Welcome to the second episode of a series in which I debunk some common myths you might believe around making money from your blog.
Today’s one is that affiliate marketing is the only real way to earn as a blogger. Well, it’s not, let me share why.
Why this is a common belief
For a start, everyone online is talking about affiliate marketing and teaching it. It’s something that has been around for a long time and it’s so popular and profitable. Also, newbie bloggers are doing it a lot.
If you see something happening that much with others, you’ll subconsciously start to believe that is the only way to actually make it as a blogger.
It’s something I used to think many years ago and affiliate marketing was one of my income streams, but it’s not anymore. However, all those bloggers that I was following were teaching this, they were doing it and most of their income, 80-90% was coming from this.
So I really was thinking that this is where the real money is made. That’s when I started learning more about affiliate marketing and how it applies to a blogging business. I started practicing it more and a portion of my revenue was coming from it.
Then it slowed down, but I just wasn’t passionate about investing more time in it or promoting it that actively.
I still have affiliate links on my website, of course. I have some affiliate reviews.
Every now and then I participate in a new campaign that I’m an affiliate for or I include affiliate links inside the newsletter. Not often, but it can happen. It’s mainly for the tools I’m using and when I teach anything business related, you need tools. So I recommend the ones I’m using and the ones I believe in. Then it makes sense and that’s the genuine way to do affiliate marketing.
But anytime I would start creating content solely for that purpose, meaning with the goal to include more affiliate links in it and to potentially make profit, it just didn’t feel right.
Another reason why this is a common belief is that it’s easy to spot who is monetizing through affiliate marketing online because of their links, banners on their website linking to affiliate products, affiliate reviews and promos in their newsletters and so on. It’s just obvious.
Nothing bad with it, of course. It’s just easy to see that a particular website is promoting affiliate products. The more you see it, the more you might assume this is the way to go for any blogger.
The same can be said for ads and selling digital products, but not so much for sponsorships. You don’t usually know which posts or links are paid on a certain website. That’s fine because they’re supposed to look like any other blog post on the platform. So another reason why you might assume affiliate marketing is the only blog income stream worth pursuing is that the other ones are not talked about that much, especially sponsorships.
Not only can you not see if someone is monetizing through that, but they don’t talk about it. They don’t disclose their partnerships, which is a good practice to do. It’s good to disclose them.
Bloggers also don’t like to reveal that income stream because they think that they risk their relationship with brands this way, which I don’t think is the case.
I’m not directly going to share the emails of the brands I’m working with, but I do talk openly about it. I have a whole program about that, The Blog Sponsorship Boss.
Inside the membership, Fearless Bloggers, we talk about it a lot. I have a video training there that shows what’s going on behind the scenes of sponsored collaborations. I disclose the exact emails we exchange, how the negotiation happens.
I share what new sponsored networks I’m joining, how things look on the inside, what the network is looking for in a website in order to approve it, and so much more. But this is not usually how it goes in the industry.
That’s the income stream that almost no one talks about, and that is why many bloggers are anxious of actually getting into it.
I’ve received many emails, some even from bloggers who are doing much better than me, asking if it’s really a legit way to monetize, if it’s actually worth it, if search engines are not going to penalize you, and so much more.
I answer all these questions inside The Blog Sponsorship Boss, but obviously if I keep doing it and it has actually always been my main income stream, I believe in it. So back to affiliate marketing.
It’s also often believed that it’s easier to earn from it than from ads or digital products or sponsorships, but that’s not the case every time, and it definitely isn’t for me.
In fact, from the four main ways to earn as a blogger that I mentioned, affiliate marketing is the one bringing me zero profit right now, and yet I’m running a full-time blogging business. So I hope this helps you let go of that myth and monetize sooner in all the different ways.
Now that you know why you might be believing this, it’s time to let go of that and give yourself permission to consider other possible paths to monetization. Not just that, but to believe that you don’t need affiliate marketing at all if you don’t enjoy it and if it doesn’t feel authentic to you, and to know that other income streams can be the way to reach five, six, and even seven figures in yearly revenue.
Those high numbers are not what I earn, but I’ve interviewed plenty of bloggers on Let’s Reach Success that are actually doing it, and it’s possible for many others.
Keep in mind that I’m not telling you to not even try affiliate marketing, or that it’s not worth it, or that any monetization strategy is better than another. No, I’m just hoping you can open your mind to all possibilities and test different things till you find what works best for you, for your interests and your passions, your audience, niche, content format, and anything else involved in your business.
There are many ways to build a blogging empire, and there is no right or wrong order of monetizing.
You can start with any of the four ways, and if affiliate marketing is something you consider in the future and feel excited about, then you can definitely go for it.
It’s never too early or too late for it, and there are many ways to earn from it too, some of which you might not have even considered. I cover some of them inside the Blog Monetization Challenge happening in the membership, together with the other things you can do to earn from your platform passively. If you feel called to join us, here’s the enrolment page. Let me know if you have any questions.
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