Writing Effective Content for Your Affiliate and Niche Sites

Hands-down the most important part of making it as an affiliate marketer online is the ability to deliver compelling content regularly to your readers. Our goal is to draw people to the site, expose them to the products/services we're promoting, and to show them why they need to make it a part of their life.

In my several years of writing for hire and writing content for my own sites I've learned a few tricks that make my content convert at a higher-than-average rate. You don't have to be an award-winning writer to get boosts in your site performance with these tips; simply integrate them into your writing as needed and reap the benefits.

Buy the product and get to know it (or interview people that have)

There's nothing that turns me off more when I'm reading product reviews than getting an inkling that the reviewer hasn't touched the product or doesn't know much about it. You want to be a user of the products you promote or at least have some substantial experience with it before trying to promote it online.

A trick to writing compelling content is to include comments that demonstrate a deep insight into the product or service and its inner workings. Let readers know what makes it tick and what makes it stand out as the best choice in a given category. Show your readers definitively how the product can solve particular problems that they might be having and explain first-hand how you yourself have solved your problem with it.

Many internet marketers skip this step and proceed to write about a product straight-away without knowing the first thing about it. Avoid doing what many gurus tell you and synthesizing content by rewriting reviews on Amazon and other websites. Product reviews MUST be original and from your own unique perspective to convince people of your message.

Let the keywords flow naturally

Everyone hypes up keyword density and makes it seem like you need to adhere to a strict formula; my experiences show that this works no better than writing with a natural flow and including keywords as they fit. Keyword formulas lead to content lacking a flow and tends to turn people off. People aren't string parsing algorithms or web spiders and aren't going to derive the same benefit from keyword repetition.

Focus on repeating the benefits of the product and emphasizing it's place in solving an urgent problem that the reader is having. Try to mention your keyword phrase in the first paragraph and in your closing paragraph. You can also include the keyword in your text one or two times with a bold or italic font but only when it makes sense and fits in visually.

Include pictures of you with the product

There's not much that builds trust more than pictures or videos of you using the product. It helps to build a personal connection with you and your visitors as well as showing that you have in-fact used what you're recommending. If you can show in a picture series or a video the product actually solving the problem you've been emphasizing you've gone a long way towards converting the visitor into a proud new owner of the product.

There are a myriad other things you can do on your affiliate sites to improve your conversion rates and build rapport with your readers. These three tips are only a few of the things I've found to be super effective and you should by no means stop with these. Read, experiment, see what works for yourself and for your particular niche.