Monetizing your lifestyle blog with affiliate income can feel like you’re playing a game — but no one told you the rules. And, guess what? It is a game — and that’s actually good news for you! It means that you can have fun with it, and there is a path to success.
It’s so easy to get frustrated when you’re trying to increase affiliate income from your lifestyle blog. You put so much time, care, and effort into your content — and it’s so discouraging when that isn’t reflected in your income.
It’s time to take a step back and put on your business hat. Any money-making endeavor requires trial and error. Increasing your affiliate income is no different. Ultimately, increasing your affiliate income is just a numbers game. Drive more traffic to your affiliate links, and you’ll get more sales.
The trick is to give your readers more opportunities to shop your affiliate links. Try different methods, see what converts best, and improve those methods. Lather, rinse, repeat. When you approach increasing your affiliate income as a fun game of experimentation, you can get creative instead of discouraged.
In this post, we’ll give you 17 ideas you can try out to improve your lifestyle blog and increase your affiliate income. Let’s get started.
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- Add shop the post widgets to your blog posts to increase affiliate income
- Create affiliate shop pages to increase affiliate income
- Keep your blog design elements up-to-date
- Leverage your social media profile link with a social media landing page to increase affiliate income
- Want more ideas to help you monetize your lifestyle blog and increase affiliate income?
Add shop the post widgets to your blog posts to increase affiliate income
A shop the post widget displays products of your choice in a carousel or grid format, with product images that link to your affiliate links. They are a great way to increase affiliate sales and income for your lifestyle blog because they capture the attention of your readers and make it easy for them to shop your links.
For more information on shop the post widgets, don’t miss our blog post on how to create shop the post widgets in WordPress.
Here are a few ways you can use shop the post widgets to increase affiliate income:
1. Display products from an image
If you’re featuring a product in an image, you should link your image directly to your affiliate link. However, while some readers will click on your image, it won’t be obvious to everyone that they can shop that image. That’s why it’s worth adding a shop the post widget below the image — it’s more intuitive to click on a product thumbnail to shop that product!
2. Share similar products
Products go out of stock or get discontinued all the time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the products you already own in your blog post content. After all, you don’t stop loving a product just because it isn’t available anymore! And constantly buying new products to share on your blog can be expensive and wasteful.
Keep in mind that your readers are looking to you for inspiration. They follow you because they like what you share. For any one product, there are endless options from a variety of retailers. That can be very overwhelming for your average reader! Help them cut through the clutter by sharing a shop the post widget with similar options you like.
Not to mention, every reader has their own personal budget and preferences. While your exact product may be out of their budget, a similar product might be in their price range. Or, they may simply prefer the details of a similar product!
Bonus points: With our Shop the Post plugin, you can easily swap out discontinued products for a similar product, and any shop the post widgets throughout your site will automatically update.
3. End a blog post section
A good practice for any blog post is to break things down into sections that are easy to digest. This encourages people to keep reading and also helps those short on time scan through the content.
Shop the post widgets add an interactive layer to your content and provide visual space to your writing. Plus, they are a fun and easy way for readers to engage with your content — always a positive!
4. Display in blog post footers
This may seem obvious, but if you’ve mentioned products in your post, you should end your blog post with a shop the post widget. After all, the readers who read your post from top to bottom are the ones who are the most engaged in your content. And they are also the most likely to purchase the products mentioned in your post!
Adding a featured shop the post widget to your blog post footer gives readers a final opportunity to browse through the products you mentioned and make a purchase. It also makes it convenient for readers to find products you mentioned, without scrolling back up.
5. Display in blog post summaries
One often overlooked space to add a shop the post widget is in post summaries on the home and blog category pages. Readers may not be ready to purchase when you first publish a post, but they’ll remember your blog post when they are ready.
When you add a shop the post widget to your post summaries, readers can browse through your archives to find the product they were looking for, without having to click through each blog post. And remember: the easier it is for your readers to shop your content, the more likely they will.
Adding a featured shop the post widget to your post summaries does take a little code know-how. But luckily, we’ve got you covered with our Shop the Post plugin, which automatically adds the code for you.
Create affiliate shop pages to increase affiliate income
Affiliate shop pages bring the online shopping experience to your lifestyle blog. Think of it as your own personal curated online boutique — without all the hassles of product fulfillment. You choose the products and add your affiliate links, and your readers have one easy place to shop your recommendations.
Affiliate shop pages can be a basic page on your lifestyle blog with a product grid or code from your preferred affiliate network. Or, use our Boutiques plugin for WordPress, which includes page templates specially designed for affiliate shop pages.
Here are a few ways you can use affiliate shop pages to increase affiliate income:
6. Display your most recommended or asked about products
At minimum, create an affiliate shop page for favorites — your most recommended or asked about products. Anything you constantly get DMs or questions about should be on this page, so you can easily share the link.
With our Boutiques plugin, you can organize your recommended products into categories that your readers can browse without reloading the page. You can also add a link section — perfect for linking to your favorite retailers or relevant blog posts.
7. Share products recently mentioned on social media
Social media is a great way to connect with your readers on a more personal level. But it’s also where they are most distracted. And social media apps are designed to keep your readers on the app — not on your blog. Naturally, your readers are going to miss out on some of your content!
An affiliate shop page for your social media profile can extend the life of your social media content. This page should be an up-to-date reference guide for the products you’ve recently mentioned on social media. Use our Boutiques plugin to organize products you’ve mentioned in your feed posts versus on Stories. And, display an LTK feed so readers can shop your LTK posts directly on your blog.
8. Curate products in a specific lifestyle category
While your favorites page may be organized into more broad categories, you can also create an affiliate page for a specific lifestyle category. For example, a home decor affiliate page can display products by room, with links to your home tour blog posts.
Think about what readers ask you the most. How can you help readers find the information they are looking for in one place? If you find yourself sharing the same related products and blog posts, it’s probably worth creating an affiliate shop page to gather the information in one shareable link.
9. Curate products from a popular retailer
Similar to affiliate shop pages for a specific lifestyle category, you can dedicate an affiliate shop page to a retailer, like your favorites from Amazon. Pay attention to your analytics — are there any retailers that consistently convert well for you? Or do you get frequent requests for recommendations from a particular retailer?
Use our Boutiques plugin to share favorites by category, add your affiliate link to the retailer, and link to any relevant blog posts.
10. Promote popular sales
Popular retailer sales like Amazon Prime Day, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, and the Sephora Savings Events can provide a huge boost to your affiliate income. Your readers are ready to buy — and they want to know what you recommend!
If you’re promoting a popular sale, create an affiliate shop page for it so readers can shop your recommendations in one place. Plus, add your blog posts about the sale for easy access to your content.
Keep your blog design elements up-to-date
Static parts of your blog, like menus and sidebars, tend to be set-it-and-forget-it. But these areas offer prime real estate to promote the most relevant information to your readers. Don’t overlook these areas — use them to your advantage!
11. Add relevant links in your navigation menu
Generally, your navigation menu should link to your most popular blog categories so new readers know what you blog about and regulars can find their favorites. Don’t overcrowd your menu, but consider dedicating at least one menu link to an affiliate shop page. This is a great space to promote popular sales, then you can swap the link out for an evergreen page like your favorites.
12. Make relevant links stand out
At EmPress, some of our themes include a Featured Tab, which is a menu link that looks more like a button and stands out from the other links in your navigation. This is another great spot to share something you want to draw attention to, like a favorites page or to promote a sale.
13. Add a section to your home page to highlight featured products
Most WordPress themes include widget areas that allow you to add static content to your blog, like a sidebar or footer. At EmPress, our themes take this one step further and provide widget areas called interstitials, which appear in between blog posts for a more interactive experience.
Use these widget areas to get creative! Try adding your most requested products and link to your affiliate shop page for favorites. Or, display a featured post about your latest home reno projects, then add your favorite home products and link to your affiliate shop page for home decor picks.
14. Highlight your shop page in your sidebar
If you have a sidebar next to your blog post, use the space to link to the most important areas of your site. Less is more when it comes to sidebar content, so think about what readers want easy access to. This is a good place to add a graphic to link to your affiliate shop page so readers can shop your top recommendations. Swap out the graphic when you want to promote more of-the-moment content, like big sales or a topic you’re focusing on.
Leverage your social media profile link with a social media landing page to increase affiliate income
As we mentioned previously, social media apps are designed to keep your readers on the app — not on your blog. Your social media profile link is your opportunity to drive traffic back to your blog. Don’t give that traffic to link in profile services!
Instead, create a landing page on your blog tailored to those visiting from your social media. You can create a simple page on your site and add relevant links and information there. Or, use our Link in Profile plugin, which comes with a social media landing page template where you can add your latest blog post, any links you want, and highlight products or other posts.
Here are a few ways you can use social media landing pages to increase affiliate income:
15. Link to one dedicated social media landing page
While most platforms only allow you to add one link in your profile, we still think it’s best to use one link regardless. Followers are already distracted on social media, and giving them only one link to click on helps avoid further distraction and confusion.
If your content really varies by platform, consider creating dedicated pages for each social media profile. That way you can add the information most relevant to visitors from that platform.
16. Use your social media landing page to link to other key pages
Once followers click through to your social media landing page, you control their experience! This is a good place to link to an affiliate shop page that includes products mentioned on social media. Write descriptive link text so readers know where to go next.
17. Add frequently or recently mentioned products to your social media landing page
Add a product grid to your social media landing page so readers can easily recognize products from your social media and shop your link. Our Link in Profile plugin makes this easy, with a page section dedicated to products!
A good practice is to display recently mentioned products, since those will be top-of-mind for readers. But if you don’t want to constantly update the page, choose the products you mention or are asked about most frequently. But don’t overload your reader — check your analytics to narrow things down to the products that convert the best.
Remember, you don’t have to implement all of these ideas at once. You don’t even have to use them all! Again, try different methods, see what converts best, and improve those methods.
And above all: Don’t get discouraged. Through time and experimentation, you will learn the best methods to increase your affiliate income on your lifestyle blog. Start with the ideas included in this blog post, but don’t be afraid to get creative with your own ideas and have fun with it.
Want more ideas to help you monetize your lifestyle blog and increase affiliate income?
Don’t miss Your Blogging Roadmap, our free step-by-step daily roadmap to monetize your lifestyle blog in 5 days or less. We’ll help you easily create a plan to monetize your lifestyle blog, so you can get back to creating and sharing the content that matters most.
