Are you one of the many web estate flippers, blog owners or web designer/developers who has shied away from affiliate marketing because of the labor vs risk factor? True, all of the risk in affiliate marketing is assumed by the blog/website owner. Affiliate marketing is often referred to as a Cost Per Action (CPA) model because the customer must take action and make a purchase before money is paid to the affiliate. Click through advertising is so easy. Just drop in a block of code for AdSense and a line of code for Kontera's in-text program and you've monetized your site.
So why bother with writing articles around the affiliate links to the seller's site? Because, done right, affiliate marketing can be by far the most lucrative stream of revenue for your blog or conventional website.
It's tempting to grab the code from Commission Junction, paste it into a post and consider yourself and affiliate marketer. Occasionally visitors will actually click through on an affiliate banner and you can generate a trickle of revenue that way. If you've tried this, and experienced little or no revenue, don't dispair.
Effective affiliate marketing is all about the presell. Long before your customer clicks a link and makes a purchase, you've been developing the level of trust required to make that happen. Your customer must see you (and your panel of writers, where applicable) as credible resources of valuable information. They've come to look upon you as an expert in your field, so when you make a recommendation in your article they believe that purchasing the product or service will benefit them just as the information in your articles has. A banner is naked in-your-face advertising, and most of us have become adept at filtering out advertising. Affiliate links are embedded into article copy, as your personal endorsements, and most prospective buyers don't even know they are clicking on an link that benefits you.
Target affiliate affiliate deals that match your niche. (Advertising gardening supplies on a travel site would not produce great results. I can't even imagine how you'd thread the anchor text into an article on planning a trip abroad. :-). It's worth studying up on affiliate marketing, whether you're adding value to a web site you plan to resell, or are building a revenue site for yourself.
Some time ago, I purchased James Martell's Affiliate Marketing Handbook and it changed my business and my life. If you're going to cash in on this very lucrative stream of internet income I suggest you visit his website.
Here's a clip on affiliate marketing I think you might enjoy:
