Builders of affiliate niche sites generally want to avoid looking and feeling like affiliate niche sites. Sounds confusing but stick with me. Think of one of those spammy Clickbank sites you have visited. Videos autoload, a salesman worthy of the best used-car lot starts his selling. Everything is geared towards converting you to a sale. Information is limited because that would get in the way of the sales pitch. if you are trying to rank with Google or become an authority in your niche, this approach will not work. You need to provide valuable information for your visitors to get any love from Google Search. This means you need to focus on both information keywords and commercial keywords as you develop your content marketing strategy.  Let’s look at the different types of posts and what percentage of each you should have.

Information Posts

Information posts often answer open-ended topic questions like, “I need to”, “how to”, “ideal way to”, etc. The searchers are generally researching not shopping.

Let’s assume you’re niche is horse saddles and leathers. Your content management goal might be:

” Provide the most in-depth information about saddles, leathers, and accessories for horse owners and families.”

You provide information that attracts Google Search visitors, have an e-book and mailing list, perhaps a Facebook group. You monetize the site with reviews and other content that has affiliate links. If all of your posts were Top 10 roundups and product reviews, you would not be the go-to person for Google search results looking for information about choosing a saddle or the difference between a Western and English saddle. These terms have a lot of traffic, are often easier to rank for and increases your authority in Googles eyes. Info-keywords for the saddle niche would include:

  • How to saddle a horse
  • Best way to attach stirrups
  • Ways to use a saddle blanket

I try to have at least 1/3 information posts on a site, and as high as 50% when building out new sites. These information posts are often easy to research and write by virtual assistants or outsourced article writers.

These info-posts should link to your topically relevant money-posts. Hopefully, some of the information post traffic will convert but much of this traffic is for people doing research. At best it is earlier in the sales funnel. But information posts are what separate you from the hard-sell microniche sites.

Go to our affiliate SEO guide for related SEO tips..

Money Posts

Money posts are your highest converting articles. These are bringing in traffic from keywords with buying or commercial intent. In the case of the saddle niche these would include:

  • Saddles on sale
  • Cheap English saddle
  • Best western saddle
  • Kieffer saddle reviews
  • Top 10 English saddles

Since the keyword search terms are related to buying, they convert better. Their search indicates they are already in a buying mode. They are shopping vs. researching. Buying intent keywords are the most valuable but usually more competitive. They include:

  • Price
  • Sale on
  • Coupon

Commercial intent keywords also convert better than info-keywords though not as well as buying intent. These include:

  • Review
  • Best
  • Top

These money-posts should be optimized for conversion rates and ideally, a/b tested.  Copy length, size, call to action (cta) buttons, comparison tables, titles and more can be tested and optimized.

This is your product.

That’s it. Short and sweet. Building search traffic to your niche site will require info-posts. Use the Keyword Golden Ratio to get some early wins. Research your competitors’ sites and find good topics. Create better content. Have at least 1/3 of your content focused on information keywords vs buying or commercial intent ones. These info-posts can have an occasional affiliate link in them – it is the keyword search intent that makes it information vs. money post. Soon, Google will start to increase your niche authority and like a rising tide, lift your relevant money posts creating more traffic and conversions.