David Fiske Affiliate Marketing & Web Development

As the one year celebration draws closer, I find myself reflecting back on both good and bad points throughout the year.

As a result, it's time for a new direction. It's time to action everything I've learnt.
 
1 - Price Comparison Isn't A Dirty Word

A long time ago when I was on work experience with Fleetline Despatch, the owner said to me "profit isn't a dirty word". The context was running a business and this has stood firm with me since. There is no point of running a regular business that makes no profit.

The morale of the story was that whilst there are competitors and other restraints, you can't simply compete on cost. You can to some degree but at the end of the day, you have to focus on the profits. You have to talk about and consider profits.

So why's this relevant?

Loads of people say price comparison website are the wrong way to go if you've got an affiliate business. Why? There is no real foundation for this. Some of the top affiliates I know run Price Comparison sites, or comparison sites - credit card, mobile phones, broadband, niche, general, etc.

Ultimately, Price Comparison Isn't a dirty word. Infact, I would goes as far to say that it's very wise to have a price comparison aspect to a website. So long as it is up-to-date, relevant and there's a twist to make it different to all the other's, there should be no problem with you getting sales.

2 - Unique Content Is King

The only way you can do well in SEO is by using new, fresh content. It's a bore, it takes time and it can sometimes be difficult to come up with content ideas. However, it's essential to create that spark of interest from the world's favourite search engine. If you can supply it with fresh content on a regular basis, you will benefit. It's how blogs get so popular. Regular, fresh content.

3 - Who's Your Audience?

Remember Katie Hopkins of The Apprentice 2007 on QVC? She remarked about how she was selling to 'Mavis' - she imagined this woman to be a prime shopping channel viewer. Whilst the way she said it was questionable, what she said is true.

When developing a site and developing content for it, you have to keep in mind who your target market is. If you are marketing a Voodoo Knife Block, who are you aiming at? Is it a "silver surfer"? A student? A male or female?

I would argue it is important to try and keep broad when it comes to writing. You don't need to know that the majority of people reading the Voodoo Knife Block article are called Laura, who has a shoe size of 5 and a pet dog called Eddie (oh, and she likes the colour pink). You're not interested and it wouldn't help you to know that. What would help you is information such as what percentage of visitors are male. How many are under 30?

If you know you are targeting under 30's, reviewing zimmer frames would be just plain wrong. Likewise, the zimmer frame market would probably not be the biggest market of blisteringly fast PC systems with a price tag of £4,000.

4 - Stay Focussed

It' easy to get distracted. I've got 535 unread affiliate marketing emails in my inbox. I've got 1539 emails in my junk folder (newsletters, etc.). Why do I have unread affiliate marketing emails? Some don't apply to me (I presume I applied for some programmes back in the days and just never got round to promoting them), others are newsletters I am meaning to get round to reading.

The risk of reading these emails is that I may get sidetracked. "There's a £1000 bonus if you generate just 10 sales". "Win a holiday to Timbuktu". "Earn an extra 50% commission". All valid ways to get me to make more sales but I'm easily distracted by these. Offer me a decent reward and I'm likely to pursue it.

The key is to only pursue relevant offers. It's easy to get distracted and it can be damaging to your progress.

5 - Promote Relevant Companies

I would love to promote around twice the companies I currently do so but to do that, I would need to break the above rule. It's important to have a niche and a focus. I could register for all the affiliate programs on all the networks I'm registered with, make a price comparison with all the feeds and make a blog and review each company. It would take me a week. But I'd get very little benefit from it.

Sure, I would probably get some sales. But "some" is quite different to "lots". I would be better off spending my time developing a niche website, forgetting about the commissions I could make with a loans website or a mortgage website (unless that was my niche).

6 - Persevere

In a year, I've earned a reasonable amount to live on. It is liveable but it's not a luxurious living. So far, I've proved that in a year it is possible to make a living but at the moment I could earn more by stacking shelves or cleaning toilets. But on the other side, I know if I can achieve what I have done this year in the forthcoming year, I will be working less and earning more than cleaners.

It's all about state of mind, perseverance and above all, a wad of cash just in case it goes Pete Tong.