Affiliate marketing tips to increase the sales of online courses

Jun 14, 2022

Affiliate marketing programs can promote your company and increase your digital product sales. Below are five helpful tips to aid you to get started.

As a digital entrepreneur, there is a lot of talk about passive income -- the notion that after you create and launch your own digital or online course, you will be able to start earning money even while you sleep.

An affiliate marketing program turns the customers and your partners into your biggest supporters. They promote your company's brand and products You make more sales, and the dream of passive income becomes a reality.

This week, we're sharing five tips for creating and managing your own affiliate marketing programs starting with finding partners and choosing the appropriate compensation structure.

First, let's be sure we're all on the exact same page on one issue what exactly is affiliate marketing?

What exactly is affiliate marketing? What are the benefits of using it?

Affiliate marketing is a model of marketing based on performance in which companies (a.k.a. advertisers or marketers) make payments to affiliates (a.k.a. partners or publishers) for promoting their product. Affiliates are paid a percentage of every purchase they make on behalf of the brand.

The affiliate marketing strategy is built around results, and affiliates get paid for sales that are completed. Sales are generally recorded through cookies or other dedicated affiliate links.

The affiliates are only paid once customers make a purchase. Affiliate marketing is the perfect choice for creatives with no marketing budget.

That's likely why the majority of businesses use affiliate marketing, and the reason why affiliate marketing expenditure will be expected to exceed $8.2 billion in 2022. .

Affiliates may be expert marketers, influencers, and content creators. However, they could also include anyone who is a fan of your product and has an audience to promote them to. Common affiliate marketing channels include:

Blogging and content marketing

Posts on social media

Podcasts as well as YouTube channels

Email marketing

Direct referrers

Whichever channel that your affiliates utilize one of the key elements in a successful affiliate marketing strategy is trust.

Your affiliates need to trust that they'll receive a reward with a reward for their efforts. And the end customer needs to believe that your affiliate has recommended the best quality product.

It is essential to the customer experience and your profit margin. 2/3 of consumers think trust is an important factor in the purchase decision they make However, only 34% of shoppers claim to trust brands that they buy from.

That trust between an affiliate and the audience they serve is particularly powerful for creators selling more expensive goods, such as annual memberships , or expensive online classes.

Affiliate marketing can help you spread the word about your company and help you sell more digital products. But as a busy online businessperson, how do you maximize the benefits of your affiliate marketing strategy?

Follow this article for five helpful strategies to assist you in doing precisely this.

Five tips for increasing your sales with affiliate marketing

1. Partner with the right affiliates

Your choice of affiliates to collaborate with will make or break the affiliate marketing program you have in place.

Successful affiliates:

Have an audience that trusts their advice.

Use over-the-top (read: not shady) marketing tactics.

Make up a certain niche.

So, how do you locate those Affiliate marketers?

If you're looking to work with affiliates in order to market your online course, start with previous and current students from your class.

Advocates for brands -- those customers who sing your praises -- are 50 percentage greater likely to influence purchase purchases as compared to regular customers. This makes them perfect affiliates. Their recommendations are more credible once they've attended and gained from the course.

In this case, for example, the Coach and creator Misty Dorman of Life Ninjas offers information about the affiliate program she has at the conclusion of her online course, Home Biz Kick-in-the-Pants Workshop .

We also recommend reaching out to your mailing list once you begin the affiliate program.

The current customers already love your blog, and are ready to share the news particularly if there's a reward. Set up a dedicated affiliate page on your website and give them a link to the page or send them an email detailing the details of the program.

Beyond the current customer base To find affiliates that are the right fit for your company is the same as the identification of influential people. When it comes to influencer marketing, you should work with influencers whose followers or followers are in line with your desired market.

Below are some important points you should be thinking about when you are looking for potential affiliates:

What number of followers, or subscribers are they?

Are their values in line with you?

What are other products they promote?

Are they actually using or like the items they promote?

What marketing tactics are they using?

How many shares and comments do their posts receive? Respond to any comments?

You can also use influencer marketing tools like BuzzSumo or Social Blade. These tools will provide the followers count as well as engagement rates as well as other indicators for social media influencers and bloggers.

Last but not least, you may be tempted to sign up with an affiliate platform such as ShareASale or ClickBank to find affiliate partners. A network of affiliates is an independent platform that connects companies with affiliates.

Affiliate networks are among the easiest options for creators to start the affiliate programs. They are also among the costliest. Like, ShareASale requires an initial setup cost of $550 and a $100 deposit, then charges a transaction fee for each affiliate sale.

Plus, affiliate networks give you far less control over your affiliate program. If you sign up to the network, you sign up to adhere to the strict guidelines, regardless of regardless of whether you agree with them or not. This is why we suggest you build and run your affiliate marketing programs in-house.

If you have the right tools managing your own affiliate program can be easier than you think.

2. Utilize the appropriate Affiliate Management Tool

There's a myriad of tools and platforms for affiliate marketing accessible to entrepreneurs. Which one is best to use for your company will be contingent on your goals as well as the product you want to sell via affiliates, and what other technology that you employ.

Another tool for affiliate marketing that is popular is Tapfiliate. Tapfiliate allows social sharing, custom email templates, as well as the option of recurring or one-time commissions.

Naturally, if you're looking to manage things the easy way, we'd recommend the management of your affiliate program through . Don't just accept my (admittedly biased) opinion This is what the founder and entrepreneur Ryan Kulp is saying:

" offers a gorgeous design, page creator as well as affiliate tools that are done for you. Not to mention the best membership program I've ever seen. It's critical for turning a one-time course sales into a continuous client relationship."

Its affiliate marketing platform lets you manage your affiliate program from the same place that you sell your digital items. It's easy for your customers and partners to shout about your product on the streets -- and get paid for it.

For creators who are on the Shaker plans  the affiliate marketing feature includes:

Easy setup. Start your affiliate program in just a few clicks, no other software is required.

Custom commission structures. Create custom commissions for each item, or use a default commission structure.

Invitation-only or public. Let any customer join your affiliate program or remain your program invitation-only.

Fast payouts. We'll compute the numbers for you every month So, payouts are fast and straightforward.

Check out this help article to learn more about creating your affiliate program with and attend our weekly demo to view all highlights at work.

3. Choose a commission structure which is suitable for your business

One of the greatest benefits associated with affiliate marketing how you can tailor your affiliate program to suit your business's brand, image, and goals.

The customization can include the commission structure. You can make your payout and commission arrangement as simple or complicated as you'd like.

To see an instance of this you can look no further than Amazon Associates , Amazon's affiliate marketing program.

Associate advertisers promote via links to Amazon affiliate items. Customers click on these links and buy products from Amazon Affiliates are paid referral fees. The problem is that it can be difficult: the commission rates are based on the product categories .

Amazon, an e-commerce major such as Amazon offers plenty of technological innovation and staff that can handle complex commissions. However, for small-sized sole-preneur or business owner, we would suggest using an easier structure.

A simple percentage-based structure and pay-out schedule, for example, 15% commission due at the 10th day of each month -- helps you remain organized, and ensures that your affiliates know what to expect.

Clear commissions are one method to aid your affiliates to succeed. Our next tip dives deeper into the process of creating an affiliate relationship that is mutually beneficial.

4. Set your affiliates up to be successful

If you make it simple for your affiliates to join your program and sell your products, you set everyone up for success.

First, be clear about which products are eligible to earn affiliate sales. While it is possible to incorporate all your products, we recommend beginning with the most well-known digital offerings.

In this case, for instance, although Amy Porterfield sells several digital items, her affiliate program focuses on just one: her highly successful Digital Course Academy, which retails for $1,997. Affiliate partners receive 50% of every sale.

If you consider the potential earnings from affiliate programs such as that is no wonder that her affiliate program has a waitlist.

Concentrating on a small number of affiliate programs makes it simpler to support new affiliates as they begin.

Speaking of which, remember to share the information and guidelines for your program in advance and frequently. The more transparent you're upfront with your affiliate program, the smoother your affiliate program will be.

When you onboard new affiliates, make sure to include these key details:

Commission structure and details of payout. Have you set a payout threshold? What is the frequency at which affiliates will receive payments?

How sales attribution works. Do you use cookies? Custom tracking links?

Terms of service of the program you are using, including promotion restrictions (like banning spammy tactics).

Guidelines for branding, marketing material, and resources, so you can begin to promote right away.

The business coach Kimi Kinsey provides her clients with the affiliate resources hub that is a "one-stop site that has all the information you need to be a successful affiliate of my brand". Her promotional assets include graphics, swipe copy, logos as well as resources for affiliate marketing.

Once you have enrolled new affiliates, ensure you keep them engaged. Inform them about the forthcoming promotions to ensure they will be able to execute relevant marketing campaigns. Respond to their questions and celebrate their successes as the campaign grows.

In other words, like the other relationships that are strong, communication is key.

Before we wrap up, we have one more tip for making the most of your affiliate marketing program. This is the final step before your customer is converted to a landing page.

5. Make high-quality landing page landing pages for Affiliate traffic

When affiliates drive customers to your site, they typically connect to a landing page. They could drive lot of visitors to your website, however in the event that your landing pages do not convert, you won't make the sales -- and your affiliates won't get the money they deserve.

To ensure those affiliate sales make it to the finish line Here are three suggestions to create a landing page which converts.

1. Know your target audience. Digital marketing and ecommerce pro Aaron Orendorff put it, "At their core, websites that convert talk directly to the real world of people facing real issues in need of practical solutions."

Additionally, they expect you to get to know them on an individual level. 84% of customers believe that treating them like a person (not an arbitrary numbers) is essential for them to win their company.

This technique can also help the SEO (SEO). When you include your clients' preferred language on your website's landing pages you are more likely that it will match their search queries, show prominently in search results, and bring in organic traffic.

2. Make it easily scannable. The best landing pages are often simple.

The average person spends only 5.59 seconds per day looking through a site's written content, and research on readability discovered that readers read text, rather than word-for-word.

Your landing page shouldn't be an ideal place to post long-form content ( in most situations  at least). Make sure to keep your copy brief, and use bullet punctuation to break up the textand include your most essential and pertinent content on the top of your page.

3. Stick to one call-to-action (CTA). Last but not least, your landing page should have only one CTA. If you have multiple CTAs that you are prone to Hick's Law a.k.a. choice paralysis .

Hick's Law posits that the greater the number of options available to someone, the longer they take to make a decision. (And you might see them quit your page, without clicking on any of those CTA button.)

Develop a powerful affiliate marketing plan

If done correctly When done right, affiliate marketing can be an effective and efficient way to generate more revenue and generate more sales. To recap the five steps for creating and running an effective affiliate marketing campaign:

Work with affiliates that align your values and brand, have an audience in your area, and use above-board marketing tactics. Your existing customer base can be a good base to begin.

Use the right tools for managing affiliates to create and run your program. allows developers to build an affiliate program using the same platform that they use to sell digital goods.

Pick a commission structure that is suitable for you. A simple commission structure is the most effective option if you're new to working with affiliates.

Make sure your affiliates are set up for success by giving them clear rules with open communication and ample tools. If you provide them with all the information and tools needed for success, they'll be ready to go beyond to promote your products.

Create landing pages that convert. Utilize customer-friendly language, as well as simple design and copy to transform affiliate website traffic into revenue.

If you have these affiliate marketing strategies under your belt, you're ready to get people talking about your business, market more products on the internet as well as earn profits through affiliate partners.