Affiliate Marketing for Personal Finance bloggers: The Ultimate Guide
Contents
Blogs are a helpful springboard to gain a foothold in the field of affiliate or partner marketing and also offer the potential for good, organically generated search engine rankings.
Personal finance bloggers generally already have some followers or a community who trusts the blogger’s opinion when recommending a product or service like financial affiliate programs.
Therefore, the readers of the blog are also very likely to click on corresponding links that lead to websites on which products or services are offered. For finance bloggers, this way is a simple and effective way to monetize their content based on sales commissions or through forwarded traffic to the customer’s website.
In the following article, we explain to you why affiliate marketing is the right way for you and your blog or your social media business.
First things first: what is affiliate marketing?
The added value of affiliate or partner marketing is to recommend certain products or services to an audience, to generate sales in this way, and to receive a commission for each transaction. The following 4 dimensions/actors are essentially involved in the process just described:
- the affiliate website
- the affiliate network
- the advertiser
- the consumer
How does it work?
Affiliate marketing works by distributing the workload for product marketing to different actors. 81% of brands and 84% of publishers work with affiliate marketing. a. via blogs. The use of the existing target group of a blogger and the know-how of the brand owners make it easy to create advertising content for an article or a service. Besides, due to the division of labor, all those involved are entitled to a profit-sharing (or a commission). The three main players are the sellers/product developers, the bloggers/sales partners, and of course the consumers.
Seller and product developer
A seller can appear in different forms, but essentially the seller is the actor who wants to market a product. The role remains the same, regardless of whether it is a developer, dealer, sole trader, or even a large company. By bringing an article onto the market, the seller or product developer contributes to the product range from which the sales partners can choose.
The affiliate or partner program participant
It is a single person or occasionally a company that creates advertising content around an article or a service. It is the task of the affiliate or partner program participant to advertise the corresponding product/service and to convince the visitor to the website or their blog of the value and benefit of the article/service.
In the event of success, the visitor to the corresponding website or blog clicks on a partner link arrives at the client’s shop page, and buys the corresponding product/service. In this way, the affiliate or participant of the partner program receives a commission in return.
A great advantage of affiliate marketing with the help of a website operator or partner program participant is that they usually have a niche website with a corresponding niche audience, which usually decides for articles that also correspond to the topic of the website.
Parallels between the content and the recommended articles not only improve the personal brand but also ensure that the target group is interested in clicking on the partner link of an advertised product/service.
The consumer
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their power as a consumer, which is mainly because affiliate marketing is becoming more and more commonplace. Loyal followers of some influencers and bloggers often actively buy through affiliate links to demonstrate their support or brand loyalty.
When the website visitor or consumer buys an advertised product, the profit is shared between the seller and the sales partner. There are affiliate or partner program participants who communicate the receipt of a fee or commission openly and honestly to their target group. However, it can also happen that the consumer is not aware of the use of partner marketing on the corresponding website.
As a rule, there are no additional costs for the consumer, regardless of whether the consumer knows that his purchase is made as part of an affiliate or partner program. Rather, the commission of the partner program participant is already included in the sales price of the product. The consumer receives the item in the same way that it would be done without the affiliate marketing tool.
How can I benefit from it?
Affiliate marketing (also called partner marketing) is seen by many as an easy way to make money and create content without having to develop a product yourself. Even if you can easily monetize your website with partner marketing, you should first understand exactly how you can earn money as a participant in a partner program.
So the question is: How does a personal finance blogger earn money when a reader or visitor to the blog clicks on a corresponding partner link? First of all, there are various ways to earn money as a participant in a finance partner program, and not every option requires that the consumer or visitor of the website buys a product. Rather, different remuneration models have been established:
Pay per sale [sales commission]
This is the most widely used model in partner marketing. In this model, the seller/developer passes on a certain percentage of the profit to the affiliate or partner program participant. This takes place after the user has clicked on the corresponding partner link, has subsequently been directed to the seller’s website, and has bought a corresponding product/service here. Here, a product must be purchased before the participant in the partner program receives a commission.
Pay per lead [action-linked commission]
This model is a little less common – possibly due to its less clear structure. Pay per lead means that the affiliate or partner program participant receives an action-related commission. This means that the followers or visitors to the website do not have to carry out a specific action on their own but on the retailer’s website instead of clicking on a partner link and then buying a product. For example, visitors may have to sign up for a newsletter or download a specific program or file.
Pay per click
Instead of waiting for the consumer to buy a certain product on a shopping platform like Amazon, pay-per-click partners are paid when they direct visitors to the customer’s website. The task of the website operator or participant in the corresponding partner program is responsible for creating attractive content so that the consumer clicks on the website of the seller and thus his traffic is increased.
Market potential: affiliate marketing in the UK and Europe
Since Europe is a strongly segmented market with a multitude of different languages and possibly also different currencies, when choosing an appropriate affiliate partner program you should make sure that the affiliate network you have selected has a solid foothold in the regional markets You want to address the topic of your blog or website.
If you are not sure or are targeting multiple markets, a multinational partner program is usually the best choice.
The consumer goods that bloggers normally choose come primarily from the areas of tools, books, toys, and household items as well as make-up. Amazon has the largest affiliate network in this market. Amazon’s popularity in Europe and the UK is due in particular to the enormous variety of products. Participants in the Amazon partner program can advertise any item that is offered on the Amazon shop page.
Breakdown of affiliate commission
Many affiliate programs work with a commission table. A good example of this is Amazon paytable. Amazon uses standard fees depending on the product category. Here are a few examples :
- 3.0% for children’s toys
- 4.0% for their own Amazon tablets and Kindle tablets
- 4.5% for personal care and baby items
- 6.0% for cosmetics and musical instruments
- 7.0% for clothing and accessories or devices from the Amazon brand, such as TV or Amazon Echo
Commission structure
The usual model for commission rates is a quantity-based commission structure. The higher the number of items that are sold via one of your partner links, the higher the commission earned. If enough items in a certain product category are sold, you will receive a correspondingly higher fee. However, non-qualified products are excluded.
How do I start an affiliate program for my personal finance blog?
Getting started with financial affiliate networks not that difficult and begins with the search for a suitable partner program with which you would like to work. Which articles, products, and services interest you and your audience?
Follow these four steps :
- Find suitable products on financial affiliate networks that match the theme of your website. There are probably already several products or services that you can get excited about. Write a review and or mention the products in a suitable article.
- Please ask your visitors to subscribe to your content and get in touch with them, because without a corresponding notification they could otherwise miss new content from you.
- Consider joint ventures like webinars to drive sales and expand your customer base in this way. Paid collaborations are also a great way to create recognition among new target groups.
- As soon as your affiliate marketing generates a profit, it is worth integrating pay-per-click advertising to increase growth.
Social media offers another way to integrate finance affiliate marketing measures. Instead of relying on search results to draw visitors to your content and thus to your partner links, it makes sense to post corresponding partner links directly on your social networks such as Facebook or YouTube and to share them with your followers in this way. It is important that you adhere to the guidelines of the social platforms and keep yourself up to date here, as, for example, Pinterest did not allow partner links until recently.
Find finance affiliate partners
The easiest way is to join the Amazon affiliate program free of charge. Besides, you can use a search engine to look for other partner programs.
After registering for the Amazon Affiliate Program, the following steps are pending:
- Find suitable products on the Amazon shop page.
- Check your existing content. Determine where it makes sense to insert a product or partner link and then use Sitestripe to integrate corresponding partner links into your website.
- As soon as your sales have reached € 25, you can decide whether you prefer payment by bank transfer or an Amazon gift voucher.
Do you need some inspiration? Take a look at a few blogs or websites of your competition and pay attention to how they implement partner marketing. If paid links to other articles are used, you will recognize this by the long “/ ref…” code structure that is at the end of the corresponding partner link.
How do partner links work for finance affiliate marketing?
Affiliate or partner links take you to the website of the product being advertised. At the same time, data is stored in the browser and on the device you are using so that the path to the product page is determined. In this way, the corresponding partner program provider can recognize whether you have been directed to the corresponding shop page via a blogger’s website. Depending on the commission structure, what you subsequently do on the shop side of the seller can generate money for the blogger.
Different types of partner links – Which partner links are best suited?
If you decide to integrate partner links into your website, you have various options. The most common is the simple integration of text links in standard blog posts. If you would like to write a contribution about a product or a service that you advertise on your website, integrate a partner link in the form of a text link in the appropriate text.
Please note that different partner program providers may have different cookie periods. With some providers, sales are credited to you within a period of 30 to 90 days after clicking on one of your partner links.
Another option for integrating text links is newsletters. As soon as you have created a list of subscribers for important updates by email, it is advisable to include corresponding partner links in your newsletter. It is important that you stick to a regular schedule and don’t bombard your subscribers with too many emails. It is very easy for subscribers to mark emails as spam if they feel that they are receiving unnecessary information.
For video content, partner links can also be easily embedded in the corresponding description or the form of popups or even as text overlays. Video content is a very effective way of presenting products. The viewers get a precise impression of the product.
Another common link type is matching banners. Some providers, such as the Amazon affiliate program, provide a code that can be embedded in the source code of your website. Instead of clicking on a partner link from one of your blog posts, this banner link is inserted in the header or footer of your website.
This format is best suited for special, one-off occasions such as a shopping event on a public holiday. If your visitors click on this banner, they land on the Amazon shop page of the corresponding product and you will receive – if they buy something – a corresponding fee or commission.
If, on the other hand, you are presenting a large selection of products and not just a single specific product, it might make more sense to insert a more general link. For example, if you link to an Amazon shop page that shows this product selection, it is advisable to create a partner link with the help of Sitestripe.
How are partner links created?
The easiest way to create a financial affiliate marketing programs link is to visit the corresponding product page, then click on the URL and copy the link to the end of the ASIN. Add your partner ID at the end of this URL.
Now only this link has to be copied and pasted into your content as a text link. Please always check the functionality of each manually created partner link using the link checker.
If you want to work with a banner link, the HTML code, which is provided by the provider of your partner program, can be easily integrated into your website using the HTML editor.
There are 3 ways for participants of the Amazon partner program to integrate partner links into the content of their website.
- SiteStripe: This toolbar is shown to all Amazon partners in the upper part of the Amazon shop page. Create text, image, or text and image links for every product and every Amazon shop page of your choice. The partner links can be used directly without having to visit the Amazon PartnerNet beforehand.
- Widgets: Show your visitors “My favorites” or even a search bar that allows visitors to search for Amazon products directly from your website. Also, you will receive a fee for all qualified orders. It is therefore recommended that you integrate a suitable widget into your website straight away.
Please note: Google and other search engines prefer to include a “no-follow” tag in your partner links. Otherwise, misleading search engine rankings can result.
What does affiliate tracking mean?
As a performance-based concept, affiliate marketing depends on how effectively sales and web traffic can be assigned to the participants in a partner program. All website activities such as sales, click-through rates, and other conversions are tracked using special software.
In this way, the dealer or provider of the respective partner program can assess which sales partners increase sales and which may need to be fine-tuned.
There is a wide range of tracking software on the market, with some affiliate networks using their internal programs. Amazon is a good example of this. Like the types of software, the tracking methods vary.
- Cookies are probably the most common and most understandable tracking method for affiliate networks. By storing a cookie in your browser and on your computer, online shops can identify the origin of visitors and determine whether they have already visited the respective shop page before. As long as the cookie remains active, all qualified purchases made during this period will be credited to the sales partner or partner program participant.
- Fingerprint tracking is used much less often. By creating a digital signature from the end device, information about the operating system, the language, and other details can be used to identify the website visitors. This stored signature also enables users to be identified when the page is called up again using the same browser and device.
Conclusion
If you as a finance blogger already have followers or a corresponding community, participating in affiliate programs for personal finance bloggers is a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to monetize the content of your blog. With our guide to affiliate marketing, you now have all the tools you need to monetize your blog.
For those of you who feel ready to get started but aren’t sure which affiliate network is right, the Amazon Affiliate Program is a user-friendly and effective way to turn your readers into potential buyers. If you continue to work successfully in your niche and regularly adjust your partner marketing strategy, visitors to your blog will also become potential buyers of your products.
Best Affiliate Programs For Personal Finance Bloggers
“You need money to make money” is a pearl of wisdom that everyone has probably heard before. Unfortunately, this advice lacks an explanation of how to get the money you need to multiply.
For most readers, this will (hopefully) be done through their own affiliate business, but there are numerous other ways to get the necessary capital.
Investment
In recent years, not least thanks to the corresponding changes in the law, many financial products have come onto the market that also offer many attractive opportunities for private and small investors to benefit from shifts on the stock exchanges or price fluctuations in raw materials.
First, there were precious metals, then there were small loans, followed by the binary options boom, which was quickly followed by online courses on trading and wealth creation.
Comparisons
Comparison calculators have been a good traffic supplier for years. Especially with electricity, DSL, or insurance, these plugins often offer real added value for the customer and make lead generation a breeze. Saving money every month? For an email? Why surely.
There is now the right product for almost every customer segment – and the right partner programs for you. A small overview of attractive partner programs from different niches, from loans to insurance comparisons:
Personal finance Affiliate programs:
In this section, I will present some of the best finance affiliate programs so if you are a financial blogger stay tuned.
Maxda.de
Germany’s No. 1 in arranging free loans also has a lot to offer finance publishers. In addition to decades of experience and high customer satisfaction, affiliates especially benefit from brand awareness, which is particularly high thanks to continuous TV advertising and sponsorships in the Bundesliga (Sky TV, jersey advertising at Kaiserslautern, etc.).
- Commission: € 17.00 per lead
- Advertising media: banners, text links, logos, newsletters, iFrame
- Tracking method / lifetime: cookie / 60 days
- Special feature: Individual remuneration possible by arrangement, awarded with 100pp seal of approval
scalable
Scalable Capital offers its customers the most convenient form of investment. Globally diversified ETF portfolios are created and managed by scalable capital to systematically build up assets. The risk management technology developed in-house helps to automatically monitor the portfolio and analyze its risk potential. All investment decisions are made based on the customer’s risk specification. This innovative technology makes Scalable Capital one of the leading fintech companies on the market. All of this makes your finance blog readers have many opportunities to make some money.
- Commission: 150.00 per sale
- Tracking method / lifetime: cookie / 30 days
Tarifcheck Partner program
One of the most popular finance partner programs in our database and has been operating successfully for over 15 years. With more than 40,000 partners, Tarifcheck.de is one of the top partner programs. At Tarifcheck.de, customers can compare all conceivable contracts and their costs in the areas of insurance and finance and quickly find the best offer. Partner program awarded several times by our editorial team.
- Commission: 5.00 – 75.00 € per sale / lead
- Advertising media: banners, text links, banners, deep links, white-label calculator, newsletter, logos
- Tracking method / lifetime: cookie, session, post view / 30 days
- Special feature: 5-star rating
Credimaxx
Credimaxx specializes in loans and debt rescheduling. As a partner, you benefit from up to 5.00% per sale and a bonus of up to € 1,600.00.
- Commission: 5.00% per sale
- Advertising media: banners, text links, deep links, newsletter template
- Special feature: high conversion rate
Auxmoney affiliate program
Auxmoney affiliate program private investors and borrowers come together on the online platform. Here you can either invest in loan projects or abandon one yourself. Auxmoney.com is the leader in personal loans on the Internet. On the one hand, publishers benefit from the high level of awareness of the platform, on the other hand, they also benefit from the tiered commission concept. In addition to the payments per lead and per sale, publishers will receive a € 10.00 bonus for the first credit request at the start of the partnership.
- Commission: 1.5%
- Advertising media: banners, text links
- Tracking method / lifetime: cookie / fingerprint / 30 days
- Special feature: innovative and attractive design
Smava
Free online comparison and cheap brokerage of loans up to 120,000 euros. Particularly attractive for affiliates, since the offer is also aimed at the self-employed and mediated deals are paid as a percentage. High brand awareness thanks to TV advertising.
- Commission: 1.5 – 2.5% per sale
- Advertising media: banners, text links, logos, newsletters, videos, white-label calculators
- Tracking method / lifetime: cookie / 60 days
Finanz
The online platform offers independent comparisons of insurance and financial products. In addition to a large number of insurance comparisons, finanzen.de is primarily concerned with the areas of investment and credit. Publishers benefit from stable commissions without seasonal fluctuations and from advertising media optimized for conversion. Besides, the comparison calculator offers software that has been tested by TÜV Süd and monthly commission statements.
- Commission: € 130.00 per sale
- Advertising media: banners, text links, white-label, menu.