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by Caitlin Castelaz on Sep 21, 2023 10:26:19 AM
Flexpress ensures high-traffic websites can boost affiliate revenue via shoppable components, automated tagging, offsite reach, and unrivaled analytics.
Website operators who develop a regular cadence of publishing editorially-rich affiliate marketing content can increase evergreen search traffic, and diversify into an additional lucrative revenue stream. What’s more, affiliate content increase recurring revenue by operating independently from programmatic ad markets and direct advertiser deals.
Affiliate marketing content allows brands to reach readers with relevant articles that have been optimized for search, and to monetize those articles by driving sales based on the content’s research and recommendation. Developing an affiliate content plan is a no brainer for many publishers, but of course that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy to grow.
Headwinds when it comes to affiliate marketing content include: positioning content in an enticing way, relying on editorial updates to keep content fresh, suffering from a lack of adequate insights about top-performing content and products, and a need to expand reach.
Flexpress offers several solutions for some of the most common publisher pain points when it comes to growing affiliate revenue. The result is a platform that makes creating affiliate content easy and enjoyable, and that automates some of the most tedious yet essential tasks.
Read on for a summary of how Flexpress's top affiliate revenue-driving features can start earning you money.
1. Add product cards and carousels
Editorial teams can create highly engaging product reviews, gift guides, and commerce roundups by using Flexpress's custom Gutenberg blocks for product cards, tables, and carousels. More interactive than text and images alone, product carousels and cards have clear calls-to-action in order to drive higher click-through to affiliates and increase revenue.
Product carousels and cards can be built directly from the Flexpress WordPress editor without requiring third-party embeds or custom code. The result is an easy workflow for editors, a valuable experience for readers, and a revenue-driving feature for publishers.
Furthermore, product carousel blocks allow editorial teams to highlight multiple products at once while adding prominent, above-the-fold calls to action to buy. Carousels also include an optional table for comparison of key features, pros, and cons. Product cards may be used to share information about a single product, including name, image, pros and cons, and a product overview, along with a call-to-action to buy.
2. Automate affiliate link updates
Creating new affiliate content is one thing, but editorial teams know that keeping that content up to date is a moving target. In the age of e-commerce, it’s easier than ever to link to nearly any product imaginable, and judiciously adding links to product reviews, gift guides, and commerce roundups builds value for readers while simultaneously earning revenue for publishers.
That said, as stock inventory changes, prices fluctuate, and links break, affiliate links can become liabilities. For instance, broken links due to stock issues causes brands to lose out on affiliate revenue, and/or an article with multiple outdated product links can dissuade readers from engaging with that content altogether (instead opting for a more recently maintained article elsewhere).
Flexpress's Affiliate product not only allows brands to create product cards and product carousels, but it enables editors to add affiliate links from multiple vendors, to appeal to users with different shopping habits, and protect content from obsolete links due stock changes. By using a magic link, a smart link that intuits product availability, brands can send readers to affiliates that have the product in stock, minimizing the need for frequent editorial revision through smart automation.
Learn More: Discover Flexpress Affiliate. →
3. Use commerce media insights to identify most profitable content
Another tool that can help brands make intelligent choices when it comes to content updates: Flexpress Analytics. Flexpress offers the only analytics solution that shows revenue performance by article and by author. Publishers can use analytics to gain insights into articles that drive the most conversion, highest earning products, and most-clicked products.
By drawing conclusions from this data and learning about reader shopping habits, editorial teams can create informed pitches to better appeal to readers, and identify high-value product review pages they may wish to keep updated on a regular basis.
4. Monetize how-to content
Flexpress offers additional custom blocks that can be leveraged for affiliate marketing. These blocks include the Tools and Materials block, a resource list enabled with how-to schema, which can be added to DIY tutorial articles. Resource lists can be easily made shoppable with the addition of affiliate links. Brands can use Flexpress magic links in these placements in order to keep links fresh and evergreen for as long as possible.
5. Start earning on untagged links
Even the most diligent editors make mistakes sometimes, and one mistake that can cost brands money is when teams forget to add a tracking code to an affiliate link. Many brands, even those with attentive commerce editors, have an untold number of commerce links that aren’t earning—either by user error or because the links were generated before an affiliate strategy was in place. And publishers can’t earn on what affiliate networks can’t track.
Luckily, it’s easy to implement a global fix for missing tracking tags with Flexpress's headless enterprise CMS. Brands can set a default Amazon tracking tag at the site level using controls in the Flexpress WordPress editor. That tag is automatically and instantly applied to all Amazon links, regardless of when the link was added, or if it was added without a tracking tag. While this feature is useful for catching and monetizing links that are published without tracking tags, it can also prove an invaluable tool in the event that a brand needs to change its tracking code entirely, as in the event of getting a new Amazon Affiliate account due to a sale or merger. Whatever the reason for updating Amazon tracking codes, making a global change is a nearly instant process with Flexpress.
Likewise, Flexpress's Affiliate offering allows for customization of Amazon tracking and countless other affiliate networks. As brands join an increasing number of affiliate networks to expand their revenue streams, new API keys can be added to the Affiliate dashboard. With the addition of each new partner, Flexpress automatically monetizes every link across a brand’s content. For instance, if brands are approved to become a Target affiliate, adding their Target tracking information to the Flexpress dashboard enables them to earn on any Target link that’s ever been added to their site—all without any editorial lift.
6. Make money in syndication
Executing a robust affiliate marketing strategy can bring qualified visitors to your site from search, resulting in click-through and conversions that drive revenue. But brands need not limit themselves to on-site traffic when generating affiliate revenue. Using Flexpress's Syndication Controls, publishers can send affiliate content to syndication partners like MSN, Yahoo, SmartNews, NewsBreak, and others. Where partnerships allow, continue to earn revenue off-site with your embedded affiliate links.
To take advantage of this Flexpress feature, brands can establish partnerships with the leading syndication partners. After that, feeding content is as easy as publishing articles. Flexpress's Content offering will take care of feeding automatically, allowing brands to make their affiliate content work even harder off-site, where it can reach countless new users.
Read more: Syndication is key to audience growth. Here’s how it’s done. →
7. Integrate with third-party solutions
Flexpress offers many built-in benefits for growing affiliate revenue, but clients can continue to innovate by drawing on even more affiliate integrations. Flexpress integrates with solutions like Skimlinks, Sovrn, and Chicory, all of which can be set up with minimal effort in the Flexpress WordPress editor.
Jumpstart your revenue
Whether your brand is new to the affiliate content business, or a longtime affiliate publisher that’s hit a plateau in growing revenue from this source, Flexpress has features that can help you boost revenue and take your business to the next level.
Interested in learning more about how Flexpress can help you grow your affiliate business? Please send us an email.