As a graphic designer, you have a unique opportunity to leverage your skills and creativity to earn more money. Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to monetize your website or social media presence by promoting products and earning commissions on sales.
Within this article, I will reveal several affiliate marketing techniques that can be employed to multiply your income as a graphic designer by a factor of 10.
Are you ready? Let’s dive right in.
Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy in which an affiliate promotes a product and earns a commission for every sale made through their unique affiliate link.
As a graphic designer, you can promote several digital products which can help fellow designers and artists and earn commissions on sales made through your website or social media presence.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Graphic Designers
Apart from the sheer fun of creating and selling things you love to create, there are many other benefits of affiliate marketing. By engaging in this lucrative practice, you can efficiently expand your income stream while simultaneously strengthening your online presence.
1. It helps you build trust: Through the strategic promotion of products and services that resonate with your core values, you demonstrate a commitment to quality and authenticity, thereby fostering trust among your followers.
2. Establish yourself as an industry expert: As you continue to leverage these partnerships and capitalize on the various affiliate marketing benefits available, you will not only enrich your own brand but also solidify your standing as an industry expert.
3. Opportunities come knocking at your door: Your enhanced credibility will likely open new doors, presenting further opportunities for growth and success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
4. The more you sell, the more you earn: One of the key advantages of affiliate marketing programs is their performance-based nature, ensuring that companies only pay for actual results, such as leads or sales, rather than spending on traditional advertising methods with uncertain returns.
All of these benefits make affiliate marketing programs an attractive option for businesses of all sizes and professionals like graphic designers too. Additionally, affiliates benefit from generating passive income by promoting products and services they believe in.
Harnessing the power of these programs can lead to a thriving digital marketing ecosystem that benefits both businesses and affiliates alike, driving growth and success in today’s competitive online marketplace.
Understanding Affiliate Marketing Programs
To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to understand how affiliate marketing programs work. Affiliate marketing programs are platforms that connect affiliates with brands that offer affiliate programs.
Examples of popular affiliate marketing programs include Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and ClickBank.
How Affiliate Marketing Program Works?
Affiliate programs or associate programs refer to arrangements made between online merchants and affiliate websites, whereby the former pays a commission to the latter for directing traffic to their website.
The payment is made based on a pre-agreed criterion, which can be the number of website visitors or the number of people who make a purchase or perform a specific action.
In some cases, the payment is made based on the number of people who view the merchant website’s banner advertisement on the affiliate website.
Recruiting affiliates is not only a great way to sell products online but also an inexpensive and effective marketing strategy to promote your website.
Usually, three parties are involved in an affiliate program transaction:
1. The Affiliate Site
2. The Customer
3. The Merchant Site
Affiliate marketing programs are rapidly gaining popularity among businesses and individuals alike, offering a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties involved.
These programs provide a platform for companies to promote their products or services, while affiliates earn commissions by referring potential customers to the company.
By leveraging the power of affiliate marketing programs, businesses can significantly increase their reach, brand awareness, and ultimately, their revenue.
How Graphic Designers can Choose Right Affiliate Marketing Programs?
To be successful with affiliate marketing, you need to choose the right affiliate programs. Here are some important things you must consider before enrolling into one.
1. It should align with your niche: Although it’s a no-brainer, this point is worth mentioning. Finding products or services that are related to your blog or website is a must.
But you shouldn’t strictly limit yourself to that particular category. For example, if you are an illustrator, apart from selling illustrations, you can talk about and sell Wacom tablets, illustration software, and technology products like PC monitors, and laptops that would be ideal for digital artists and designers.
2. Program competitors: If you are doing well with one program, you can also find out about other competitors to that program. Selling other products in the same or related category will diversify your offerings and increases your revenue potential.
3. Demand for the product: You should go with an affiliate program and sell products that are appealing to your target audience. Before starting affiliate marketing, it is wise to create an ideal customer profile (ICP) to determine which affiliate programs would be relevant. Based on the program, you can then decide which products to offer on which platforms.
4. Commission levels and earnings per click: This is one of the most important factors when choosing an affiliate marketing program. With the proliferation of technology, there are a plethora of websites offering affiliate programs but every one of them has different policies.
When choosing an affiliate program, you have to consider the commission offered on each sale and based on that you can calculate the ROI.
New affiliates often assume that higher commission rates are the most desirable opportunities, but it is crucial to consider the broader perspective. Some low-selling products might offer high commissions, while high-selling products might have lower commission rates. Therefore, it is important to look beyond commission rates when evaluating affiliate opportunities.
These are 4 key factors when choosing affiliate programs. Other factors such as additional incentives, vendor support, avenues for upselling, and vendor reputation are also important, but they are subjective, and carry a different weightage for each individual.
Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Graphic Designers
1. Creating a Content Strategy for Affiliate Marketing
Once you have chosen the right affiliate programs, it’s time to create a content strategy. A content strategy is a plan that outlines the types of content you will create to promote your affiliate products.
Your affiliate content marketing strategy should include blog posts, social media posts, videos, and email newsletters.
Here’s a great video that explains how you should go about planning and creating your affiliate content strategy.
2. Strategies to Promote Affiliate Products on Your Website
There are many ways in which you can promote products on your website. The most common and popular ones are writing honest product reviews, and creating tutorials, comparisons, and round-ups.
Product Reviews and Tutorials
One of the most effective ways to promote affiliate products on your website is to write product reviews and tutorials.
Product reviews help your readers understand the features and benefits of the products you are promoting. These types of content target individuals who are already considering making a purchase and can lead to actual sales.
On the other hand, tutorials and guides are better suited for building authority and driving traffic to your website in your particular niche.
To create effective product reviews, it’s important to include all the relevant information that a potential customer would want to know about the product. This can include examples, screenshots, and even any potential weaknesses of the product. Providing your own personal experience and tips can also add transparency and credibility to your review.
Make sure to include at least one call-to-action on the page using your affiliate link. Additionally, offering perks such as discounts can be an effective way to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter or take advantage of a special deal.
However, it’s important not to try to rank for discount-related keywords as this is not allowed by most affiliate programs and can result in the termination of your account.
Similarly, you can create content about comparing two or more strong contenders in the same category, and try to soft sell the product for which you are an affiliate.
In case of round-ups, you can create a list of the best, top, cheap, and premium kinds of products and provide affiliate links there.
Adding Affiliate Banners on Your Website
Contextual links are typically more effective in generating sales than banners, but it is possible to use both. Banners have the advantage of being visually attractive and can be easily placed in various areas of your website, such as the sidebar, header, footer, or within the content.
By copying and pasting the code, the affiliate link is automatically embedded. The placement of the banner on the page can affect the number of clicks it receives, with higher placement resulting in more clicks.
However, visitors who intend to make a purchase usually read the content more carefully than they do banners. Affiliate banner ads may appear more promotional than contextual links, so it is best to use them sparingly to avoid being ignored by visitors.
Nevertheless, banners can also be effective in other marketing channels, such as social media and email campaigns.
Adding Affiliate Links in Your Resources Section
A resource page may consist of a compilation of your most utilized and recommended tools and products. It is crucial not to overpopulate the list with items that are not frequently employed in your routine.
Incorporate a brief explanation for each product and attach your affiliate link, ideally directing visitors to a complimentary trial. As with any promotional content, remember to include a disclosure as well.
Ali Abadal, a popular YouTuber has an entire page dedicated to the tech he uses in his everyday life to create content, and thus helps in remaining more productive. There, he has mentioned all of the gadgets, apps, stationery and other tools that he uses along with the links to buy them.
3. Leveraging Social Media for Affiliate Marketing
Social media is an excellent platform for promoting your affiliate products. You can create posts showcasing your affiliate products, collaborate with other influencers in your niche, and run paid ads to reach a wider audience. However, it’s essential to follow the platform’s guidelines and disclose your affiliate links properly to avoid any legal issues.
If you are a beginner or have been doing affiliate marketing for quite some time and want to know how social media can take it to a whole new level, then consider watching this video.
4. Email Marketing for Affiliate Marketing
Email marketing is a powerful tool for promoting your affiliate products. You can create a lead magnet to encourage your website visitors to sign up for your email list and then send them regular newsletters promoting your affiliate products. However, don’t just start sending out emails right away. Here are some important points to keep in mind before you start an affiliate email campaign:
Things to Consider Before Starting Out
Prior to initiating your campaign, it is crucial to bear in mind the foremost principle of employing affiliate links. Despite the common belief that “The money is in the list,” in all honesty, the true value lies in the relationship established with that list.
The most significant aspect of persuading subscribers to make a purchase involves first gaining their trust, comprehending their requirements, and providing them with something valuable, rather than constantly attempting to sell or filling your email with affiliate links.
This approach will prevent your customers from becoming frustrated with you. Moreover, excessive promotion of links may lead to the closure of your email account by your provider.
The Right Way
Incorporating affiliate links into your emails should be done alongside other meaningful content. You may also integrate them within an existing email campaign. Vary the positioning of your affiliate links, but always consider the preferences of your audience. Refrain from including affiliate links just for the sake of it; ensure they provide value and address your audience’s needs.
An effective affiliate email marketing strategy fosters trust and engagement, which are crucial for driving sales since people are already accustomed to your high-quality content. As a result, more of your emails will reach the inbox instead of being marked as spam, leading to increased revenue and impressive outcomes.
Tracking and Measuring Your Affiliate Marketing Success
To determine the effectiveness of your affiliate marketing strategies, you need to track and measure your results. You can use tools like Google Analytics, affiliate network dashboards, and link-tracking software to track your traffic, clicks, and conversions. This data will help you optimize your strategies and improve your earnings.
Apart from Google Analytics, there are other powerful software that give you insights into how your affiliate marketing campaign is performing. You may also consider evaluating these products:
These are just some of the popular affiliate marketing software. You will find many more on sites like G2, Capterra and Trustpilot.
Advanced Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Graphic Designers
Once you have mastered the basics of affiliate marketing, you can explore some advanced strategies to further increase your earnings. These strategies include creating your products, partnering with other affiliates, and building your affiliate network.
As a graphic designer, you can create valuable digital products which provide a ton of value to other community members. By creating such products, you will quickly gain traction as the word spreads in the community and your sales will skyrocket. But creating these products requires a lot of effort, so be ready to invest a lot of time and energy. The rewards are far more worthy.
You can also partner with other graphic designers, illustrators, digital artists, motion graphic designers, animators, photographers, and video editors to cross-promote products. For eg., A digital artist has created 3D NFTs and you have a 3D icon pack, you can partner with them to sell their work in return, they help you sell yours.
Building an affiliate network is altogether a different ball game. It is essentially scaling your affiliate marketing and putting it on autopilot. This interesting article from Scaleo sheds light on everything you need to know to build your affiliate marketing network from zero.
Summing it all up
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for graphic designers to monetize their skills and creativity.
By choosing the right affiliate programs, creating a content strategy, and leveraging social media and email marketing, you can increase your earnings and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Remember to track and measure your results and explore advanced strategies to take your affiliate marketing to the next level.
