DISCLAIMER
This post is about a slick and cunning way of doing affiliate marketing. It’s not abusing any major laws, but you’re not being honest when performing it. If you don’t like such attitude I suggest you don’t follow the instructions and resort back to the strategies described in my previous article.
If you’re not familiar with my previous article about utilizing Quora to run affiliate marketing I suggest you go ahead and read it first. Click here.
I do not recommend this strategy unless you have little time or just don’t care.
I suggest you read the affiliate network’s terms & conditions before executing.
How does it work?
Apart from a standard replying to people questions with high value posts and mini articles, There’s another way of generating profit.
It works on the ‘seek help’ principle.
You are there to ‘seek’ help. You see, people like helping others. Or maybe they just want to sneak in their affiliate link. Whatever the case may be, you will get traffic to your post since there will always be people willing to answer.
This ‘seeking’ help is pretty cunning. You’re not actually seeking help.
Remember that Affiliate marketing is all about driving traffic to affiliate offers? Well, you can do that in a number of ways. The best, but also widely practised way, is providing a lot of value to the reader. I have covered this one in my previous article, so we’re going to focus on something different.
This time, you will not be answering the questions. You will be asking them.
I think the best way to show what I mean would be by an example.
“ Do you think this product is legit? (link) I have found many reviews online but I’m still not sure. “
Of course, the question can look different, I just wanted to show you the style.
With such a question, you make people click your link to see what you mean. People that will actually want to help you and thus they will go into your affiliate link to see how the product looks.
They will tell you what’s wrong with it, or what’s not. Basically their own opinion on the product.
You might not like it, but if you decide for this strategy you don’t really want to hear their opinion. You see, people who try to help you will most likely not end up buying the product. But the fuss that is created around your post when people interact with it is what you’re here for.
If the post gets enough traffic in the first place, it might start to show up in the feed. Then, if somebody scrolls through and sees the post along with replies (which usually confirm that the product is legit) they might just be curious enough to click the link.
I know what you think. It’s slick. That’s actually true. But remember, this is another approach of doing Quora affiliate marketing, not the best one. I suggest you only resort to this one if you don’t have much time to invest in writing elaborated posts and browsing Quora on a daily basis.
It’s also worth noting, that If someone’s smart enough they will see through you.
When you click an affiliate link, in the search bar you can see that it is redirecting through affiliate websites. If someone actually pays attention to it, and sees your link was in fact affiliate, then you’re toast.
You’ve just asked for help and pasted the affiliate link.
Well, of course you can get around it, by posting a link to a blog that you have written yourself. Nobody has to know you were the author, and you just say that you had found this blog and didn’t know what to think.
I guess when you have time to write your own blog you’d rather stick with the best Quora affiliate marketing method, but nonetheless it’s still an option.
What do you have to do to make this work?
You have to find an affiliate offer you want to promote. Choose a decent one, that in your judgement would convert. You want to pick a product that has nicely designed landing pages and sales pages.
With such an approach you won’t be able to review the pros of the product and convince people to buy. You only make them click your link, so you have to make sure that the product you choose has a sales page that can do the selling for you.
Then, you just have to write a question, just as I showed in the example earlier. Say that you how found this product and heard it was good but you’re still unsure and you ask for people’s opinion.
That’s all there is to it.
This approach might be considered spammy, since you’re linking directly to the product. However, that’s not the case every time. You see, It depends whether Quora decides you’re actually looking for advice or that you’re just posting an affiliate link. It’s up to you how good are the odds, so make sure your post looks legit.
This can also be a way of driving traffic to your blog. Although, I’d rather be careful with this. You see, it might be considered blackhat backlinking, which is banned by Google’s terms of service. It doesn’t have to be, most people get away with it in fact, but I do warn you of the risk.
It works the same, you just post your affiliate link asking about people’s thoughts on the article.
If you feel like it’s too slick for you, you can make a youtube video reviewing the product.
Although YouTube videos can get a lot of organic traffic just by being well SEO optimised, it’s an additional few people who will watch the video. Such video is a less cunning way of performing this strategy, and still involves less work than writing a mini article every time you answer a question.
Pros:
- Quick and easy.
- You can make a lot of these in a short amount of time (but It’s better if you do in different niches)
Cons:
- It’s dishonest, sly and cunning.
- You might get reported and banned for violation of Quora’s user’s agreement.
- You might get banned from your affiliate program if it doesn’t allow such practise.
Conclusion
Before you all hate me for writing this article, I want to make things perfectly clear for everyone.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS STRATEGY.
I only wrote this article for you to be aware that such strategies do exist, not to encourage you to perform them.
You should be aware, not perform.
You may ask, why write this article in the first place then?
Well, firstly, to consider that you might be getting tricked when answering such posts. I’m not saying you should ignore them. Just don’t answer if you see an affiliate redirect (in the search bar) when clicking the link. This means they’re not caring about your opinion, just want you to buy the product.
Secondly, if you’re learning something you should always learn both faces.
When college students learn how to craft drugs it’s for them to know how it’s done, not to encourage them to perform it.
I believe everybody thinks for themselves and that by learning about the dark side of affiliate marketing you can become more aware of what you should avoid.