Affiliate Marketing and You!

I’m back! After a 10+ day hiatus due to the “plague” I am feeling charged and ready to write.

This morning Cincinnati Women Bloggers hosted it’s monthly meeting at Bridge Worldwide downtown. The topic was monetization and affiliate marketing and boy, did I learn a ton. The presentation was given by Andrea of Mommy Snacks, a blogger I am happy to be able to call my friend.

I met Andrea right before heading down to BlissDom in Nashville this past February. It was at BlissDom that I had a chance to get to know her (and learned what a “big Deal” she is!). During dinner one night Andrea and I started talking about blogging and that’s when I learned of her extensive knowledge of the affiliate marketing world. Right away I knew I had to convince her to present at a Cincinnati Women Bloggers meeting. Luckily, she agreed and our group had a great meeting as a result.

Among the things I learned:

There are a lot of sites out there offering a WIDE array of affiliate marketing opportunities. Andrea has a list on her blog, HERE.
If you look at the requirements for a particular affiliate marketing group and don’t quite make the cut, contact them directly. You may end up getting in if you are close.
Always remember to stay true to the voice of your blog!
Mom Bloggers Club has a great post on selling ads on your blog
There is a service called Swag Bucks that pays you to do searches!

Since I am one of the organizers of Cincy Women Bloggers I didn’t have a chance to take a ton of notes, but if you are looking for a source for information on affiliate marketing, Andrea did a great recap post with overviews and links to various programs, HERE, on her blog. Also, my friend Debba with Girlfriendology recapped it on her blog, HERE and my friend Andrea from Udandi and the Craft of Money recapped it HERE.