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Getting your first booking: Strategies for affiliate marketers

New to affiliate marketing? Discover how our affiliate program can help you drive traffic, unlock bookings, and set up your business for success.

February 14, 2024

Marketing strategy Travel trends

When you’re a new travel affiliate marketer, the amount of advice and information available can be both inspiring and overwhelming.

 

Let’s look at how you can optimize your affiliate marketing strategies and build brand awareness to help you get that first booking.

Driving traffic as an affiliate

The travel market is saturated with affiliate marketers and influencers competing to drive traffic and conversions. Our Path to Purchase report showed that on average, travelers consume about 141 travel pages in the 45 days prior to booking a trip, giving marketers a significant runway to influence their booking decisions.*

 

While travelers are consuming content across multiple digital channels, about 21% of travelers get their travel inspiration from influential travel content in the form of social posts or travel blogs.

Takeaway

Strategically select your affiliate marketing channels

Travel content and advertising can be very influential for undecided travelers, especially early in their booking journey. About one in five global travelers report that travel advertisements have influenced their booking decision. Of those that were influenced by ads, about 67% of them remembered influential content in the inspiration phase of their booking journey.

Travelers who are most likely to be influenced by advertising when making their travel purchase decisions:

34%

Package bookers

30%

Bleisure travelers

26%

Vacation rental bookers

To inspire and connect with your target audience, think about how and where you are sharing your content. Share your content on channels where your ideal traveler is most likely to see it and position it in a way that engages with them and makes you relatable — key to building trust and authority.

 

For example, if you’re targeting young adults looking to visit small cities or remote areas, share content through social media channels that appeal to a younger demographic.

Other tips to drive engagement and encourage higher traffic to your channels include:
  • Promote destinations with lo-fi or raw and unfiltered travel content to convey an authentic and realistic experience.
  • Consistently publish content to reinforce your expertise and dedication to helping travelers make informed decisions and solidify your reputation as a go-to source for travel advice.
  • Consider available SEO research for travel bloggers to further enhance your posts, boost content visibility in search engine results, and increase opportunities for conversion.

Boosting link clicks

As an affiliate marketer or influencer, it’s one thing to push your audience to see your page, but how can you get them to click through to your platform or channel?

 

Clicks are an important element to your success as they represent the number of people who are interested in the content you’re sharing or the products you’re promoting. More clicks can equate to a higher conversion rate and the chance of earning commissions.

Takeaway

Carefully choose your content format and link placement strategies

To boost link clicks, consider how your audience is seeing your content. Pay attention to content format optimization and ensure that it's visually appealing, easily digestible, and offers a clear call to action. For example, as an affiliate for Expedia Group, you can create engaging travel guides with concise information.

Tips for enhancing your content’s visual appeal include:

  • Incorporate captivating images and make the content easily digestible by using bullet point lists or short paragraphs
  • When sharing your affiliate links, don’t limit yourself to one link per post or put it at the bottom of the page. Instead weave in several opportunities for travelers to click on a link to drive them to purchase travel.
  • Use a “link in bio” tool to organize affiliate links and enhance a user’s experience when interacting with your page.

Converting clicks to bookings

Now that you’re successfully driving traffic and clicks to your marketing channel and encouraging travelers to click through on your links, you’re left with the final step: converting those clicks into bookings.

 

Nearly three out of five travelers don’t have a destination in mind when they start their booking journey. This means that travel affiliate marketers and influencers can play an important role in the decision-making process of travelers. If you diligently employ marketing strategies to capture travelers' attention and take them through the funnel of inspiration, by the time a traveler clicks on your affiliate links, they’re already influenced and interested in the destination or product you're promoting.

Takeaway

Building trust and urgency to drive conversions

To convert clicks into bookings, consider these tactics.

Establish an authoritative voice

Position yourself as a travel expert. Share personal experiences, travel tips, promotions or coupons, and insights that demonstrate your knowledge. When your audience perceives you as an authority, they’re more likely to trust your recommendations and act upon them.

Create a sense of urgency

Encourage your audience to act quickly by creating a sense of urgency. Explain why booking now is advantageous, whether it's because of limited availability, special discounts, or growing popularity. People are more likely to act when they feel a time-sensitive opportunity is at hand and don’t want to miss out.  

Showcase benefits

Clearly articulate the benefits of booking through your affiliate links. Explain what sets your recommended destination or product apart from the rest. Whether it's exclusive perks, cost savings, or unique experiences, make sure your audience understands what's in it for them.

Our affiliate partners know that travelers might not book a specific trip you’re showcasing. To keep these travelers engaged, it’s a good idea to provide alternate options for hotels, activities or destinations — and you’ll still receive a commission if they book within the cookie window.

 

As a travel affiliate or influencer, you have an opportunity to influence a traveler’s booking decision. Whether you’re scheduling your posting cadence or deciding where to incorporate links, your affiliate marketing strategy should ladder up to your overarching goal of driving conversion.

 

Success in the travel industry often hinges on more than what you offer, but how you offer it to inspire travelers to take action. Sign in or apply to our affiliate program today for more travel affiliate marketing tips and to access all the tools and resources you need to succeed as a travel affiliate marketer.

Drive affiliate bookings

Join the Expedia Group Affiliate Program to start inspiring and influencing travelers and driving bookings with your content.
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