When you are thinking about making some extra cash from your website, affiliate marketing is one of the top ways you will find to do so. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but getting it right and to work for your website can take a little practice and skill. You can make money through your PT website if you choose the right programme and use the links productively on your site. Plus, you can offer some great deals on recommended products to your customers. Giving benefits for both you and the visitors to your website.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing is sharing links for certain products or services that if they are clicked through and sometimes only when end purchases are made, you get paid for facilitating the visit or purchase. It means you can link to products or services from your blog with the view of earning money from these links.

You might have heard a lot about making money from affiliates but how does it actually work? First you need to find an affiliate marketing programme that is right for you. Do your research and find out what certain programmes offer, what you can gain and if they provide the right types of links for your audience. Then you choose what offers you wish to promote. Choose the right offers that you think will be right for your business.

Once you have chosen your links, you will obtain your unique affiliate link for each offer. You can use these links in one or more places within your website or blog. Then you share that link on your website in a place where you think they will work well. Once you are all set up you can start making money from your website.

What Kind Of Programme Is Right For You?

You need to think about what products and services you are happy to link to from your website. Knowing your customers and the demographic is key here. Research what your clients are interested in and assess the age range and gender of your clients too. This will have a big impact on what is relevant to your audience.  You might think you already know what your readers and clients will be interested in, but before diving into a programme, you need to make sure you have your facts straight and your research checked.

For your physical therapy website, you want to recommend products and services that you approve of too. You don’t want your customers to lose trust in your business if you are promoting a poor standard of goods or services that don’t go hand in hand with what you are offering in your clinic. Make sure you choose a programme that is continuously going to offer affiliations that are akin to your thoughts and values of your brand.

Examples of what may be a good idea for your PT website, are exercise equipment and aids such as bands, mats and weights to be used at home. These items can complement your therapy and it is a good reason to refer your clients to your website to view these recommendations. Related books are also a great option as a follow up to the patient information you may already have on your website. But also, wider reading on exercise, healthy eating and lifestyle may be of benefit for your readers.

Where Do You Place Your Links On Your PT Website?

Once you have decided on your programme and found some links you are happy to share, you need to find the best place for them on your website. You want to make sure these links are in a place where they will be seen by your visitors, but you also don’t want them to seem spammy or pushy. Select the right locations for the type of page or post that relates well to the product or service link.

Your landing page may get the most traffic but think carefully about putting affiliate links directly at this stage. Unless it is a well-known branded item or you are very keen to promote it as a benefit for your clients. You can dedicate a page to your recommendations which can include many different well researched links that you genuinely endorse as a business.

Your blog posts are the next port of call for your affiliate links. When you are writing genuinely good content for the benefit of your readers you can add links of your recommendations that are in keeping with the article you are writing. Perhaps you are writing about healthy lifestyle so you could include some links that complement this. Or a blog posts focussing on certain types of exercise can include links to items that you may need to make certain exercises work. Think about where it will work best for both you and your readers to maximise the probability of your users clicking through.

How Many Affiliate Marketing Links Should You Use?

This is a common question, but no answer will fit everyone. There are so many considerations for individual websites, how many pages you have, your follower count and how often you post articles or blog posts. As well as being careful about where you place your affiliate links, you also need to consider how many you are using across your whole website. It can be difficult for search engines to place your website in terms of optimisation if there appears to be too many links of this kind compared to other links in your content. Use links to high quality websites with relevant information as well as your affiliate links.

If you have a dedicated page for recommendations then the number of links on the page can be as many as you like. This is because your visitors are aware that you are recommending the products and services directly. Whereas if you are placing links within posts, you will need to make sure you don’t saturate your article with links. One well-placed link within a blog post should be enough to make an impact. If you are using keyword link placement then you should ensure the text is relevant and the link is expected by the reader.   

Monitoring Your Affiliate Marketing Success

Once you have decided on your programme, found and placed your links and got everything running smoothly on your website, you will want to know how your hard work is paying off. It is really important to monitor the success of your affiliate programme and to see what is working well and why. But how do you go about doing this?

Quantitative metrics is a way of measuring the numbers to show how your programme is doing. There’s cost per lead, click through rate and conversion rate to monitor and show different strengths for your links. Cost per lead will tell you how much each lead has cost you. The click through rate will tell you the number of users that click on certain links. From this you can tell which links are working the best and weed out those that are not being clicked on.  Looking at these metrics you can see what is working and make changes if necessary.

Some affiliate programmes will allow you to monitor and track your earnings and show you the data. If this is the case it makes it much easier to evaluate the effectiveness of your links. It is in the interest of your clients that your website is performing well with their links as it makes them money too. So, the ability to research, review and evaluate the performance of the affiliate links within your programme is of benefit to both.

How Will You Use Affiliate Marketing For Your PT Website?

From choosing the right programme to making money from your affiliate links. There you have a step by step guide on how to use affiliate marketing. The most important thing to remember is that the links need to be in keeping with your brand and ethics. Make sure the products and services you are linking to are something you would recommend yourself and that you know your readers would enjoy. It might sound like a lot of work, but putting the time in at the early stages will do you well in the long run.

If you need some help with your website and figuring out how affiliate marketing might work for your PT website, why not speak to Patientsites for some advice. At Patientsites we can offer you a tailored experience and services to suit your needs. Contact us today to see what we can do for you.