Thank you for spreading the word by Tweeting this post.

Consider Offering Gift Baskets for Holidays like Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas or Hanukkah

Offering affiliate products and services related to specific holidays is an excellent affiliate strategy and an easy way for bloggers to generate some much-needed income.

Even if you have not monetized your blog there is nothing wrong with recommending some holiday related gifts that you hand-selected.

The best thing about holiday related gifts is that they work for any niche. To prove it I will use many of the DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv blogs I collaborate with as examples.

What blog reader would begrudge you for writing about
Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or other major holidays?

WAHM: Work at Home Moms

There is always a way to tie a holiday into the theme of your blog.

If you are a Mommy Blogger what could be more natural than offering Gift Baskets for Mother’s Day?

Many Mommy Bloggers are also Product Review Writers or write about WAHM Tips so all they have to do is find products that would most appeal to their readers.

What few will think about is that Father’s Day gifts are also a perfect fit for Mommy Blogs because, as Adam wrote about properly targeting your ads: “would the Men be buying the Men’s Gifts for themselves?

“Think about it, if you have Moms on your site, chances are there is a Dad somewhere (otherwise there is a good chance they wouldn’t be a Mom).  Around Father’s Day many of them will be looking for Father’s Day Gift Ideas and they are the ones who will be buying the gifts, not the Fathers (even though the Fathers may have to foot the bill lol).”

Daddy Bloggers can write about their favorite Father’s Day gifts or about what they are considering buying the mother of their children for Mother’s Day. Although Executive Gift Shoppe is known for their men’s gifts, they also have a growing selection of women’s gifts too.

If you write about Internet Marketing, Blogging Tips or How to Make Money Blogging, share your ideas on how to use affiliate marketing during the holidays and use affiliate links in your examples.

Other bloggers can write about gifts related to their own niches. If you write about Sports, feature Sports gifts related to your favorite Sports Teams.

Golf Blogs can promote Golf Gifts

If you blog about golf, there are tons of Golf Theme Gifts plus Golf related products.

I can just hear some readers thinking, sure that works for them but there is no way it can work for me. Even if you can’t think of a way I bet I can.  TRY ME!

Even real estate bloggers can use this strategy. Although this is a little more of a stretch for them, if you are a CommentLuv blogger with a personal relationship with your readers they will be interested.

It won’t matter if you sell homes in Tampa or homes in San Diego – you still have a personal life and other interests so blogging about them once in a while will endear your readers to you more than being serious all the time.

What gifts could a real estate blog possibly write about?  Since many homes for sale are located near golf courses, golf gifts would fit.

Many of your readers are probably other real estate agents or business people. Here are some other ideas:

Blue Business Card Holder

• What business person doesn’t carry business cards? Offer them business card holders and share which ones you like best. Use the best selling business card holders page to see what is popular.
• Who couldn’t use a new briefcase or wallet?

Many would appreciate some assistance deciding which wallet to select. You have the inside track on which ones to suggest because you know about the best selling wallets page. [And you know me so I can provide you with custom spreadsheets for any niche!]

Our friend with the Wine Club Blog has a ton of excellent products they could offer:

• Wine accessories and bar tools
• Wine glasses and Wine Decanters
• Wine racks and Wine gift sets
• Wine carriers and Insulated Wine Totes

Manicure Kit

Maybe you’re a vacation travel blog? Review some unique items such as:

• travel alarm clocks that automatically change time zones or have radios and calculators in them
• airline ticket passport holders that make it easy to keep I.D. and tickets handy when checking in at airports
• Toiletry bags and manicure kits
• EPA approved Zippo lighter carrying cases are perfect for those who prefer to carry a lighter when they travel

What if you write about SEO for accountants? What in the world could an accountant recommend? How about these:

• Unique Calculators
• Desk Sets and Desk Accessories
• Accountant Cuff Links

Music bloggers could review these Swiss Army MP3 Players. Photography blogs could offer personalized picture frames and photo clocks.

Gardening blogs could offer gardening tools. A fishing charter blog could offer gifts for fishermen. There are even green executive gifts.

Swiss USB Flash Drive

Almost any blogger could suggest technology related gifts like these:

• Swiss Army USB Flashdrives
• Swiss Cards
• Swiss Army Cyber Tools

What if your blog just really doesn’t lend itself to this idea. Maybe it is a blog about weight loss tips or top rated auto insurance companies or day trading or alternative energy.

If all else fails there are always holiday themed ideas like these Super Dad Father’s Day Mugs.

There is no reason bloggers should not use affiliate links as long as they write very clear disclosures and are careful to make it clear what they are recommending and what they are only sharing but have not personally used. See my updated disclosure policy for one way to do that.

HOLIDAY PROMOTION TIMING

The best strategy is to create content early so you can promote it through Social Networks, bookmarketing sites, incoming links and possibly article marketing.

Now that search engines, blog directories, and Zemanta feature recent content, publishing close to the holiday can also work.

Remember that the optimum window for online shopping is early enough for regular shipping. Be sure to include a Call to Action in your post reminding your readers to shop early to save money on shipping.

Mommy Bloggers should check out the Mother’s Day Gifts from the Kids Mother’s Day Event at BrainFoggles.

Mother's Day Event All April on BrainFoggles

All of the products I have mentioned in this post come from the Executive Gift Shoppe gift affiliate program. I have know the owner for many years and know him to be a very ethical person.

He and his family do their very best to provide exceptional service which is why I asked them to let me collaborate with them.They offer the best guarantee of any online gift store I’ve come across.

I manage the ExecGiftsBlog and their @ExecGifts Twitter account. Adam Riemer (@Rollerblader) is their Affiliate Program Manager who makes it easier for his affiliates to succeed.

Thank you for spreading the word by Tweeting this post.

I hope you will consider joining our gift affiliate program. You know that Adam and I will both do everything we can to get you started growing an affiliate income.

AFFILIATE MARKETING RESOURCES for AFFILIATES:

• Derek Semmler (Twitter) Case Study: Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing
• AffiliateXFiles (Ron Cripps) How to Become an Affiliate Marketer
• AffiliateXFiles (Ron Cripps) How to Create a Product Review Site That Sells
• Derek Semmler (Twitter) Building Affiliate Stores
• Adam Riemer (Rollerblader) How to Pick Merchants to Promote
• Derek Semmler (Twitter)How to Add Affiliate Products to Your Site
• AffiliateXFiles (Ron Cripps) Affiliate Marketing Tips For Long Term Results
• AffiliateXFiles (Ron Cripps) Affiliate Marketing FAQs – Ask your questions here and get answers from successful affiliate with 9+ years experience

Affiliate Marketing Overview

This is the first post in my new Affiliate Tips Tuesday weekly series.  These will be short posts containing tips and links to benefit affiliate marketers and merchants who have or are considering starting their own affiliate programs.

Many do not realize there are only a few highly ethical affiliate marketers and affiliate marketing managers who work hard to keep their affiliate programs clean of parasiteware and affiliates who steal from merchants and each other.

Unlike the many resources I shared in the post I wrote about How to Evaluate a Merchant Gift Affiliate Program, in this column I will be recommending only trustworthy sources who promote only ethical affiliate marketing strategies.

I could not do this before I met Adam Riemer and Ron Cripps because I did not have enough experience or skills to identify who could be trusted and who could not. These are the affiliate marketing experts I personally trust:

• Adam Riemer, Affiliate Manager for Executive Gift Shoppe and many other merchants; expert on keeping affiliate programs parasite free and ensuring that both merchants and affiliates benefit.
• Ron Cripps, Power Affiliate Marketer and Affiliate Marketing Blogger. Don’t miss his Affiliate Marketing FAQ and his Affiliate Marketing Tips that Get Long Term Results and How to Become a Super Affiliate.
• Murray Newlands who has one of the top Affiliate Marketing Blogs and is the founder of our private blog collaboration.
• NEW: While controversial, Pace Lattin has a reputation for taking on fraud in the affiliate and performance marketing industries as can be seen in this letter of recommendation for Pace Lattin from Jim Lillig

I highly recommend all three of their blogs to anyone interested in learning how to ethically use affiliate programs. I will be sharing some of their best posts in future Affiliate Tips Tuesday posts.

Recommended Affiliate Marketing Tips Book

Another book I keep next to my monitor provides an abundance of affiliate marketing tips. While I do would not use all of them there are many that I will definitely be implementing. This is that book:

Internet Marketing from the Real Experts; 3 Minute Lessons on:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media
• and Much More

I will be sharing excerpts from some of their tips in future Affiliate Tips Tuesday posts.