Affiliate marketing is probably where you will earn the greatest amount of money on your blog—over time—unless you are selling your own products. While other forms of revenue from your blog are more ‘passive’ in nature, affiliate marketing is more active.

Let’s look for just a minute about ‘passive’ activity and ‘active’ activity. Running Google Ads on your site is passive. You get it set up, and it pretty much takes care of itself, unless you are really into targeting those high paying keywords. Running ads from the networks is also basically passive. Again, you get set up, and you have to do very little after that. Selling links is even passive, as it takes very little of your time or attention.

Affiliate marketing, on the other hand, is not passive. Affiliate marketing on blogs is not done with banner ads and such. It isn’t even really done with text link ads. Instead, you have to learn how to use your blog posts to pre-sell the affiliate product. These products are sold because you are recommending them, and your readers trust you. That takes work – don’t let anybody tell you any differently.

After your blog is set up with various sources of revenue, this is where the majority of your work is done – making blog posts and recommending related affiliate products in those posts. At the same time, you have to be careful not to turn a post into a sales letter.

The post has to be conversational, personal, and push the product without appearing to push the product. Nobody wants to be sold to, and they did not come to your blog for the purpose of reading a sales letter—they came to be entertained or informed.

I suggest that anybody who is starting a blog read and study a few writing courses. You should concentrate on writing for the web and creative writing. You must learn how to engage your reader, while getting your point across.

The other option is to choose your affiliate programs, let a ghostwriter know which program you want to push, and hire them to write your post. Ghostwriters already have the experience to engage a reader while pushing an idea or product in a smooth way.

When you post what you have written, make sure that the link to the affiliate product is ‘clickable.’ You don’t want to use an ugly affiliate link that stands out for the entire world to see. It’s a turn off for your readers. You should essentially create a text link.

Now, what affiliate products should you promote? You can promote any product that is related to your topic. Try not to get ‘off topic.’ It is a good idea to take an affiliate marketing course. It is an even better idea to know that what you are promoting is a quality product. Everything you promote will have a direct impact on how your readers view you. When you write your post, make sure that you apply the product to your own life or experience.

You can find affiliate products, in numerous categories, from the following networks:

1. ClickBank – https://www.clickbank.com – Has thousands of digital products, in numerous categories to choose from. Each merchant pays different percentages on sales.

2. PayDotCom.com – https://www.paydotcom.com – Has thousands of products, mostly digital. There are several categories to choose from. Percentages paid by each merchant differ.

3. Commission Junction – https://www.cj.com – Offers mostly tangible products. After joining Commission Junction, you must apply for the programs that you want to promote separately, from within the CJ control panel.

4. Rakuten Advertising – http://www.linkshare.com – Mostly tangible products. Each merchant pays different percentages on sales.

5. Share-A-Sale – https://rakutenadvertising.com/ – Tangible and digital products. Each merchant pays out different percentages.

You’ll need to sign up for an account at each network. With the exception of PayDotCom, your earnings are paid by the network – not by the merchant. PayDotCom merchants are responsible for paying their affiliates, and those funds are paid directly into your PayPal account.

Each network will have policies that must be followed, and additionally, each merchant in those networks will have their own rules as well. Make sure that you read and understand all of it. Make sure that you pay attention to how much you will be paid per sale. Some products simply are not worth promoting because they don’t pay out enough. Look for products that pay out 50% of the sale price or more.

Affiliate marketing most likely will not provide instant income. To make money online with affiliate marketing, you have to build a readership. You have to build trust and credibility with those readers, and then, you have to choose the right products to promote to your audience. Be patient – affiliate marketing and blogs is a match made in heaven, and this will pay off well for you in the end.

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About the author or the publisher:  Alan Liew is an experienced Internet marketing marketer. He has a blog created for sharing his knowledge and experience to help people make money online. He also owns a website providing helpful content and tips that people can read and learn how to make money online.