Presented By: Maria Haase & Jeannine Crooks Affiliate Marketing is a great way to generate revenue for your travel blog. A successful blogger and one of the leading Affiliate Marketing pros show you exactly how to do that.

2. Affiliate Marketing
That Converts

3. Maria Haase
Owner of:
EuropeUpClose.com
IndiaUpClose.com
MariaAbroad.com
• Started blogging in 2007
• Full-time since 2017 (50% of income through
affiliate marketing)
• 10+ years experience in Online Marketing

4. Jeannine Crooks
Partner Acquisition & Development Manager
Awin
• 20+ years experience in Affiliate Marketing
• Nationally known speaker
• Successful travel writer

6. How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make Money?
• Example: 1 Post Updated in June
• Results in July: 1027 page views  8
bookings  $137 commission with GYG
• May 2018: 135.641 page views  90 hotel
bookings  $3433 hotel commission
• Added Allianz affiliate link to Top 10 traffic posts
in August 2018  total commission since = $445

7. Find Your Topic
• Do keyword research BEFORE you go
• Give your readers what they are looking for
• Niche it down  Longtail keywords and phrases
• Examples: Best family hotel in central Paris, Best
Hiking Pants for Women, Lifestraw vs Steripen
• Text links outperform widgets and banners in most cases

8. Choosing Merchants
• Product selection
• Well designed site
• Strong conversion rate, EPC, approval rate & prompt payment
• Good affiliate support
• Deeplinking available
• Datafeed
• Competitors
• Favorite network

9. • One day cookie / lowest commission rates
• Easily removed from program – 25+ ways to trigger removal
• No advanced technologies like cross-device tracking,
convert-a-link, API
• No free products, no sponsored posts, no personal
promotion opportunities
• Limited presentation options
• Can’t sell to family or friends
Working only with Amazon? Not a good idea!

10. Steps of the Buying Cycle
Impulse Buys vs Researched/Expensive Purchases
Impulse Buys
• Inspiration  Motivation  Purpose
Researched/Expensive Purchases
• Inspiration  Preliminary Research  Discussion with others  Financial
Planning/Saving  General Planning  Detailed Research  Booking/Purchase

11. Timing
• Write the right content for each stage of the buying cycle
• Targeting readers at final stage of cycle = higher
chance of conversion
• Keep cookie length in mind
• The shorter the cookie length, the closer to
purchase the reader needs to be
• Pay per Lead vs Pay per Sale

12. Writing Copy that Sells
How to Write Copy that initiates Impulse Buys
• Price needs to be in discretionary budget of target market
• Product and your copy creates lifestyle image  reader thinks that if they have the
product, they will live this lifestyle, others will see them as a member of xxx tribe
• Find the target market’s pain point/strongest desire
• Speak to their emotions
• Ex: “treat yourself,” “you are worth it”

13. Writing Copy that Sells – Impulse Buys
• Speak to their weaknesses
• Ex: “don’t miss out,” “FOMO,” “become part of the movement”
• Create a sense of urgency
• Ex: “special offer – today only,” “only available for a short time”
• Use a call to action
• Ex: “We highly recommend skip the line tickets for xxx, as sometimes the wait time is 2
hours or more. Don’t waste your precious time in xxx and <book your skip the line tickets
here.>” link/bold

14. Writing Copy that Sells
How to write Copy for Researched/Expensive Products
Option 1: Build relationship and guide reader through entire
process from Inspiration to Purchase
• Very hard, but leads to extremely loyal readers
• Build trust and connect with your readers
• Build funnels to guide readers through their buying cycle
• Email marketing  great to keep readers engaged & coming back

15. Writing Copy that Sells – Researched/Expensive Products
Option 2: Snatch reader in booking mood with wallet out
• Write SEO optimized content for last stage buying cycle keywords
• Ex: “Best Hotels in xxx,” “Best Hiking Pants,” “Top Food Tours in xxx”
• Build trust in 1 paragraph
• Ex: “As a frequent traveler to xxx,” “After 2 years on the road…”, “This was my 5th
stay at xxx.”
• Compare best options for your readers to help them make a decision on which one is
right for them. Don’t overwhelm with choices – group together by category.

16. Writing Copy that Sells – Researched/Expensive Products
Option 2: Snatch reader in booking mood with wallet out
• Only focus on one thing  book hotel/book tour/buy pants  don’t distract with email
sign-ups, Facebook follows, ads, etc.
• Use a call to action
• Ex: “We highly recommend skip the line tickets for xxx, as sometimes the wait time
is 2 hours or more. Don’t waste your precious time in xxx and <book your skip the
line tickets here.>” link/bold

17. Any noun, especially a
proper noun, can become an
affiliate link

18. Deeplink to the specific tour
(Viator shown here)
Incorporating Links Into Your Site

19. Deeplink to the specific destination
(TripAdvisor Rentals shown here)
Incorporating Links Into Your Site

20. Did you know…
Get to Know Your Merchants
Lonely Planet offers books to
teach children foreign languages
eBags has a great line of hiking
boots and shoes for both men &
women
TripAdvisor also has a vacation
rentals section with an affiliate
program

21. • Flipflops or sandals
• Hiking boots or solid walking shoes
• T-shirts with long sleeves
• Scarf
• Sunblock
• Headlamp
• Microfiber towel
• Padlock
• Lonely Planet guide book
Packing Lists Example

22. • Use an obvious shopping layout
• More recognizable as a shopping
directory than a post with huge sections
on each item
• Some networks offer a direct technology
• Also available via Datafeedr via
Wordpress using Woo Commerce
Offer a Store

23. Merchant Ideas
Travel
Airlines
Trains
Rental Cars
Airport Parking
Accommodations
Hotels
Home rentals
OTA’s – online travel
agents
Destination Ideas
Local Tours
Event tickets
Sporting events
Travel Services
Travel insurance
House Sitters
Foreign language classes
CLEAR

24. Merchant Ideas
Packing Lists
Turn each item into a
link
Don’t just offer items
from Amazon
Sports
Hiking – boots
Cycling – bike gear
Drones
Clothing
Swimsuits
Jackets
Hats, Sunglasses
Formal wear
Kids Items
Destination gear
Specialty Items
Etsy
Jane.com
Bonanza
FabFitFun

25. Use Technology to Make Affiliate Marketing Easier
Publisher Master Tag
Convert-a-Link Ignore Links Monotote Dailygo

26. Use Technology to Make Affiliate Marketing Easier
Link Generation
• Bookmarklets
Link Shorteners
• Pretty links: clean, branded URL, easy to update changes
• Bit.ly
• Network offerings

27. • Usually available as a plug in (ex: Chrome
plug in)
• Notifies blogger if the program is available in
the network
• Offers an instant deeplink to the page
• Some apply to the advertiser’s program on
your behalf
Bookmarklets

28. Datafeed Integration
• Datafeedr integrates with WooCommerce to present products (paid service)
FTC Compliance
• WP plugins
• Review disclaimer
• WP Affiliate Disclosure
• MWW disclaimer buttons

29. Coming Soon: Bounceless Tracking
Click path goes straight from affiliate site to merchant, without going through the network.
Publisher AdvertiserAd Network

30. When Can I Ask for More from Merchants?
• First, establish yourself as a well-performing affiliate
• Have something special to offer
• Exclusive or premium placement – banner ads, social media, email
• Sponsored posts
• Two different teams
• Consider hybrid payment model

31. Bonus Tips
• Write with purpose – Affiliate Marketing needs to be a focus, not an afterthought
• Learn about your target readers and share offers that fit them
• Google Analytics weren’t designed to track affiliate marketing results
• Share the right link at the right time

32. Questions?

33. Maria Haase
Maria@EuropeUpClose.com
Jeannine Crooks
Jeannine.Crooks@awin.com
Twitter: @Jeannine_Crooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeanninecrooks
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanninecrooks/