Are Affiliate Links On Your Blog Worth the Hassle?
Let me preface this post by stating that the affiliate programs I am talking about deal with physical goods, like those you would buy from Amazon. This post does not reference downloadable content or survey/subscription models. It also does not refer to product review blogs.
So you’ve decided to monetize your blog, and are searching for the best way to do so. There are tons of programs out there, like PPC programs, sponsored reviews, and the topic of this post, affiliate links. PPC programs can be confusing to some new bloggers, and may take some time to master. The results are easy to track, and percentages say that if you get enough traffic, you will make at least some money. Sponsored reviews usually have qualifications based on PageRank and Alexa ranking, which may not be available until your blog matures. But they are perfect for low-inspiration days. So that leaves us with Affliliate Marketing.
What could be easier than applying for some affiliate programs and slapping some links and banners on your site? The are many programs that automatically approve you once you’ve been accepted into LinkShare, CJ, Shareasale, or one of the other affiliate networks.
I just can’t see affiliate banners being a good idea for a blog. Typically, banner ads use a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model. This is great for branding and reputation. Affiliate banners are CPA (cost per action). That better be on convincing banner ad to result in a sale. Affiliate Links are a better idea, especially when the product you are pushing fits in the context of what you are blogging about. But how many people typically click on your links? This should be the first indicator of whether or not an affiliate link is going to be successful. Of those that click on the link, how many are going to actually result in a sale?
One blog I helped set up had been running affiliate banners for about 2 months, but recently canned them altogether. The blog generated decent traffic for a new blog, but only resulted in one sale, netting the owner $4.00. She found the banner to be obtrusive and distracting to her readers, so we took them off.
I am running one affiliate banner here right now, for TextLinkAds. If you are a blogger, I believe that a program like this might be best, as it targets other bloggers, who probably make up a large percentage of your readership. I am also offering to throw in a free review as an incentive, making it a little different than typical affiliate links.
So what do you guys think? Am I was off base here? I knot that there are many blogs out there making good money off affiliate programs. But what percentage? .1%? If Technorati is correct in saying there are 55 million blogs, then that means 55,000 blogs are making good money off affiliate programs. We can probably be safe in saying the .001% is closer to the right percentage. Are your online marketing skills in the top 99.999%?
Thursday, March 29th, 2007
March 29th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I think it depends on what kind of blog you’re running. I agree that in blogs whose audience is other bloggers, they are mostly ad blind. But, if you have niche sites, affiliate marketing can be very lucrative. I have two niche sites (printables4scrapbooking.com is one, for example), and I have affiliate things on there, but I would never put them on my home site.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Randa,
Thanks for the comment. I think you are doing it a good way in seperating most of your affiliate links on a different page and calling it a “store”. By doing this, you are being upfront with your readers that you are selling, or at least pre-selling, a product that is aimed at them. You also have 2 small unobtrusive banner ads, which no one will have a problem with. How do your affiliate sales compare to your adsense revenue?
March 31st, 2007 at 7:47 am
Oh, affiliate sales stink. Adsense is better now of course. I just know people who make a killing on affiliate stuff. I’m trying to figure out how they do it. I’m experimenting with posting about the affiliate stuff as a “benefit” to my readers, for example “here’s a 50% coupon code” in case you want to buy something at this store. This site is specifically designed to be monetized while providing good content at the same time, so some selling here and there is part of the plan. I don’t see it as deceptive at all. I think there are some who use tactics that are deceptive though, just to get people to click on stuff. The thing is, the click doesn’t earn you anything. They have to convert to a sale, so I don’t see how that gets them anywhere.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:05 am
I think a lot of people are aware of what an affiliate link is! hell I even tried my hand a affiliate links myself. if you want to make a sale then you have to have highly targeted traffic to make a sale. you have to be up front with them and tell people about what it is your selling. otherwise your chances of making a sale are very low. I made a couple of sales but not enough to keep me interested. I think if you decide to use them on your site it would be better to do a review about them. if people are interested then they will buy, but you have to generate the interest. I for now am done with the whole system and I simply provide good content that helps people. I then have adsense adds. I’ve notice I started getting a lot of traffic around 600 visitors in march. 40% bookmarked my site.
the key is you want them to come back. I think if you use affiliate links you have to think is this going to be useful. it it’s going to help people then you might have a winer. If not you might not even get a sale.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
January 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This was a great post! I never thought about how obstructive my banners could be on the blogs I use. I have had some luck, however, when I am targeting the right people. Then, the banner isn’t a problem. I think it definitely depends on who you are targeting your blog to. Keep posting such great information!
March 6th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
If you can identify a proper niche, affiliate links are definitely worth it. They’ve worked waayyy better for me than Adsense.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Affiliate links is a tough choice. Anything affiliate doesn’t always excite much in me because to make just one sale is hard work.