Over to You
Some people inherently write using bucket brigades. What about you? If this is something you know (or want to learn) come on into the Elevate Everyone group on Facebook.
One more thing (before you read another Storytelling in Blogging article linked down there)… Will you please pin this to your favorite blogging board on Pinterest or share it in your best blogging group on Facebook?
Your shares are how this site will grow (as you know). I sincerely appreciate it.
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