Tax services is one of the hottest advertiser categories in Q1 with the start of the tax filing season hitting at the end of January.
Think this category doesn’t apply to your audience? Think again! Almost everyone will need tax services in the next few months. Luckily, we've got the top tax brands in the CJ network.
Tax Season Sales Peaks & Timing Tips
Timing is everything when it comes to tax season.
The first peak officially kicks off when the IRS starts accepting electronic tax returns and is expected to go through mid-February. The trough is usually in March, though based on the trends from the last couple of years, it may be less pronounced this year—expect more of a steady stream of filers throughout the season. The second peak is traditionally in April, especially on the day of the filing deadline.
- Once you place tax offers on your site, leave them up until after the filing deadline. Some tax advertisers run their affiliate programs through mid-October to capture the extension filers. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to capture those late filers and earn extra commissions if promotions are still available!
- Promote your tax offers and content more heavily around peak dates via social media, newsletters, homepage placements, site sidebars, etc.
- Weekends are popular for DIY tax services as people are seizing the opportunity to dig in and spend some quality time with their finances.
Sharing Tax Offers
If you're already partnered with tax advertisers, make sure that your audience knows they can buy their services:
- Place tax offers on your homepage.
- Create a dedicated 'tax center' on your site.
- Email your audience with tax advertiser’s latest promotions
- Check for new products that tax brands have launched or are offering. This is a great way to feature fresh ideas and offers about tax time for your audience. Read up on and include any new products and make sure to educate filers on any products that may have changed or evolved.
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If you haven’t already, make sure to push digital expert advice. With more and more people getting comfortable with virtual services such as telehealth, remote expert help will be more popular than ever this year.
Writing Content About Taxes
- Tax time can be confusing for a lot of people. Create content based on common or timely questions that people might be searching for come tax time to bump up SEO.
- It’s a best practice to direct readers to a service provider or the IRS website for more information as they’re diligent about keeping their content up to date with any changes. You may also be able to deep link to an advertiser’s tax content and still earn commission through those links. Win-win!
- Cater content to your audience—there are different types of tax products to help many different audience segments. Ex: free tax filing services for those with simple taxes, small business tax solutions, virtual expert help, and military offers.
- Compare different tax advertisers. Lots of people will be trying to compare brands and services for the option that suits them the best. Since CJ has many of the top tax partners, sharing information about many different brands is easy!
- Have existing content about taxes? Freshen up old content and link your articles together to keep your audience engaged.
Tips on Connecting with Tax Advertisers
If you haven't already joined the programs of tax services advertisers, you can find them via the Partners tab > Find Advertisers in your CJ account:
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Use the search fields on the left side of the page to search keywords "tax services" or the name of the advertiser.
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Use the Category filter to see all tax partners by selecting the Financial Services category, and then the Tax Services sub-category. Click the Search button to apply the filter you have selected.
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Click on the green Apply to Program button to the right of the advertiser’s name to submit your application.
Other Helpful Tips
Start as soon as possible. It can take a while to apply to programs and place offers on your site and you don't want to miss out on sales that occur early in tax season.
If you’re an influencer or content publisher and you’re a part of CJ’s Content Certified Program, check your pending offers to see if there are tax programs you can easily join.
If your application gets declined, email the advertiser to tell them why you think your site is a great fit for their program. At this time of year, tax service advertisers get hundreds of applications—a personal email will help you stand out.
Learn more in our Support Center article, Contacting Your Advertisers.
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Contributing authors: Delaney Nelson and Rachael Kuori
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