Using Independent Affiliate Programs

So, you are finally interested in affiliating a specific product, only to find out it's not on one of the big name affiliate networks. Guess what, PepperJam Network and CJ don't have all the affiliate programs out there and sometimes the smaller guy can pay bigger commissions by eliminating the middle man. That's why I also use independent affiliate programs in conjunction with the big networks to maximize my earnings.

The largest benefit I've seen to using an independent affiliate program is the level of service. Generally speaking, these guys want your business bad and are willing to go the distance to make sure you are happy. I've personally had custom ads created for my use and had questions answered so fast it'll make your head spin. Not saying that PJN and CJ don't do a good job at customer service, but there is something refreshing about getting help from someone who is generally interested in your success.

But let's be honest, the real reason we are all here, independent affiliate programs can and do pay more money. This becomes especially true with digital products and media, where the distribution can be handled in house. Therefore there is no middle man, only me the salesman (affiliate) and the manufacturer (product creator). This means I get a bigger piece of the pie that would normally go to pay PJN and CJ's expenses.

Affiliate Espionage Update For FireFox 3.5

There needs to be an update made so that Affiliate Espionage Fire Fox plugin will work with the latest release v3.5. Like an idiot, I went ahead and upgraded my browser, without first waiting for a release by the plugin developer. Hopefully I won't have to wait too terribly long.

This plugin has proved priceless for a few of my Adword campaigns and has provided me with a wealth of keyword ideas. It's been awhile since an update has been made, so hopefully there is something in the works as I hit 'Publish Post'.

What Makes A Landing Page Suck

Scoring a sale is more than just getting a visitor to click, it requires a sales technique projected through a quality landing page. Unfortunately, living in a world where visitors have the attention span of a gnat, we see landing pages being chocked full of flashy text telling the consumer what they want to hear. This does not always translate into a sale and more times than not will discourage the visitor and resent such an in your face sales attempt.

Images


Stock photography is another method used by landing pages that show people completely unrelated supposedly jumping for joy over whatever you are trying to sell. Guess what, buyers are not stupid, they saw those same 20 somethings excited over car insurance that are now trying to push your Viagra lead.

My suggestion, be creative, take some of your own pictures. Or at least, if you are serious about your affiliate business, try purchasing some one off photos. You gotta spend money to make money.

Long Ass Page

Ugh, the dreaded 5 page, page. It's a never ending wall of text and quotes that never seems to end, no matter how far your scroll bar takes you. If it takes you that long to sell me, chances are you need to rethink your sales tactic. Remember, consumers online generally don't have that long of an attention spam. To put it into perspective, would you really want that used cars salesman to go on for 45 mins about the $1,000 car you are about to buy?

My suggestion would be to use better descriptive terms and consolidate wordy paragraphs. Flowery talk can work depending on what niche you are working in, but generally short, sweet, and descriptive sentences will get the job done. Tell the buyer what they want to know and nothing else. This can better be accomplished by having multiple landing pages, focused on the keywords or ads used to find the page.

Unrealistic Quotes

Again, this gets back to the idea that the people you are selling to are not complete retards. Show some respect to those about to spend money with you, don't try and pull a smooth one by them by having outlandish quotes from supposed customers. I don't care how great the product is, no one will be quoted as saying that your digital download was better than an orgasm.

My suggestion, get real quotes from real customers. If you are an affiliate then generally you can contact the company offering the product and request some reviews from actual customers. If this is not possible, then please don't fall into the trap of making junk up, just leave big quote marks off of your landing page.



Afterthoughts

Look, I know not everyone can create sales worthy landing pages that convert well, but there are alternatives available. For starters there are always graphic artists available to create these pages for you, assuming you are good at writing and can write up the copy. Or, there are free landing page templates available that can get you started on the right track.

Good luck affiliating, it's been a touch summer so far for some, and the end of the year isn't looking any better.

Bing Not Showing Up As A Search Engine

Those of you keeping a close eye on your web stats over the past few days may have noticed that Bing is not being recorded as a search engine. As of now I've been using HiStats for my reporting and it lists Bing underneath referral websites, instead of search engine referrals. This may be happening with other tracking programs as well, so keep an eye out.

As far as Bing is concerned, I've been receiving respectable traffic from them so far. Their rankings seem to be on par with Google and I'm actually higher in a specific keywords. Hopefully this additional traffic will hold out. I hate having all my eggs in the Google basket.

Automatically Generate Amazon Product Posts

This is another great WordPress plugin I've been using to help populate my blogs with product posts. Amazon Auto Poster was created by Lunatic Studios and is available for immediate download for free or $29.99 for a premium version.

Basically this WP plugin will automatically generate posts, complete with comments, reviews, and descriptions from Amazon. Simply enter a keyword, starting point, how many posts, how frequent to publish, and hit go! It really is that simple to start adding post inventory, complete with your Amazon affiliate ID, to your blog.

The Amazon Auto Blog Poster plugin will also add images from Amazon.com to your blog. Each image is linked to your affiliate ID, so if a visitor clicks on the image they are taken to the Amazon sales page with your tracking cookie in place. Furthermore, the comments (reviews for each product) are also links to the Amazon product page with your tracking cookie in place as well.

See the Amazon Auto Post plugin in action on my Golfing Blog.
Click Here - To Download The Free Version of Amazon Auto Poster (Shows me Affiliate Commission Love)

Extend:
More Affiliate Plugins For Wordpress

Chitika Big Ass Ad

Believe it or not, there is a reason ads are placed in obnoxious places on websites, it's because they convert. Chitika has just released a giant ad, which converts awesome, but can look a little out of place on some websites. But, if it converts and you don't lose visitors, what's to lose?

According to Chitika the new 550x250 ad is generating close to 4 times more clicks than the next closest performing size. Like other Chitika ads, the Mega Big Ass unit comes complete with images next to the text advertisements, thus increasing your click throughs greatly.



As a side note, in regards to a Chitika Review I made a few months ago, their cost per clicks are increasing. At least in the automotive niche where the majority of my earnings come from, I'm seeing my earnings per click increase on almost a weekly basis. Where I was once only receiving 3-4 cents per click, I'm now seeing $.13- $.15 per click.

And lastly, in regards to their audited earnings report. Last month I did not receive a cut in my earnings. What was reported on a daily basis was within pennies of what I was actually paid out at the end of the month. So no worries on getting robbed of bad clicks, they do a good job of filtering out the junk live.

Server Woes With CPC Affiliate Marketing

Like a lot of affiliate marketers I follow a very basic and simplified plan. I build a website, add content, some affiliate links, and then for immediate traffic create an Adwords campaign to start bringing in the buying customers. Obviously this is oversimplified but is extremely effective when everything jives. This week is not one of those weeks.

My dedicated host at ManageMyBox has decided to take a dump and be down about 50% of the time. This means that I'm constantly in monitoring mode to jump over to my Adwords account and shut down campaigns as to not waste any money. Obviously sending clicks to a dead server only wastes money, thus killing any kind of ROI I was working with.

Furthermore without a reliable server that visitors can be sent to means testing is null and void. You really don't know how many times they were greeted with a time-out or 404 error. It's impossible to be successful without a constant connection, playing field, reliable, garrrrrr

Yes, I'm frustrated, but I'm also taking action. Yesterday afternoon I signed up with a VPS hosting company called WiredTree. I'm currently waiting in que for their migration services, which will hopefully be completed by the end of the day. That is if they are able to access my current dedicated host to get the files they need.

3 Ways To Make Money Without A Website

So, you've heard of this magical place online that allows you to generate income from home, but you are too scared to drop $10 on a domain and $5 per month on hosting. No problem! There are plenty of free solutions to that predicament, although not optimal, it's possible to make money through affiliate marketing without even owning your own website. Let's look at 3 ways you can start generating income today, without all the tedious money spending part.

Blogger

Of course, this is the format and blogging back end that DMB uses. It's free to sign up, free to start blogging, and offers plenty of customization options to start monetizing immediately.

Adsense is the big ad network currently in bed with Blogger, but that's just because Google owns Blogger. However, it's easy to add text and javascript widgets onto any blog template currently on Blogger. This means you can add snippets from networks like PepperJam, Commission Junction, or even eBay to start monetizing.
Squidoo

It's the ultimate in one page publishing, where you put all the information you can about a niche on a single page. This single page consists of videos, links, content information, etc along with Adsense and options for Amazon and eBay products. It's free to sign up, publish, and very user friendly with setting up affiliate accounts.

The bonus with Squidoo is that Google loves new pages on their website, which means more times than not a Squidoo page will rank almost immediately. Furthermore, some of my Squidoo pages get great attention from long tail keywords.

Hub Pages

This is another Squidooesque type website that allows single page publishing on any topic you want. Again, super newbie friendly when setting up affiliate accounts like Amazon and eBay so that you can monetize the page you just created.

Hub Pages seems a little bit more social than Squidoo, at least in my opinion. There are published rankings of pages, automatic links to other similar pages, and comment system. The entire process of setting up a page is a snap and takes less than 10 minutes.

Total Benefit

These are just a few short ways to get started in affiliate marketing, today! The long term benefit is that you can interlink all of these sites, since you retain creative control, so that they all rank well in the search engines. This will provide residual traffic for potentially years to come, always producing a small affiliate ad income.

Contest Sponsorship

Just some brain storming going on in this post, nothing more, nothing less. I think I want to start sponsoring some big contests on other websites. Considering with simple prizes thrown up for grabs, it's possible to earn some decent back links and brand recognition that would cost a fortune in Adword campaigns.

Here's the problem, I'm having issues finding blogs and websites that are actively looking for sponsorships. Granted I'm not a big player, so generally I don't have people coming to me, but surely there are places out there will the smaller guys need help for prizes. Yes, I've looked at the general webmaster forums, but there just doesn't seem to be a lot of action going on in that realm. Perhaps everyone is slowing down.

No, I'm not interested in sponsoring a contest that only has 5 people competing. I'm mainly looking for a contest with no less than 100 entrants, but doesn't have to be huge. I'm thinking this kind of promotion and prize giveaway can help with link and brand building. Anyone have any experience with searching out contests and helping sponsorships?

Find Out Working PPC Keywords For $9.99

I know I've already reviewed the Affiliate Espionage Fire Fox plugin before, but I just can't stop praising this PPC tool. There is no question it's already saved me money and most importantly has showed me who my main competitors are or will be shortly. It's an evolution and Affiliate Espionage indicates what may be trouble for me later. Well worth the paltry $9.99 entry fee.

For example, I'm watching a few sets of keywords and how the Adwords campaigns are sizing up. These are the same keywords I'm currently bidding on and the plugin allows me to track who is spending money on those money making words. Now, I've enjoyed some non-competition in the past, but it looks like others are starting to spend thriftly in my neighborhood of keywords.

By watching them start ramping up their campaigns and seeing how long they focus on my same keywords, I can better manage my own campaigns. By increasing my CPC, I can help ensure that I'm at the top of the search results. This doesn't help out too much with Adwords content placement, but it will give me a slight edge over those looking to steal some of my business.

Affiliate Programs For Easter

Looking to make a few extra bucks by cashing in on the Easter Holiday? Well, join the ranks and help what the Affiliate Networks will hopefully be a successful holiday. But what sells well for Easter, obviously it's a religious holiday, but what could an affiliate sell online that they normally wouldn't.

Think Candy!

Yes, people order candy online all the time, but really start placing online munchy orders during the Easter season. Thankfully, many popular and brand recognizable programs offer promotions this time of year to get people to buy candy online, rather than at the local dollar store.

Easter Affiliate Promotions:

JellyBelly - 10% Commission on all orders, plus they have plenty of Easter creatives.
Gertrude Hawk Chocolates - 12% base commission on all orders, along with a tiered incentive that goes all the way up to 15% with referred sales of over $5000.
iGourmet - 8% tiered commission that can be raised to 10% if you refer over $5000 in sales.

How To Join These Programs

Joining these Easter affiliate programs is easy, since all are under one affiliate network at Pepper Jam. Simply sign up to the PepperJam Network and apply to the individual online candy merchants. Then, just start earning that extra holiday affiliate income.

Happy Easter everyone and don't forget to brush!

How I Spark Creative Juices

Just like anyone else I'll get in a slump, where creating content feels like an exercise in futility. However, I have found a tried and true method that gets me going every time and I've put into practice over the years. To spark my own creative juices I simply change my sites template or theme.

That's right, after a little font changing, few graphics here, more whitespace there, my creative bubble is bursting all over the web page. I've never noticed it to upset my regular readers and a new face keeps things looking fresh. Consider it some spring cleaning, any time of the year you need a battery recharge.

Although I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about new fonts just make me want to create content. Generally speaking I may go on a blog post writing binge for a few weeks, before I realize I need to slow down and schedule some of these posts out to fill in the dead spots. But, without fail, this little trick has kept me writing online content for over 3 years now.

Please, use this advice responsibly. ;)

Follow Affiliate Networks On Twitter

Part of staying up to date on all things money-making oriented requires a lot of tools, but most recently the tool I'm using most has been Twitter. Many of the most popular affiliate networks are already using Twitter to keep in touch and offer updates to their affiliate program users, publishers, advertisers etc. The latest affiliate network I've been following has been the PepperJamNetwork.

The most recent benefit I've noticed is the announcement about special Easter Affiliate Programs. Being so busy I very well could have missed out on the boat to Easter affiliate income, but thanks to Twitter I was granted with a pleasant reminder.

The downside is that not everyone uses Twitter or a Twitter page is only as good as how frequently it's updated. Therefore it's important not to abandon other tools like RSS Readers and good ol'email as well just yet. However, to stay up to date like never before, join Twitter and start searching out Affiliate Networks that like to keep their publishers in the know.

Defeat Image Frames Like Google Image Search

One of my sites has always received a lot of Google Image Search traffic. Which is great, except they usually bounce immediately and I always suspected it was because of the way Google frames the image results at the top of the page. This keeps the visitor from actually needing to visit the site and potentially read on about more content or images on my automotive blog.

Thanks to some handy dandy super search powers, I came up with a viable solution that I've put into practice over the past few months. The results have been outstanding, where my traffic has soared and my bounce rate has plummeted. The trick is to insert some javascript in the top of your pages with images, that will break the Google Image Search frames when your image is clicked on.

Insert this code into the head of your template:

Problems posting code, so please view my thread at WebTalkForums.


So far as I can tell this does not create any adverse effects in your normal search engine rankings or in the image search rankings. Furthermore, this javascript should also work to break the frames created by Yahoo and MSN image search as well.

Automatically Update Twitter With WordPress

Twitter is great for followers, but not so great if you are already to busy to even drop 140 characters in a clean submit box. So, to kill two birds with one stone I've begun using a plugin for WordPress that automatically updates twitter with my latest blog post and a TinyURL link back to my blog. This is not my only method of twittering, but it helps fill in a lot of gaps where I'm busy working and not busy updating my Twitter profile.

TweetSuite

This is the plugin I'm using on two of my blogs to update Twitter. There are plenty of options with TweetSuite, including built in widgets to add to your blog, automatic twittering via blog posts, and the ability to add 'ReTweet This' to the bottom of posts.

Tweet Suite Home Page
Download TweetSuite

Active bloggers and not-so-active Twitees should check out this handy WordPress plugin. It's free to download and free to use. And, if you aren't using Twitter yet, and you are an affiliate marketer, you are stupid. That is all.

Creating Affiliate Focus

Perhaps I'm not the only one in the situation where my mind races and I get a ton of ideas in any single day. It's a curse, that doesn't allow me to focus on a single program and perhaps maximize my earnings before moving on. Arguably it's a benefit, since not all my eggs are in one basket, but it's a hindrance since I won't realize the upper tier earnings of one specific program.

Although it's been working for me in the past 3 years, I'm really hoping to start focusing on specific affiliate programs. Create true quality focused landing pages and websites that will help bring in the bonus's that many affiliate programs offer.

For example, CallawayGolfPreowned.com offers a sizable increase in commission rate for sales totaling over $2,000 and then $5,000. This is a perfect program that focuses on a quality known brand, Callaway Golf, and are a high cost item that can quickly total up some high sales. This makes the tiers easily reached, if the affiliate marketer could focus on it more than the hundreds of other golf affiliate programs on the market.

Fast and Easy Keyword Research – Affiliate Espionage Versus Other Keyword Tools

Which keyword research approach do you like?

Do you want to be in and out of there and pick out the exact information you need – the wham bam thank you maim approach?

Or do you like to dig right down into the nitty gritty and trawl through a lot of data to find all the keywords you need?

If you favor the quick approach, then Affiliate Espionage is for you, however if you like to dig and analyze data, then Keyword Elite would be better for you.

Really what it comes down to is whether you want to conduct some quick laser focused keyword research and enter a new market today, or spend some time going through mounds of data, sifting for the gems and taking longer making those market entry decisions.

People just starting out on the internet, and seasoned experts alike, can all suffer from information overload and a keyword tool like Affiliate Espionage irons out the creases and gets you straight to the point. It helps people make more money by side stepping the analysis paralysis and noise generated by research tools like Keyword Elite.

This extra noise can both be a blessing and a hindrance.

As a user of both keyword research tools, I know Keyword Elite can uncover some really useful information, but only if you know what you are looking for and are prepared to spend some time sorting through the data.

However, if you don’t know what you are doing, it is easy to get bogged down or overwhelmed by the expanse of data, this kind of research tool cooks up. This is especially true if you are entering a new market where you know nothing about the competitors or keywords.

Wouldn’t you much prefer succinct keyword research advice that allows you to make a decision, without too much thinking on your part?

This is what Affiliate Espionage does.

In fact, I would describe Affiliate Espionage as a secret weapon, it helps you discover great markets by allowing you to emulate other people’s success by letting you spy on their online activities and the keywords they are using for their success. Whereas when you use keyword research tools like Keyword Elite you have to find your own successful keywords through trial and error.

So you can use Affiliate Espionage to quickly emulate the success of others or use other keyword tools if you want to spend time hunting for the golden gooses yourself.

Affiliate Espioange Exposes Profitable Pay Per Click Campaigns With Ease...Get Your Copy Here...

Bad Economy Equals Lower Prices and Lower Commissions

No doubt the economy is effecting online purchasing as well, which is trending towards lowering prices. These lower prices, coupons, etc are translating into obviously lower commissions. Where a referred visitor may purchase an average of $200 worth of product, with coupons and lowered pricing, the average may be down as low as $100.

So what's the best way to compete with lower commissions, based on factors you have no control over? My suggestion is to focus on more referrals, more visitors, and make up for the lower tiered commissions with volume. That's what the advertisers are hoping for, that the deals will translate into more sales, although lower dollars each.

Maybe more than ever affiliates need to be focusing on getting cheap traffic, by focusing heavily on SEO and less on PPC. Although SEO is an ongoing job, it can translate into lower cost visitors and have lasting effects. Where as on PPC when the campaign funds dry up, the visitors stop coming, and the cost per visitor adds up to lower your ROI even more on dropped priced sales.

Watch For Canceled Affiliate Programs

It's a tough economy and it's not just affecting the typical brick 'n mortar. At an increased rate I've been receiving notifications that some of the affiliate programs I'm using are closing or potentially running low on funds in their Network accounts. It requires careful attention so that you, the affiliate, are not the one left out to dry.

First, make sure the affiliate network you are signed up with has your correct email and check to make sure you are notified of changes. Just because a program within a network closes, doesn't mean the ads won't keep displaying, it just means you won't earn a commission.

Also, make sure that you sign into your Affiliate Network site every day. This will help keep you aware of new programs being offered, news, and potentially new tools to help you make more money. Lately, some of the news I'm getting from long term affiliates are coupon codes. These can be a great way to bring more visitors to your site, since you have something to offer them to buy from the company you are affiliating for.

Lastly, I can't stress enough, make sure you are getting updates from all of the affiliate programs you are signed up with. Often times the commissions end immediately, so the longer their ads are up on your site, the more money you will lose.

Pepper Jam Network inText Ads Beta

No matter how experienced of an affiliate you are, a good affiliate is constantly looking for new tools to increase conversion. The most recent tool that I've found to help increase revenue is the PepperJam Network inText Ads, which works in conjunction with the eBay affiliate program.

Essentially the PJN inText Ads provide java script that you insert into any web page. This will then convert a set amount of keywords into hot links, that bring up a eBay listing popup. The popup includes a specific keyword item, along with similar searches in a small thumbnail preview.

The PJN inText ads are very similar to what's already been used and developed by Vibrant Media and Kontera. So far feedback looks positive and appears to be a great way to help monetize pages with a lot of text, such as blogs, and wiki pages.

Time will tell if it becomes a viable competitor to software like BANS and phpBay. Currently I have a case study in the works and intend to provide my findings over at NailsBlog.com

Blog Scrapers Beware

The Google Adsense blog today made readers aware of a system that would allow content creators to report those who steal their content and monetize with Adsense. It is inferred that the original content creator should attempt to contact the thief responsible, but if all else fails a complaint should be registered through the Google help center.

It's our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable intellectual property laws.

Of course the first question that crops up is what will Google do to find proof of infringement? After all anyone could report that any competitors content is stolen and cause issues for the Adsense Publisher. I'm not thinking that this will stop all blog scrapers from stealing content, but maybe it will slow down the biggest offenders. A few well placed Adsense bans might put a stop to those who think it's ok to throw up a Spam Blog and monetize with your hard work.

Recommended Free Landing Page Templates

A blank landing page template can go a long way to helping an affiliate get on their feet. A landing page template can also save time, money, and help keep you motivated to taking the next step. Generally that next step is an Adwords campaign or the beginning of SEO, an already daunting task.

Below is a list of Free Landing Page Templates that I prefer using:

Free Landing Page 1 - No pictures, just a blank copy, with traditional bolds and header type text.
Free Landing Page 2 - Call to action, above the fold, type landing page with holding spaces for you to insert your own images.
Free Landing Page 3 - This landing page is designed to host a number of offers, where you can compare products with dividers, images, and separate fields.
Free Landing Page 4 - Not my favorite free landing page template, but it gets the job done, and offers some flexibility as far as branding is concerned.
Free Landing Page 5 - Mixture of a few landing page templates that already have areas for fields to be added and submitted.
Free Landing Page 6 - Great collection of graphically intensive landing pages. This site specializes in free cellular ringtone landing pages and seem to convert really well.

Have a free landing page template you want added or like to recommend? Please just leave a comment so I can have a look, if I like it, I'll be happy to add it to the list.

Affiliate Marketing Plugins I Use

I don't use a whole lot of affiliate tool plugins, but the ones I do use, I'd hate to ever be without. This will be my first installment on tools that I recommend any affiliate marketer use, not matter how experienced you are.

These tools are not magic and will not just produce sales for you. However, they will help automate a lot of the manual labor involved with keyword and niche research.

Affiliate Espionage - I just picked this beauty up a few days ago and it's making my heart sing. Please check out an honest review of the Affiliate Espionage plugin. Basic uses are it helps research which keywords are converting best for Adwords advertisers. Sure has saved me money already that would have been wasted on poor keyword choices.

(Affiliate Espionage is the only paid tool I've ever used.)

Rank Checker - This is a tool from SEOBook.com and allows you to build keyword lists. It then automatically runs scans on the top 3 search engines to find your rankings based on which domain you want the keywords linked to. This plugin is free!

Good Keywords - This is another free tool that allows you to generate misspellings of keywords and help flesh out some other keyword ideas you may not have thought of. The tool itself is software that you run and store it's database locally, you can get it at SEO Labs.

So these are a few tools that I'm currently using and no doubt mileage varies from user to user. While I wouldn't say you NEED these tools to be a successful affiliate marketer, they certianly help with time management, automating much of the research process.

If you have a tool to recommend let me know, I'm always on the look out of the next helpful plugin or script.

Online Advertising In A Down Economy

"I know I waste half the money I spend on advertising, I just don't know which half."

This old statement about not knowing how effective advertising is becomes especially true in a down economy. The good news is that when advertising online you have a much broader audience than typical brick 'n mortar businesses, so reach becomes a large factor. But most importantly, don't shy away from using advertising as a way to grab market share in a down economy. When advertising for affiliate websites especially, it's important to get while the gettings good.

"He who stops advertising to try to save money, could just as easily stop his clock to try to save time."

Going back in time and looking at other down turns in the economy sheds some light on how to maximize your advertising. Tweaks are necessary to maximize that advertising dollar, mainly because buyer mentality changes greatly. Focus shifts from wants to needs and convincing a potential customer that they need your product becomes another trial and error game, like when you first started.

Online advertising can get a lot less expensive during a down economy. History proves that in such economic crunch times that the marginal players, those smaller competitors, etc will be more likely to cut back on their advertising dollars. After all, it's expected that they would be more willing to make cuts there than to consider cutting elsewhere, like employees, or development costs. That's why being affiliate, where you have no actual inventory, can put you in the drivers seat when advertising when an economy is bad.

Buying Patterns Shifting To Alternatives

Another benefit to advertising in a down economy is the fact that buyers will be looking to alternatives to the traditional loyal brand names. Generally this could mean a savings for a buyer who stuck with tried and true, opening up another niche for the affiliate.

As an example, say during a booming economy you are struggling to advertise for an off brand computer. Obviously competing with Dell, HP, and Gateway online can be very difficult because of brand recognition. However, during a bad economy consumers will be looking for alternatives and allows your advertising dollars to push that offbrand and accumulate more sales, not just window shoppers. Consumers will be more likely to purchase that cheaper alternative, thus increasing your conversions.

Focus On The Customer

Retention of buyers will also become more important in a down economy. There will be fewer customers out looking to actually buy, since more will be content with doing with what they have. Make sure that after getting visitors to your site, through online advertising, they know how much you appreciate their business. Even in an affiliate driven website its possible to increase customer retention through memorable advertising methods, so they automatically look for your site next time they need a product.

If the economy gets worse focusing on the customer will become even more important. Repeat business and word of mouth will further add to the value of your advertising dollars. Those with larger budgets could also use advertising as a way to define your companies core values, further increasing the focus on your customer.

Conclusion

Lastly, always remember, no matter how bad it gets there is always room for opportunity. Be aggressive within your means and strive for growth, looking at every angle and ways to move in on your competitors. Don't be content with the status quo, fortunes are made in bad economies.

Amazon Commission Tiers And How To Improve

Amazon.com offers a great affiliate program, if you know how to market it properly and optimize your commission tiers. There are 2 basic complaints that come about in the popular webmaster forums when it comes to the Amazon affiliate program, which is it's short cookie duration and it's low commission payout. While there is not a whole lot we can do about the cookie duration, there are actions affiliates can take to help reach the highest levels of tiered commissions and maximize their commissions once they get there.

The Amazon affiliate program commission tier is unique, because it does not focus on dollar sales, rather on the number of units sold. The Amazon commission tier has 8 different levels within the General Products category. However, there are fixed commissions for items being sold in the CE Products, Kindle, and Endless.com categories. Please review the Amazon commission tier below.



As you can see from the chart, it gets real easy to increase your commission tier at the lower levels, mainly because it only takes 7 items to hit 6% which can be on par with other similar affiliate programs. CE Products are a little bit more tricky, typically eletronics, these items are at a fixed 4% commission rate, no matter how many you sell. But I've found a way around this and it works on popular electronic items where many companies are thrown into the mix.

It's possible to get a higher than 4% commission rate from Amazon on electronics, if you focus on selling items from other 'stores' within Amazon and not just Amazon.com products. When a CE Product is out of stock at Amazon.com it other companies products will be shown and on popular items this can happen a lot. What happens is that Amazon applies the General Product tier to those purchases, instead of the CE Products category.

Back before Wii's were removed from being eligible for commissions I was selling Wii's on Amazon for 7.5% commission...every month. My strategy was to focus other websites on lower priced items, which would typically sell better, to drive my commission tier up. Then I would focus selling Wii's that were out of stock on Amazon, and sold at 3rd party merchants within Amazon, for a higher General Products commission. Because of the attention to detail I was making a full 3.5% more commission per sale on items over $200. Up until removed my commissions were going even higher because people were selling a used Wii bundled with games and other accessories.

Now the above example is no longer applicable because the Wii was added to the 'No Commission' list. However, there are plenty of products and niches still available on must have items that quickly go out of stock and rely on other vendors. The double payback comes when these in demand items are priced above retail value. Obviously the higher cost means more commissions in the pockets of affiliates. So in closing, experiment, find work arounds, and good luck maximizing your Amazon commission tier.