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by Webmaster Outpost Staff
Strategy: "Make them Want to Click" – All too often we see sites with affiliates and advertisements posted that either have nothing to do with the content, or are not located near the content that talks about the related topic. Don't just pollute your site with affiliate links, carefully place them where they make sense.
If you are new to the concept of affiliates, then let us explain briefly how this works, and how you make money! First, the owner of a web site decides they want to attract more traffic to their site (like you do, but on a much more serious scale). They either want to sell something, or just get some serious traffic (possibly to generate advertising revenue), and to do so they are willing to pay other webmasters who are willing to help.
Typically, the owner will contact an affiliate management company who handles registering affiliates, tracking their referrals and issuing the checks. While some companies run their own affiliate program, we prefer those that use a third party. It just makes the whole process seem more honest. We have (had) some affiliates that we know we sent loads of traffic, yet we never were credited or paid.
Now, you get into the picture. Other webmasters either (a) visit the owner's web site and see information about an affiliate program or (b) visit the management company's web site and see what programs a listed. Once you are registered, the management company provides you with all the necessary specially-coded links. All you do is place them onto your web pages.
That's right. There are actually three types of affiliates that we are aware of, although people are creating new concepts all the time. First, there is the simple referral affiliate. They pay you an amount for every visitor that you send them through an affiliate link. This is the easiest and most lucrative affiliate, although the dollar amount is usually lower.
Second, there is the commission affiliate. They pay you a certain amount (usually a percentage) for each purchase made by a visitor that you sent them through an affiliate link. This is more difficult to be successful with, since you will send them many more visitors than will make a purchase. Still, if the product they sell is closely related to your subject matter, the success rate could still be worth your while.
Lastly, there are a growing number of sign-up affiliates. They pay you a fixed amount (often higher than referrals) for each visitor you send them through an affiliate link that registers with their service, or signs-up for their newsletter. Again, we find these to be less than stellar unless their subject matter closely matches your own.
If you haven't already, you should prepare a list of keywords for the topics covered within your content. From this list, you should visit several management company web sites and register for affiliates that relate to one of your keywords. The more relevant an affiliate is to your subject matter, the more likely a visitor will leave through an affiliate link.
Next, think of some larger companies that related to your keywords. Check out their home pages to see if they have an affiliate program. If they do, register. If they don't suggest they start one!
This is the most important part of the process, so pay close attention. Go back to your content (preferably in the word processor) and look for relevant places in the text to place an affiliate link. Affiliates will give you certain options, banners, search boxes, buttons and text links. We feel text links in context are the most successful way to make money.
For each of your affiliates, make a list of keywords or phrases that signify what the affiliate has to offer (e.g. books for sale, your favorite music, office supplies, etc.) that may/may not match the keywords for your site. Take this list of phrases and highlight (bold) them in your content. We also put a comment in [ brackets ] with the name of the affiliate. This way when you turn the content into HTML, you'll know where to place the affiliate link.
You may also consider re-writing some of your content to fit in some of the affiliate phrases. A slight change in a paragraph could net you some serious returns.
"I thought affiliates should be put at the top of the page?" – Yes, many people subscribe to this approach. We prefer to reserve the top of page location for advertisers, although occasionally we will place an affiliate banner at the top if we want to guarantee the visitor exists to them.
We love affiliates that provide product level links. What better way to get a visitor to click on an affiliate link, then to tell them about a related product? For example, as you are writing about a specific topic, it is great to include a link to a related book. As they say, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The closer you get a visitor to making a purchase, the better chance you have of making a commission.
Just like you did when you were placing the affiliate links, find products from affiliates which match your keywords and place them into your content. Now, however, you should try to mention the product name as part of the content. We often use a lead-in sentence like, "For more information on [topic], refer to [author]'s book entitled [title]." Again, notice how you are leading them to an affiliate link, as opposed to just having a banner at the top of the page.
Some affiliate management companies require a minimal down payment (of around $500 USD) to get started and you could start driving traffic to your site. Just like a Pay-per-click arrangement, if you offer a $0.02 (USD) referral payment, but can get visitors to click on $0.05 (USD) affiliate links, you are still making a sizeable profit.