Drive More Consistent Affiliate Sales with Evergreen Product Listicles

Blogs aren’t just the OG Creator Marketing platform. They’re still valuable, high-traffic destinations for housing commissionable links and bringing in a consistent affiliate income.

And there’s one blog format, in particular, that can help you consistently drive earnings through affiliate links: evergreen product listicles. Here’s our guide to making these blog posts work harder for you.

Make your product listicles evergreen and diversified

A product listicle is an article or blog-type post that gives product recommendations structured in a list format. In the content world, “evergreen” refers to topics that will always remain relevant, driving ongoing traffic all year long and beyond. For example, a listicle like “the 10 of the best hair care products under $30″ is evergreen because you know your audience is interested in making this purchase at any time and for years to come. 

By using this format, you can easily curate your top recommended products across various categories and specifically target what consumers are searching for online. To make this format work harder for you, research what type of products your audience may be looking for and create posts that satisfy their queries.

Product listicles also give you the opportunity to reach outside your audience and expand into new verticals to diversify your affiliate links. If you normally post about fashion, take a step outside the norm and post about other types of products. By including products for all lifestyles, tastes, and price points, you’ll be creating more inclusive content, reaching new audiences and making more sales. 

Choose products that will maximize your earning potential

Part of maximizing your affiliate revenue means choosing products and links that will earn you the most commission over time. Take into consideration:

1. Pick commissionable items: This might sound obvious, but to earn from the sales of your linked products, make sure you’re using an affiliate program (like Collective Voice) and commissionable links. When people shop your links, you earn commission as a percentage of that sale!
   
   
2. Make sure products are readily available: Knowing which products are always in stock and which are more seasonal or sell out quickly takes some trial and error. Suggesting those frequently in stock products—like a Fenty foundation or a Le Creuset Dutch Oven—means you’ll rarely need to update these articles at all. Though, it’s a good practice to check links and update these articles on occasion.
   
   
3. Analyze sales volume: Over time, you should take note of which products drive a high volume of sales from your blog and continuously feature those products. For example, you may find that you consistently drive hundreds of sales to kitchen tools or that your audience purchases the most items in the price range of $50-$100. These insights will inform your product selection decisions. 
   
   
4. Find the balance: While volume is important, units sold alone don’t necessarily translate to strong affiliate revenue for you. That’s because what you are selling the most of could be lower-priced products with a low commission rate. Finding the balance between products that can drive high volume of sales and products that drive higher commissions is crucial. We’re going to do some quick math, so stick with us! 
   
   High Commission, Low Volume: If you are driving 10 sales a week from a $50 product with a $5 commission per sale rate, you are taking home $50 per week from that one product.
   
   High Volume, Low Commission: Let’s say you drive 100 sales weekly of an item priced at $20, and your commission on that is $0.50 per sale. That means, you are earning $50 a week total from that one product.
   
   You can do either or both approaches (and make the same amount!) but be strategic about which one you choose. Once you find that sweet mix between volume, price, and commission rate, that’s when you’ve struck affiliate linking gold. 
   
   
5. Consider the retailer/shopper experience: Driving sales isn’t just about the product or price; the shopping experience can greatly affect conversions as well. Once your audience lands on a slow-loading retailer page, if the shipping costs are too high, and/or if there are a lot of pop-ups, shoppers might not make the purchase and you won’t make a commission.
   
   This is particularly important when an item is sold across two different retailers. Normally you would choose a retailer that is offering a higher commission; however, linking to retailer sites with the best shopping experience (especially if free shipping is available) will give you a better chance at landing your well-deserved commission.
   
   Once you have these listicles set up and your affiliate links optimized, all your efforts can help you generate consistent, passive affiliate sales and income. 

Evergreen product listicle ideas to get you started

Once you’ve built a few evergreen product listicles, you can easily replicate this format with different titles and products. Truly, the ideas are infinite, and coming up with new concepts can be a fun challenge. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, here are five potential ideas to get your creative juices flowing. All of these ideas consider evergreen products that consumers are frequently searching for:

1. 8 Pairs of Jeans For Any Body Type
2. 5 K-Beauty Products for Dry Skin 
3. 10 Affordable Home Goods to Shop Now 
4. The 12 Must-Have Agelessly Chic Pieces
5. 11 Kitchen Items That Make Meal Prep A Breeze

If you’re still new to affiliate marketing, and not sure what to post about or link to, Collective Voice can help you find the right products and refine your strategy for affiliate success. Learn more here!