Blogging Tips

How to Grow Your Blog & Make Money Right Away Using Affiliate Links!

how to blog and make money using affilia

Meet Tammy

Hi! I'm Tammy, the face behind The Gifted Wreath. I created this blog because..

A Shortcut to Passive Income using Affiliate Links

Looking for a simple and easy way to make extra money? This landing page is a gold mine for beginner bloggers looking to grow their blog traffic and to earn passive income using affiliate links.

I just started blogging about 6 months ago, and have already seen incredible results off trial and error.

In these short few months, I have compiled a list of my do's and don'ts that will give you the shortcut you need to get fast money and traffic coming to your blog right away.

My Do's and Don'ts list below is FREE and may be the exact thing you need to read to help you get started on monetizing your blog.

Although I'm not claiming everyone will receive the same fruitful results, however, I do believe that the below do's and don'ts guide will lead you in the right direction in efforts to avoid any blogging pitfalls that you may have not known about otherwise.

know your why

A quick tip to help you get started blogging is to first define your why.

Why is blogging important to you and how do you want to help others through this platform?

Every blogger has a story and mission, this is mine:

I am a stay at home mom and primary caregiver to my son who has special needs. He was diagnosed with a rare, life-shortening nerve disorder called Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) at age 4. He is permanently wheelchair-bound at age 17.

I started blogging as a way to raise awareness for his cause and to help build a supportive online community with others who may be going through a similar life journey with special needs.

Decorating and Creating has always been therapeutic to me, so I wanted to incorporate these topics into my content.

I currently own an online Etsy Shop where I sell artificial wreaths and bouquets for all occasions that benefits The Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). You can browse my door wreaths and floral arrangements, here.

Create an email campaign

Once you create your blog, it is now the perfect time to add an email campaign to start driving traffic to your blog. Your blog traffic is how you will start to build an audience and turn them into supporters.

These are the visitors that will love your content and want to support your affiliate links as they see applicable to their needs and wants.

So be sure to get to know your audience and include a monetizing strategy that will be helpful to their pain points (what problem are you trying to help your readers solve).

It is through Affiliate marketing programs such as Amazon, Share-a-sale, Wix, Google Adsense, and tons of other monetizing platforms that will allow you to start earning a passive income on your blog.

I highly recommend you research each one to see what affiliate program would be right for your monetizing goals.

Keep on reading to learn how you can avoid these beginner blogger mistakes!

The Ulitmate Do's And Don'ts Guide to Growing A Blog and Making Fast Money Right Away

Do#1 Establish a Niche For Your Blog

As stated above, establishing a niche with specific content to a targeted audience helps you to build credibility with your readers.

Your readers will have a better understanding of what you are trying to promote and will essentially trust your product reviews and recommendations when sharing affiliate links.

My niche is specific to brides to be, motherhood, and home decor enthusiast.

I help solve their pain points through sharing DIY wreath making tutorials, home decorating ideas, and the ins and outs of running a small shop blog.

Don't #1 Don't Blog about everything

Trying to cater your blog to fit every niche under the sun is going to make you burn out before you even get started.

Think of it as just consuming one piece of the pie rather than devouring the whole pie.

You will gain more credibility by being as authentic and genuine as you can be to your targeted niche.

Keep your content simple and very clear to your readers, so they understand what services and recommendations to expect from you.

Do #2 Find a Blog Hosting Platform That Works Best for You.

I first started using Wix about 7 years ago when I created my first free website for my son's 5k race.

I was receiving a lot of interest from potential runners, so creating a website on Wix seemed super easy for me to create as a newbie to website design.

I was able to design a free website in just minutes using all the special tools and neat features that Wix has to offer. It is a perfect place to get started.

Eventually, I chose to upgrade my plan when I created The Gifted Wreath Blog so that I could create my own domain and sell my wreaths using the Wix Ecommerce tool.

I highly recommend you give Wix a try if you want to see if it's right for you.

Don't #2 Don't Waste Your Time Worrying About Other Blogging Platforms.

The reality is (just like with anything) there are always pros and cons to any blog hosting platform.

But, you can inevitably be successful on any if you use the right SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools and marketing strategies.

The real test of success is driven by content consistency and mastering SEO.

It will just take a little bit of research and identifying your blogging goals before picking a platform that will be best suited for your blogging needs.

Do #3 Find Free Ways to Market your Blog Content

There are tons of free social media sites out there that will help you to drive traffic to your blog. To be successful in monetizing your blog, you will need to drive traffic to your blog.

You can do this for free by using powerhouse platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook just to name a few.

The best way to attract readers by using these free methods is by establishing a blog brand.

It can be done by writing your blog name in each of these accounts so that when people search for you on these platforms, your blog name appears and matches on each social media site you use.

This is the easiest way to brand your blog name, brand colors, and logo if you have one.

Don't #3 Don't Spend Money on Marketing Without a Budget and Goal in Mind

Something I wish I did sooner was to create specific marketing goals that can easily be measured.

It is very easy to start blogging without developing a plan for monetizing and generating a passive income.

Mindlessly writing content and promoting posts without specific measurable and actionable goals in place is setting yourself up for failure and loss of money.

So don't get caught up in paid marketing without understanding your analytics and performance goals first.

You can potentially lose more money than you gain. Learning your site analytics will help you determine your marketing goals.

If you perhaps grow a small marketing budget, then paying for ads and campaigns may boost your efforts.

However, many bloggers end up spending more money than earning on certain campaigns, because they max out on paid advertising and collaborations in hopes to gain traffic without monitoring if it will be valuable or profitable to their blog.

Do #4 Carve out time to participate in your niche's community groups

Participating in engagement groups in your niche is basically free marketing.

Taking the time to connect with and comment on like-minded content creator's blogs will not only help their traffic, but it will give you the opportunity to tap into their audience as well.

Building a blogging community is so important for traffic growth.

Don't #4 Don't waste your time on what others are doing in your niche

The easiest way to stand out from an oversaturated niche is by being authentic. Adding your own brand and unique spin on how you curate your blog content will be the driving force behind your growth.

Your readers will start to root for you and be more eager to share your style with others as it's something new and refreshing to follow.

In fact, you should strive to take a piece of popular content that is searchable within your target group and find a way to translate it into your own personal style and brand. Nobody likes a copy cat.

Do #5 Apply to affiliate marketing programs.

There are tons of programs out there that offer commission upon purchases made through your affiliate links. Amazon, Liketoknowit, Clickbank, Target, Walmart are some to name a few.

As you begin curating content for your blog you will start to understand what your readers may want and need from your blog.

These are the types of services and products you will want to promote through your affiliate links.

You will need to build trust with your followers by staying true to your brand and on point with your content.

You should always include disclaimers to your links to give your readers an understanding of where the link will take them and what it is for. Nobody likes to be scammed!

Here is an example of my Amazon affiliate links.

By clicking on the below images, it will take you directly to Amazon. I may make a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Just easy shopping links provided.

You can click on them to see how easy affiliate links work. Amazon might be an affiliate program you may want to apply for:

My Current Favs on Amazon