I am super excited to share this post with all of you. Today, I have Michelle of Making Sense of Cents on my blog.
Michelle is one blogger who has reached amazing heights with her blog monetization. Her main stream of income comes from Affiliates. Her latest income report proves that.
She made over $102,000 last month, and almost half of it was from affiliate programs. Awesome, right?!
Now you know why she is an expert at this.
I completed her course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, in the second month of my blogging journey, and now in the third month, I am already seeing big conversions.
Anyone who wants to monetize their blog needs to learn the right strategies to use. And this course has tons of tips and information on that.
Now, over to Michelle to share all her tips and secrets about this amazing course.
Please tell us about yourself and what got you into blogging.
I started Making Sense of Cents in August of 2011, after reading Cosmopolitan magazine (yes, that magazine actually had a good section on personal finance that month!) that featured a personal finance website in one of its articles. I got hooked on that personal finance website, and everything just grew from there. I did not create my blog with the intention of earning a living; it was all just a hobby.
On Making Sense of Cents, I talk about many different things that are all related to improving your life. These include ways to make extra money, money saving tips, living your dream life, full-time traveling, and more.
What exactly is affiliate marketing and why it is the best way to monetize a blog?
Affiliate marketing is when you recommend a product to your readers. When they complete a certain action (such as purchasing a product through your affiliate link), then you receive a commission.
I believe that affiliate marketing is the best way to monetize a blog because it can be a very passive form of income. You can create just one blog post or social media post, and possibly make an income from it years down the line, as long as you maintain it and keep generating traffic to it. With affiliate marketing, I can enjoy life more and know that I am still able to earn a great living promoting products that I use and enjoy.
Think about it this way: if you already enjoy a product, why not get paid to promote it?
As you have so much experience in affiliate marketing, what, according to you, is the biggest myth about affiliate marketing?
The biggest myth is that you need a lot of page views in order to make money with affiliate marketing. That is just not true at all. I don’t receive anywhere near the millions of page views that many of the “big” bloggers see, yet I earn a very nice income. Last month, I earned over $50,000 in affiliate income on just around 400,000 page views, so I am proof of that. With Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, students will learn exactly how to efficiently and effectively promote products that they love to their followers, without being pushy or too “salesy.” Affiliate marketing is not as easy as just slapping affiliate links on your website and calling it a day. There are many different ways to promote an affiliate product, and I recommend learning about all of them and applying as many as you can to your affiliate marketing strategy.
How long would it take for a new blogger to start seeing results from affiliate marketing?
One of my students saw their very first affiliate sale just two days after purchasing the course. They were a very new blogger and saw pretty much immediate results. Many other new bloggers who are taking my course have seen the same results as well.
Please tell us about your course in detail: what does it include and how much does it cost?
In Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, there are 6 modules, over 30 lessons, several worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful and exclusive Facebook group, and more. I go through everything that you need to know about affiliate marketing, such as
- What affiliate marketing is and how it works
- Why affiliate marketing is great
- The exact steps I’ve taken to earn over $300,000 from a single blog post
- How to pick the right affiliate products to promote
- How to increase conversions
- How to build trust and not lose followers
- Required disclosures that you need to know about
- The one major tool you need for affiliate marketing
- Different strategies to use to promote your affiliate products
- How to use Pinterest to succeed at affiliate marketing (yes, this includes the newest Pinterest affiliate rules!)
The course costs $197 and is very great value.
Is the course suitable for any niche? Does it work for niches like travel and food?
The lessons in this course can be applied to any blogging niche. Whether you write about lifestyle, travel, finance, family, fashion, DIY, food, business, or anything else, you are able to apply everything to your affiliate marketing strategy.
Are there any additional bonuses with the course?
The course comes with seven high-value bonuses. You will receive access to the private Facebook mastermind group ($250 value), free group coaching sessions (twice a month), a Pinterest strategy guide – How To Receive Hundreds of Thousands Of Visitors From Pinterest a Month ($46 value), and many other bonuses.
We would love to hear from some of your students.
 | “I started my blog in March 2015 and didn’t even know what affiliate marketing meant. And…I didn’t do much about it. I think my largest month was around $500 last year and then died down to sometimes only a few bucks per month. It wasn’t my focus, but I didn’t realize I was leaving money on the table, meaning I was losing money every month! I decided to enroll in Michelle’s course, and I quickly noticed I didn’t know a thing when it came to true Affiliate Marketing! No wonder it just ‘wasn’t working for me’…
Results from the first 60 days of taking the course: I am still nowhere close to implementing everything I’ve learned [from the course], but…My August affiliate income was $1,792.26. That’s a $1,705 increase since I became a student of Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. So, my investment in the class was worth it!” – Chris Peach, Blogger, MoneyPeach.com |
 | “I have followed Michelle’s blog for years. Her blog posts are incredibly informative and never disappoint. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is no different. The detailed strategies she shares in her course can help any blogger implement affiliate marketing. Within two days I received my first ever affiliate sale! From then I was hooked. The Mastermind alone is worth the cost of the course and the immediate access to an affiliate marketing expert is priceless! I highly recommend Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.” – McKinzie Bean, Momsmakecents.com |
I thank Michelle for this awesome interview and for giving us so much insight into the course.
For me, the biggest bonus of this course is the super supportive Facebook mastermind group. Getting feedback and your questions answered from the most seasoned bloggers—that’s a BIG plus for me.
Whether you have been blogging for some time or you are a brand new blogger, this course will help you to bump up your affiliate sales by teaching you the most useful strategies.
If blogging is your side hustle and making money from it is your goal, then this is the go-to resource to make that happen.
This course is definitely worth more than it costs, and I highly recommend it.
