Fiverr to Grow Your Business and Get More Traffic to Your Site
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars trying to grow your business. You can hire people to do many of the jobs you need for just $5. Yes, $5.
Fiverr is a microjobs site that provides a platform for writers, artists, and others willing to do odd jobs for only $5.
What does that have to do with your business? For the price of a bottle of coke, you can outsource jobs like getting thousands of fans for your social profiles, content for your blog, or even a logo for your site.
Here are just a few of the ways you can use Fiverr to grow your business and drive more traffic to your site:
Brand Promotion
Getting your brand in front of as many people as possible is one of the best ways to grow the reach of your business. Active bloggers and social media personalities postbids on Fiverr to share information about your business or product with their large numbers of followers. This can include a Facebook post, a tweet,a link on a blog, or even a contest promoting your product.
These sponsorships can grow awareness for your brand and drive more traffic back to your site, helping you to grow a stronger reader base or opt-in e-mail list.
you can make your page appear a bit more popular until you can grow the fans organically. Most fans or followers you purchase on Fiverr will not be from real people, so they will only help with appearances, not conversions.
Fiverr offers many more opportunities for you to outsource work for your blog that can help you get more traffic and grow your reader base. Not only does it allow you to perform these jobs quickly, butit also allows you to do it on a budget.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
What do understand by blogging?
What do understand by blogging?
A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts")
Blogs have been around for about 10 years. The word stands for 'web log' and they're effectively online diaries. Anyone can set one up, that's the easy part. Thinking of something interesting to say each time you blog is the tricky bit.
Assuming you don't understand or want to learn about writing websites in code, you're probably best off looking at one of the sites that offers free blogging. A couple of the more popular are WordPress, LiveJournal and Blogger. Others are available.
Both of these will offer you a free blog site with its own address – so it becomes, for example, http://www.yourblog.blogsite.com. This is the address you give friends who might want to take a look.
Example of a blog
http://ipadoriphone.bogspot.com
http://affiliatemin.wordpress.com
Before we get to the office, you need to think about why you want a blog in the first place and how often you're going to put an entry up in your blog.
Is it for a small business? People won't thank you if it's just going to be one long sales pitch.
Is it for a club or society? Great, but do the members want to contact you online? Or is it a personal thing? In any case, how often will you be blogging and can you be sure to have something to say each time you post an entry?
Step By Step Guide on how to UPDATE your blog with MS-Word 2007.
Step By Step Guide, on how to UPDATE your blog with MS-Word 2007.
Open your MS-word.
Click on office button (at the top of the page)
Navigate down to were see publish
Click on blog
a page pops-up Register a blog account
Click on register now,
Go down to were you see choose your blog provider select WORDPRESS
Click on next
A page pops-up new wordpress account. Blog post URL: http://username.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php
User name: username or email address
Password: (*******)
Click OK
A page pops up
Microsoft office word
Account Registration successful
Click OK
It takes you back to ms-word page
Were you see
[Enter Post Title Here]
Type your text/message/info/what ever you want to type and Publish.
That simple I hope this little information helps
THANKS
Step By Step Guide on how to UPDATE your blog with MS-Word 2007.
Step By Step Guide, on how to UPDATE your blog with MS-Word 2007.
Open your MS-word.
Click on office button (at the top of the page)
Navigate down to were see publish
Click on blog
a page pops-up Register a blog account
Click on register now,
Go down to were you see choose your blog provider select WORDPRESS
Click on next
A page pops-up new wordpress account. Blog post URL: http://username.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php
User name: username or email address
Password: (*******)
Click OK
A page pops up
Microsoft office word
Account Registration successful
Click OK
It takes you back to ms-word page
Were you see
[Enter Post Title Here]
Type your text/message/info/what ever you want to type and Publish.
That simple I hope this little information helps
THANKS
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
7 reasons to hire a freelance affiliate program manager rather than train an in-house affiliate manager
7 reasons to hire a freelance affiliate program manager rather than train an in-house affiliate manager
Posted by julian_mills Published in Articles on Affiliate Marketing by Julian Mills
If you are a merchant looking to launch an affiliate program or revitalise an existing program then the biggest consideration is who is going to manage the program. It is easy to underestimate the amount of time required to manage and develop a successful affiliate program. A common error merchants make is believing that it is simply a case of setting up the program and putting a link to it on the home page of the main website -then wait for affiliates will flock to promote your product -nothing could be further from the truth. To give your program the best chance of success requires an affiliate manager – either in-house or freelance to take ownership and develop the affiliate program.
Below are 7 reasons why it makes sense to hire an external freelance affiliate manager as opposed to training an in-house member of staff.
1 A freelance affiliate manager already has experience of setting up and managing programs. There is no training and learning required.
2 The work may not be a full time job and so not require a dedicated member of staff. A freelance affiliate manage can accommodate this in their schedule.
3 An in-house member of staff may have other duties which are priority -so the affiliate program does not receive the attention it requires.
4 Does your in-house staff member have all the required skills? Affiliate managers have to be an online ‘jack of all trades’. They have to be confident selling and promoting your affiliate program to prospective affiliates. A mentor – encourage affiliates to promote your offer and to increase sales. They have to be technically competent – working with HTML code, graphics, affiliate network applications, results analysis for example.
5 An affiliate manager needs to have industry contacts. An external freelance affiliate manager is networking within the affiliate marketing community day in day out.
6 Affiliate management is a self contained role that can be outsourced easily. Clients can keep in contact with a freelance affiliate manager with regular meetings and phone calls. A freelance affiliate manager is independent and does not require micro management.
7 A freelance affiliate managers’ results are easily measured and performance can be rewarded with a commission structure.
At the end of the day each merchant has a different set of requirements and it depends on the situation and for the merchant to decide which route to pursue.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Affiliate Marketing 001: Understanding the Basics
That’s pretty much how affiliatemarketing works. Through these online programs, you sign on with a partner that markets your product or service, often through a link or banner ad you place on their website. The affiliate then gets a commission based on sales, visits, or customers that result from thoseefforts. It’s the ultimate in pay for performance. “An affiliate partner will do a lot of the marketing for you. And you only owe money if they provide the outcome you want,” says Marty Fahncke, president of FawnKey & Associates, a consulting firm with expertise in affiliate marketing.
At the same time, successful affiliate marketing requires understanding some basics. Here’swhat you should know:
Evaluate your affiliate marketing channels
Your affiliate can be anything from a website or enewsletter toa shopping portal, to name a few.Fahncke points to one client, a small business selling sunglasses, as a case in point. Perhaps their most successful affiliate is a website devoted to bicycling, which recently included an article about the product and a link to their site. The company pays the affiliate a 20% commission on sales. At the same time, however,the firm uses a variety of other affiliates. The bottom line: “You want a good mix of different types of channels,” says Fahncke.
How many? There’s no magic number. You can make money with perhaps twenty, or in some cases, thousands. It all depends on the quality of the partner. Forexample, three or four effective affiliates that specialize in search engine optimization can provide you with as much business as hundreds of mediocre websites, especially if they’re not quite theright fit for your product and demographic.
Scrutinize the affiliate marketing commission
Commissions run the gamut, from 3% to as much as 90%, although the average is around 15% to 20%, according to Fahncke. The amount depends on a variety of factors. High volume products, forexample, tend to command lower rates. At the same time, you get what you pay for. Take Steven Rothberg, president of http://collegerecruiter.com a career site for college students and recent graduates. He pays about 50% more than many other companies in order to attract thebest affiliates possible. About 10%of his revenues come from his affiliate marketing program.
Focus on recruitment and retention
Recruiting high-quality affiliates isone of the toughest parts. While there are lots of choices out there, finding the right partners, getting their attention and negotiating the final details take time - as long as a year in many cases. How to find them? One possibility is to sign on with an affiliate marketing network like Commission Junction. Almost all of http://collegerecruiter.com affiliates, for example, have resulted from its relationship with the network,through a program in which interested affiliates that are a good fit automatically become partners. Another tack: Shawn Collins, co-author of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants (Que, 2001) uses software to determine which affiliates his clients’ competition is using. Then he targets them with phone calls and direct mail.
That’s only the first step. Just because you’ve signed a deal withan affiliate doesn’t mean it will letyou go live. To make sure you are“activated”, as Collins puts it, youalso need to work constantly at staying top of mind. For example, he will send the top twenty affiliates for each client gifts, andcall them at least once a month.
Decide if you’d prefer two tier affiliations
Somewhat like the classic Mary Kay-style Multi-Level Marketing arrangements, these affiliates use a referral network to generate more sales for the company and commissions for themselves. An affiliate that is working with a particular company’s program will attract other partners to join up. It, then, receives commissions from any activity those newer affiliates generate. The system ensures more income for partners throughout the chain and greater visibility for the smallbusiness. Plus, “It saves time if you can’t do your own recruiting,” says Collins.
Find the right affiliatesolution provider
You need a method for tracking traffic, sales and payments. Thereare two ways to go about it. Oneis to install software in-house anddo it yourself. That can be a big job, however, especially if you’re short-handed. The other is to hire a third party to provide the technology and customer supportneeded to facilitate the transaction. You’ll pay a percentage of your affiliate’s commission to the firm.
Watch out for fraud and spam
There are a variety of scams outthere, so be careful. One common type works this way: An affiliate earns a commission on an order that they actually place themselves, after which they return the product. Says Fahncke: “The merchant ends up paying a commission on a productthey didn’t really sell.” As for spam, you can be held legally responsible for the actions of your affiliates that send out junkmail on your behalf.
At the same time, successful affiliate marketing requires understanding some basics. Here’swhat you should know:
Evaluate your affiliate marketing channels
Your affiliate can be anything from a website or enewsletter toa shopping portal, to name a few.Fahncke points to one client, a small business selling sunglasses, as a case in point. Perhaps their most successful affiliate is a website devoted to bicycling, which recently included an article about the product and a link to their site. The company pays the affiliate a 20% commission on sales. At the same time, however,the firm uses a variety of other affiliates. The bottom line: “You want a good mix of different types of channels,” says Fahncke.
How many? There’s no magic number. You can make money with perhaps twenty, or in some cases, thousands. It all depends on the quality of the partner. Forexample, three or four effective affiliates that specialize in search engine optimization can provide you with as much business as hundreds of mediocre websites, especially if they’re not quite theright fit for your product and demographic.
Scrutinize the affiliate marketing commission
Commissions run the gamut, from 3% to as much as 90%, although the average is around 15% to 20%, according to Fahncke. The amount depends on a variety of factors. High volume products, forexample, tend to command lower rates. At the same time, you get what you pay for. Take Steven Rothberg, president of http://collegerecruiter.com a career site for college students and recent graduates. He pays about 50% more than many other companies in order to attract thebest affiliates possible. About 10%of his revenues come from his affiliate marketing program.
Focus on recruitment and retention
Recruiting high-quality affiliates isone of the toughest parts. While there are lots of choices out there, finding the right partners, getting their attention and negotiating the final details take time - as long as a year in many cases. How to find them? One possibility is to sign on with an affiliate marketing network like Commission Junction. Almost all of http://collegerecruiter.com affiliates, for example, have resulted from its relationship with the network,through a program in which interested affiliates that are a good fit automatically become partners. Another tack: Shawn Collins, co-author of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants (Que, 2001) uses software to determine which affiliates his clients’ competition is using. Then he targets them with phone calls and direct mail.
That’s only the first step. Just because you’ve signed a deal withan affiliate doesn’t mean it will letyou go live. To make sure you are“activated”, as Collins puts it, youalso need to work constantly at staying top of mind. For example, he will send the top twenty affiliates for each client gifts, andcall them at least once a month.
Decide if you’d prefer two tier affiliations
Somewhat like the classic Mary Kay-style Multi-Level Marketing arrangements, these affiliates use a referral network to generate more sales for the company and commissions for themselves. An affiliate that is working with a particular company’s program will attract other partners to join up. It, then, receives commissions from any activity those newer affiliates generate. The system ensures more income for partners throughout the chain and greater visibility for the smallbusiness. Plus, “It saves time if you can’t do your own recruiting,” says Collins.
Find the right affiliatesolution provider
You need a method for tracking traffic, sales and payments. Thereare two ways to go about it. Oneis to install software in-house anddo it yourself. That can be a big job, however, especially if you’re short-handed. The other is to hire a third party to provide the technology and customer supportneeded to facilitate the transaction. You’ll pay a percentage of your affiliate’s commission to the firm.
Watch out for fraud and spam
There are a variety of scams outthere, so be careful. One common type works this way: An affiliate earns a commission on an order that they actually place themselves, after which they return the product. Says Fahncke: “The merchant ends up paying a commission on a productthey didn’t really sell.” As for spam, you can be held legally responsible for the actions of your affiliates that send out junkmail on your behalf.
Affiliate Marketing 001: Understanding the Basics
That’s pretty much how affiliatemarketing works. Through these online programs, you sign on with a partner that markets your product or service, often through a link or banner ad you place on their website. The affiliate then gets a commission based on sales, visits, or customers that result from thoseefforts. It’s the ultimate in pay for performance. “An affiliate partner will do a lot of the marketing for you. And you only owe money if they provide the outcome you want,” says Marty Fahncke, president of FawnKey & Associates, a consulting firm with expertise in affiliate marketing.
At the same time, successful affiliate marketing requires understanding some basics. Here’swhat you should know:
Evaluate your affiliate marketing channels
Your affiliate can be anything from a website or enewsletter toa shopping portal, to name a few.Fahncke points to one client, a small business selling sunglasses, as a case in point. Perhaps their most successful affiliate is a website devoted to bicycling, which recently included an article about the product and a link to their site. The company pays the affiliate a 20% commission on sales. At the same time, however,the firm uses a variety of other affiliates. The bottom line: “You want a good mix of different types of channels,” says Fahncke.
How many? There’s no magic number. You can make money with perhaps twenty, or in some cases, thousands. It all depends on the quality of the partner. Forexample, three or four effective affiliates that specialize in search engine optimization can provide you with as much business as hundreds of mediocre websites, especially if they’re not quite theright fit for your product and demographic.
Scrutinize the affiliate marketing commission
Commissions run the gamut, from 3% to as much as 90%, although the average is around 15% to 20%, according to Fahncke. The amount depends on a variety of factors. High volume products, forexample, tend to command lower rates. At the same time, you get what you pay for. Take Steven Rothberg, president of http://collegerecruiter.com a career site for college students and recent graduates. He pays about 50% more than many other companies in order to attract thebest affiliates possible. About 10%of his revenues come from his affiliate marketing program.
Focus on recruitment and retention
Recruiting high-quality affiliates isone of the toughest parts. While there are lots of choices out there, finding the right partners, getting their attention and negotiating the final details take time - as long as a year in many cases. How to find them? One possibility is to sign on with an affiliate marketing network like Commission Junction. Almost all of http://collegerecruiter.com affiliates, for example, have resulted from its relationship with the network,through a program in which interested affiliates that are a good fit automatically become partners. Another tack: Shawn Collins, co-author of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants (Que, 2001) uses software to determine which affiliates his clients’ competition is using. Then he targets them with phone calls and direct mail.
That’s only the first step. Just because you’ve signed a deal withan affiliate doesn’t mean it will letyou go live. To make sure you are“activated”, as Collins puts it, youalso need to work constantly at staying top of mind. For example, he will send the top twenty affiliates for each client gifts, andcall them at least once a month.
Decide if you’d prefer two tier affiliations
Somewhat like the classic Mary Kay-style Multi-Level Marketing arrangements, these affiliates use a referral network to generate more sales for the company and commissions for themselves. An affiliate that is working with a particular company’s program will attract other partners to join up. It, then, receives commissions from any activity those newer affiliates generate. The system ensures more income for partners throughout the chain and greater visibility for the smallbusiness. Plus, “It saves time if you can’t do your own recruiting,” says Collins.
Find the right affiliatesolution provider
You need a method for tracking traffic, sales and payments. Thereare two ways to go about it. Oneis to install software in-house anddo it yourself. That can be a big job, however, especially if you’re short-handed. The other is to hire a third party to provide the technology and customer supportneeded to facilitate the transaction. You’ll pay a percentage of your affiliate’s commission to the firm.
Watch out for fraud and spam
There are a variety of scams outthere, so be careful. One common type works this way: An affiliate earns a commission on an order that they actually place themselves, after which they return the product. Says Fahncke: “The merchant ends up paying a commission on a productthey didn’t really sell.” As for spam, you can be held legally responsible for the actions of your affiliates that send out junkmail on your behalf.
At the same time, successful affiliate marketing requires understanding some basics. Here’swhat you should know:
Evaluate your affiliate marketing channels
Your affiliate can be anything from a website or enewsletter toa shopping portal, to name a few.Fahncke points to one client, a small business selling sunglasses, as a case in point. Perhaps their most successful affiliate is a website devoted to bicycling, which recently included an article about the product and a link to their site. The company pays the affiliate a 20% commission on sales. At the same time, however,the firm uses a variety of other affiliates. The bottom line: “You want a good mix of different types of channels,” says Fahncke.
How many? There’s no magic number. You can make money with perhaps twenty, or in some cases, thousands. It all depends on the quality of the partner. Forexample, three or four effective affiliates that specialize in search engine optimization can provide you with as much business as hundreds of mediocre websites, especially if they’re not quite theright fit for your product and demographic.
Scrutinize the affiliate marketing commission
Commissions run the gamut, from 3% to as much as 90%, although the average is around 15% to 20%, according to Fahncke. The amount depends on a variety of factors. High volume products, forexample, tend to command lower rates. At the same time, you get what you pay for. Take Steven Rothberg, president of http://collegerecruiter.com a career site for college students and recent graduates. He pays about 50% more than many other companies in order to attract thebest affiliates possible. About 10%of his revenues come from his affiliate marketing program.
Focus on recruitment and retention
Recruiting high-quality affiliates isone of the toughest parts. While there are lots of choices out there, finding the right partners, getting their attention and negotiating the final details take time - as long as a year in many cases. How to find them? One possibility is to sign on with an affiliate marketing network like Commission Junction. Almost all of http://collegerecruiter.com affiliates, for example, have resulted from its relationship with the network,through a program in which interested affiliates that are a good fit automatically become partners. Another tack: Shawn Collins, co-author of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants (Que, 2001) uses software to determine which affiliates his clients’ competition is using. Then he targets them with phone calls and direct mail.
That’s only the first step. Just because you’ve signed a deal withan affiliate doesn’t mean it will letyou go live. To make sure you are“activated”, as Collins puts it, youalso need to work constantly at staying top of mind. For example, he will send the top twenty affiliates for each client gifts, andcall them at least once a month.
Decide if you’d prefer two tier affiliations
Somewhat like the classic Mary Kay-style Multi-Level Marketing arrangements, these affiliates use a referral network to generate more sales for the company and commissions for themselves. An affiliate that is working with a particular company’s program will attract other partners to join up. It, then, receives commissions from any activity those newer affiliates generate. The system ensures more income for partners throughout the chain and greater visibility for the smallbusiness. Plus, “It saves time if you can’t do your own recruiting,” says Collins.
Find the right affiliatesolution provider
You need a method for tracking traffic, sales and payments. Thereare two ways to go about it. Oneis to install software in-house anddo it yourself. That can be a big job, however, especially if you’re short-handed. The other is to hire a third party to provide the technology and customer supportneeded to facilitate the transaction. You’ll pay a percentage of your affiliate’s commission to the firm.
Watch out for fraud and spam
There are a variety of scams outthere, so be careful. One common type works this way: An affiliate earns a commission on an order that they actually place themselves, after which they return the product. Says Fahncke: “The merchant ends up paying a commission on a productthey didn’t really sell.” As for spam, you can be held legally responsible for the actions of your affiliates that send out junkmail on your behalf.
Monday, May 25, 2009
BEST AFFILIATE TIPS
Affiliate programs can be a big source of revenue. The key to maximizing your earnings is engaging your readers. Unlike traditional ads where you are paid for impressions or clicks, affiliates are only paid when/if a specific action is performed. The action might be a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, but regardless, you are not paid until you've compelled your readers to act.
With that in mind, here are the Top 10 Commandments for affiliate marketing success.
1. Know Your Audience
The most successful way to use affiliate programs is to anticipate and meet the needs of your readers. Consider why they are coming to your site. What are you providing that they are looking for? Make sure the affiliate products you are promoting provide a solution to your audience's problems.
If you are writing about sports, don't put up affiliate ads for printer toner just because everyone has a printer and those programs have a high payout. The people who are coming to read commentary or get stats for their favorite teams aren't thinking about those things when they're on your site.
The more relevant the ads are to your readers, the more likely they will use them.
.2. Be Trustworthy
Readers are savvy. They know an affiliate link when they see one. If you break their trust by promoting a product you don't believe in or take advantage of their visit with too many ads, they will leave and never come back.
It is your repeat visitors that will drive traffic. They are the ones who will give you linkbacks, spread the word, and recommend your site as the go-to place for valuable content. You need to build a relationship based on genuine content.
If your visitors don't think you're being honest, they won't read anything else you have to say.
.3. Be Helpful
Think of affiliate ads as additional resources that complement your content. Give value to your content by making it helpful, useful, and informative.
Don't put up a list of your favorite books, hoping people will click on the affiliate link, purchase the books (just because you listed them), so you can cash in on a sale. Take some time to write a detailed review, and use affiliate ads to point them in the right direction if they decide to act on your information. That's what affiliate ads are for. If you write a great review recommending a book and readers buy the book because of it, you should get something for that.
But just throwing out links to products with no rhyme or reason will result in a quick exit by visitors.
.4. Be Transparent
Always disclose your affiliations. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and will feel better about contributing to your earnings. If they sense that you are being less than honest about your affiliations, they are savvy enough to bypass your link and go directly to the vendor just to avoid giving you referral credit.
Honesty and full disclosure is a necessary part to building a loyal reader base. They know they are supporting you by using your referral links. Make them happy and eager to do so.
.5. Select Carefully
Take the time to go through all the different options for products or services available through the programs. Put some thought into which products or services your readers may need or like. Also, change the ads around often, try different ones, and use different graphics and text to see which are the most effective.
It may take some time before you figure out the best formula, and you may also find that you need to continually rotate ads to attract more attention.
.6. Try Different Programs
If one particular program doesn't seem to be working for you, try another one.
Affiliate programs don't look the same. They offer different products, services, and payment structures. Some programs will have a lifetime payout on sales while others will limit it to 30-90 days. Some programs allow much more flexibility in the types of ad units available, as well as colors and design so it fits better on your site's layout.
Also, check your favorite vendors to see if they run their own affiliate program. Sometimes you can go directly to the source. You're not limited to big affiliate networks.
Integrate systematic ad testing into your strategy to maximize your profits.
.7. Write Timeless Content
Your old content can still be valuable even though it's no longer on your front page. Take advantage of the long term opportunities by making sure you provide timeless content.
If visitors come across your older content first, and find that it offers dated information, they will leave right away. Of course, information moves forward, so relevant content changes quickly. You can make your content timeless simply by adding links to your updated articles on your old ones.
Many platforms allow you to show "most recent" or "most popular" or "related articles" on every page, so no matter how old the article is, it will always show access to your new ones. Your old content can make money for you indefinitely.
.8. Be Patient
Affiliate revenue grows and builds up with time. Remember that some programs offer lifetime payouts. If you refer a visitor, you may continue to make money from that one visitor even if he doesn't come back to your site. Also, as long as you have referral links still active in your old posts, they may still payout for you.
Affiliate programs aren't a get rich quick plan, but it provides opportunity to make passive income in the future.
.9. Stay Relevant
Keep up to date on the latest offerings of your affiliate programs. New ad units, advertisers, and tools are constantly being added to improve usability and be more visually appealing. Small changes go a long way in motivating action by readers. You may be left out in the dust by being complacent with your strategy.
Don't get lazy about monitoring trends and exploring new opportunities.
.10. Content Comes First
Above all else, your content must be your highest priority.
Your content is your foundation, the life blood on which the site exists. Without valuable and helpful content, readers won't come. Focus on providing excellent content, and the monetizing strategies will work out.
Once you start compromising your content to cater to the affiliate programs or any other money making venture, you will lose your readers. Once that happens, you will lose the opportunity to receive any earnings from any of your ads, be they CPM, CPC, or referral based.
With that in mind, here are the Top 10 Commandments for affiliate marketing success.
1. Know Your Audience
The most successful way to use affiliate programs is to anticipate and meet the needs of your readers. Consider why they are coming to your site. What are you providing that they are looking for? Make sure the affiliate products you are promoting provide a solution to your audience's problems.
If you are writing about sports, don't put up affiliate ads for printer toner just because everyone has a printer and those programs have a high payout. The people who are coming to read commentary or get stats for their favorite teams aren't thinking about those things when they're on your site.
The more relevant the ads are to your readers, the more likely they will use them.
.2. Be Trustworthy
Readers are savvy. They know an affiliate link when they see one. If you break their trust by promoting a product you don't believe in or take advantage of their visit with too many ads, they will leave and never come back.
It is your repeat visitors that will drive traffic. They are the ones who will give you linkbacks, spread the word, and recommend your site as the go-to place for valuable content. You need to build a relationship based on genuine content.
If your visitors don't think you're being honest, they won't read anything else you have to say.
.3. Be Helpful
Think of affiliate ads as additional resources that complement your content. Give value to your content by making it helpful, useful, and informative.
Don't put up a list of your favorite books, hoping people will click on the affiliate link, purchase the books (just because you listed them), so you can cash in on a sale. Take some time to write a detailed review, and use affiliate ads to point them in the right direction if they decide to act on your information. That's what affiliate ads are for. If you write a great review recommending a book and readers buy the book because of it, you should get something for that.
But just throwing out links to products with no rhyme or reason will result in a quick exit by visitors.
.4. Be Transparent
Always disclose your affiliations. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and will feel better about contributing to your earnings. If they sense that you are being less than honest about your affiliations, they are savvy enough to bypass your link and go directly to the vendor just to avoid giving you referral credit.
Honesty and full disclosure is a necessary part to building a loyal reader base. They know they are supporting you by using your referral links. Make them happy and eager to do so.
.5. Select Carefully
Take the time to go through all the different options for products or services available through the programs. Put some thought into which products or services your readers may need or like. Also, change the ads around often, try different ones, and use different graphics and text to see which are the most effective.
It may take some time before you figure out the best formula, and you may also find that you need to continually rotate ads to attract more attention.
.6. Try Different Programs
If one particular program doesn't seem to be working for you, try another one.
Affiliate programs don't look the same. They offer different products, services, and payment structures. Some programs will have a lifetime payout on sales while others will limit it to 30-90 days. Some programs allow much more flexibility in the types of ad units available, as well as colors and design so it fits better on your site's layout.
Also, check your favorite vendors to see if they run their own affiliate program. Sometimes you can go directly to the source. You're not limited to big affiliate networks.
Integrate systematic ad testing into your strategy to maximize your profits.
.7. Write Timeless Content
Your old content can still be valuable even though it's no longer on your front page. Take advantage of the long term opportunities by making sure you provide timeless content.
If visitors come across your older content first, and find that it offers dated information, they will leave right away. Of course, information moves forward, so relevant content changes quickly. You can make your content timeless simply by adding links to your updated articles on your old ones.
Many platforms allow you to show "most recent" or "most popular" or "related articles" on every page, so no matter how old the article is, it will always show access to your new ones. Your old content can make money for you indefinitely.
.8. Be Patient
Affiliate revenue grows and builds up with time. Remember that some programs offer lifetime payouts. If you refer a visitor, you may continue to make money from that one visitor even if he doesn't come back to your site. Also, as long as you have referral links still active in your old posts, they may still payout for you.
Affiliate programs aren't a get rich quick plan, but it provides opportunity to make passive income in the future.
.9. Stay Relevant
Keep up to date on the latest offerings of your affiliate programs. New ad units, advertisers, and tools are constantly being added to improve usability and be more visually appealing. Small changes go a long way in motivating action by readers. You may be left out in the dust by being complacent with your strategy.
Don't get lazy about monitoring trends and exploring new opportunities.
.10. Content Comes First
Above all else, your content must be your highest priority.
Your content is your foundation, the life blood on which the site exists. Without valuable and helpful content, readers won't come. Focus on providing excellent content, and the monetizing strategies will work out.
Once you start compromising your content to cater to the affiliate programs or any other money making venture, you will lose your readers. Once that happens, you will lose the opportunity to receive any earnings from any of your ads, be they CPM, CPC, or referral based.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Finding the ideal affiliate Company
I was winding my way up the levels of a very crowded parking garage the other day. The line of cars desperately seeking a spot ahead of me kept turning to the right.
So, of course, it occured to me that perhaps there would be less competition for a space if I went via "the road less traveled by", to the left. And indeed, there was.
Unless you are an Internet Newbie, you've probably learned by now that making money on the web isn't easy ... certainly not as easy as many sales pitches would have you believe.
Yet, this doesn't seem to deter the millions trying to compete in perhaps the most crowded web market of them all, namely, Internet Marketing.
This is not to suggest that great success is not possible in Internet Marketing. To the contrary, I can rattle off a number of names that were virtually unheard of a year ago who have done tremendously well.
They did so with innovative tools or insights that contributed something new and valuable to this marketplace. They also possessed outstanding copywriting and marketing skills that turned their innovations into sales. And in every case, they worked their tails off.
But compared to the huge numbers of people trying, real success in this field is something truly special, rather than the norm.
The fact remains, however, that money making opportunities still abound on the Internet. There are "green pastures" all around us and I believe smart marketers will use the skills they've learned in our very crowded marketplace to their great advantage elsewhere as well.
Where do you look for them? Well, I've found that digging around the search engines provides a wealth of information.
I found that the seach term "homework helper" was getting over 8,000 searches a month, which probably translates to at least 5 times that number on Google.
What's more, there were only 88,000 listings for the term on Google ... a far cry from the usual million+ results for the typical Internet Marketing term.
With more digging, many more opportunities in this niche were uncovered. The result? A new, profitable "non-marketing" web site was born.
This site, in just over two months, is now getting nearly as much traffic as my main site, over a year old, and looks to go roaring past it this month.
This opportunity potential is virtually everywhere. It's just a matter of doing a little research.
Here's a couple more quick examples:
Want to get into the "sun glass" business ... or set up an Affiliate site for this niche? "Polarized sun glasses" gets 3481 Overture searches, but only 23,400 Google listings. Again, opportunity.
Interested in paintball? "Paintball supply" gets 14,010 Overture searches, but has only 45,400 Google listings. Can the opportunity knock much louder?
I found both of these in about 7 minutes by jumping back and forth between Overture and Google. What are you interested in? Ready for a little digging?
I'm not suggesting that people abandon their Internet Marketing dreams by any means. There are certainly great achievements ahead. But why not, at the same time, "take the road less traveled by" and use your web marketing expertise in less crowded niches steeped in opportunity?
So, of course, it occured to me that perhaps there would be less competition for a space if I went via "the road less traveled by", to the left. And indeed, there was.
Unless you are an Internet Newbie, you've probably learned by now that making money on the web isn't easy ... certainly not as easy as many sales pitches would have you believe.
Yet, this doesn't seem to deter the millions trying to compete in perhaps the most crowded web market of them all, namely, Internet Marketing.
This is not to suggest that great success is not possible in Internet Marketing. To the contrary, I can rattle off a number of names that were virtually unheard of a year ago who have done tremendously well.
They did so with innovative tools or insights that contributed something new and valuable to this marketplace. They also possessed outstanding copywriting and marketing skills that turned their innovations into sales. And in every case, they worked their tails off.
But compared to the huge numbers of people trying, real success in this field is something truly special, rather than the norm.
The fact remains, however, that money making opportunities still abound on the Internet. There are "green pastures" all around us and I believe smart marketers will use the skills they've learned in our very crowded marketplace to their great advantage elsewhere as well.
Where do you look for them? Well, I've found that digging around the search engines provides a wealth of information.
I found that the seach term "homework helper" was getting over 8,000 searches a month, which probably translates to at least 5 times that number on Google.
What's more, there were only 88,000 listings for the term on Google ... a far cry from the usual million+ results for the typical Internet Marketing term.
With more digging, many more opportunities in this niche were uncovered. The result? A new, profitable "non-marketing" web site was born.
This site, in just over two months, is now getting nearly as much traffic as my main site, over a year old, and looks to go roaring past it this month.
This opportunity potential is virtually everywhere. It's just a matter of doing a little research.
Here's a couple more quick examples:
Want to get into the "sun glass" business ... or set up an Affiliate site for this niche? "Polarized sun glasses" gets 3481 Overture searches, but only 23,400 Google listings. Again, opportunity.
Interested in paintball? "Paintball supply" gets 14,010 Overture searches, but has only 45,400 Google listings. Can the opportunity knock much louder?
I found both of these in about 7 minutes by jumping back and forth between Overture and Google. What are you interested in? Ready for a little digging?
I'm not suggesting that people abandon their Internet Marketing dreams by any means. There are certainly great achievements ahead. But why not, at the same time, "take the road less traveled by" and use your web marketing expertise in less crowded niches steeped in opportunity?
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