Innnnn this article I've got some affiliate marketing content ideas – these are the types of content that I create for myself to generate my own affiliate income. I'm not just going to be talking about amazon affiliate, I've also got some ideas if you're running a youtube channel and you want to make some affiliate money.
If you're stuck on ideas for your content hopefully this will get you moving.
Content You SHOULD NOT Create
Before we start on some ideas for affiliate marketing content, there's one type of affiliate marketing content I think you should probably avoid.
When people first get into affiliate marketing especially with amazon, they think that the best kind of content to create for their site is product reviews. Product reviews are fine if you actually own the product – if you've got the product in front of you, you've used it and you can talk about it in quite a bit of detail, and share your thoughts and ideas based on real-life use of that product.
In fact, I'd recommend that you create videos, articles whatever you can about that product if you've got that product.
The problem is a lot of people want to create product reviews when they don't actually have the products so they just do research on amazon and cobble it all together for a product review.
I'm afraid nowadays that's just not good enough.
Google recently rolled out a big update around this called the product reviews update and in 2021 Google are looking for those real reviews from people that have actually got the product – if you haven't got the product don't do a review.
With that said let's move on to some ideas on the kind of content, you should be creating to generate affiliate commissions.
How-to Guides
The first thing I'm going to suggest is how-to guides – I absolutely love how-tos.
They're pretty easy to write once you've done a bit of research. Basically, you're going to share some information on how to do something – helpful, informative content that gives lots of value, and within the how-to there are opportunities to include affiliate links where relevant.
They're a good thing to add to an affiliate website because you don't want to overload with just product-based content – you've got to have some information and value in there too.
I have a couple of examples of some how-to content that I've recently created over on wheelalong.co.uk which is one
of my affiliate sites. I've got some how-to's on how to move heavy stuff like ‘how to move heavy plant pots' and ‘how to use a sac truck safely'.
The great thing about these articles is there are often opportunities to link to other content on your site and to products. In the example ‘how to move heavy plant pots' I link to things like sac trucks and wheelbarrows and other useful products that help you move heavy plant pots.
I've got similar stuff over on Best Pressure Washer where I have how-to guides on how to clean stuff. Eg ‘How to clean aluminium siding' and other useful information on how to get the most from your pressure washer. I'm able to link to other product-based articles, for example, from the aluminium siding article I have links to the best pressure washers for that particular job.
Video How-Tos
Here on WP Eagle, I've also got quite a few bits of how-to content. For example:
- How to create a website
- How to create content
- How to do stuff with Canva
Basically, I'm showing people how to do stuff and then, within the videos I'm able to recommend products and services.
For example in the ‘how to build website' videos, in order to build a website, you need things like:
- hosting
- domain names
- themes and
- plugins
And I'm able to share those things via affiliate links.
How-tos are great whether you've got a Youtube channel or affiliate site as you can easily create how-to guides and not only do they add value to your viewers and your visitors, they're also a great way to promote some products.
Live Demos
As we're talking about Youtube and how-tos, another twist on that kind of content is to do live demonstrations. This is something that I do on WP Eagle where I might take a product or service, for example, Jarvis (affiliate link) which is one of my favourite ai copywriting tools.
I'll do a live stream where I'm using the software, playing around with it creating content, basically showing what it can do. I'm not going to be overly pushy with my affiliate link but it will be in the description or I might put a card up.
This does well because it is authentic – You're offering the viewer lots of value by teaching them how to use a particular software or product, answering qustions, interacting and generally being really helpful. And because of this live interaction, there's a good chance they're going to click on your affiliate link and buy whatever it is you're showing off.
For those who don't choose to buy, there's still a tonne of value for them as you're teaching them something new – win win!
Best X for Y Content
The final idea for affiliate marketing content that I've got for you is one that I've used a lot, in fact, I created a lot of this sort of content for best roofbox.com. This was one of my affiliate marketing websites that I recently sold for $70,000.
The kind of content I'm talking about is of course the best X for Y content. You're basically helping people find a product or a specific need. You can get lots of ideas for this content from Google.
All you have to do is type in the word ‘best', then your product, then for, and then start going through some letters to see what comes up. They're all great ideas for content.
I've got quite a bit of this content on both Best Pressure Washer and on Wheel Along.
A good example of this type of article is best wheelbarrows for uneven ground – a search that people were making on Google. To put this kind of content together, all you need to do is head over to Amazon (or whatever merchant is you're promoting) and research products that are the best for whatever it is you're writing about.
Then share that within your article. Start with a nice introduction, detailing what the article is about, and what people need to keep in mind when they're choosing a product for this particular ‘Y'.
Then show off the products in a nice table – I'd recommend something like AAWP (affiliate link). It's a WordPress plugin that uses the Amazon API keys and can create lovely tables like this:
Once you've done the table, write a bit about each product and why that product is a good choice for ‘Y'. For example, in this one, the ‘Y' is uneven ground, so I explain the particular atributes that are desirable for wheelbarrows on uneven ground.
By doing this, you are presenting all the relevant information in a nice, neat package that makes it super easy for someone who is researching wheelbarrows to buy for that particular need. This makes them far more likely to click on your links and head off to make a purchase.
In Summary
This type of content has worked really well, both on my youtube and on my affiliate marketing website. To summarize you want to go for:
- How-to guides both with articles AND videos
- Live demos if you have a Youtube channel
- Best X for Y
I absolutely love best X for Y content – I think it's really easy and quick to put together and often ranks well. Stay away from product reviews unless you can do some hands-on authentic writing.
What type of content you've been creating? Do leave me a comment below on the type of affiliate content you've been creating I'd love to know what's been earning you some money!
