The Opportunities reports in Lasso are an underutilized toolset that allows you to find more ways to grow your income. In addition, they can identify areas to improve your blog’s strategy so you can make data-driven decisions (instead of “winging it”).
We know you must earn all you can from your creations. Lasso’s opportunities reports help make it happen.
So, if you’re new here, I’ll lay out all the details about what they are, how to use them to grow revenue, and provide answers to some frequently asked questions.
Not a Lasso user yet? Give us a try here.
What Are the Lasso Opportunities Reports?
Imagine if you could type any keyword into WordPress and see how often you mention it (then convert it into an affiliate link), spot under-monetized content, or get affiliate program recommendations based on domains your site links to.
Lasso’s Opportunities reports help you find hidden monetization opportunities across your site. They’re sorted into three categories:
- Content
- Keywords
- Affiliate Programs
To find them, go to “Opportunities” inside your Lasso dashboard.
Let’s dig into how you can use each to make more money with your blog.
Affiliate Program Opportunities
By default, you’ll arrive inside the “Affiliate Program” Opportunities report. So we’ll start here.
Here you’ll see alternative affiliate program recommendations you can sign up for based on domains you already link to.
The below screenshot is from our personal finance site.
What this report shows you:
- Affiliate programs
- Potential affiliate programs (46)
- Affiliate program commission rates
- Potential linking opportunities on your site
When you decide which programs are right for you, click the green call-to-action button labeled “Signup.”
This takes you directly to the affiliate program’s signup page.
You’ll be shocked how often you linked to a domain you didn’t know had an affiliate program. So sign up for that program, add your new affiliate URL to Lasso, and instantly
monetize those links.
Finding new affiliate programs lets you diversify income streams, and split-test offers so you can see which yields the most revenue.
Sidenote: Diversifying also makes you less reliant on a single program or ones with nominal commission rates. For example, some programs suddenly slash commissions (Amazon) or go out of business.
If you want to explore the recommended affiliate programs, click on its title in the “Affiliate Program” column.
For example, when you click “Discover” from the above screenshot, you’re taken to its Affiliate Program Details page inside Lasso’s database.
Here’s where you can see additional details (e.g., cookie duration) or explore other related companies by niche.
You’ll find more programs when you scroll down Discover’s affiliate program details page.
We have an ever-growing database of affiliate programs categorized by niche, which you can access here.
Our database has a substantial number of programs, but we don’t have all of them – yet. So if we’re missing one you think belongs in the Affiliate Program Opportunities report, let us know, and we’ll add it.
Tip: If you need to look outside Lasso’s database to find an affiliate program, try a quick Google search.
Use this formula:
brand + affiliate program.
For example:
- “Lasso affiliate program”
If the business has one, it’ll display in the SERPs.
Further Reading:
Our Team Of Affiliate Marketing Experts Will Teach You How To:
- Outrank Bigger Sites
- Monetize Your Content
- Engage Your Audience
Keyword Opportunities
The Keywords report lets you find (and fix) unmonetized keywords by converting phrases, domains, and URLs into affiliate links.
Our niche site used the automation and displays from Lasso to earn $1.2M in affiliate income in under five years.
Here’s how to generate more revenue from your blog using our ‘Keyword Opportunities’ report.
🧵👇
— Lasso (@LassoWP) June 24, 2022
Does this sound familiar?
You link to a website numerous times, but you’re NOT an affiliate for it. Then, later, you join the affiliate program, and now you need to revisit all of those mentions and convert that un-monetized link.
One quick to do this is by creating a keyword for it, and Lasso will scan your site for every mention.
Here’s an example from Listen
Let’s say you signed up for the Quickbooks affiliate program, and now you want to
From the dashboard, click Opportunities > Keywords.
Enter the keyword “Quickbooks” into the field, then click “Add Keyword.”
Now run a search for it by typing the term into the search bar and hitting “Return” on your computer.
Lasso populates the content where you’ve mentioned “Quickbooks.”
Next, decide which ones to
Click the “Keyword with Context” column to see how your QuickBooks mention displays in your blog post.
Once you decide which ones to
A pop-up window appears, prompting you to
Et voilà! You’ve just turned that URL into an affiliate link.
Sidenote: You can do this with any keyword, not just brand names. For example, you’ve already monetized “Quickbooks,” and now you want to find every instance you’ve mentioned the phrase “accounting software.” So create a keyword for it, and Lasso sees it.
You can also see Opportunities from inside your Affiliate Link Details page.
Clicking Opportunities from here shows you the content where the monetization opportunity exists and what type of link it is (e.g., text link, image, etc.).
Finally, decide whether to convert it into an affiliate link.
Above, you see the:
- Un-monetized URL
- Content containing the link
- Suggestion based on the domain it’s linking to currently
In this instance, it’s suggesting converting the URL into a Fundrise affiliate link because “Fundrise” is the root domain.
Removing Saved Keywords
You can easily remove any keyword that’s no longer relevant by heading back to Opportunities > Keywords.
Next, click “Saved Keywords.”
Find the keyword and delete it.
Once you remove your keyword, it will no longer appear as an Opportunity, but the links will remain on your website.
Tip: You can use the Keywords report to replace affiliate links with your own products. For example, we wanted to replace a few mentions of our Roofstock affiliate link with a digital course we created. So, we added the keyword “Roofstock” to Lasso and found the specific places where we wanted to swap the affiliate link with our product.
You can use this strategy to create more wealth for yourself too.
Because we used Roofstock in our course, you couldn’t get much out of the course unless you also used Roofstock.
This earned us income in two ways:
- Revenue from our digital product
- Affiliate commissions from Roofstock
Further Reading:
Content Opportunities
One of the best ways to find your under-monetized content is by its number of links.
You might be surprised at the number of posts that could use a boost (i.e., adding an affiliate link or two).
Sometimes this simple adjustment can improve your revenue sitewide.
Head to Opportunities > Content.
You’ll see four columns:
- Last Updated: Clicking “Last Updated” sorts your articles by the most recent update. Sometimes, a simple content refresh will increase conversions.
- Content: Clicking “Content” arranges your posts alphabetically by title.
- Permalink: This is the slug for that piece of content. Clicking “Permalink” sorts your posts alphabetically by the URL slug.
- Links: Clicking “Links” arranges your posts in descending order from most to least affiliate links. It helps to see possibly under-monetized content with few links.
The circled number at the top of the page (in this example, “484 Found”) is the number of articles on your site.
If you’re looking for specific posts, try using the search bar.
For example, if you’re searching for all your product review posts, type “review” into the search field.
Now you can see the number of reviews written on your site and their link count (both monetized and un-monetized).
And if you want to examine a specific page’s links, click the article title in your Content Opportunites report.
This lets you see:
- Whether it’s monetized
- The link with anchor text
- The total number of links on that page
You’ll also see the type of link (e.g., text, image, Lasso display, etc.).
The below screenshot shows a mix of link types in this article.
Further Reading:
Dismissing Opportunities to Achieve Dashboard Zero
You may have many opportunities, but you don’t have to turn them all into affiliate links.
You can dismiss them too.
Lasso is always looking for new affiliate opportunities. The goal is to help you decide whether to
Let’s say you’re on a Link Details page and see it has opportunities.
When you click inside, you realize you don’t want to
Here’s what to do:
Hover your cursor over the row in question, and an “x” appears to the right of the “monetize” toggle.
Click it if you want to dismiss it.
Next, a screen displays ‘Dismiss This Opportunity.’
Finally, click ‘Dismiss.’
That opportunity won’t appear again, and you will see which opportunities you’ve already evaluated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Lasso’s Opportunities Reports
We get many customer questions, so we wanted to address those now.
I’m new to Lasso… what Opportunities should I start with?
There’s no set rule, and you’re free to go in whichever direction you feel is best. However, some users have specific goals in mind when they sign up.
That said, an easy way to start is by looking at what Lasso has already discovered when scanning your site. Then, you can see it in your dashboard.
The green light bulb indicates the number of potential monetization opportunities from your existing content.
Alternatively, the “Alert” column (see the below screenshot) informs you about linking opportunities from existing URLs.
What’s the quickest and the best way to monetize your Opportunities?
Flicking the “Monetize” toggle lets you instantly turn that phrase into an affiliate link.
You can preview where terms appear in your content to determine whether it makes sense (for a refresher, revisit the “Keyword Opportunities” section of this post).
Monetizing every suggestion may appear spammy to your readers, so use your best judgment.
Do I need to sign up for all the programs listed under Opportunities?
No, you don’t need to sign up for every recommendation.
Take the suggestions with a grain of salt. Some may be perfect fits, while others not so much. Sign up at your discretion.
Many of our customers find businesses that fit their brand and pay higher than Amazon’s affiliate program, so it’s worth checking.
What if I’m already signed up for that program – what do I do now?
Nothing!
You can ignore the recommendation if you’re already signed up and happy with the affiliate program.
Why is a program showing as an Opportunity when I’ve already signed up for it?
Lasso shows Opportunities based on the links detected on your site.
That said, even if you’ve joined an affiliate program, there’s a chance you haven’t monetized it yet (e.g., accidentally adding an amazon.com link instead of an amazon.com link with your tracking ID).
We’ll show every link for that program, so you can review it to ensure they’re monetized. If not, you can easily change them into affiliate links.
How Will You Use the Opportunities Reports?
Building a successful affiliate marketing site starts with knowing what works well.
The Opportunities reports can help with that. But, hopefully, this guide gave you a better understanding of using them and spotting hidden income possibilities.
Want to see how Lasso can help you grow and scale your blog into profitable online business? Give us a try.
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