I recently teamed up with blogger Melea Johnson to start a series of conferences (more like workshops) to teach affiliate marketing for bloggers at the ABC Conference. If you missed the conference or want to learn more, check out this online course from a lifestyle blogger who's been super successful.
We usually have a group of about 55-75 bloggers, mostly women in the lifestyle/mom blogger niche.
At the last conference time we had a blogger who came from a small Utah town and blogs about looking for gold. How appropriate because I think bloggers are affiliate marketing gold.
ABC affiliate marketing conference for bloggers.
Melea and I usually have just two speakers, first teaching the basics and then giving advanced tips. We focus on learning first and then DOING and my goal is to have everyone insert affiliate links into their blog before they leave. Q4 is when bloggers are getting the most traffic of the year, so it's a great time to add affiliate links. Start with your most popular posts.
At the conference, bloggers get to meet with affiliate managers in person and with our sponsors. We look for sponsors who are a good fit. These relationships are so important. Having someone to talk to that you've met in person is so valuable when you are new and can work with you to do special promotions.
Utah bloggers at the first ABC Conference
We do everything we can to make these conferences fun and informative. We do giveaways (we gave away a Blendtec at two) and have great swag.
Here's a sample of the type of feedback we got:
Bloggers have content and audiences which are often a natural fit for affiliate marketing. They are usually already linking to products they love and have trust built. Many bloggers look for sponsored posts but they have to apply to get paid and compete against other bloggers. They may have to reach minimum standards for traffic or followers. Even ad networks usually require a certain amount of traffic to be accepted. However, any blogger (that is not spammy) can join an affiliate program. Instead of getting a one-time payment for a blog post, you can continue to get paid again and again.
Utah Bloggers learning affiliate marketing at the 2nd ABC Conference
One of our speakers added Zulily affiliate links to a post about what she wish she knew before she had her kids. Zulily is where she got most of her maternity clothes so she linked to it with her affiliate link. That post alone has brought her over $20k!!!
As you can see, bloggers were enthusiastic about what they learned:
ABC conference testimonial
One blogger found fast results:
“I went back to my old food blog and added affiliate links up the wazoo. It's an inactive blog bit I still get about 100 views a day I checked into one of my affiliate and I had $50 waiting!”
The next ABC is in Lehi, Utah with sponsors Jane.com, ShareASale, and Craftsy. It's on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. Go to http://abclehi.eventbrite.com to sign up or for more information.