How to Plan Your Affiliate Income Goals, Stay Organized & Track Your Monthly Earnings
How much money is your website currently making from affiliate marketing?
Do you know your exact monthly earnings for each partner?
I used to only pay attention to the amount of money that was deposited into my bank account. I never cared to see which affiliates were earning my business more, or which products converted better.
Whenever I finally got organized and began to keep track of my earnings for each affiliate partner I was able to use that information to increase my monthly income.
I was surprised to see how much money each individual affiliate product or service brought in for my business. Being able to compare each item and see how and when I earned more money helped me create a strategy to continually increase my income month after month.
I am a huge geek when it comes to spreadsheets, so I made an Affiliate Tracking Toolkit to help me stay on track with my affiliate marketing strategy.
Here is a breakdown of how I stay organized and use each spreadsheet:
#1 Organize Affiliate Partners
Whenever I sign up with a new affiliate program I like to keep track of all the important details for quick reference. I used to constantly login to each individual company when I needed to get my link, or even figure out when I would receive a payment. Now, I just hop into my toolkit and have all the information I need.
To keep my affiliate products and services organized I fill out this spreadsheet with:
Product Name/ Brand Name
● Affiliate link
● Login URL
● Username
● Password
● Commission amount
● Payout details
● Any special note
#2 Track Monthly Income & Expenses
Now that I have all the important details for each affiliate program I like to keep track of my monthly income and expenses for each individual affiliate partner.
I fill this out at the end of every month.
I love looking at how much money I make for each affiliate company on a monthly and yearly basis. Not only does it help me to see when I earn more money, but I can compare each affiliate partner and adjust my strategies to help increase my totals each month.
I also take it a step further and add in any expenses that I might have accrued for an affiliate partner. These can include a product for a post or even a Facebook ad to help promote it.
This is a step that a lot of people forget. They only look at the money that is deposited into their account (like I used to) and they don’t consider any costs they may have paid to actually make that amount.
#3 Plan Revenue Goals
I always like to focus on creating monthly revenue goals for each affiliate product I promote on my website. Not only does it help me to stay on track, but it allows me to create specific action steps to reach those goals.
For example, if my goal is to earn $100 from a specific affiliate product then I would map out what I will do to earn that money. This can include write a new blog post, promote on social media, send an email to my list, etc.
Plus, I can look at my other spreadsheet to see if I actually reached my monthly goals. This definitely helps me to re-evaluate my strategies to figure out what is and isn’t working.
#4 Brainstorm Potential Affiliate Partners
I like to keep track of any potential affiliate partnerships. This is a place where I will brainstorm ideas and fill in any requests that I get from my readers.
Sometimes I will get emails asking about a certain program I use or specific tool, so I will fill this out for future reference.
#5 Top Converting Posts
Another thing that I love having in my spreadsheets are my top converting affiliate blog posts. I use these for quick reference when someone has a question, when I am writing new content and even to schedule on social media. Rather than hunting down the URL’s I will update my spreadsheet so that I can quickly copy the URL when I need it.
Having my Affiliate Tracking Toolkit helps me be efficient and effective with what I need to do every month.
I’d love to hear from you, do you keep track of your affiliate earnings and adjust your strategies every month?