Using YouTube For Effortless Affiliate Marketing

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For a while now, I’ve been thinking about getting into affiliate marketing as a way to earn some extra money. However, I realized that I lack the skills to create high-quality content.

I wanted to use YouTube for affiliate marketing, so I decided to use product advertisements with my commentary as a background. Here’s how I found success in affiliate marketing this way,

Boosting My YouTube Channel

As I began posting content on my YouTube Channel, I decided that it’s best to start strong. So, I made the decision to use YoutubeStorm to boost my first few videos, in order to have the algorithm working in my favor. This way, more people have my video in the recommended section on their YouTube app or website.

Of course, I couldn’t rely on artificially boosting my account forever, because my main goal is to have users click on affiliate links and not merely watch or like my video. However, I continued to use this type of service because I found that it helped me organically increase my audience size – which translates to more potential revenue.

Looking For Popular Products And Reviewing Them

I researched online for products that were highly sought after. More importantly, I looked for those products that have many users searching for reviews of – because I intended to provide those reviews.

I read a lot of user reviews, and made up my mind on the products so that I can formulate my own recap of what users were thinking of these products. I recorded my review as a background to the advertisements that the products were already distributing.

The video editing needed was not complex, and it was definitely easier than creating a whole new video on my own. Keep in mind that I was not presenting my content as personal reviews of popular products. Instead, I was merely presenting the products with all the online research.

Essentially, I’m saving my viewers the trouble of looking up reviews and reading massive amounts of data online.

Adding Affiliate Links To Posts

Before posting the videos with my reviews in the background audio, I applied for affiliate programs of all the products I intended to post on my channel.

I left a few products without affiliate links whenever a program was not available because I felt that many users request this type of review, and it would help in building the success of my channel as a whole.

A Note On Transparency

Whenever adding affiliate links, I felt that it was important users know that I would be earning a portion of the sale. This builds trust especially because users can just as easily ignore my affiliate link and just purchase the item directly (or from an offline store).

Some affiliate programs provide a slight discount for users that click on affiliate links, but in my experience this was a very rare occurrence. Basically, users gain nothing by using my link to purchase a product – it’s just their way of supporting my channel. I found that building trust and familiarity with my audience meant they are more willing to support my channel.

Search Engine Optimization

You probably already know that the cornerstone of successful content marketing online is to make everything optimized for search engines. This meant I needed keyword research to learn the language that my target audience was using to search for products I was reviewing.

This makes it easier for Google and YouTube to suggest my channel whenever someone looks for the products I post about.

Additionally, I made sure to manually caption all my videos – a move that legitimizes my content in the eyes of search engines so that it is preferred over bot-generated content. Other SEO tips include adding a well thought out description to my videos, as well as a catchy title for my videos to grab the viewer’s attention.

I didn’t think using backlinks was needed for my YouTube channel, but you can choose that option if you feel it is necessary. I may consider more heavy-duty SEO strategies for the future if I feel there is a need for it, and I may even hire an SEO expert. For now, my rudimentary knowledge of SEO practices seems to be working just fine.

The Results

I was not surprised when my channel took off immediately, because I had taken all the necessary steps to make it easy for my channel to succeed. The content is all relevant to my target audience because the target audience is already searching for the content.

In other words, I was providing a solution to a problem that people already had – there’s no way to fail. I also made sure to avoid monetizing my YouTube channel, because I felt that the added promotional ads might put off some users.

They’re already going to be watching a promotional advertisement, so sparing them the extra ads was a smart move in my opinion. I also felt that by not monetizing my channel, users may feel more willing to support my channel by using my affiliate links, since they realize I am not generating any other revenue from my channel.

Some people add a Patreon account to allow users to subscribe to premium content, but I felt that it was too much to ask from my audience.

You too, can use this method to start earning money online. Try focusing on a certain type of product – for example, I reviewed hair styling and beauty products because I felt that I knew enough about them to write reviews.

Many of my friends suggested I review power tools as well, because there is a large target market for those type of products – but, I know absolutely nothing about power tools. The research I would need to conduct would be too much, and I felt that the audience would sense my insincerity.

If you have extensive knowledge about two different product categories (like beauty products and power tools), it’s better to start two channels to separate you audiences. Choose the type of product that you are familiar with, and start earning now.

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