You may be familiar with the basics of the Amazon affiliate marketing program, but are you using deep linking and URL Genius? These two things are the new secret weapons that will make you more money with your affiliate marketing strategy.
In order to convert your Instagram followers into loyal buyers, you’ve got to get them onto multiple platforms to buy your products. Whether it’s through your email list, website, or a link that will take them directly to their Amazon account to view your linked product, getting them to follow you on more than just Instagram or TikTok is key to growing your community and your business.
If you are already talking about your favorite products in your Instagram stories and/or posts, it might be easiest to try out the deep linking. This is where the tool, URL Genius comes into play.
What is Deep Linking?
Have you ever heard of deep linking? Deep linking is basically an affiliate link that will take users directly to the app to purchase the product you are recommending (where you will get the affiliate credit) rather than just to the browser to buy the product.
For example, the deep link will take someone directly to your affiliate link in their Amazon account rather than to a web browser to log into their Amazon account before they can buy your product.
Deep linking is much more effective than a regular affiliate link because users are more likely to purchase the product when logged into their account on the app rather than not logged in on a browser. (You’d rather buy something on your Amazon app than on the browser, right? Same.)
To get those affiliate links to work in your favor, you need to use deep links. This will make it much easier for your customer to finish an order using your link rather than closing out the browser and finding the product on their own. So, how do you deep link your affiliate products? It’s actually really simple if you’re using URL Genius.
What is URL Genius?
URL Genius is going to become your new best friend when it comes to deep-linking products and sharing them in your Instagram content. It’s as simple as pasting your affiliate link on URL Genius and then it generates a new link that still has your affiliate code but will allow your users to leave Instagram and visit the direct app where your product is linked.
While URL Genius generates deep links for several different companies/apps, I recommend sticking with Amazon because your users will most likely already have this app downloaded. If your links are connected to other retailers that aren’t as common, the user will be prompted to download the app before they can buy your product.
If you’re linking to products that are in other retailers such as Sephora, Kohl’s, Target, etc. your user may not have that app downloaded on their phone already. This is just an extra step for them, running the risk of not following through with their order. You want it to make it as easy as possible for your customer to purchase, so the fewer steps to do it, the better.
FAQs about URL Genius
Is URL Genius free?
While URL Genius offers a free trial, it does charge you $0.2 per click to use the services. This seems totally worth it to me, but you can always decide for yourself! You’ll have a pretty good idea of whether or not it’s worth it after using the free trial.
What is included with URL Genius?
URL Genius offers way more than just deep links. It also keeps track of your analytics, so you know which links are more popular than others. If you know me, you know I love data, so this one is super exciting for me! When you have the data in front of you you can nail down a super solid strategy and change it as needed.
URL Genius also allows you to customize its QR code to fit your branding and logo, rename and organize your links so you can keep track of them easily, and so much more. Check out the details of these offerings HERE.
How does URL Genius correlate with LTK?
If you have been using LTK or another similar affiliate program for your links, you may be wondering if you can still use LTK or if you have to switch things over. As of this year (2023), LTK has made all of its Amazon links deep links, so you can still use LTK but just be aware if you are linking things to Amazon or another website.
Also, I will say the Amazon affiliate program offers better insights and analytics than the other affiliate programs. If this is important to you (which it should be), I’d strongly consider solely using Amazon to get those analytics and using URL Genius to get the deep links! Amazon may be updating their links in the future, but until then URL Genius is the way to go.
Main Takeaways
- Deep Linking is when you post an affiliate link on your stories for a specific product and the link takes the user to the app it’s located in (e.g. Amazon) rather than pulling up the browser for Amazon and having to log in to see the product.
- URL Genius is a tool that allows users to skip that middle step of having to log into their Amazon account to view your recommended product. Removing this step will make them more likely to purchase the product using your affiliate link.
- The best way to make the most money with your affiliate marketing strategy is to use Amazon Associates, deep linking, and URL Genius.
Deep Linking with URL Genius
Deep linking with URL Genius will be your game-changer when it comes to making money with the Amazon affiliate marketing program. These are such a powerful tools and will bring you so many more sales you won’t even be able to believe it. Make sure to check out URL Genius HERE to start your free trial!
If you loved this post and want to know more about affiliate marketing strategies, check out these similar posts:
- 6 Affiliate Marketing Tips for Beginners
- Best-Kept Secrets to Making Money with Affiliate Marketing
- How to Become an Affiliate All-Star
Stay up to date with the best way to grow your online business on Instagram by following me on Instagram @iammichellegifford. I spill all my secrets and sure-fire strategies you need to know to build a strong business on Instagram and beyond.
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