Affiliate bloggers often come up with that question:
“What kind of products should I promote?”
Well, it will depend on your niche…
The simple answer is you need to promote products that your readers want and need.
Products that solve problems, cause people to have an emotion (remembering a memory, making them laugh, etc.), or that fulfill a need are all the best products to promote.
Yes, products that people just “want” are great too, but if you want to get your blog rocking out the sales focus on the aforementioned.
Also, sticking with products that have worked for you, that you’ve tried for yourself, that come from trusted brands, and are evergreen (unless you have a seasonal blog) are also “rules of thumb” to stick by.
Now, let’s talk about specific product types.
Products with Recurring Commissions
I put this first because it should be your priority to find these products before anything else.
Being an affiliate for products that pay recurring commissions are great because you sell it one time and get paid for it over and over again.
This is as close to passive income as you can possibly get.
Now, depending on your niche will depend on if you can find these types of products and how many, but for most niches there should be at least a few options for you.
Some niches have many options, so you could have several of these working for you at one time.
Imagine having 3, 4, 5 or more of these programs paying you ever month.
Services are the best option for this because people tend to pay for the services longer than any other type of recurring product you can promote.
Sit down and make a list of all the services you think people would use in your niche. You can also search Google for “your niche + service” and find ones you may not think of.
Once you have your list, look for services you can be affiliated with and start promoting them on your blog.
Membership Sites that Pay Recurring Commissions
I know I’ve already made your mouth water by telling you about affiliate programs that pay recurring commissions, so I want to talk about one more type of them. The membership type.
Again, depending on your niche will depend on if this is even an option for you, but do a quick search on Google for “your niche + membership” or “your niche + membership site” to find these.
Once you find them look to see if they have affiliate programs that you can join. If you don’t see that they do, just contact the site owner and ask.
Find as many of these programs as you can and let’s go! Praise them on your site.
Digital Products
I love digital products because they pay the highest commissions.
Where a lot of physical products (we will talk about those next) pay very small commissions (like 1%-5%), digital products will pay you anywhere from 30% to even 100% of the sale in some niches.
Digital products are things like software, ebooks, courses, printables, and other downloadable products.
Again, head over to Google and start doing some research for digital products in your niche.
Search for all the product types I just mentioned and then search to see if they have affiliate programs.
If you go to ClickBank for example, you will find many digital products in all possible niches.
Books
As surprising as it may seem, the book (the one with real paper pages) is far from being dead and buried.
Even in a digital age, a lot of people still like to have a real book to hold in their hand and read.
If there is a topic you’re discussing on your blog see if there is a book that you can promote about that topic.
This can be as simple as going over to Amazon and just searching the topics. Then just pick up your Amazon Associates link for it and drop it in as a suggestion for further reading in the posts you’re making.
This is a great tactic for popular topics you want to create content around, but just can’t find a product you can promote and make money with as an affiliate.
Physical Products
Yes I know, it’s a bit vague to say like that “physical products”, because there are so many of them… and so many affiliate programs for them.
You should only be promoting physical products that you have actually used and that you enjoyed, or they helped you in some way.
With so many options out there, there’s no reason to just promote a physical product just for the sake of promoting it.
Not a requirement, but you will definitely make more money promoting products that you have used and like.
Now there are several affiliate marketplaces that you can use to search for physical products. Places like ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and the ever popular Amazon Associates program.
Do a quick search on these or Google, and you’ll find a ton of options.
Food
This is something that will make everyone agree: After all, we all need to eat, right????!!!!! This is the reason why food is a great type of product to promote.
Beyond just getting your Amazon Associates link for different types of food you talk about or recommend there are many companies now that are providing cooked food shipped to your door, food boxes with all the food included to cook, and even grocery boxes, and specialty food boxes.
This is an often overlooked type of product to promote as an affiliate (if you’re not in a food related niche), but you’d be amazed at how you can work you’re affiliate links in for this type of product.
Conclusion
So, there you go! There are 6 different types of products that you can promote as an affiliate blogger.
Although not every product type will be available to you because of the type of niche that you’re in, but you should always be on the lookout for different types of products that you can promote to keep that money coming in from your blog!
I hope I’ve given you some helpful hints to get your affiliate blogging career off to a good start.
Any other ideas? Feel free to use the comments below to let me know!
Hi! I’m the proud owner of this blog. I started to take an interest in affiliate marketing in 2012, and over the past few years I have decided to take it seriously. My knowledge is not yet infinite, but I learn a little every day and I hope to be able to share with you my passion for this art: to earn money by writing about the things that we love!