Checklists can help you keep up with the multitude of small tasks affiliates have to do. Image: Flickr / mt23 / CC-BY

The biggest challenge for many affiliates is also one of the simplest: consistency. Much of the effectiveness of affiliate marketing comes from keeping up with routine tasks. Here’s a checklist to help you keep up with your affiliate marketing efforts.

Every day:

• Post an update on at least one social network.
• Check for comments on social networks and blog posts.
• Check site statistics and make needed adjustments.
• Respond to urgent emails.
• Read newsletters and blogs about affiliate marketing, SEO and your industry.

Every other day:

• Write a blog post using well-constructed SEO techniques.
• Work on link building.
• Research possible additional posting topics.
• Follow at least one link to a new blog, video or information source.

Once a week:

• Review statistics, keeping a close eye on actionable metrics.
• Write at least one additional blog post for fill-in posting; use this backlog to post when you can’t come up with a post or are on vacation.
• Talk with other local businesspeople, preferably in person. Outside views and personal connections are essential for both good business and personal sanity.
• Set up or move forward on split testing of an actionable metric.
• If you have an email newsletter, set up and send out at least one email update.

Once a month:

• Take action on split-testing results.
• Run keyword ranking reports to find where your brand and landing pages fall on search engine results pages.
• Look ahead to the next month. Plan for any major software updates, announced changes to search engine algorithms, or new marketing efforts.