Affiliate Marketing - For the Newbie Part 2
How can you really guarantee success?
PERSPECTIVE
It is very important to understand the perspective of the affiliate. The affiliates’ traffic represents revenue, mostly in the form of profit. To maximize profit per visitor, the question becomes how well a creative and the site convert the affiliate’s traffic, firstly by referring clicks to your site and then by converting those clicks to revenue at the highest rate possible.
LAYING THE SCENE
1. Let’s start with the creative. What aspects must be focused on and how can one find the source of conversion problems? One must first ensure that the page where the banner or link will be placed is exposed to traffic. Without exposure, there will be no clicks and no conversion. Many affiliates are not aware of which pages of their site carry traffic. Monitoring impressions in your affiliate software will allow you to evaluate these affiliates and to contact them and make suggestions for improvement.
2. If a banner or link is not converting impressions from the affiliate’s site to clicks then there are several factors to consider. Does the creative cater to the correct demographic and does this demographic match that of the site? It is vitally important that the creative caters to the correct demographic.
3. It is incredibly important to strike a balance between impressions to clicks conversion and clicks to sales conversion. It is the dynamic of these conversions that makes a truly lucrative offer.
4. The next question involves whether the creative has the ability to attract the visitors’ attention, while clearly presenting an offer and enticing a click. There are methods for creating a banner or link that is likely to convert. Remember, it is vitally important that a banner is not simply focused on getting the click. That click must be likely to convert through targeting and the presentation of a clear offer with features and benefits.
5. Now, assuming your creative is targeted, placed on the correct page, has an attractive offer and contains all of the necessary elements, the next step is the landing page. A landing page must be a continuation of the offer. If it is not a clear continuation of the offer presented on the banner, you will lose the visitor and thus your click to sale conversion will suffer as a result. Confirm your offer on the landing page and present more detail and supporting features and benefits. Eliminate dilutions that may distract the visitor from entering the purchase process.
6. The landing page is the last step before the purchase process. The purchase process should be as user friendly and simple, reducing the number of clicks to as few as possible. Your affiliates send traffic, not sales; the conversion of traffic to sales is your responsibility, not