Your affiliate publishing site needs to adjust its strategy as much
as any other business element to address changing market needs and
environments. This could be a real match winner as opposed to be doing
nothing which might lead to the loss of value of your entire site.
Statistics show that only a small percentage of affiliates for any
given program actually make any money. Analyze your Web site and the
programs that you have signed up for. There's a lot of advice out there
on which programs to pick for your Web site, highest commissions,
monthly payout, online reporting, etc., etc., etc.
What programs compliment your Web site's content and theme are much
more important than signing up for every program promising to make you
rich with only one sale.
One of my Web sites caters to a highly targeted audience. I have
tried many affiliate programs and advertising solutions on that site
over the past two years. You know which program consistently beats all
others?
Amazon.com!
Have you blended the product offerings in with your content? Find
another program and give it the same due diligence. If you do this with
each and everyone of your targeted programs, you WILL find a program
that will perform for you!
by Chuck McCullough (Syndication via iBoost e-biz)
Let's face it, no matter how well a particular product may
do on other Web sites, it just might not be right for yours. Statistics show that
only a small percentage of affiliates for any given program actually make any
money. What happens if you are one of those that falls into the category not making
money? Is it time to take down the site and let the domain name registration expire?
No way! But it just might be the right time to make some changes to your strategy.
Analyze your Web site and the programs that you have signed up for. Determine
which of those REALLY appeal to your target audience. I said REALLY because I
want you to look at the programs from the viewpoint of your visitors, not from
the viewpoint of which ones are supposed to make you the most money.
There's
a lot of advice out there on which programs to pick for your Web site, highest
commissions, monthly payout, online reporting, etc., etc., etc. The fact is that
you don't always have that choice to make. You need to concentrate on the products
that your visitors will be the most interested in. What programs compliment your
Web site's content and theme are much more important than signing up for every
program promising to make you rich with only one sale.
I'm
a great example of the above information. One of my Web sites caters to a highly
targeted audience. I have tried many affiliate programs and advertising solutions
on that site over the past two years. You know which program consistently beats
all others?
Amazon.com!
I get paid quarterly not monthly (make
that a month or two after the quarter has ended), I only get credited for that
visit, not repeat visits, and up until about a month ago had to wait until Monday
of each week for my emailed statistics.
Believe it or not
boys and girls,
Amazon.com doesn't fit into the 'model affiliate program' mold
that we read so much about. Now, I'm not trying to be hypocritical here, I too
feel that you should do your best to find quality affiliate programs that offer
all of the above
benefits and then some.
I'm just trying to
tell you that if you find a program that really appeals to your target audience,
you CAN make some money with it. Don't pass up products that your visitors would
really be interested in just because they don't pay you enough. Because if your
visitors really do purchase from a particular program and you can show consistent
sales you will be able to appeal to the merchant and ask them to increase their
payout to you.
This happens a lot in this industry, especially
if it is a good fit for both sides. Worse case you might be able to get away with
telling them that if they don't cooperate with you, you're going to change to
another program. Chances are they don't want to lose your business, and they will
work something out for you.
So now we've done the easy part
and dumped the programs that we know aren't appropriate for our site. What about
the ones that are fairly targeted to our content and that our visitors might be
interested in? How do we know when the amount that we are going to earn doesn't
justify the time and effort to promote a particular program?
I
once read that you should give at least 3000 impressions to any given program
before making the decision to keep it or drop it. I don't quite agree with this
statement. According to this, I post a banner on my site, and if it hasn't made
me any money by 3000 impressions, dump it.
We all know (at
least I hope we do!) that there is much more to being successful with affiliate
programs than just adding banners to your rotation.
So how
do we set a benchmark? This has to be determined by you. It is based on your Web
site, your visitors, the program, and the amount of effort you have put into promoting
the program.
Have you blended the product offerings in with
your content? Have you given personal recommendations for any of the products?
Have you displayed the links and/or graphics prominently so that the majority
of your traffic has a chance to see them? Have you mentioned new product offerings
to your newsletter subscribers?
If you can answer yes to the
majority of the above questions, then you can make a determination as to how long
to try the affiliate program. If you've done these things and your visitors have
passed right by the offerings for a decent time frame and nothing has happened,
its time to move on!
Find another program and give it the
same due diligence. If you do this with each and everyone of your targeted programs,
you WILL find a program that will perform for you!
This process
should be familiar to you. Many, many Internet marketers preach this concept.
It is simply known as... TESTING!! Your online career is a series of continual
tests. Try one product. If it doesn't work for you, get rid of it and try another
one. After you have done this testing, then and only then, can you say "When"
to an affiliate program.
And: who says you could only use the
international Amazon.com associate account? If you operate out of and in
other or various geographical areas, why not using the respective local
Amazon sites, see examples here:
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