| Affiliate Marketing Views |
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Welcome to the exciting world of affiliate marketing! Or, win-win marketing, because when done well, everybody --- the marketer, the affiliate and the affiliate network---wins. I'll discuss current happenings and my own insights into the implications and provide a forum for constructive discussion in the win-win spirit of affiliate marketing. Hopefully, we’ll create a platform for insightful, prophetic and even contentious thinking, while ensuring it is interesting, informative and valuable. |
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Lessons fron the year...
As we get to closing the books for an eventful 2005, one can't help but reflect on it and gauge what it could mean for the year ahead. In my post on Revenews, I listed a couple of events that I thought epitomized the excellent year that it has been for affiliate marketing.
In a similar vein, there was a post on the UK Affiiate Marketing Forum that talked about the lessons learnt during the year, with quite a few perspectives; and I am taking the liberty of reproducing some of the little gems from there encompassing various areas of search and online marketing. Sample these, as it might be worthwhile to keep these in mind -- some may be debatable and contentious, but worth giving a thought nevertheless.
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* "For Google, 20 inbound links carefully done is worth 1000 traded links"
* "Once you have a site flying, forget all seo and do 'natural' developments....in small doses."
* Geo targeting is becoming more important to increase conversion and keep advertisers happy.... it's also fascinating.
* Niche sites are King. Size no longer matters and can be a problem.
* Protect your established sites like Gold.
* Plan: start thinking more long term, on and offline.. things are going to change over the coming couple of years.. what is cast in stone SEO/PPC and marchant/network/affiliate dynamics wise and how we all work together now may be different in 2 years.. will you have any vehicle left to ride any storm in ?
* Diversify .. still in one sector ? doh... wrong answer
* Focus ...Contradicts (the above).?! not quite.. focussing on two areas is diversifying if you previously only did one
* Expand ... do what you do on a bigger scale you don't have to make so much each time then, but at the same time larger scale can reduce costs thus increasing profit each time a sale/action happens.
* Own something .. an asset that isn't SEO/PPC dependent something that has an intrinsic value, ie focussed site with a user base.
* Learn the true value of your traffic/user base and start asking for it
* Look to other areas/industry for ideas that can be adapted online
* Consider Joint ventures with others if they will be as comitted as you or bring something you can't and vice versa and you both would benefit.
* Double check everything
* Have FUN .. this IS life.. people are too busy planning what they WILL do to realise this IS what they are doing.
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I definitely like the last one--- it's been a great year, with immense challenges and some wonderful opportunities, but all in all, one that's been great fun!! I look forward to a year that is atleast as exciting as this one.
Until next time,
Ben Flux
Broadband penetration in the UK growing in leaps and bounds
eMarketer has come out with its latest report "UK Online" that "tracks the many changes Internet adoption has brought about in the social and commercial life of Britain." While it is a paid-for report, there are two stats from the publicly available excerpts that are of interest:
(a) Broadband Internet penetration in UK households is projected to increase from the current 30.9% to 56.8% by 2008.
(b) Retail e-commerce including leisure travel (by the way, check out Bargain Travel Offers)is projected to increase threefold to GBP60 billion from the current level of GBP19.6 billion by the end of this decade.
How much of this projected e-commerce spend will be routed through affiliates is the big question-- I am sure, the number will not be insignificant. At the same time, affiliates would do well to keep an eye on the 'upstream'/ 'downstream' traffic stats/trends from Hitwise-- these could give some very good ideas on the best ways to faciliate this online commerce and make some money in the process.
Until next time,
Ben Flux
P.S. Kudos to the A4UForum on some of their recent initiatives including expansion into other geographies, introduction of a regular newsletter, and a couple of other features on the site.
How good is the landing page?
That's a question that most online marketers are instinctively trained to ask themselves, because it could mean the difference between a conversion or a quick click on the back button.
Now, there are a couple of more reasons for publishers and marketers to pay closer attention to their landing pages. The landing page will have a significant bearing on the search engine placements of affiliate websites on Google, both in organic search results as well as sponsored listings.
First, Google seems to have a SpamGuide which defines what the search engine considers as an attempt to manipulate its search results, as reported by Adam Vienar on Revenews. Adam has also posted a link to a leaked document that affiliates will do well to read. The gist of it is that the affiliate landing pages that ultimately link to a merchant site better have some original and good content, something that adds value, instead of just displaying a direct feed from the merchant.
Secondly, Google Adwords recently made an announcement that it now considers the quality of the landing page in its ad quality score, which ultimately defines the position of an ad in the sponsored listings. There has some debate on the Search Engine Watch forums on whether it is a right move by Google or not, but without getting into the merits of the decision, the message is clear for all of us-- better get the landing pages in order, else one of the key traffic channels for most affiliates could be in jeopardy.
Until next time,
Ben Flux
"Affiliate marketing is like investing in stocks"
Shawn Collins of Affiliate Tip has this survey/question open to the affiliate marketing community "What is the future of Affiliate Marketing?", with some prizes for authors of all published responses.
A few points from the response by Vikram Vora of a leading Indian matrimonial site caught my attention and I thought it would be useful for affiliates to bear those in mind.
a) Be patient- Revenues don't start pouring in immediately.
"The first 3-6 months do not result in much of revenue generation, but once revenues are generated, they get better with time, and compensate the affiliate for the lull period. Few affiliates persist in the program to experience the Snow Ball Effect, where revenue builds upon itself."
b) See the big picture: It is important to note the immense value of what you are getting as an afiliate, particularly when the revenues are yet to roll in. These include the opportunity to being associated with the brand of the merchant as well as the ready, sophisticated infrastructure that you get with your participation in a program. Don't discount these.
"Normally, affiliates equate the revenue with the opportunity cost of their property. Little do they realize, that they are getting an entire infrastructure, probably worth much more than millions of dollars in investments free of cost, and they can benefit directly from a share in the revenues."
c) High returns? Stay long-term: As most investment advisors will tell you, if you are looking for significant returns, be prepared for the long haul. Likewise, Vikram Vora suggests that affiliate marketers should consider this like an investment in stocks; if you stick with it for a good length of time, you could get the right kind of results.
"Affiliate marketing can be compared to a investment made in a stock. It always gets better with time."
Until next time,
Ben Flux
The European juggernaut rolls on
Close on the heels of the company going public in Sweden last month, TradeDoubler seems to be doing quite well in its overseas activity as well. Apparently it has just won two major accounts in the US- Hilton and Hertz. Zanox is another company on the move- apart from recently setting up operations in the US, it also expanded to China, looking to tap into the virgin Asian market. And based on comments to this post by Jeff Molander on Revenews, it seems that Buy.at is also planning an American foray pretty soon.
All in all, looks like the big European affiliate networks are on a roll, while we haven't heard of any significant counter flow from across the Atlantic. Of course, affiliates stand to benefit if these networks sign up merchants that are keen to promote their products in UK/ Europe, and that's something to look forward to.
But this recent spurt in activity makes me confident of one thing (and I admit that one doesn't have to be Nostradamus to predict this!!)- there will be some serious M&A moves and consolidation activity this coming year. The tougher one will be to predict who the major protagonists will be.
Predictions (or insider stories), anyone?
Until next time,
Ben Flux
Search has gone mobile, how far behind is mobile buying?
When I write this, I almost get the feeling that I could sound like being light-years behind-- but that's the speed at which the Internet is evolving. With Internet having gone on to mobile devices, and search likely to dominate that space, search marketing was only bound to follow. (By the way, see a report on Danny Sullivan's keynote address at the SES Conference in Chicago).
If search marketing has gone online, when will the transactional element really take off? That is, when will shopping via the Internet using mobile gadgets begin to be a crucial component of the "online shopping" channel?
There are some obvious issues with users surfing and shopping (buying) at the same time while on the move and using a device like a mobile phone; but some of those concerns may not be too different from the apprehensions almost all of us had during the early days of online shopping. I reckon this kind of shopping will also attain critical mass sooner rather than later.
Where does it leave us from an affiliate marketing standpoint? Will affiliate networks be ready in time to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the mobile audience? Can affiliates directly leverage this channel for pushing out their marketing (besides the search-in-mobile means), and if so, how?
I have more questions than answers at this point, but just consider this: A latest Nielsen/Net Ratings report indicates that more than 50% of the X'mas shopping this year in the UK will be done online. Now that is a significant proportion of people who have moved to buying X'mas gifts than say, a couple of years ago. It's anybody's guess how many of these people would have migrated to buying online, but using a mobile device, by next X'mas...
Until next time,
Ben Flux
Creativity, affiliate networks and affiliates
I'd like to highlight themes from a couple of recent posts published on Revenews; themes that I have written about previously here.
Jef Molander talks about innovation (or the lack of it and the need for it) by affiliates. As affiliate marketing becomes more competitive and complex, the pressure to be more creative and innovative in how affiliates go about with their campaigns is bound to increase. The techniques and channels we use, our communications, the technologies we leverage-- all of these will be put to the test. The challenge for affiliates will not only to be creative, but to be able to unleash that creativity within the constraints that will be set by the affiliate networks and the merchants that they work for.
Talking of affiliates, Jonathan Miller poses this oft-heard question: the future of private affiliate programs vis-a-vis the big affiliate networks. We manage private affiliate programs as well as work with the big networks, and both present their own set of opportunities and challenges. Jon's question is whether the big networks will kill the private affiliate programs. I'd contend that the answer is no. Despite the significant benefits of working with a large network -- mainly in terms of technology and a bigger pool of potential affiliates, let's not discount the cost factor. As affiliate marketing becomes more prevalent and smaller merchants begin to understand the dynamics, I reckon they would be more keen to set up and manage their own affiliate programs instead of being aligned with any networks.
Networks will face challenges from the big search engines and the innovations they bring about, and they will also have to contend with the private programs. Like everybody else, the big networks will also have to work on their value proposition to the other two key stakeholders- the merchants and the affiliates.
Until next time,
Ben Flux
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| • | Ben Flux - Traffic Junction |
| • | Hertford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom |
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