Why You’re Not Making Money Through Affiliate Programs

Promoting a product and getting nothing in return is frustrating at the very least. If you constantly ask yourself “Why can’t I make any money through affiliate programs?”, then this article is for you. I will help identify problems and show some mistakes you may be making to help you reverse the trend.

If you are promoting a product but you aren’t making any money, the first step to solving the problem is to identify it. Is it little or no impressions, clicks or conversions? Let’s analyze each of these problems.

Problem 1: I have no impressions or clicks

If the website where you promote the product doesn’t get enough impressions that could generate clicks and conversions, then you might consider finding other ways to attract traffic to your page. Here are some tips to solve this problem:

Create videos about the product and upload them to YouTube. Put the link to the video on your page that deals with the product and during the video, ask to click on the link. It’s important to optimize the video with keywords so it’s easily found by people interested in the product.

Promote your product on forums. Remember that forums are communities. If you register on a forum just to share links, your input won’t be well accepted. Also, check if the forum has an audience that is potentially interested in what you’re promoting. For instance, if you start promoting cosmetics on a forum about cars, don’t expect it to be a success.

Promote your site and product on social networks, fan pages and in comments in articles of fan pages related to the topic of your product.

Problem 2: I have impressions but no clicks

If the pages you have promoting the product receive enough impressions but no clicks on your affiliate links / banners, the problem is related to the content itself and the people’s interest in the product. Here are some tips to get more clicks:

Present the strengths of the product. Presenting product strengths may not be enough for the audience of your blog. Knowing your visitors and their interests, write this review so that such public has an interest in the product. Try to make product comparisons and especially highlight the strengths of each rather than the weak.

Make a clear call to action – you need to encourage clicks with the phrases like “Try it now”, “Click now”, “Limited promotion”, etc. With a clear call to action, visitors will be more willing to visit your website.

Create custom banners that fit the style of your site. If the banners do not receive clicks, the problem may be the very banner that does not call attention. Experiment with an A and B version, with various formats, in different positions on the site and see what attracts more clicks.

Problem 3: I have impressions and clicks but no conversions

If your ads get enough impressions and clicks, but you cannot drive conversions, the problem may lie in the product’s website or in the product itself. Here are a couple of tips that can improve your performance as an affiliate:

Try contacting the company responsible for the product and suggest a different landing page – the page that people see after clicking on your affiliate links may not be persuasive enough for them to convert.

The problem may be the product itself. The cost may be high, and normal conversion rate too low, so your efforts may be in vain. If you cannot make money with a product to which you’ve referred a number of visitors, consider promoting another product.

Make sure your affiliate link is not broken – test all affiliate links you have on your page. There may be some broken links that won’t generate any return.

Your website audience may not be appropriate for what you promote on your website. Consult your Google Analytics statistics and examine the bounce rate and the average time visitors spend on your site. These metrics show whether or not people are interested in your site content. It’s better to admit a mistake and become aware of the fact that visitors don’t identify with the product you are pushing instead of wasting your time and energy on marketing the product.

If you regularly work in affiliate marketing, see Webnode’s Affiliate Program.

This article points out some recurring mistakes but certainly not the only ones. Have you made any of these mistakes? Don’t forget to read the instructions on how to monetize your website step by step.