Creating A New Approach to Affiliate Marketing

[Asad]

My Black Friday results are in and I am less than impressed. I have to either cede that what I thought I knew about affiliate marketing is either outdated or wrong. I have experienced massive success in the past, but now my same old efforts are falling flat. Here is what worked for me in the past:

• Social Media marketing. Straight up dropping links. No paid shit. I built Facebook communities and did tweet group chats and did well (in excess of $3k per month - hey, thats well for me)
• Blogging. No reviews.Just contextual links and shit in the sidebar
• Email. Not list blasts, but baiting my lit with questions and replying with links that they would convert from.

Today I am doing blasts to my bitty email list (4500 deep), doing reviews and building web stores for my niche sites and ranking for one or two keywords, but nothing major, and still blasting my social media accounts. I have dabbled with paid listings, but the only time I have experienced any kind of success is when I am selling my own products - and those products are few and far between.

Im not going into 2017 repeating the same patterns of behavior, but I am at a loss to where to start. Do I re-write all my content to sell shit? Do I focus on ranking for specific keywords with intent? I am doing the Amazon, CJ, Shareasale, Linkshare, Flex Offers et al, should I be focusing on just one or two networks? I am so overwhelmed with everything out there that the path is obscured for me. Any help or guidance?

Should I just focus on one offer (dishwasher) and create a whole series of campaigns around that one dishwasher (dishwasher email blast, dishwasher review post, dishwasher social blasts both paid and unpaid), dishwasher webinar) until that one offer gains traction? If not, how am I supposed to spread load my efforts?

 

[Ryuzaki]

Think about this in terms of a buying funnel. You're talking about traffic in a disinterested mind state such as social traffic, being sent to a post where you aren't priming them to buy with no calls to action or persuasion, and expecting to earn good cash just based on traffic volume. That's as backwards as it can get. Even with SEO you're implying you aren't targeting buying intent.

If this is your game, you might do okay with information sites with extremely split tested Adsense placement. I've done that, but then ranking becomes a pain in the butt for anything worth a damn, and you STILL have to sculpt your content to convince them to click the ad.

Or, you could optimize around a keyword that has buying intent so you're targeting people already deep in their own buying funnel, and you could write review content that persuades them to buy, and you could make 100x more on 100x less traffic. Same goes with PPC.

If you're trying to monetize social traffic at large and at random then you'll likely do best to look into CPM ads, whether those are display, video, pop-under, etc.

But yes, the days of throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks are looooong gone. That ship sailed and is over the horizon. And that's simply not a business. That's spam.

Yeah, I'd pre-qualify a campaign first. Is it in a vertical that pushes billions around annually? Are the costs of actively advertising within my reach? Can I afford to burn cash to buy data and keep burning as I optimize? Are there keywords that are within my capability to rank for? Are the offers trustworthy and long-term?

If so, then build a site that's presentable, choose one traffic source, and master it. Then introduce the next. Know when to quit if it's not working. Know when to stick it out and not make excuses or get distracted.

It can't be summed up in a post. The best anyone can do is point you to the Digital Strategy Crash Course. Spreading yourself thin is a disaster in the making. Until one aspect is optimized and automated, you shouldn't add anything else on your shoulders.

 

[Asad]

So in that case, I am going to stop what I am doing, re-do my keyword research, and stick to writing review posts based on buyer intent with the hopes of ranking for applicable "motivated" keywords. I will only use Amazon as my monetization method. Is that what you are suggesting @Ryuzaki ?

P.S. I am already going back through the Crash course day by day!

 

[Ryuzaki]

So in that case, I am going to stop what I am doing, re-do my keyword research, and stick to writing review posts based on buyer intent with the hopes of ranking for applicable "motivated" keywords. I will only use Amazon as my monetization method. Is that what you are suggesting @Ryuzaki ?

Kind of. Assuming we are talking about SEO, I'm suggesting that this will be the core of what earns you money. I'm not saying it should be the core of your efforts, the core of your time, or the majority of what's on your site. This might represent 1% of your site, time, and energy directly. Indirectly everything else should be about supporting this 1% so that it brings 99% of your revenue.

It really depends. Are you looking for some area of the lake to cast your net and pull in some fish and go home? Are are you trying to own the entire lake, coerce the fish to the area you want them to go, and have an endless supply of dinner forever and ever, amen?

I might make my money on selling a widget. I can't just focus on selling the widget. I have to manufacture it, package it, market it, split test everything, acquire distribution, etc. All of that costs me money and time in isolation, but it's critical in selling the widget and being profitable overall. I can't just focus on selling the widget.

 

[Asad]

@Ryuzaki but Im not manufacturing the widget. All Amazon. If that were the case shouldnt i just be focused on driving the fish into that net?

 

[Ryuzaki]

@Ryuzaki but Im not manufacturing the widget. All Amazon. If that were the case shouldnt i just be focused on driving the fish into that net?

Yes but this gets back to my initial post. If that's all it is, then you're running a numbers game on traffic and leaving tons of money on the table. You want to be pushing people to Amazon to specific products after priming them to buy it. You want to educate people so they understand what to buy and trust your recommendation. You want to build an entire structure around this activity.

If you only post review posts and slap Amazon links everywhere, you're going to get penalized for having a thin affiliate site. If you don't nofollow those links then you'll get penalized for paid advertising. If you don't learn and employ copywriting you won't convert remotely near your potential. If you focus only on SEO you're leaving money on the table. On and on.

What I'm saying is that the scope of this kind of project CAN be as simple as posting 5 review pages and trying to rank them. Or you can build the authority on the matter and create an entire sales funnel, even if Amazon is the end. You obviously understand this and I don't mean to preach to the choir.

The widget thing was a metaphor. I mean that we shouldn't put the cart ahead of the horse. Or take 4 wheels alone and roll them down the hill and expect to get anywhere. You have to acquire the horse, train it, build the wheels, build the cart, learn how to steer it, etc. Then you need to have a map, research and choose a path, build the road, on and on.

It can't be oversimplified. You can't boil an entire industry down into one activity or explain it in one post. You can't learn it or win on your first handful of shots either. I can't find my words tonight but I hope you get what I'm aiming at.