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Archive for December, 2007
Thanks Very Much Premier Affiliates
This month has been a busy one and I am grateful for any thing that makes my day happier, so I was very happy this morning when I received a great christmas gift from Lee Ann at premier affiliates - they sent me some yummy chocolate.
I have always been impressed by the guys over at premier affiliates, Lee Ann has always answered the questions I have and provided the content and info I have needed quickly. Premier affiliates currently promote three brands, The Sun Bingo, orange mobile and Homeserve. I have spoken to the guys and they have informed me they will be promoting a great deal more companies and organisations in 2008.
The thing that impresses me about premier is their willingness to help, they will make your life as an affiliate easier, which during the busiest time of the year is very welcome. So get your self over to premier affiliates and work with some of the best affiliate managers today!
Richard
Popularity: 48% [?]
Dragons Den Gaming Alerts Update Show
I am sure many of you watched the original dragons den show where Theo Paphitus gave £200,000 for 30% of gaming alerts. Many online affiliates congratulated the company for getting the investment, some thought Theo had gone mad and all of us laughed at the fact Duncan Bannatyne thought online bingo is ‘not popular’.
On Tuesday I watched the update show with interest, admittedly the show did not give much away (I was disappointed to say the least). However what was said was interesting, I definitely got the impression that they now work for Theo as they now work in his office and not their own - that to me seems like he now holds the cards.
That said I am sure they will benefit from the arrangement in the long run, I can’t wait for an update next year to see how far they have progressed. Good luck gaming alerts and well done for that amazing investment (oh and good luck Theo - if you want to invest in my business please feel free to contact me!)
Popularity: 28% [?]
Why do affiliate conversion rates vary?
I often receive emails about specific affiliate programs click through rates and conversion rates. Affiliates often wonder why their high click through rates provide little return and this causes them to question the sites they are promoting or even their own websites design and content. Every affiliate wants their site to produce the sale but the fact of the matter is you could be losing out to other sellers or directly due to the sites you promote. As with other aspects of affiliate marketing conversion to sales rate is reliant on a number of factors.
There are a few questions you should ask yourself (or others):
Have you analysed the landing page your link(s) point to? Would you be compelled to buy if you were the customer? Does the landing page tell the same story that your sales page tells? Are your visitors arriving from natural search or pay per click? Once you have asked these questions and the answers are all positive you can think about the other factors that contribute to click through and result in sales.
To analyse these factors you must follow the same route your leads would. This is all starts at the search engines your main source of traffic (whether that be natural or pay per click).
Step one: The person visits a search engine and they type in what they are looking for (this is called the keyword or key-term). They are trying to solve their problem and fulfill a need - this is the service your site should provide. Some of the results they see are natural and some will inevitably be paid links. If the person likes what they see in your description they are likely to click on your sites link, does your ad answer their question? solve their problem or address their need? All of this is important. A good example would be a site that sells x widgets being found in the search engines for the term y widgets, when the user clicks through to your site expecting to see x widgets and see y widgets they are likely to be dissapointed and annoyed, resulting in a lost sale. If this is not the case you can move on to step two.
Step two: Remember your users/visitors have arrived at your site looking for an answer to their question. So your content should provide an answer to that question. For example your user may have typed in cheapest consoles and you may be providing price comparison for consoles - in which case you have solved their problem and are more likely to get a click through - well done. Now move on to the next step.
Step three: Once you are producing good click through rates through your affiliates link the battle is half won. However, if these clicks result in little or no sales it is probably worth considering the landing page your link points to. As mentioned before it is important that your information matches the information provided on the affiliate sales page, it must also compell the person to buy. If it doesn’t contact the sites affiliate manager to talk it through. If they want to make more money they will want to listen to their affiliates and make changes to improve sales, if they don’t then it may be time to switch to a different affiliate program. Tomorrow we will discuss the ins and outs of choosing the right keywords for your pay per click campaign -this also affects click through and sales.
As usual I hope this info has proved useful and would welcome any comments or input you may have.
Popularity: 37% [?]
Affiliate Future (IBG) Sold To TMN
The affiliate network affiliate future have been bought by TMN PLC for a reported £9.8 million. A recommended offer has been made of 12.75 pence per share to secure the takeover.
We all expected a take over in the near future but I don’t think anyone would have guessed it would happen the same week as the DGM takeover earlier this week. The christmas spirit seems to be in full flow with all the takeovers going on, I wonder who will be next?
Popularity: 28% [?]
What Is The Best Affiliate Niche
I have been involved in affiliate marketing for a few years now and one of the most frequently asked questions I receive is what are the best affiliate niches to base my site on? And the first answer I always give is . . ., Well that’s the trouble, there is no short answer as it relies on a number of factors.
One of the most important factors when starting an affiliate site is related to another question ‘is their a need for your site?’. If there is no demand for the product you are planning to promote then their will be little value in running the site. So make sure their is a demand for your site before you even start, this can be researched by searching forums and the search engines, if someone else is running and updating a site frequently then their is a good chance they are making money from it.
Once you have identified a need for your planned niche site it is important to consider your interest in the subject, is this something you are passionate about? Or would like to learn more about, if the answer is no then running the site will be a chore and you might be better off choosing another niche - that said you can always outsource content creation to others if needs be.
After these first two tasks are complete you can move on to researching how you will make money from your site. You may choose direct ad sales, Google AdSense or other pay per click services - it is important to have an idea of what you could make. Therefor one of your first ports of call should be the affiliate programs you are going to promote. Take a look at what forms of reward the sites offer, this will probably be a revenue share model or Cost Per Acquisition or a combination of the two (hybrid). Consider how much can you make per lead/sale or what rev share will you gain from each lead? Revenue is not the be all and end all in the affiliate world but as the saying goes ‘money makes the world go round’.
The most important thing to remember is that affiliate marketing is a diverse and not straight path - affiliate niches and programs are constantly evolving so it important you do the same with your chosen niche (like wise if you realise your chosen topic is a duffer then give it a go for a while then dump it and move on).
I said there was no straight answer, I could have listed a long list of sites who offer great commissions, but this would not work for everyone. Affiliate marketing should be a fun journey, so do your research, choose something that interests you and get promoting.
Popularity: 35% [?]