You can see examples of each of these affiliate models in the
November issue titled Successful
Affiliate Marketing Models.
Those
options (and any others) are fine and you can do fairly well with
them if you test, track and tweak them. But for long term affiliate
success, quality content sites are definitely
the way to go.
Why Content Sites are best for long-term Affiliate success:
Content sites attract FREE search engine traffic
Content sites can PRESELL affiliate products and increase conversion
rates
Content sites give people enough information to determine whether
they like your style and content, which encourages them to 0pt-in
to your mailing list
Content
sites can include interactive sections such as blogs or discussion
forums that encourage people to come back to your site again and
again
Content is what the web is 'made of' and searchers love sites
that answer their questions and are full of organized information
on the topic they are most interested in at that moment
Quality
content sites do take an investment of time and energy upfront.
But it is WELL worth it. Once you get a content site "established"
online and in the search engines, your options begin to really
open up.
You
will find that search engine rankings become easier and easier.
Even new pages can rank for specific search terms within a matter
of days (as little as 24-72 hours!).
People
will approach *you* with Joint Venture offers and exclusive affiliate
promotions. And other webmasters and bloggers will freely link
to your website and to your internal pages.
Q: How long does it take for a website to become established
or 'aged'?
It varies from site to site, and engine to engine, but I like
to give a new site at least a year online as a general rule of
thumb. During that year you should actively acquire quality inbound
links and submit related articles to article banks and websites.
But
don't be disappointed if your new site doesn't perform up to expectations
within 90 days!
Sure
you will begin to see some decent rankings for obscure terms during
that time, and you can easily begin to see a trickle of sales...
but if you stick it out for an entire year, you'll find that the
site does MUCH better.
Unfortunately,
most people give up on their sites so early on that they never
experience it's true profit potential.
Of
course, during that first year you can use other methods, such
as the ones I outlined above, to drive qualified traffic to your
new site.
In
the end, it all boils down to that (traffic). And even better,
targeted traffic. That is the key to success with any
site or online program - and having the targeted traffic allows
you to split test and tweak, find out what works and increase
your profit potential.
The
best form of traffic, in my opinion (and experience) is Search
Engine traffic. You can optimize your pages to rank well in the
major engines, and also place ads across the search engines where
you pay per click (PPC advertising). You dont have to pay unless
your ad gets clicked on, and you can get clicks as low as a few
cents per click - so it is a very cost effective way to drive
tar'geted traffic (keyword based) to your sites/pages.
Once
you begin seeing traffic, make sure you have an 0pt-in form on
your site... because the next best type of traffic is repeat visitors
that you follow up with via email!
For
a free report on creating
a profitable 0pt-in, click here
If you are torn between pouring yourself into a quality
content-based site, and creating 'junk sites' one after the other
simply for the sake of Adsense revenue, then you'll want to check
out *this* recent issue:
Cranking
Out Websites & Raking In Cash!
(There
is a link for a free report in that issue, too, that you might
enjoy - especially if you are interested in long- term success
with content sites & free traffic.)
I want to leave you with a great article by Jack Humphrey titled
Virtual
Real Estate 2006 that I found particularly inspiring:
"All
it really takes is good research, creativity in isolating a market,
and most of all - patience. The longer you let your network grow
and season and the more popular you make it with strong promotion
tactics, the more it is worth..."
Enjoy!
