Although I own and operate a successful website for marketing the best credit cards, it took a lot of trial and error to find out what works and what doesn’t in affiliate marketing. Here are 5 important things I learned along the journey.
Part One: Your Industry
The worst mistake I made earlier on was promoting the wrong kinds of products and services. Simply put, there are a lot of crappy affiliate programs out there. Even if you have the best site in the world, some products are only going to make you peanuts. So whatever ad network you work with, make sure you compare the EPCs across the different industries and products so you can know right off the bat if they’re even worth pursuing.
The best industries from my experience are financial (not surprising), beauty, healthcare, and webhosting. That being said, I hear service/subscriptions can be lucrative but I personally have no experience with them.
But just because you’re in one of the “hot” industries, it doesn’t automatically mean everything within them is gold. For example with credit cards, there are those that convert very well such as the Chase Freedom, Citi Platinum Select, and Capital One Cash Rewards card. But on the flip side, there are a ton of cards which might have an average EPC of just pennies, like the
PenFed credit cards. Because PenFed verifies an applicant’s income by asking for paystubs, the number of people who actually follow through with the application process is dismal. So be aware that product performance can vary greatly within a niche.
Part Two: Your Content
The worst thing you can do is use the cookie-cutter bullets and descriptions which are found on a bazillion other sites. Why? Well obviously the biggest drawback is that ranking organically for them will be next to impossible. But that’s not the only reason. Another drawback is that the average web user today is much more sophisticated than a decade ago. Nowadays, people expect detailed reviews, photos, and the whole nine yards before they buy a product or service.
The best thing you can do is create killer content about the product you are promoting. For example, on my site, rather than using the generic bullets provided by Capital One for their Cash Rewards credit card, I write a very
detailed review about it. If you were a consumer, what would you find more compelling – basic generic feeder bullets or a whole article about the Cash Rewards card? My guess is the latter.
Part Three: Your Motive
The worst idea is to jump into a niche that you aren’t interested in. The old saying “do what you love and the money will follow” really is the truth. Don’t choose your industry based on how much money you think it will make you. Why? Because if you don’t like the product/service, then running your website will be a drag. Instead of being fun for you, it will feel like a “real” job… and isn’t the main reason you’re doing this because you want to escape that mundane feel of a 9-5 which bores you to death?
The best advice I can give is to choose what you’re truly passionate about. For example, if you’re a fitness buff, then perhaps a site which markets fitness equipment and supplements would be your best bet… because you would actually find it interesting! Believe it or not, when I started my website for credit card offers in 2008, the motive wasn’t money. Milking 0% balance transfer offers and rewards was basically a hobby for me, so that was originally the reason I got into it.
This guest post is by Mike, who as mentioned above, writes about the
best credit cards on CreditCardForum.com. His site also features a lively message board where you can rave and rant about your own credit cards.
Hey dude!
I am a new blogger and before i didn’t knew much about the affiliate marketing but thanks to you.
Thanks for the point about the bullets; I would have through the opposite, meaning the bullet information would be easier to read through, but thinking further about it, great content is probably better.
Thanks for sharing the most lucrative types of affiliate marketing. I like to stay true to the focus of my website and find products that pertain to my content or that I truly love and use. I don’t believe in bombarding the community with adds that will take away from the focus of what I am trying to accomplish.
Hey dude!
I am a new blogger and before i didn’t knew much about the affiliate marketing but thanks to you.Keep rocking!
Thank you for the pros and cons. I am new to affiliate marketing and have been trying to read up on what works and what doesn’t. I am finding that the keyword research is difficult and it seems that every single .com site is taken either by a site with no content or one that you can buy for more then the cost of a new site. anyhow, I apprecieate your content and insite.
My site is my first attempt at building an affiliate site and “Oh My Gosh” (G-rated) has it been a learning experience. I have made pretty much every mistake you can imagine and I’m sure I am still making mistakes. That is how I learn though. You know what would be helpful, and there may be something like this out there, is a forum of people that are trying to affiliate market the right way. I am learning about link building now and the competitors for my keywords go about some pretty sleazy ways of building links. I don’t want to do that. It would be good to have a place where you could bounce ideas off others and get feedback on what you are doing well and not so well. Do you know of such a place?
Hey Seth. I pick up most of my knowledge from reading other blogs in the MMO niche. I would recommend starting over at http://famousbloggers.net .
As I wanted to jump in affiliate marketing, finding a product is one of the things I am stuck with. Good thing you mentioned it here, thanks a lot!
I’m new to affiliate marketing. It has seemed to me from the beginning, though, that the product must be something you are interested in or have a connection with. Otherwise, why would anyone take you seriously? The insincerity will come through.
good job dan affiliate marketing is some what difficult compare to other marketing but you have made it easy by explaining differently…..with bad and good points
thanks you and our affiliate marketing….
Very well said Dan. So true about affiliate marketing but still I did not use affiliates in my blog but probably very soon I will. By the way affiliates is not easy actually there are so many things to consider first before you can go through it.
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest and hardest way to make money online. It is easy when you apply the right techniques and hard when you apply the wrong technique.
I’m trying affiliate marketing on my blog right now…but yes it’s a pain in the…I’m trying Clickbank products but if I get no results I’ll try adsense and other kind of moneymakers.
I agree with your. First of all you have to be passionated as you have to work hard on your website or blog.
My experience is that there are a lot of people that want to make fast cash and as you said, they use just content provided by the affiliate programms. You have to create unique killer content for your site. It´s important to be “different”. That´s the only way to be successful in affiliate marketing.
thanks Dan. I think Affiliate marketing is not so difficult, but not easy… The most important is patient…Now, i have to try better to do it…
John recently posted…network-your-computers-devices-step-by-step
I havent been using affiliates for my blogs for long time but I tried some and I dont think I’ve seen any changes in my blogs so I stop using it…
Very good points on the affiliate marketing. I haven’t done much affiliate marketing yet, but I am glad that i read this article. Will come in handy when I do more affiliate marketing.
Yes – the standard affiliate promo you’ll get from the networks are pretty uninspiring and generally are re-hashes of other content that’s been published before and used by every other merchant running the campaign. Getting new content created and approved is a hassle but does make your campaign stand out more – it also helps you experiment and test your campaigns so you know what works best for your other programs!
Enjoyed your post. Practical tips. Affiliate marketing is difficult and I think the main reason most people fail is lack of patience.
Hey Dan,
I really admire and appreciate your firm and well fabricated description of your journey of Affiliate Marketing.Your 5 crucial points are very profound and helping for a person like me who is planning for Affiliate Marketing.I have learned a lot from your this valuable post Dan.Thank you for sharing.
God Bless!!
Best Regards,
Samuel Joshua
Thanks Sam, but the post was actually a guest post from Mike
I know Dan,but ultimately you have published it for us so i have given thanks to you for that.And yes definitely thanks to Mike also
fair enough
Great post, affiliate marketing can be frustrating at times, you’re right in saying that it is a trial and error type deal. Just go in the direction that seems the most promising and make sure to always think outside the box!