So, you’ve finally come to the decision on what your affiliate marketing niche is going to be… You’ve done your research and are ready to find some high-quality affiliate products and/or services to go with your niche, so you can start promoting them.
But how do you go about choosing the right products and services for your target audience? How do you go about finding a good affiliate program? And what is a good affiliate program?
Don’t worry if you are feeling any of these worries, all affiliate marketers have at some point been there. Every affiliate marketer has asked themselves these questions plenty of times. Us included…
So, we’ve put this guide together to help you find the best affiliate products to promote within your niche.
We have 9 tips for you, so you don’t waste as much time as we have in the past. There is little point promoting the wrong affiliate product, and hopefully our tips will help you avoid some of the pitfalls that may crop up along the way…
As an extra help, we’ve also included a few places you can use to find great products online to promote too.
Table of Contents
9 Tips on how to Find The Best Affiliate Products to Promote
Right, let’s get started with our tips to help you…
#1 Don’t Just Choose A Product Based Solely on Price
A common mistake made by beginner affiliate marketers is to just choose products with a high price tag. I get where they may be coming from… if you sell something for $1,000 the commission level will be higher.
But you first have to make a sale before that happens, and that is where you fall down before you even get started…
Think about it, if you’re making a decision on something for a lower price, you will take less time to think about it, then if you are going to make a bigger purchase.
You really have to consider the quality of the product as well, if you let someone down on the first purchase, they won’t become a repeat visitor to your site, as they will feel like you are giving dud advice, based solely on a commission rate and not a product you believe in.
I’ve known affiliate marketers who have made full-time incomes promoting lower price products that they believe in, and it comes across in their blog. They are making hundreds and even thousands of sales on lower price items, and they end up earning a lot more than someone who chose the wrong product, as they based their decision on price alone.
You need to keep an eye on what is seen as the right value for a product.
Products that are lower in price can also quickly bring in new customers to your sales funnel. There is also the added bonus of them being more inclined to purchase from you again. With this resistance lowered, you can ask your past customers to make another or larger purchase in the future, and it won’t be as much of a challenge.
Please Note – Remember repeat sales all depend on the quality of the products you are selling. If you sell low-quality products, don’t expect to last long as an affiliate marketer!
#2 Ensure You Include Evergreen Products
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If you’re not too sure what we mean by an evergreen product, don’t worry. It’s actually quite simple. An evergreen product is one that isn’t going to be a one-hit wonder, or just a fad.
An evergreen product is a product or service that is relevant and going to be in demand now and always.
So, why is promoting an evergreen product or service really important to your campaigns?
That is because of continued relevancy and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
If you’re going to be using a long-term strategy, such as Content Marketing. Your content will need to stand the test of time and remain relevant long after you have written it. Some topics will be out-of-date as soon as you have written it, especially if it relates to technology, or something like that.
But there are other topics that a blog post from ten years ago, will still be relevant and helpful to the person wanting help with it.
So, that covers the relevancy side.
Most of the time, that type of blog post only needs slight improvements or additions to allow it to continually grow traffic over time, which covers the SEO part.
Another consideration is if you have a mailing list. If you write evergreen content about evergreen products and include this within your emails, there will be less of a need to keep on updating it.
If you’re not including evergreen products in your promotions, you can find that your income takes a hit when the product becomes irrelevant.
I’m not saying you just have to go evergreen, but it’s a good idea to have a mix.
An example would be, a product that helps people track their fitness goals would be an evergreen product. People are always looking for help with tracking these kind of goals, like weight loss, calories burnt, etc.
But if you were to be promoting a book on how to do SEO or How to rank in Google. That would not be evergreen.
There are just so many factors to how this is achieved, and every time Google does an update, you have to re-understand what to do.
Understanding what is an evergreen product in your niche is important, and then you can also include some products that are seasonal, etc.
I see examples where people are promoting the usual, but then they start promoting more seasonal stuff when it comes to Black Friday, or the holidays. Don’t be afraid to mix it up, just include some evergreen products too.
#3 Find The Highest Commissions Possible
I know this one might sound obvious… but there are exceptions.
For example, Amazon’s average commission rate is only 3%. Which seems low. But there are now even lower since they updated their commissions for affiliates.
But it is still important, for an affiliate, to still use Amazon as they are such a highly trusted marketplace with consumers.
Even though their commission structure is low, you can make up for that in sales volume, especially if you have lots of traffic coming to your website.
But once you get your traffic levels up to a consistently high level, then it’s time to consider whether you should carry on wasting that traffic on the low commissions you can earn from Amazon.
There are other reputable companies out there with much better commission rates for affiliates.
You can even get commissions that are higher than 50%, and even some that are as high as 90%.
#4 Find Recurring Commissions When Possible
If you want to build a passive income, then recurring commissions are a great way of achieving it. They are, in my opinion, the best type of commission you can earn online.
The reason for that is if you can people to sign up to residual type commissions, you can then earn an income each month. They are usually with membership-type subscriptions.
So, each month they stay a member you earn an income.
As long as they keep paying each month for the product or service they have bought, you’ll keep earning a monthly commission.
Please Note – it’s a good idea to understand the conversion rate, typical length of membership for customers and what the refund rates are, and how that affects you as an affiliate before you decide.
#5 Find a Niche Full of Buyers
There is very little point of choosing a niche if there is no one interested in buying products or services within that niche. If we go back to the evergreen point, you need a niche that will be popular now, and in the future too.
Just picking a niche based on the commission rate won’t work if you don’t have any customers to buy something.
There are a few niches that will always be popular, and always have people who are interested in buying products that help with that niche.
Examples would be:
- Weight Loss or Exercise-Related
- Relationships
- Self Help
- Make Money Online
- Technology
If you’re still not sure of which niche is a good fit for you, we’ve put together a list of 50 profitable niches that you might find useful. Here’s the link…
But just remember it needs to be a niche that you’re interested in, and are willing to create a lot of content on it too…
#6 Promote Products You Would Use Yourself
You have to remember that your primary goal, as an affiliate marketer is to help people. If you focus on helping them, you improve your chances of your ultimate goal, which is to make money.
If you just focused on the money, you will not be helping people solve their problems and you throw away the chance of building a long-term profitable business in return for a quick buck.
Focusing on helping people, you will see that there is a direct relationship between helping people and making money. People start to trust you, and then they keep coming back for more help and more products that help…
Part of this is to recommend products that you would use yourself. If you wouldn’t use it yourself, why would people follow your recommendations?
If you would use it, and provide in-depth content that helps them understand why you use it, that will help you with your conversions.
Every product we recommend is something that we would use ourselves…
#7 Use Trusted Affiliate Tracking Systems
You’re going to work really hard to earn you commissions, so you want to ensure that you get paid for every commission you earn, right?
So, it’s really important that you ensure the vendor of the affiliate program is trustworthy and honest. Make sure you do all the research required before you sign up for an affiliate program, especially independent affiliate programs.
Check to see if anyone else has had any issues with the vendor before, have others reported problems getting paid?
If you’re not sure, you can at least trust the affiliate networks that are out there, such as:
At least with these companies, you know your sales are being tracked properly and that you will get paid for every sale you achieve.
#8 Check for Leaks
It’s more common that you think…
You need to thoroughly check the vendor’s sales page for any sales leaks.
An example would be a ClickBank vendor who has placed an additional buy button on the sales page, other than the ClickBank buy button.
This is what is referred to as a sales leak. The reason is that if anyone were to click on that link instead of the main link, is that you would lose the commission for the sale. The sale wouldn’t have registered through ClickBank, and means you lose the sale and the vendor gets all of the commission.
Even vendors that are encouraging people to call or email, could be stealing sales away from you.
We’re not trying to tell you all vendors are like this, but you so need to do your checks properly to see if there are any signs they could be.
Here are some of the other ways, that a sales leak could happen on a vendor’s sales page:
- Upsells that override the affiliates cookie – this means the affiliate loses the commission
- Google AdSense on the sales page
- Links to other products
- Mailing List Redirects – this is where the prospect is put onto a mailing list, and then it redirects them to a different sales page that misses you out of the affiliate credit
#9 Watch Out for Bad Vendors
Don’t go into this thinking that all vendors are bad news. But there will always be though that give them a bad name. Most vendors are great and want to work well together with affiliates, as it could directly effect their chances with future affiliate promotions.
But there are a select few where they are just trying to steal money from you… From faking refunds so that your account you’re not owed any money to using a faulty tracking software. These people are thieves…
The good news is that they don’t usually last very long, but you sure don’t want to help them earn any money if you can help it.
The best way is to ensure you are always dealing with reputable vendors. This is down to your gut. Are you thoroughly checking all the details you need to know before signing up?
If it doesn’t feel right…there are red flags… the testimonials look made up… Then move onto something else.
Things you can do include:
- Check the email addresses
- Search for the name of the vendor
- Go to forums and ask around
- Google the product
- Check the social media accounts
If you find a pattern of complaints about the product or the customer service. Then it’s time to move on and forget them.
There are tons of great vendors. So, don’t get caught up in the big commissions they are promising, as they try to do this to cloud your judgement. If it looks too good to be true, then it often is.
I would typically say this relates a lot to digital products. Especially in the Make Money Online world. We have reviewed loads of these types of program where they promise the world, but they leave all of the hard work to the newbie trying to get started.
The vendor and the affiliate make a ton of money, but at the expense of newbies which isn’t ethical. But then when the vendor is trying to do it to the affiliate, it gets even worse.
How to Find the Best Affiliate Products to Promote
When you start the search for affiliate products or affiliate programs, you realise that there are thousands and thousands of them to choose from. There are many being realised every day. Getting in on a new affiliate product early is a good way of making good money.
So, how do you find them?
Well, we’re going to go through a few ways of finding affiliate products and services that work with your chosen niche…
Google Search
The simplest way of finding affiliate products to promote in your niche is to use Google search. You just type in Affiliate Program + Your Niche.
So, if your niche is Gaming Laptops (a popular niche at the moment), your search term would be Affiliate Programs + Gaming Laptops
This is the kind of results you’ll see:
You can see there are plenty of affiliate programs in this niche. If you know the product you want to promote, you can be more specific and use the product name itself and search.
You still need to be mindful before joining any independent affiliate program. Make sure you do your research before signing up to them.
But it doesn’t matter what niche you choose, you’ll find this will provide you with lots of independent affiliate programs.
There is also another way of finding affiliate programs…
Affiliate Networks
Instead of going with independent affiliate programs, you may choose to go with an affiliate network.
An affiliate network is a marketplace for many affiliate programs. It puts Publishers (you) together with Advertisers (the merchant). Instead of applying for hundreds of independent affiliate programs, you can sign up once with a network, and gain access to hundreds of affiliate programs from one dashboard.
The Advantages of an Affiliate Network
There are numerous advantages for the merchants being part of an affiliate network, including:
- tracking technology is included (no additional expenses)
- reporting tools
- payment processing
- access to a large base of advertisers and publishers
As far as the publisher (you) is concerned. It simplifies the process of registering for one or more affiliate programs all in one place. All of the reporting and the payment systems.
But the biggest advantage is that you know you are working with a reputable affiliate program.
The list of affiliate networks is huge. But your niche is going to be the biggest factor to determine which ones you go with.
You can join as many as you like, but you’ll find just a few will be enough for all you need. If you want to promote a specific product, and it’s with an affiliate network, you can sign up with it. But then you can also see what else they have relating to your niche.
Affiliate networks are usually free to sign up with. The process to sign up is usually a simple one. But you do need to aware that some will call you for a short interview.
Don’t worry about the interview. It’s typically to check you are a real person and ask you how you plan on promoting their product. They only make money when you do, so they want to know details like your traffic details or social following, etc.
Here’s some of the networks we’ve used…
Commission Junction
Commission Junction is no called CJ Affiliate. It’s one of the largest affiliate networks and houses a lot of different products and from some major brands too.. From Anthony Robbins to Weight Watchers.
It’s a good starting point for Beginners too.
Share A Sale
Shareasale has been around since 2000 and is associated with Awin, which is another affiliate network. Shareasale is one of the more popular affiliate networks.
You will find many products on either network. But the only thing we found disappointing about it is that they don’t provide the amount of search options that other services give you…
Market Health
Market Health is a good affiliate network is you are aiming to promote health and beauty products. They have hundreds of these types of products on their network.
ClickBank
ClickBank is a digital marketplace. It has really high commission rates, but also a high number of programs that you have be careful with. Some are great quality and worthwhile. Then there are those that have a high refund rate due to the quality of them.
Just make sure you do your due diligence before promoting any of their products.
Usual Suspects – Amazon & eBay
I know you may already have thought about Amazon, but it’s still a good starting point or an affiliate marketer. So, I would be negligent to not mention this one, and another you might not have thought about and that is eBay.
Amazon Associates
Most affiliate marketers typically start with Amazon. It’s a highly trusted marketplace for consumers, and they typically sell (pretty much) everything you can think of. They also have products in each niche.
The main reason why affiliates are moving away from Amazon is down to the lower commission rates they offer now. But still, having a mixture of independent affiliate programs, affiliate networks and Amazon is a good way for an affiliate to operate.
If you want to know more about Amazon Associates program, then you can check out our full guide here…
You can also check out this short video that explains more about the Amazon Associates program…
eBay Partners Network
This is another solid option, especially if you want to promote physical products. It describes itself as the “worlds largest and most diverse marketplace”.
The video below gives you a great insight into the eBay affiliate program…
Putting It All Together
Finding the right product is just part of the process to becoming a successful affiliate marketer. And it can be one of the steps that messes people up in the “how” part of affiliate marketing.
If you are just getting started or you’re still struggling to get your business off of the ground. The first step is to get proper training and guidance to give you a solid foundation for building a successful and thriving affiliate marketing business.
The best resource we can recommend for learning the “how” part can be found at Wealthy Affiliate. They provide you with up-to-date, step-by-step training platform that you will find online.
There is no other place online where you will find the support, tools, resources and training you’ll ever need to get your affiliate marketing business off the ground, and grow it to the point where you have financial freedom and are doing this full-time!
We’ve been a member of Wealthy Affiliate since 2016, and we’ll continue to be members as the community has consistently helped us to grow our business, and to keep us up-to-date with a landscape that is ever-changing.
You should also know that we are an affiliate of their program. But that is only because we fully recommend it, and we use it.
Or, if you would like to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate first, here’s our complete WA review…
I hope you’ve found this information useful. If you have, feel free to share it with your audience. But if you still have any questions or comments, then please leave them in the comments section below. 😉
But if you want some help with a specific topic, then feel free to email me anytime.
We believe in you!!
John & Gem
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