What Hyperlinks to Use in Your Affiliate Advertising Emails

Picture by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

This text relies on ProBlogger Podcast 107.

This query is available in from Scott who asks, “I wish to strive my hand at some affiliate promotions and have chosen an e-book to advertise. I’ve heard you say that your affiliate promotions work finest while you electronic mail your listing, however I’m questioning if I ought to electronic mail that affiliate hyperlink or ought to I ship them to my very own weblog the place I overview the e-book? I’d love your steerage – how do you promote an affiliate product?

This can be a nice query from Scott and I wish to sort out it immediately, providing you with just a few insights into when you need to do every of the choices that Scott mentions.

What’s an affiliate promotion?

For those who’re questioning “What’s an affiliate promotion?” then take a look at my article on 12 Suggestions for Affiliate Advertising which supplies you introduction. Affiliate internet marketing is the commonest method that our readers on ProBlogger inform us that they’re making a living; it’s considered one of my main earnings sources and it’s a income stream I like to recommend you think about as considered one of your first for those who’re fascinated about monetizing your weblog. 

Maybe the best approach to clarify online marketing is that you simply as a writer are rewarded for selling one other enterprise’s services or products, by paying you a fee when somebody follows a hyperlink in your weblog to their website the place they then purchase one thing. 

What Hyperlinks to Use in Your Emails?

In the present day, I wish to speak about the place the hyperlinks ought to level to while you ship an electronic mail to your listing selling an affiliate product.

For those who’re sending an electronic mail out to your listing, selling an affiliate product, do you:

a) Ship out the affiliate hyperlink linking on to the product creator’s gross sales web page or

b) Write a publish about that product, put it in your weblog, and use that hyperlink in your electronic mail?

There are some good causes for taking both strategy. 

Affiliate Hyperlink direct to Gross sales Web page

The explanation that you’d think about using the affiliate hyperlink, linking on to the gross sales web page of the product that you simply’re selling is:

1. It will get your reader nearer to them hitting the add to cart button sooner. It removes a click on for those who like. For those who’re sending individuals straight out of your electronic mail to the product gross sales web page, you’re sending them straight there with out having a center web page in the best way. That all the time will increase the possibilities of them placing that product in a cart and trying out. Job performed.
2. When the gross sales web page is sweet – well-designed and nicely optimized, and has good calls to motion – it’s extra prone to convert, so your job is to get your reader/potential purchaser to the gross sales web page.
   If we don’t need to do a complete heap of pre-selling within the electronic mail that we’re sending out. If we’re sending out an electronic mail and we simply suppose the gross sales web page sells itself, sells the product itself, then most likely we’ll simply do a comparatively quick electronic mail and say, “Look, you may get all the small print right here,” after which give them the hyperlink.
   An instance of this could be final yr. We do a ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ marketing campaign on Digital Pictures Faculty yearly. As one of many promotions we had been doing throughout that 12 days, we had been selling a course which we had promoted prior to now, we knew it transformed with our viewers, and the gross sales web page was simply improbable. The gross sales web page had a fantastic video on it, it had a well-written copy, it actually offered the product nicely. We knew it was match for our readers, we knew that each one we needed to do is to get our readers to see that web page, and there was a fairly good proportion of them who’re going to purchase that product.I had no hesitation, in any way, in linking on to that gross sales web page. There was no must put a hyperlink to a weblog publish that then defined what the product was and every part as a result of the gross sales web page itself did such job. That is my superb. That is what I wish to do each time I promote a product, I wish to get individuals to the touchdown web page. 
3. Or, if we do the pre-selling within the electronic mail itself and there’s not rather more to transform and we will direct the shoppers straight to the gross sales web page

Hyperlink to Your Personal Weblog

There are occasions when you need to think about not sending individuals on to that touchdown web page and sending them to another vacation spot, ideally your individual weblog:

1. For those who’re selling a product that has a gross sales web page that you simply don’t actually suppose does a fantastic job of promoting the product.
   InstanceI’m not going to call the product, however I can suppose again to a product just a few years in the past that I promoted on Digital Pictures Faculty. It was an e-book. The e-book was nice, it was a extremely good match for our viewers, the product itself was excellent for our viewers, however the one that’d written the e-book was a greater e-book author than they had been a marketer.As I checked out their touchdown web page, I used to be like, “No, I’m undecided that this web page goes to actually promote this product very nicely. I’d must pre-sell the product just a little bit extra.” As a substitute of sending my readers to the touchdown web page, I wrote a overview of the product on my weblog. That overview acted as a touchdown web page in and of itself. Within the overview, I talked about whom the product can be nice for, what it was about, I ran via a few of the sections of the e-book. I feel I even used a screenshot or two from the e-book with the permission of the creator. I confirmed the desk of contents and I actually talked concerning the professionals and cons of the e book (naturally, there have been extra professionals than there have been cons).This overview publish acted as a touchdown web page and was a testimonial of kinds as nicely. By the point individuals clicked the affiliate hyperlink to go to the gross sales web page, they had been prepared to purchase. The touchdown web page itself didn’t must persuade them a complete heap. If something, it most likely would unconvince them as a result of it wasn’t the most effective design, however hopefully, my overview warmed them up sufficient to purchase that product that they didn’t actually pay a complete heap of consideration to the touchdown web page itself.
2.  For those who suppose a overview itself would possibly assist to promote the product.
   Generally, the gross sales web page is sweet, however you continue to suppose your readers will reply higher in the event that they hear you actually speak in-depth about that product. That is one thing that I’ve performed just a little bit on ProBlogger over time, the place I’d do a walk-through of how I take advantage of a device that I’m utilizing on ProBlogger that I’m additionally an affiliate for.Now, the explanation I might try this as an alternative of sending them on to the affiliate hyperlink is I feel that illustrating the product and the way I take advantage of it’s truly going to reinforce the probabilities that they are going to purchase it as nicely. This generally is a actually good approach to promote an affiliate product. This exhibits that you simply genuinely use the product and provides your readers some recommendations on methods to use it themselves, which shall be useful to them.
3. For those who’re going to advertise that product over a time period with quite a few totally different emailsIf I’m selling a course, a software program, and even an e-book that I feel is actually good, I’d do a multi-pronged marketing campaign promotion.
   That is the place as an alternative of simply sending them an electronic mail and saying, “Purchase this product. This can be a actually nice product,” I’d ship them two or three emails over two or three weeks. Every electronic mail can have a distinct strategy to it.
   1. First E mail: Pronounces the product and the deal for my viewers.
      I all the time do try to get some unique offers for my readers. That electronic mail is perhaps, “Right here’s this e-book. I’ve organized 50% off for you and this bonus.” That is perhaps all I actually do in that e-book. I’d speak about what it’s, after all, and a few options of it however that’s about it.
   2. Second E mail (per week later): “Right here’s a overview of this product.”
      They’ve already heard about this product and lots of people will most likely have already purchased it – our fast-acting readers, the individuals who purchase every part that we suggest as a result of they belief us. However then there’ll be one other section of readers who wish to know a bit extra. They wish to hear some professionals and cons, they wish to weigh it up, they usually wish to see it in motion maybe.
      1. Alternatively, we interview the creator of that product and publish that as a weblog publish 
      2. Or we get the creator of that e-book or the creator of that product to write down a visitor publish and put that on the weblogThe second electronic mail would possibly simply hyperlink on to that overview, interview, or visitor publish or it’d do each. It would say, “Hey, only a reminder, right here’s this product we’re recommending. It’s a deal for you. You may additionally wish to learn our overview of it.” That electronic mail may need each hyperlinks for these individuals who simply belief your advice and for many who wish to know just a little bit extra.
   3. Third E mail (week three): final likelihood reminder
      Eg. “Forty-eight hours to go earlier than this deal ends.” That, once more, would hyperlink on to the touchdown web page.

You may see there {that a} multi-pronged marketing campaign goes to speak various things over time and there’s a time and a spot for linking to totally different locations inside that marketing campaign.

In Abstract 

For me, it’s actually about trying on the product, trying on the touchdown web page that you simply’re given as an affiliate, and work out whether or not that touchdown web page goes to promote that product nicely to your viewers or whether or not you, getting concerned within the center and including that additional click on into the method—which is dangerous in some methods—whether or not that’s price it. If that additional click on goes to extend the possibilities of individuals shopping for that product, then I positively suppose including that additional clicking might be worthwhile.

Ideally, you need as few clicks as potential between while you ship your electronic mail and once they hit “Buy”, however typically, that additional click on will actually assist to place your readers in a extra seemingly place to make that buy.

NOTE: Hyperlink cloaking

One other necessary factor I ought to point out about affiliate hyperlinks is that you should use your individual hyperlink cloaking service to:

1. Shorten the URL (some affiliate hyperlinks are very lengthy and ugly)
2. Rebrand the affiliate hyperlink so it appears extra reliable
3. Monitor affiliate clicks your self

Hyperlink cloaking companies:

Bitly 

Genius hyperlink

Examples:

problo.gr/Ultimate_Bundles is that this hyperlink cloaked utilizing Bitly https://associates.ultimatebundles.com/associates/signup.php?a_aid=a6268

https://geni.us/JobyProdPS is that this hyperlink cloaked utilizing Genius Hyperlink https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07C5HZ425?tag=dps0e-22&key phrases=JOBYpercent20GripTightpercent20PROpercent20TelePod&geniuslink=true