Affiliate Marketing Guide Online

Ok, so we all know that Performics is an affiliate marketing company. But not only do they work in affiliate marketing, but they also run an SEO business on the side.  So, how interesting for them, that they’re now working with google.  Is it possible that they can promise to help clients climb the ranks of search engines everywhere without biting the hand that feeds them. Or should we all be jumping inline for insider secrets only known by Performics employees.  Only time will tell. 

There seems to be two prevailing theories among affiliate marketers about how to promote affiliate products.  It’s interesting that the SUPER AFFILIATES who sell books online promote the hard sell.  That is, get the customer as close to buying mode as possible and throw the product in front of them, when they already know what they want.  

However, I found a second school of thought that amuses me that’s the soft sell.  Basically speaking it says that you should build an informative website about something, and feature product reviews and information and drive traffic there, without selling anything.  If you like video games, talk about your favorite games that you rent weekly at blockbuster (and religiously rent a game every week and review it), etc.

 Now the interesting thing about the soft sell is that requires a lot of time to build, and it’s return on investment certainly does not come overnight, nor does it immediately start raining $100 bills, but it can create a little niche income.  The real catch here is that you have to have fun building your site, and enjoy the time you spend putting it together, otherwise, it’s not believable and doesn’t draw traffic.

Many website think that they need or want to use adsense and affiliate links / products hand in hand. It does sound logical - why not get paid for both clicks and sales at the same time? 

But before you jump to any conclusions, don’t forget that only the most expensive clicks earn more than 50 cents or a dollar or two a click.  Your clickbank or CJ product might sell with a $25 commission.  Lets do the math.  

If your adsense conversion rate is 1 in 10, and you make an optimistic $1 a click, that means that out of every 100 visitors, you’ll $10.   If your product converts at a rate of 1:100, and your commission is $25, you’ll make $25.  Would you rather have $10 or $25? 

Ok, raise your hand if you want $35. You want to earn $10 for the clicks, and the $25 for the product.  That would work great, if everyone got paid for suggesting a product.  BUT, remember that affiliate marketing requires a click, and a cookie (and you have to be the LAST cookie).  

if your website has adsense, and your shopper has noticed that you are showing an adsense ad for the same exact product somewhere else, they may be temped to comparison shop, or at least click away from your site.  No click / no cookie for you. 

So, then, the question becomes, do you use adsense at all on an affiliate site?  Well, sure. You can use it on informational pages, if you aren’t pushing for a hard sale.  You can use adsense on content pages where you’re pretty sure no one is in a buying mood.  And you can use adsense on website ideas where you don’t have a great selection of product to sell.  (the downside with this is that usually if you don’t have a great selection of affiliate products, you also won’t get great adsense ads.). You can also use adsense on informational websites where you aren’t making a hard sell at all. See my post on soft selling.