Why I’ve stopped using most affiliate links (and what I’m doing instead).

I’m back with a new blog post! Today, I’m going to be talking about affiliate links. This topic I’ve covered before (there’s a great guest post here on the topic) and I know it’s something lots of people are interested in.

But this year, I decided to make some changes to the affiliate links I used and to be honest, I’ve stopped using a lot of them.

Why I’ve stopped using most affiliate links

There are a few reasons why I’ve stopped using most affiliate links.

One reason, if I’m honest, is the new ASA regulations in which all of these need to be marked an AD.

I don’t disagree with this and am the first to talk about why it’s really important to disclose your ads properly but thinking of affiliate links in this way, as the equivalent to making money from sponsored posts, made me really start thinking about how much money I actually made through affiliate income (spoiler alert: it’s not a lot!) compared to other income streams.

I started to consider whether it was worth both my time and also my relationship with my audience where I constantly had to label things AD for affiliate links (whether you like it or not, I personally think it can make you turn out when all bloggers do is constantly shill affiliate links).

We’re told using affiliate links should be easy and it’s a case of just posting a link but it’s worth thinking about whether that time converts into sales.

For example, I used amazon affiliates and have a few book reviews that do well in terms of clicks.

However, when I looked at my analytics I realised that, with most comission rates of like 1%, it would take hundreds upon hundreds of sales to make a decent income from this.

I don’t think the practice of just dropping links works unless you have a very very big readership. So I’ve decided that I’ll let those old posts do their thing but I won’t be adding new ones.

Most of the time, the time I had spent to add in links, create banners and label posts as an AD would not even convert into pennies when it came to affiliate income-and I bet non-blogger readers imagined I was earning far more!

I started just linking without affiliate links in the post so I didn’t need to worry about disclosure and readers could feel it was genuine.

Because I already make money from Mediavine and sponsored posts, and already ask my readers to accept this, I felt like affiliate links are one thing I and they could do without a lot of the time.

It might be me having issues around money (I still feel a little ‘ick’ about being salesy which is why I never promote my ebooks or anything like that). Actually, let’s give them a mention before I forget. I’ve got to eat!

Learn more about my ebook (Ad-it’s my own product): The Blog Growth Toolkit

or Learn more about my ebook (Ad-it’s my own product) about pitching to brands.

So, yes, where was I. I decided if I was going to make money from my blog, I needed to do it well and focus my energies on what converted rather than trying to do ALL the things.

In other words, if I’m going to ask my readers to accept I’m making money from my blog and potentially take that risk of turning them off, it makes way more sense for it to be with income streams that actually make me money to take that risk and not just pennies.

Affiliate strategies that do work

Instead, I decided to do some sums and focus on just a few affiliate programs that don’t require a huge amount of traffic/clicks to make an income.

For example, I have a post on recipe boxes that does well on google and decided to spend a few hours on the SEO of this post.

I’ve earnt almost a hundred pounds in credit from this post through only a handful of click-throughs just because the conversion rate is so much higher-about 15 pounds per new customer. Therefore, it makes sense to spend time on this (and it’s a box I use a lot).

So take a look at things you’re already using. Could a refer-a-friend link be more valuable than the usual affiliate link?

Could you look at creating content around things like ebooks, hosting and courses; which often have conversion rates as high as 40% rather than linking to tons of ASOS links which might have a commission of ten times less than that if you’re lucky?

I’ll also keep sharing my affiliate links to services I use like my lyrical host discount (ad-affiliate link-you can use BLOGLANCER10 to get 10% off your hosting.) or blogging courses I love. I almost got through this whole post without using affiliate links but hey I’m only human!

I still use AWIN but before I promote any services from there, I’ve decided to email the brands directly to ask for a higher conversion rate or an additional benefit like a discount code or giveaway.

Once you’ve found these types of affiliate links, it’s worth thinking about spending time to create content around these links.

Whether that’s an in-depth review that ranks high on google or negotiating a discount for your newsletter readers. By having just a few affiliate programs you’re involved in, you can hopefully dedicate time to properly promote them, not appear like you’re constantly using AD and see a much higher return.

Before you go: other useful posts

18 posts to help you make money from your blog

The ultimate guide to sponsored posts

How much do bloggers charge for sponsored posts?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this: are you using affiliate links more or less? How do they work for you and are there any high-converting ones you’d recommend?