How to create Content for Affiliate Marketing

You will agree that the goal of every affiliate content is to convince readers to buy a product using an affiliate link.

But only a handful of affiliate content achieves this. 

According to a study by Awin, the average conversion rate for affiliates is 0.5% to 1%. So, if you manage to get a conversion rate above 1%, you should throw a party.

Theoretically, here’s what it means:

If your website generates 10K monthly visits every month, then at 1%, you’ll make 100 sales.

In reality, that is hardly the case because only a tiny percentage of the 10K visit will click your affiliate links. And of this small percent, you’ll estimate your 1%.

So how do you make this work for your affiliate site?

You can improve your conversion rate by creating quality affiliate content that convinces readers to take action.

As an affiliate marketer and freelance writer, I have worked hand-in-hand to help affiliate marketers improve their content experience and boost revenue.

In this article, I’ll share my proven technique for creating remarkable content that ranks on Google and convinces readers to buy.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in.

1. Choose your Keyword Smartly

Creating affiliate content that converts starts with choosing the right keyword for your content.

Not all keywords convert the same. Some keywords have a better conversion rate than others.

Keywords’ intent makes the difference in how a keyword converts. 

For instance, the keyword Bluehost Review will have a better conversion rate than the keyword; How to Start a Blog.

The difference is that the keyword, how to start a blog, intends someone new to blogging and just trying to start a blog and not yet decisive about buying a hosting program.

In contrast, people searching for BlueHost Review are not new to the blogging world and have weighed several options.

They are aware of the need to buy a host and are reviewing their options at the moment.

Do you see the difference?

By simply identifying and understanding the intent of a keyword, you can rank and bank on the right keyword.

As a beginner, picking the right keywords can be daunting. You might not yet be able to understand keyword intents.

However, there are other ways to identify keywords that convert better and are easy to rank.

The easy way is to use a keyword research tool to do that. Semrush and Ahrefs are the best premium options.

But you can start with free tools like Google Keywords Planner.

To identify the worth of a keyword, take a look at the CPC for advertising.

Keywords that have good cost-per-click for paid ads tend to convert better than keywords with low CPC.

But you shouldn’t just focus on keywords with high CPC because these keywords sometimes are competitive to rank.

So the right keyword = good CPC + Easy to rank.

Keywords with low keyword difficulty scores are supposedly easy to rank. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs will help you identify such keywords.

And you can also identify such keywords manually by looking at the sites already ranking for your chosen keywords.

If there are sites with low DR and DA scores, then you might have a chance to rank high for that keyword.

Also, check the number of links your prospective competitors are pointing to that content.

The more you do and repeat this process, the better you get at identifying the right keyword. 

Finding the right keyword is like winning a trophy. You keep getting better at it, and you will find the process more accessible than before.

Craft a Headline that Converts

You need a winning headline to increase your click-through rate on the Google result page.

Every site on Google SERPs is competing for the attention of Google users. It is a “Pick Me” game.

If your SEO title (headline) is not attractive enough, users will less likely click your result.

What is worse is that it doesn’t cost anything to write an attractive headline. It is an art you need to practice to get better at constantly.

Some examples of affiliate content headlines that work are:

• [Product Review] 2021 – Read This Before you Buy
• [Product Review] – Is It a Scam or Legit?
• Is [Product] Legit? – Don’t Buy Yet!

For a title to be attractive, it has to pass an emotion to the reader. It can be fear, hope, love, danger, etc.

Irrespective of the emotion, it will work. Everyone wants to know what is wrong with a product so as not to buy.

When people are searching for reviews, they aren’t looking for reasons to buy; many are looking for reasons not to buy.

And a headline that affirms their thought would get their attention. This tactic has been in existence for a long time. 

You might have seen the way news sites craft their titles to agitate you to click?

You can also make use of the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer to see how unique and cool our headlines sound.

Enter your headline into the headline analyzer and see your score. The score is 0-100. 

Don’t solely depend on the score to rate your headline; keep practicing to get better. Don’t forget to run your headline suggestions with your friends to see what they love best.

Research Research Research

The most significant part of creating excellent content is research.

Research helps you discover the depths of the topic at hand and gives you an idea of the different angles to tackle the content, and provide excellent value to your readers.

Without research, it is impossible to create great content.

I wouldn’t try to impose our research process at ContentKeen on you because we all tackle research differently.

However, we’ll share some ideas to assist you in carrying out in-depth research.

Research Competitors Content

An excellent place to start your research is to look at your competitors’ content and note the sections covered in their content.

Also, navigate to the comments section to find questions being asked by readers and note that down in your docs.

Use Reddit for Research

Reddit is a gold mine for research. You can find the gaps in that topic using Reddit.

Find your keyword or topic on Reddit and see what people are saying about the subject and the questions of interest.

If it is a product review, find other people’s reviews of the product on Reddit but don’t let that hinder your view of the product.

Remember, people are reading your content to find out about your review of the product and not just what others think.

I’ve found the Reddit community quick to condemn any new product for no substantial reasons.

Use these reviews to guide how you shape your content and carry out your research and not as a final opinion.

Use User-Generated-Content Review Sites

Sites like Trustpilot that allow people to drop their reviews of products and tools can be a good place for research.

Survey the site to find reviews and compare this to your personal experience.

An inferior product in 2017 might have improved its features to deserve a good rating, so be open to various possibilities and don’t just rate a product based on its past disease.

Here’s the million-dollar question, when is it enough to stop research? 

Somehow, you might get addicted to research and spend more time on it.

The truth is, no time is of waste on research, but as an affiliate marketer, you need more content and can’t afford to waste time on research.

We recommend you track your time spent on research and creating content. Plan your content to stay productive.

And you can consider outsourcing to writers or an agency. Here at ContentKeen, we help affiliate marketers create content that converts. 

Create an Outline for your Content

Creating an outline for your content helps you or your writers utilize time spent on writing efficiently.

An outline includes the headings and subheadings that you will cover in your content.

It can also include links to sources and research findings to help you keep everything in a single piece.

This process follows suit immediately after your research. What you find during your research will help you structure your content outline.

Frase.io can help you come up with an SEO-optimized content outline. A manual process to get this done is to look at how your competitors structure their content.

Also, you can use the People Also Ask and Related Questions on Google SERP to find subheadings for your content outline.

Some of these related searches and questions on Google can form the structure for your content outline.

Write a Captivating Introduction

With your content outline ready and your research done, it is time to start the writing process.

You can write your introduction first or write it last. I love to write my introduction first and rewrite it after writing the whole body of the content.

Do this to ensure your introduction doesn’t promise what isn’t in the content.

So you need to review and rewrite your introduction to ensure it catches readers’ attention and each sentence leads them to the next.

As they say, the goal of your first sentence is to lead readers to the following sentence and the following sentence, till the very end of your content.

How do you write such introductions?

Study the work of your favorite writers. Write, write, and write till you find your voice and improve the skill. That is all it takes.

Here are some tips to help you create magic introductions:

PAS (Problem, Agitate, and Solve)

This is a copywriting formula that helps you create an emotional rollercoaster for your readers.

It simply means:

• Start your introduction with the problem of your readers.
• Agitate on the problem to make readers ready to take action.
• Offer your content as a solution.

It is a copywriting formula that has been in existence for a long time.

Here’s an example:

You know what it feels like, having significant organic traffic but no revenue to showcase?

Consistently hitting your traffic goals, but the revenue is nothing good to write home about.

Well, you are not alone.

According to a study by ANIX, the average affiliate conversion rate is between 0.5% to 1%.

So if your conversion rate is above 1%, then you should throw a party.

It is as bad as that. Why?

Many factors influence your conversion rate, and content is one of them. Content can break or make the deal for your prospects.

You can agree that creating quality content has never been an easy task. Some ingredients make a piece of content tasty.

This article goes into the details of what it takes and how to create affiliate content that converts.

Shhhh… I just rewrote my introduction. But you got the point?

Find your Voice

Formulas are great. But you can always go against the norm; that is who writers are.

Don’t be afraid to break grammar rules to pass your message in a fun and engaging way. 

Here are some random examples of affiliate content introduction that connects and are unique:

This is from Ebiz Fact:

There is something unique about this introduction. It displays social proof and makes a promise to the reader.

The social Proof:

“I’ve spent 30+ hours….

The Promise:

“If you want to know: ….

Jon Morrow’s Open Letter to Writers is an Awesome Example

This introduction by Jon Morrow is one of the best I have ever read. Do you see how he describes the reader’s condition?

Here’s my advice – keep a swipe file for every introduction you find exciting and lovely.

This will help you find inspiration whenever you encounter writer’s block or face a blank doc.

Provide an Honest Review of the Product

It has become a norm for affiliate marketers to hide the glitches and shortcomings to convince their readers.

The product with the highest affiliate commission wins the #1 spot as the best product in that niche/space.

The reality is that this doesn’t boost your conversion rate or increase your revenue. I know this is hard to believe.

But people are aware that there’s no perfect product. And they know there would always be a catch or shortcoming and just need to see if it fits their need.

So you would be doing yourself a big favor by being the person that tells them the truth about the product.

Here is what will happen when you do so:

Readers will gladly reward you by using your affiliate link to buy the product.

When you have their trust, they will visit your website directly to find affiliate reviews of other products they are interested in.

This way, you build a long-lasting business around your affiliate blog.

Add Social Proof

The internet has made it easy for anyone with a laptop and internet connection to pose as an expert on a topic.

This is why adding social proof to your articles will help your readers trust you more and take advice from you.

Here’s an example:

You can add social proof within your content in the introduction, telling readers why you are worth listening to.

At the beginning of this article, I included social proof of how we at ContentKeen have been helping other affiliate site owners and bloggers create content that converts for their site.

That’s exactly how it is done.

But it goes beyond including it within your content. Do you have an About page on your site?

You should flaunt your testimonials on your About page and homepage. Tell readers how you have helped others solve problems in your space.

Don’t be shocked that some readers might visit your about page before taking your review seriously.

Optimize your Content for SEO

When creating content, you aren’t counting the number of times you infuse your keywords in your content, right?

Then, it is time to optimize your content for SEO.

The process is simple. I make use of Frase.io to optimize my content for SEO. Its topical score feature helps outline the missing words and phrases to build topical authority.

But you don’t have to use a tool. You can optimize your content manually and still get a good result with it.

• Start by replacing common words that appear a lot in your content with similar words or phrases.
• Include your keyword in the first paragraph of your introduction.
• Include keywords in your subheadings
• Add images to your content (alongside alt texts)
• Write a short and concise meta description that includes your keyword
• Add internal links to other pages on your website
• Make it readable for your readers by using a variation of bold texts, underlines, italics, brackets, quotes, etc.

Edit Ruthlessly

Even after following this guide, you’ll be surprised that your content still needs improvement.

Don’t worry. First drafts aren’t always perfect. You need to edit your drafts ruthlessly to bring out the gold in your content.

Take a break from writing. You can leave a day gap or more before editing your content to ensure you are editing with a clear mindset.

• Use the Grammarly Pro software to correct grammatical errors. 
• Read out your content to see how it sounds to the hear.
• Remove repeating words and replace with synonyms.
• Cut adverbs as it weakens your sentences.
• Write short and concise sentences.

Schedule / Publish

Upload your content into your CMS (WordPress or any other CMS you use).

To better optimize your conversion rate,

• Add a CTA button to your review article (bigger buttons work)
• Add an exit-intent pop-up to help you convert readers before leaving your webpage.

If these are all set, then schedule your content to go live or publish right away.

Final Thoughts – Content Writing for Affiliate Marketing

Creating content for affiliate marketing isn’t easy, I know. But it isn’t as hard as you think.

With constant writing practice, you will get used to the process and will find it easier.

If you don’t have the time to create content for your affiliate sites, let’s help you with it.

We help affiliate sites create review content that boosts your revenue.