This is the fifth post of my Affiliate Marketing: a Beginner's Guide series.
Like many other posts here, I'm writing about the stuff I wish I knew when I first started blogging. With so many affiliate programs to choose from it is hard to know where to start. I had a hard time figuring out which affiliate program I should try.
The "best" affiliate program depends largely on your niche. If, for example, you write about dating and relationships, your best bet is to sign up with a dating website's affiliate program.
Having said this, let me tell you what has worked best for me and share my comments:
Clickbank has out-performed every other affiliate program I've tried. Most of the products on clickbank were specifically designed for online affiliate marketing, which is a big advantage. Many of the clients offer 75% commission to you, the blogger, for sales. Clickbank also gives you a ton of valuable information in terms of analytics: hops per order, etc.
Shopzilla has been a consistent earner for me as well. It is sort of a modified pay-per-click program. This means you get paid for clicks (vs sales), but the earning potential isn't as high as with commission affiliates. I have a couple of pages/posts that regularly earn 3-5 dollars a day with Shopzilla. This services is more of a slow, steady earner for me: the daily profits ad up.
Amazon.com has one of the most well-known affiliate programs on the internet, and some bloggers do quite well with them. I personally have not made much money with their program, but it is a good one to use for book and video reviews, etc.
Commission Junction is the program used by Dell.com and several other well-known companies.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. I'm just sharing some of the programs that have worked for me.
Should You Use Adsense?
But I don't use adsense on my two most popular blogs.
I decided to completely give up on monetizing my personal blog (kuyakevin.com). I had two problems with adsense there:
1. It wasn't earning much money.
2. Since my personal blog is more spiritual in nature, ads for religious wacko groups kept appearing.
I also removed adsense from my fitness blog (strongandfit.net) once I switched to affiliate marketing. I was running into two problems:
1. The ads that show often advertise the same products I'm selling through affiliate marketing, which means someone else could "steal" my commission.
2. The other ads are what seemed to be bogus products ("lose 20 lb in 20 days," etc).
Here are a few more random thoughts:
*I think most blog readers understand that you, the blogger, are personally endorsing whatever product shows up in adsense. You'll just have to decide what you are comfortable with.
*It's always good to experiment with more than one way of making money. Adsense may or may not be the best for you.
*Maybe geographical issues come into play here. One nice thing about adsense is regional ads automatically show up on your blog--this could be a huge advantage if your visitors are not concentrated in one country (or region).
Guest Posting for A-List Bloggers
A while back I started a thread about guest posting over at the problogger forum. The questions kind of inspired me to write a post about it.
Why is this important? Well, in case you are new to blogging, guest posting is one of the most important (not to mention free) blog promotion strategies I know of. Writing a guest post for an “a-list” blogger can do wonders for both your traffic and your page rank.
I see this issue from both sides: I have had the privilege of writing a guest post for some a-list bloggers. I also receive requests for guest posts on my blogs (though I’m not anywhere near the “a-list” level).
Here are some tips I think you’ll find particularly helpful for landing a guest post on a highly ranked, high traffic blog.
Believe in Yourself:
Here’s the wonderful think about the blog world: you have the same access to the a-list bloggers as everyone else. Don’t underestimate your God-given talents. The successful bloggers, after all, had humble beginnings just like you. The worst thing that can happen is your post doesn’t get accepted—you’ll never know until you try.
Do Research:
Most a-list bloggers will have a post explaining whether or not they accept guest posts and what their requirements are. Read it carefully and follow the guidelines when making your post.
But your research shouldn’t stop there. Hopefully you’ve been reading your “target blog” for a while and know what kind of articles the blogger prefers.
Here’s another important tip: search the blog and see how your post idea compares to what is already there. This is especially important with the high-ranking blogs—you’ll want to be sure you are sending something unique. Bonus points if you can find a topic that hasn’t been mentioned on the blog in a while.
Bring Your A-Game:
“Give your best content away” –I’ve seen this advice several times from blogging gurus. This is especially true when trying to guest post for an a-list blogger. Most of these guys have several posts to choose from every week (if not daily). Make sure you have chosen your most helpful, informative, entertaining, unique, and ingenious content for your a-list guest post.
Note: I prefer to go ahead and write/send a whole post (instead of asking permission first). I think this is much more efficient, but there are different schools of thought here.
Be Patient
This one is a must for dealing with a-list bloggers. A successful blogger manages a flood of email daily and it may take a while for you to get an answer. Be prepared to wait at least a week (probably longer).
Here’s an example: I recently submitted a guest post (re: fitness) to a self-help blog. I waited about a week before contacting them to make sure they had received my submission. The editor responded, saying he receives about 50 posts a week and it usually takes him two weeks to respond to a guest post proposal.
IF YOUR POST IS NOT ACCEPTED:
There’s always a chance you post will be rejected. As I’ve already said, successful bloggers have plenty content to choose from. Here are two tips for responding to a rejected guest post:
Humbly Accept Feedback
Most bloggers will try to help, even if they reject your guest post. The blogger may ask you to expand on a few points and re-send it. He/she may explain that you’ve missed the mark completely. Just be thankful that a really busy person took time to respond to you.
Try Again
Don’t give up just because your first guest post was not accepted. Take what you’ve learned from the process and try again.
Here’s another hint: you may want to submit the same article to a different blog (I’ve had success in doing this). After all—there’s more than one a-list blogger out there. Just be sure you’ve heard a definite answer from one before submitting it to the next—you don’t want to destroy your reputation by withdrawing the guest post or creating duplicate content.
Why is this important? Well, in case you are new to blogging, guest posting is one of the most important (not to mention free) blog promotion strategies I know of. Writing a guest post for an “a-list” blogger can do wonders for both your traffic and your page rank.
I see this issue from both sides: I have had the privilege of writing a guest post for some a-list bloggers. I also receive requests for guest posts on my blogs (though I’m not anywhere near the “a-list” level).
Here are some tips I think you’ll find particularly helpful for landing a guest post on a highly ranked, high traffic blog.
Believe in Yourself:
Here’s the wonderful think about the blog world: you have the same access to the a-list bloggers as everyone else. Don’t underestimate your God-given talents. The successful bloggers, after all, had humble beginnings just like you. The worst thing that can happen is your post doesn’t get accepted—you’ll never know until you try.
Do Research:
Most a-list bloggers will have a post explaining whether or not they accept guest posts and what their requirements are. Read it carefully and follow the guidelines when making your post.
But your research shouldn’t stop there. Hopefully you’ve been reading your “target blog” for a while and know what kind of articles the blogger prefers.
Here’s another important tip: search the blog and see how your post idea compares to what is already there. This is especially important with the high-ranking blogs—you’ll want to be sure you are sending something unique. Bonus points if you can find a topic that hasn’t been mentioned on the blog in a while.
Bring Your A-Game:
“Give your best content away” –I’ve seen this advice several times from blogging gurus. This is especially true when trying to guest post for an a-list blogger. Most of these guys have several posts to choose from every week (if not daily). Make sure you have chosen your most helpful, informative, entertaining, unique, and ingenious content for your a-list guest post.
Note: I prefer to go ahead and write/send a whole post (instead of asking permission first). I think this is much more efficient, but there are different schools of thought here.
Be Patient
This one is a must for dealing with a-list bloggers. A successful blogger manages a flood of email daily and it may take a while for you to get an answer. Be prepared to wait at least a week (probably longer).
Here’s an example: I recently submitted a guest post (re: fitness) to a self-help blog. I waited about a week before contacting them to make sure they had received my submission. The editor responded, saying he receives about 50 posts a week and it usually takes him two weeks to respond to a guest post proposal.
IF YOUR POST IS NOT ACCEPTED:
There’s always a chance you post will be rejected. As I’ve already said, successful bloggers have plenty content to choose from. Here are two tips for responding to a rejected guest post:
Humbly Accept Feedback
Most bloggers will try to help, even if they reject your guest post. The blogger may ask you to expand on a few points and re-send it. He/she may explain that you’ve missed the mark completely. Just be thankful that a really busy person took time to respond to you.
Try Again
Don’t give up just because your first guest post was not accepted. Take what you’ve learned from the process and try again.
Here’s another hint: you may want to submit the same article to a different blog (I’ve had success in doing this). After all—there’s more than one a-list blogger out there. Just be sure you’ve heard a definite answer from one before submitting it to the next—you don’t want to destroy your reputation by withdrawing the guest post or creating duplicate content.
Warning: Facebook Obama Hillary Video
My Facebook wall keeps getting spammed with this "Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Sex Scandal" video. This is apparently propagated by koobface or a similar type of worm.
You need to be really careful with any kind of "watch this video" message that gets posted on your wall. Usually this type of link will redirect you to another site which asks you to download an update of the Adobe Flash player. The "update" is actually the worm, which infects your computer.
You need to be really careful with any kind of "watch this video" message that gets posted on your wall. Usually this type of link will redirect you to another site which asks you to download an update of the Adobe Flash player. The "update" is actually the worm, which infects your computer.
Facebook Hack Attempt
I got a weird message today when I tried to log into Facebook. Apparently someone from the Ukraine tried to hack my account so Facebook temporarily disabled it:
I'm glad Facebook has some security measures to catch this kind of thing. It would have been a bit embarrassing to have a bunch of malware or unsavory messages distributed through my profile.
I'm glad Facebook has some security measures to catch this kind of thing. It would have been a bit embarrassing to have a bunch of malware or unsavory messages distributed through my profile.
More Page Rank Stuff
I read that google did a page rank update last weekend. Let's see how I did.
Beginner Blogger Tips did not do so well:
Now, to be honest I don't remember if this blog was ever ranked, but I thought I got a page rank of 1 or 2. Why zero? I have no earthly idea.
My personal blog (kuyakevin.blogspot.com) was dropped from a 4 to a 3.
My Strength and Fitness blog has remained at 2 (it was at 3 a few months ago).
So apparently I really stink at building my page rank and you should take all my PR advice with a grain of salt. But the longer I blog, the less I care about it--all three of these before-mentioned blogs are doing pretty well (this blog doesn't get much traffic, but it never has).
Beginner Blogger Tips did not do so well:
My personal blog (kuyakevin.blogspot.com) was dropped from a 4 to a 3.
My Strength and Fitness blog has remained at 2 (it was at 3 a few months ago).
So apparently I really stink at building my page rank and you should take all my PR advice with a grain of salt. But the longer I blog, the less I care about it--all three of these before-mentioned blogs are doing pretty well (this blog doesn't get much traffic, but it never has).
iPad Fever
I have to admit it, I'm getting a little case of iPad fever.
I have a MacBook and a few iPods but that's about it in terms of Apple stuff.
I don't have an iPhone and I don't plan to have one any time soon--I only use dirt-cheap cell phones.
But the idea of having something ultra-portable for e-books, light internet use, and videos is kind of cool.
Here are my main issues:
I'm just not yet sure exactly what will be available through iBooks. Most of what I read is Christian nonfiction. I'm also not sure how iBooks are priced.
I know if I'll just wait a year the price will probably go down considerably.
Decisions, decisions.
Create Pages in Blogger/Blogspot
I realize some of you have already figured this out, but there's a new feature in blogger/blogspot.
One of the biggest complaints I've heard about blogger is the inability to create pages, such as an "about me" page. Well, that has changed. You can now create up to ten pages by clicking a tab in the posting options:
Cool, huh?
One of the biggest complaints I've heard about blogger is the inability to create pages, such as an "about me" page. Well, that has changed. You can now create up to ten pages by clicking a tab in the posting options:
Cool, huh?
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