Countless individuals are attracted to the idea of having an online business. But, the cost and complexity of product development often get in the way. Even if you do create a product, there is no guarantee that consumers will want it. In turn, one way that you can bypass this issue is by using the necessary tools to create an affiliate marketing campaign.
As a result, you can quickly start promoting existing products, taking a commission from each sale or lead. With this, affiliate marketing can be your primary source of income, or at least a useful stopgap before you design your products. Though, you do need several tools if you want to become a serious affiliate.
So, what are the primary affiliate marketing tools you should be considering when choosing to explore this path?
1. Ahrefs
Research is a vital part of the affiliate marketing process. For example, search traffic will play a key role in promoting your website's pages over the next five years, as the use of online search advertisements will continue to grow at a rate of 3.03% YoY.
Thus, Ahrefs, an SEO tool, is an excellent way to simplify your search engine marketing (SEO) efforts. Through its sophisticated analysis of Google's Search Engine Results Page (SERP), Ahrefs can provide in-depth analysis to help improve your overall ranking. Some of these features include:
Providing insight into how your webpages compare against other competing pages within the search results page
Finding you appropriate high-volume search keywords
Researching the quality of your backlinks (which we talk more about in this article)
Tracking your page rankings.
You must keep in mind that it is hard to gain search traffic consistently without a robust research and tracking method.
2. Leadpages
The ability to create landing pages is a requirement of affiliate marketing. While you can build pages from scratch, it is far easier to use a landing page builder, such as Leadpages. Leadpages is an essential tool that lets you choose from an array of quality templates. Along with the converting templates, though, you can also use the analytics information to make considered updates to your pages.
3. AWeber
While some affiliates choose not to build email marketing lists, they are missing out on a valuable asset. Email marketing allows you to capture leads and build long-term relationships with your potential future customers.
AWeber is an established email service that makes email marketing simple. You can use opt-in forms, email segmentation, automation, analytics, and more; there is also the opportunity to integrate with Leadpages.
4. Voluum
As you scale up your campaigns, tracking becomes more complicated. You will want to track many different links to be able to check the most profitable traffic sources.
Paid advertising also requires that you know which particular ads are bringing in positive results. Voluum makes this process accessible, even if you are driving vast amounts of traffic. The platform is robust, so you know you can rely on the data.
5. Canva
Graphics are a significant part of the marketing process. You need to be able to develop advertising graphics, banners, logos, and social media imagery.
One option is to outsource the graphic design work, but you can also use a tool like Canva without any experience. Canva provides templates for all kinds of projects, with the ability to drag and drop design elements as you require.
6. PowerAdspy
Top affiliates use paid advertising to reach a broad and targeted audience quickly. The results from new ads can be erratic, though, so you should make use of ad spying tools.
PowerAdspy is a tool targeted at affiliates using Facebook advertising. The tool tracks millions of advertisers, looking at ads, copy, landing pages, and offers. You can search based on detailed criteria, giving you an insight into what is working.
7. Buffer
Social media can be used to reach targeted audiences, helping you find and cultivate new leads. Buffer provides a dashboard so that you can control and publish all content to the various social media platforms.
The tool lets you tailor the content to stand out on each platform, ensuring you get the most impact each time you publish. You can also schedule posts for specific times, so you don't need to be monitoring social accounts continually.
Takeaway
Affiliate marketing is often seen as something beginners can use to get started. In reality, though, many professional affiliates prefer this style of business. The ability to reduce or even avoid product development, customer support, and brand-building allows affiliates to focus on the skills they are most comfortable with.
You do, however, need to take the process seriously and make use of quality tools. The best affiliates have slick operations that let them move quickly and efficiently, so make use of the same tools to upgrade your affiliate business.