11 Affiliate Marketers Share Proven Tips for 2024

Next, filter for links to shortened domains commonly used by affiliate networks.

Here’s a quick list to get you started:

• Amazon: amzn.to
• Awin: awin1.com, tidd.ly
• Pepperjam: pjatr.com
• Commission Factory: cfjump.com
• ShareASale: shrsl.com
• FlexOffers: clkmg.com

Not only will this reveal all the products and stores the site is promoting…

… but it will also reveal low-hanging affiliate opportunities.

For example, this sustainable living site gets an estimated 2.5K monthly organic visits to a product review. As the page only has links from two referring domains, it should be pretty easy to compete with.

James also uses this method to find content ideas to promote specific products. He does this by plugging a specific product’s affiliate link into Ahrefs then seeing who links to it.

For example, I recently bought an indoor herb garden from a company with an affiliate program. Their affiliate links have this footprint: clickandgrow.com/?sca_ref=. If I plug this into Site Explorer and go to the Backlinks report, I see over 19K pages promoting this product:

If I then filter for pages with few referring domains on relatively low DR sites, I can find some low-hanging fruit affiliate content ideas. For example, this beginner’s guide to apartment gardening lives on a low DR site, has few backlinks, and gets an estimated 146 monthly visits:

Sammie Ellard-King has built a following of over 150K on Instagram for his personal finance brand, Up the Gains. He uses engaging video content to drive followers to his free “money personality” quiz in his bio, which then recommends the best content (some of which promotes affiliate products) for each person.

Thrive Ultimatum that lets you create individual time-sensitive offers. For example, you could give anyone who clicks your link 24 hours to use the discount or claim the bonus.

this guide on growing lettuce—especially since its search traffic is declining:

Here’s how to find posts that fit the bill:

1. Search for an industry term (e.g., “gardening”) in Content Explorer
2. Filter out posts from big sites by setting the DR filter to max 70
3. Filter for pages with search traffic (e.g., 100+ monthly visits)
4. Exclude homepages and subdomains

From there, look for posts that make sense to refresh where traffic is declining:

Note that even if the site owner agrees to an update, they may not be comfortable with you including affiliate links in the post itself. If that happens, link to affiliate content (such as a product review) on your site instead. This should help to boost its rankings and traffic.

Nahbucks!, a microsite showcasing independent coffee shops on an interactive map.

The site got featured in several publications including Business Insider, Yahoo, and more. This led to a huge spike in referral traffic, which is when Sacha took the opportunity to promote an affiliate offer.

I deployed a subtle exit intent popup promoting a coffee subscription program. This campaign alone earned several thousand dollars in affiliate commissions within days of going live.

Of course, coming up with and creating a newsworthy idea is the hardest part. If you’re struggling with that, check out the examples in my list of link building strategies. There are some real inspiring campaigns that should help get your creative juices flowing.

WeCanTrack come in handy, which pulls data from multiple affiliate networks into Google Analytics or Data Studio so you can make more informed decisions.

I recommend [WeCanTrack] to everyone I mentor. I’m not affiliated to them or anything.

For example, it will estimate affiliate revenue per landing page so you can focus on ranking your most lucrative pages:

It will also estimate revenue by traffic source so you can focus on channels and campaigns that drive the most affiliate revenue.

infamous product launch plan still makes a lot of sense.

1. Come up with a product idea that might interest your audience
2. Validate that idea by pre-selling to a segment of your list
3. Create the product
4. Launch to everyone else on your list

If you’re more of a “just give it a go” person, you can always start with a low-cost product that’s quick to create and see what happens.

For example, Matt from Swim University sells a simple pool care guide for $49:

And Sammie Ellard-King from Up the Gains sells a financial planning spreadsheet for £39:

Neither of these products likely took much time to create, which is ideal when you’re just starting to sell your own.

Learn more

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. If you want to learn even more about affiliate marketing, check out these posts and courses: