Fat Stacks Blog - a Podcast About Blogging, SEO and Traffic

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Show Notes:

1. Link Images to Merchants with an Affiliate Link

• One of my favorite methods because visitors click images.
• Add a caption with text to the effect “Click image to learn more” or Click image for pricing”
• I use AMZImage plugin (there’s a free version in WordPress plugins)
• Amazon: must embed images via API. Most Amazon affiliate plugins will do this.

2. Poll Links

• Can work well when used in “buyer intent content”
• Example: Do you prefer white or red sneakers?
• Each response when clicked sends visitor the either white or red sneakers at merchant.
• Kind of sneaky - some visitors won’t like it.
• Best reserved for content that is preselling very close to a purchase.
• I’m currently not doing this, but have.

3. Quiz Link

• These can work amazingly well.
• Create a quiz that helps people narrow down their choice for a particular product within a product line.
• Example: Smartwatch purchase
• Q1: Phone type: Apple, Samsung or Pixel
• Q2: Your budget: $100 to $200 / $200 to $300 / $300 to $500 / etc.
• Drill down until you can make a reasonably good recommendation.

3. Quiz Links (con’t)

• The quiz result makes one recommendation with an affiliate link.
• Best used in “buyer intent” content and for more complex purchases.
• IMO you should have used several products in the product line to create such a quiz. 
• I currently run several quizzes doing this.

4. Text Links

• Standard stuff - Still works
• => Arrows can help CTR.
• Be sure to underline it and use a different text color
• Call to action: 
• Click here 
• Visit 
• Learn More 
• Check Pricing

5. Buttons

• Buttons CAN work better than text.
• Image file or use a shortcode.
• If you use a page builder, use the button options.
• Deploy a hover effect
• Text matters - test different button text.

6. Native ads with affiliate links

• Amazon’s native ads is the best example
• Can earn reasonably well due to Amazon’s ability to display relevant products (some of the time - depending on the content)
• You can certainly create your own image product grid with your own affiliate links.
• I use Amazon’s native ads.

7. Skimlinks

• Carpet bomb your site with affiliate links
• Automatically turn every merchant link into an affiliate link
• Convenient and fast.

OR

• Create individual product links with Skimlinks’ link building tool.
• I currently use the Skimlinks link creation tool.

8. Email Sign-Up Redirect

• Works best with software.
• Need free version with premium upgrade options.
• Offer free software for visitors’ email and redirect them to the free software.
• I’ve done this on and off. Currently, I’m not doing this.

9. Menu Link(s)

• Create affiliate links in your navigation menus.
• Menus are prominent, site-wide links.
• Should be very relevant to your entire site.
• I used to do this with one sit

10. Social media links

• I haven’t done much of this.
• Why not? 
• It’s best for influencer/personality social media channels.
• My sites aren’t influencer/personality sites. They are corporate brands.

A Few More Tips

• Don’t mislead
• Deploy tests on high traffic / high affiliate earning pages
• Affiliate links work best in “buyer intent” content

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