Web Marketing Strategy Update

Affiliate marketing can be hard work, but there are a lot of tools out there that can make it easier. Here is a quick look at a few must-have tools for visualization, automation and tracking that will help you to save time and increase your conversion ratio.

Google Adwords Keywords Tool

The Google Adwords Keywords tool is a free keyword research tool. It’s designed for people looking to bid on Google Adwords, but you can use it to get a general idea of how competitive your chosen niche is too. There are other keyword tools out there, such as Market Samuri, but it’s hard to beat this one because it’s so comprehensive, and as long as you’re logged in to your Google account you can enjoy free, unrestricted searches.

Skimlinks

Skimlinks is a link conversion service which is incredibly easy to set up. Simply add some javascript to your page template, and skimlinks will convert relevant text on your site to affiliate links. Skimlinks operates under a 25% revenue share model, but it’s worth using simply because of the speed and convenience it offers.

Duplicator for WordPress

If you plan to run a lot of affiliate websites and you will be using WordPress for them, then this free plugin will save you a lot of time. As the name suggests, Duplicator can be used to copy your WordPress settings. This allows you to tweak one site and get it exactly how you like it, then copy those settings to every WordPress site that you set up in the future.

Even if you only run one or two sites, duplicator is still handy – you can use it as a backup tool, or when you need to move sites from one host to another.

SEO Quake

SEO Quake is a browser plugin that is available for Chrome and Firefox. This plugin combines the features of several popular browser plugins, showing you page rank, incoming link counts, social media references and bookmark counts for the page that you currently have open in your browser. It also analyses pages and offers keyword density information. You can use this to analyse the popularity of your own site or to “spy” on your competitors.

Google Analytics Content Experiments

Good affiliate marketers are constantly testing new layouts, calls to action, sales pages, and social media marketing strategies. The problem with testing so many different things is that it can be hard to tell what’s working and what’s not.

Google Analytics Content Experiments helps you to test different page designs and strategies. Define goals for each page, and run these detailed reports to get an at-a-glance overview of the performance of each page on your site. You can define what percentage of your visitors will see each page, and get up-to-the minute information about the results of your experiment. If you can tell that the experiment isn’t working out, you can stop the test with just a few mouse clicks, preventing loss of revenue and saving a lot of time compared to having to manually update links and remove pages.

B. Frisby writes for ClickSure. Find out more about them at their help centre.

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About 7 years ago, I was writing content for multiple affiliate websites. Websites could rank for terms using very little content and affiliates could get away with using the same content as the manufacturer of the product.

I watched my content get republished on multiple sites and as much as I wanted to complain about it, I was not the owner of the content. The company I worked for was. The same person could even own several domains that sold the same products and rank for all of them. The company I worked for did that well.

All that has changed – these types of websites have tanked – and it’s no easy task making money from affiliate products any more.

The Domain Issue

Naturally, the best domain belongs to the manufacturer. I’ve seen sites succeed with misspelled versions of the domain, but since the automatic correction of spelling in search, that trick has gone down the tubes. If you register a domain with the product name in it, you could receive a DMC when your site starts ranking.

Your best bet is to try to find a domain that encompasses the type of products you’ll be offering whether they fall under herbal supplements, toys, etc. In terms of ranking, you are competing not only with the manufacturer, but all the other affiliate websites out there. Your affiliate link can outrank the manufacturers. I’ve seen this. But, if the manufacturer is smart, they’ll capture your affiliate url with cookies and redirect it to the target page on their website, helping their site to rank better for the term.

How Can You Succeed?

A lot of times, when manufacturers have affiliates doing all the link and traffic building for them, they are not very concerned with the quality of their own content. That’s where you can step in and make your content better. If everyone is reading virtually the same information on the manufacturer’s website and the affiliates’ websites, you could be providing something that none of them are.

Most of these affiliates are writing about products they have never tried. You can try them yourself, in cases where it makes sense, and share your opinion of the product. You can gather feedback from others who have. Share a survey, share health facts, share care tips, how-to information, etc. Read what the other sites are saying about the product and figure out what no one is sharing.

Work with affiliate products that are being marketed. If a product is being supported by infommercials, people will be searching for it by its name and what it does. A product that is not promoted by the manufacturer creates more work for you to create awareness and people won’t be searching for the brand name.

Provide legitimate contact information on your website. Often, the about us page for affiliates is a form which doesn’t lend any credibility to the website. If you’re committed to success, a full-blown site with a good design and quality content will outrank a cookie cutter affiliate site any day.

Theresa Happe works with Afternic.com where you can buy and sell domain names in any niche and price range.

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The festive season is here again, which is great news for Amazon Affiliates. Each year, the month of December brings with it a significant boost in conversions and hence, in commissions.

If you’re looking for a way to monetize your website, Amazon’s Affiliate Programme is a convenient and potentially highly profitable way of doing so. Here are eight reasons why you should consider the programme — and not just for December.

Amazon is a Trusted Retailer

Regardless of how popular your website becomes, first time visitors are unlikely to trust you with their credit card details. Almost everyone, on the other hand, trusts Amazon. It’s one of the most well known names online.

Because of this, when one of your readers finds something that they like, they will feel confident in their ability to make a purchase safely. The same certainly cannot be said for many alternative affiliates.

Handsome Profits

Many people are put off the idea of joining Amazons Affiliate program because of the measly four percent commission rate. While four percent is certainly low, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make some serious money.

When somebody spends a thousand dollars after clicking one of your links, that work’s out to forty dollars for you. And four figure purchases are by no means unusual. It’s also worth noting that four percent is only the base rate of commission. The more sales you make, the higher your rate of commission.

Commission Regardless of What’s Ordered

One of the main reasons that it’s possible to make ample profit even with a four percent rate of commission is that blog owners receive a commission regardless of what’s purchased.

If you include a link to a ten dollar e book and the person that clicks on that link goes on to purchase something significantly more expensive, you receive a commission regardless.

Easy to Implement

Outside of Adsense, Amazons Affiliate program is probably the easiest way to monetize your blog in terms of actual implementation. There are ample plug ins available that allow you to add Amazon ads to your blog within a matter of seconds.

Easy to Understand

For those with limited experience in the world of affiliate marketing, Amazons Affiliate Programme can make the perfect introduction. It’s also nice to know right from the start that you are dealing with a reputable company who isn’t going to run off with your profits.

No Restriction on Size of Site

Another similarity to Adsense can be found in the fact that Amazons Affiliate program can be used to monetize just about any site. There are no restrictions on website age or traffic levels.

Not only is this obviously beneficial for owners of small sites, it allows those with multiple blogs, and even micro niche sites, to monetize all of their web properties with a single affiliate.

Suitable for Just About Every Niche

The wide range of products makes it very easy to find products to promote regardless of your site’s niche. At the very least, provided that there are books available that cover your site niche, Amazons Affiliate program can be used to monetize it. It’s therefore ideal for those who find themselves blogging about a less than commercial topic.

Multiple Payment Methods

Finally, as an Amazon Affiliate, you can choose from multiple payment methods, one of which is products from the store itself. While this is more of a perk than a genuine benefit, it can be incredibly satisfying getting paid in consumer electronics. It’s also obviously ideal when you have a little bit of Christmas shopping to do.

Andrew Lucas is a tech geek, who blogs about online marketing strategies and web hosting services.

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In a recent post I wrote about how affiliate marketers can capitalize on the power of comparison technology to build a useful website which earns serious revenue via commissions.

Of course without traffic though, your clever, shiny new comparison site is never going earn anything. Most seasoned affiliates out there will agree that traffic isn’t as easy to come by as it once was. Most of us have been priced out of paid search. Constant Google updates make SEO less reliable and display advertising rarely delivers a positive ROI for affiliates. That’s by no means to say affiliates can’t and don’t get their fair share of traffic, it’s just that the smaller guys are struggling to compete with super-affiliates like the moneysupermarket’s and confused.com’s of today’s Internet.
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