Shawn asks: “I’ve studied your Low Carb site. It looks like a blog but has the shopping pages like a website. I want to do something similar with my niche site — a blog, but also pages for About Me, Product Recommendations and Tips.

Do you have a link to a tutorial on accomplishing that? I know how to install WordPress on a new site and how to add a blog to an existing site, but I’ve never read how to add other pages…”

It’s quite simple actually. You can even create an entire traditional looking “website” with WordPress by using Pages instead of Posts. This is a great way to create affiliate sites that have all the bells & whistles of WordPress (tags, commenting, social plug-ins, etc)…

From your Dashboard, go up to the top right corner where it says “New Post” and use the drop down arrow. One of the options will be “New Page”.

You can also go to Pages in the left sidebar menu of your Dashboard, or click Pages from the main menu in your Dashboard and create a New Page from there.

You’ll have the option to turn comments on or off, and in some themes you’ll have the option to remove the sidebar(s) or leave them.

Adding Pages is a great way to keep some of your best content front and center, as it becomes part of your site navigation.

Best,

Guest Post by Peter Lawlor
I couldn’t believe it when I learned about affiliate marketing. Think about it. You get paid to promote products and you don’t have to deal with customer service, refunds, technical support, shipping and all the rest of it.

You simply drive referrals and earn an income.

When I discovered affiliate marketing, I got excited, to say the least.

My introduction to promoting digital products was e-books. In time, I discovered that there are much more than e-books to promote as an affiliate. Once I realized that this affiliate marketing gig presents opportunities to promote and sell pretty much every kind of product, I became dizzy about the potential of this business model…

Don’t get me wrong, E-books and other digital products can be great earners. But there is much, much more out there you can promote as an affiliate.

The following are 5 types of products you can promote as an affiliate, and the pros and cons of each.

1. Digital Products

Many affiliate marketers get started by promoting digital products such as E-books, video courses, etc. Some sell very well and the commissions can be excellent.

Pros

• The only place to buy the product is online which increases the chance you’ll gain the commission.
• High commission percent resulting in robust commissions.
• Many digital product vendors include upsells which can result in more commissions.
• Some digital product vendors offer lifetime commissions which means your referrals can generate commissions for you for years.
• Huge diversity of products to choose from.
• Often long cookie tracking duration; in some cases lifetime cookie tracking.

Cons

• High level of affiliate competition for popular digital products.
• Affiliate commission leakage in the internet marketing niches if sold on ClickBank. The problem here is that referrals buy through their own affiliate link so you don’t earn the commission. Frankly, I’m of the view that ClickBank should prohibit affiliates from buying through their own links. This is a very common complaint.
• Lower conversion rates (generally).

2. Physical Products

I like promoting physical products because they sell well, especially recognized brands or from recognized online retailers such as Amazon. Sure, the commissions are a lower percentage than digital products and services, but this is offset by higher conversion rates.

Pros

• Excellent conversion rate for many physical products (relative to digital products).
• If you send a referral to a large online retailer, the referral may buy more than just the physical product you promote.
• Easy keyword research opportunities simply by targeting a product’s name.
• Huge variety of products to choose from.

Cons

• High level of affiliate competition in many product-lines.
• May lose the sale by customer buying it offline.
• Lower commissions.
• Orders may be taken by telephone which may result in a lost commission.
• Some vendors’ and online retailers have very short cookie tracking duration.

Tip: Provide affiliate links to several online buying sources. For example, if a product is sold on the vendor’s website and Amazon, provide links to both.

3. Services

Services are under-promoted in my view which means they are a terrific opportunity for affiliate marketers.

As the internet grows in popularity worldwide, more and more businesses are offering web-based services. The savvy service providers have affiliate programs to promote their services.

Examples of web-based services include SEO services and online legal services.

Pros

• Decent conversion rate.
• Relatively low affiliate competition (compared to digital and physical products).
• Decent commission percentage.
• In some cases, you can find services offering lifetime commissions and/or recurring commissions.
• Often can only buy online which means customers can’t go to a physical location which increases the chance you earn the commission.

Cons

• May lose sales if orders are processed by telephone.
• Some consumers may not quite trust online services which can hurt conversion rates.
• Not the variety to choose from that you have with digital and physical products. You have to hunt around a little to find decent web-based services to promote.

4. Membership Websites

Membership Websites can be an excellent product to promote as an affiliate because many membership websites offer recurring commissions.

Pros

• Potential for recurring commissions.
• Can’t buy offline.
• Generally few in a particular niche so a referral has little choice and it improves the chance they will join if they’re set on joining a particular membership website.
• If a membership site offers lifetime commissions on other products sold to members, you can earn for years from a single referral.

Cons

• Lower conversion rate (generally) due to people not wishing to commit to a monthly expense.
• The intangible nature of a membership site can also result in lower commissions.

5. Software with Recurring Subscriptions

I place software separately from digital products because software with recurring subscriptions often means recurring commissions for affiliates. Recurring commissions are one of my favorite commission types because they truly generate passive income.

Pros

• Free trial offers can help conversions.
• Some software vendors offer commissions for leads (i.e. free trial offers).
• Decent conversion rate.
• Potential for recurring commissions.

Con

• Some software applications have extremely high competition among affiliates. For example, e-mail software is extremely competitive.

Can you promote different types of products on a single website?

Absolutely. I do. As long as the different types of products are related, then there’s no reason not to promote any or all the above different types of products on a single website.

The key is you never really know what will sell the best on your site. Don’t get upset if you promote a dud. Affiliate marketing is largely a numbers game. When you hit upon a hot product, you can generate an excellent income. Add to that several products, and you can quickly establish a healthy monthly income.

One way to effectively promote all types of products as an affiliate is by writing reviews or building review websites.

About the Guest Author: Peter Lawlor is a contributing author to the free Definitive Guide to Affiliate Review Websites and the blog B2Web.