You have all these tactics to improve your site traffic and reach. You can obsess about them trying to squeeze every bit of performance.
Let’s bring this back to basics…
Effective affiliate marketing is simply getting more people to click your links.
That’s it?
The idea is to let the landing/sales page do its thing.
A company will spend tons of money refining its website, UX, and sales funnel. They’re working tirelessly to improve conversion rate optimization. A good landing page is one of the factors you look for when choosing affiliate programs and their offers after all.
What this means: Get more link clicks = get more affiliate commissions.
Don’t overthink and complicate it.
We’re sharing 10 ways you can improve link click-through rates to boost affiliate earnings. Follow along and see which tactic you could apply to your efforts.
1. Use Your Brand’s Voice
Authority is built by expertise and strong branding meaning when you talk people listen. Tied to this authority is your brand voice. Therefore, people notice when you recommend an affiliate offer.
Tell them:
- How you use it
- Why you recommend it
Speak to your targeted audience singling out the things they want to hear. This disregards those window shopping for visitors appreciative of your recommendation.
2. Include Call-to-Actions
You’d think this a no-brainer, but some don’t feel comfortable asking their audience to do something.
Don’t expect visitors to know what comes after your information:
- Include a link to the affiliate offer
- Tell people to click the link
- Pair it with an image to draw attention
You should have a few CTAs on big posts to increase your affiliate click-through rate. Good CTA placement could include right in the opening, somewhere in the middle, and at the post’s end.
3. Use Colors Effectively
There’s a psychology behind the colors you choose for the website and especially the call-to-action & links.
For example:
- Red – Warning
- Orange – Energy
- Green – Money
Add interest to your affiliate links and CTA buttons by contrasting the color. Don’t bury the link by blending it into the content. Consider how this looks versus how this looks. Now, try swapping the link and button color, and seeing if it increases your clicks.
4. Use a Great Image
There are certain image elements we can’t help but notice:
- Face & eyes
- Structure & harmony
- Spacing & direction
Our eyes seek features because that’s part of our survival and social instincts. You can play into the psychology of placing images of people close to a call to action. Or, using visual styles on the CTA button to entice someone to click out of curiosity.
5. Divide the Group
This is the idea behind a price point strategy.
Consider dividing visitors into:
- Freebie hunters
- Average consumers
- Whales
This harks back to using brand voice and targeting the right audience.
In this case, you’re selecting a visitor type based on their financial demographics. You’re hard-pressed to sell a $1000 product to a freebie hunter as an example. Offer different product tiers (with unique CTAs) and you’ll hit those points each type fits in.
6. Refine the Funnel
This is using the right mix of long-tail keywords.
Consider:
- Attracting a broad, general audience with no defined types
- Attracting a smaller but refined audience through targeting
Long-tail keywords tap buyer keywords – those keywords with buying intent. This includes searches like “where to buy X” and “Y review”. The visitor intends a decision, and hopefully, your content convinces.
Pair the call-to-action with this buyer’s intent and you’ll typically increase click-through rates.
7. Improve the UX
Improve the user experience and you’ll improve site dwell time. Improve the dwell time and you’ll keep visitors on the page long enough that they’ll discover the CTA. Hook and convince with a strong CTA and you’ll have increased the affiliate link clicks.
Do this:
- Remove unnecessary elements
- Increase legibility and spacing
- Break up blocks of text (1-2 sentences)
- Use more images
- Make everything faster
You want to make the user experience as smooth as possible. Let them get in, find what they want/need, and send them on their way through your links.
8. Measure and Improve
You can’t improve your click rates if you aren’t measuring.
- Install Google Analytics (and maybe a heat map)
- Figure out your best landing pages
- Compare this to your exit pages
- Refine the page with better CTAs
- Measure if people back out vs clicking forward
Heat mapping tools give you a visual guide to improving clicks. These apps/services show what’s engaging visitors. Try placing a CTA in the “hot spots” you discover with these tools.
9. Less is More
Perhaps your site is distracting:
- Too many ads
- Too many exits
Ads, social buttons, and third-party resources send people away from your site. If they’re away, then they’re not clicking your affiliate links. Try stripping the site to the basics so the main things they engage in are A) the content, and B) the affiliated resource.
Easy solution: Use full-width posts so it’s just them and the content.
Tie this with the UX improvements (and testing) and you’ll see quite the improvement!
10. Add Emotion
There are two buyer types:
- Logical
- Emotional
Logical buyers will obsess about the features and specs of something. They’ll spend hours researching and comparison shopping. They’re shopping like it’s a tool they’ll use forever.
Emotional buyers get absorbed by the message and perceived lifestyle. They see the product and imagine themselves using it – and how others see them using it. They’re emotionally invested in the marketing message and the brand it portrays.
Add emotion:
- Paint a scene
- Use a character
- Take a stance
You can always list out a few features for the logistics types (and SEO) but mainly push the benefits. Use storytelling to swoon the visitors, presenting the affiliate link as the next thing they must do.
Keep Testing Those Call-to-Actions!
Sometimes it’s better to focus on conversion optimization. Boosting affiliate link clicks takes time and effort just like any other strategy and tactic. You worry less about traffic and focus more on converting the traffic you do have.
Try it. Get those clicks. Share this post.
