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.

Affiliate Network Referrals

What's better than finding a great affiliate network full of great programs? Well being paid to tell your friends about them, of course. The majority of networks out there will offer commissions in some manner for other affiliates you refer to their network. Furthermore, the payout for referring other merchants is even higher, but I'm just going to focus on the affiliate referrals for now.

PepperJamNetwork - Pays $7 USD per affiliate you refer to their network.



MaxBounty - Earn 5% commission on every affiliate you refer for up to 1 year.




ShareASale - Earn $1 per referred affiliate.



AffiliateFuture - Pays 5% commission on every affiliate you refer.




I currently or have used in the past all the networks mentioned above. Through my sites I've earned comparable income from all and had no issues in receiving payments through their programs or referrals.

This post was not a paid for post, however the banners do contain my affiliate link, so any support is appreciated.

GoDaddy Promo Code

Creating an affiliate empire requires domains and your yearly purchases and renewals can really add up. Recently I started dumping old domains I never found time to develop, although still really nice ones, I had to let them go. The registrar of my choice is GoDaddy, because of service, dashboard functionality, and lastly prices, which are not always competitive. That's why I utilize GoDaddy promo codes whenever I can and then I pass them on to my friends.

I just received an email from GoDaddy announcing a promo that will go on until July 3rd 2008 where you can take 25% off an order of $75 or more.

Use GoDaddy Coupon Code gdp0645y before July 3rd 2008 to qualify for 25% off. Also, be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to get updates like these in the mail. Whenever I receive a discount offer on a product I think my readers will like, I'll make sure and post it here and email those on the list so that they can take advantage of the deal as well.

Affiliate Plugins for Wordpress

Yes, this is a blogger blog, but I also use WordPress for my hosted sites. What makes WordPress so great is that there are a plethora of plugins that make affiliating easy and automate a lot of the marketing process. Currently I'm utilizing EPN and Amazon affiliate programs on my WordPress blogs and I'll discuss the plugins I use to make money.

Amazon.com Affiliate WordPress Plugin

• wp-Amazon - This plugin allows you to search for Amazon items while creating a new post. By dragging and dropping you can place affiliate links to products while writing, but there are not a lot of options for customizing.

eBay Partner Network Affiliate WordPress Plugin

• phpBay - This plugin is highly customizable and automatically ads products from eBay into your post. It pulls images, titles, bids, and time left and displays it in a table anywhere within your post. The only downside is that it's not free, but it pays for itself very quickly.

I use both of the Affiliate WordPress Plugins above and both have made my life a lot easier. Specifically phpBay, which has allowed me to supplement my Adsense income and even create entire blogs around that one plugin. If you are not utilizing plugins now, it's time to start looking.
:)

Update 06/02/09 New Amazon Auto Poster Plugin

Please view my Amazon Auto Poster Plugin review.