Affiliate strategies for web sites fall into two main camps. Either you select a single affiliate such as Amazon and concentrate your entire web site around it. Or, you may have a few affiliates that you use in combination. Building around a single program allows you to fine-tune your content and layout to suit it exactly. This may mean setting up an online shop front or writing long product reviews that push the reader into buying from your affiliate. The big disadvantage with this strategy is that you are putting all your eggs into one basket. If your visitors don't like what your affiliate's products, then your time has been wasted. Alternatively if the affiliate changes it terms and conditions, you may find yourself excluded from the program or taking a major cut income.
Using multiple affiliates has its own benefits and drawbacks. If one affiliate doesn't sell or the program changes its conditions then you simply drop it and use the space for a more profitable affiliate. The downside is that your site becomes less focused and this may lower the number of visitors who are converted into sales. Having multiple affiliates also mean that your sales are split across several companies. If your volume of sales with each is low, your commission rate per sale will be low. Your income will also be split between the firms and as most companies have a $100 minimum payment threshold, it will be longer before you actually get your hard earnt cash.
Picking between the sole affiliate or the multiple affiliate approaches is the first decision you need to make when implementing an affiliate strategy for your site. Its one you should make before you selecting your keywords and domain names.
Affiliates pay on a Cost Per Action (CPA) basis, unlike an advertizing program that pays per click. Generally the action is completed when the visitor completes the purchase but for large value products (getting a mortgage for example) you may get paid when someone agrees to move to the next stage. Make sure you know what the action required is and how much it will pay.
Don't try implementing an affiliate strategy on your web site without checking these basics.
| What has the visitor has got to do? |
| How much will you get paid per action? |
| What is the minimum payment threshold and when will you get paid (weekly? monthly? quarterly?) |
| What currency do they pay in (a very important question for non-US web site owners) |
| Do they limit members to certain countries? |
Before starting on your affiliate strategy, investigate their marketing materials. The affiliate should be able to provide you with a range of different adverts of different sizes. There should be adverts with special offers and themed adverts for Christmas and other holidays. Think about the adverts. Will they fit in on your search engine friendly web design? Would you click on the adverts? What about the landing page the advert takes you to? Your time spent choosing keywords, building internal links, attracting visitors and sending them onto your affiliate is wasted if your affiliate's web site is rubbish.
A final aspect to check before deciding on your affiliate strategy is to look at the terms and conditions. Most affiliate programs don't allow you to use them on adult web sites and they will have rules about what you can and cannot do to attract sales. Look at these carefully and do not just click-through them. If the affiliate suspects you have broken the rules, even accidentally or out of ignorance, they will kick you off the program. Any money owed to you by the affiliate will be lost.
Finding affiliates to implement on your web site is easy. A search on Google for "affiliate" will bring you lots of options and most of the big online names have the programs: Google, Amazon, eBay, iTunes. Various companies also act as middlemen such as Commission Junction, Clickbank and Linkshare. They all provide tools to see click-through rates, conversions and commission levels. These do help you find hot products to sell but what may be making lots of money on one site may not work on another.
There are two main approaches to earning from affiliates. Firstly, there is advertising. Your content is designed to attracted visitors and is surrounded by adverts for affiliates. The second approach is product endorsement. Here, your content attracts visitors and also promotes / pushes / hypes your affiliate(s). This is most often done with products aimed at people wanting to make money online. Many web sites, such as Problogger.net, review affiliate and advertising programs and will include a special link to the product that identifies where the visitor came from. If the visitor signs up for the service, whoever referred the visitor earns money. These product reviews can be done honestly, so if the product is bad the review is bad. Or they can be deceptive, looking like an honest review but in reality designed to make you click on the link. Personally I prefer the honest approach because it builds trust with your readers and that can make you more in the long run than any deceptive product review.
Chris Tregenza runs a variety of web sites including MiceLife, writes free seo articles and a SEO Blog
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