Let's do a quick check-up first. So far you have ...
Examined PreSelling and its effect on Conversion Rates (Affiliate Business Basic)
Identified a potential topic for your Theme-Based Content Site (Brainstorm Your Site Concept)
Brainstorm a list of profitable keywords (Develop High Profitablility Topics
You have completed the preparation of the first 3 stages in the critical path : C >> T >> P. Now it's time to prepare the stage 4 - Monetization (M)
The ideal Site Concept should give you enough flexibility to generate income through two or three or more different streams. Why is this important?
Ideally, you don't want to leave any money on the table. Your visitor may not respond to your primary MWR, but she may be attracted to one of your secondary offerings.
The key is to never be dependent on any one income source -- “all your eggs in one basket” is a high-risk strategy. By diversifying, you increase your revenue, stabilize your business, and take charge of your own business destiny.
This is what you should do ...
Grow a list of good merchants with affiliate programs that have product lines that fit. Then choose the best ones and group them according to HIGH-PROFITABILITY keywords.
You have already started this process on "Develop High Profitablility Topics" by using Search It! to build groups of POSSIBLE PARTNERS for each keyword in your MASTER KEYWORD LIST. However, it was more focused upon getting good ideas for content and a feel for your market space (DEMAND, SUPPLY, SUPPLY SITE INFO).
Now it’s time to grow your list of POSSIBLE PARTNERS…
Grow A List Of Possible Affiliate Partners
So pick and choose the strategies that you know you can realistically execute. And then do them!
I highly recommend that you do at least four types of searches if at all possible. You want to increase your chances of finding quality affiliate programs that fit best with your business blueprint. But more importantly, you want to be confident about the merchants that you represent!
Grow Through Search Engines…
a good place to start your search for merchants would be, of course, at the Search Engines! Do a search for one of your keywords, plus the word “affiliate.” Let’s use this example... +fashion design +affiliate (The “+” sign means that both words must appear on the Web page returned by the search.)
Now open Search It! and do this search…
Search It! > Straight up Search (STEP 1) > Google, no quotes (STEP 2) > +fashion design +affiliate (STEP 3)
Your Search It! window will look like this…
If you have time, try a second search for the same term and compare…
Search It! > Straight up Search (STEP 1) > Yahoo, no quotes (STEP 2) > +fashion design +affiliate (STEP 3)
Grow Through Directories... Search and/or Drill Down
Directories are also a good place to research POTENTIAL PARTNERS. An interesting place to start is…
Since this is a large directory and there is a substantial annual fee, it has only serious merchants. Many of the sites listed here will have affiliate programs so this search is like hitting pay dirt in a gold mine. Simply enter your Site Concept word and hit Search It!.
This search takes you to the affiliate directory of AssociatePrograms.com. For each listing in this directory, you will see two numbers. The first number is the average rating that those who voted gave the affiliate. The second number shows how many votes that specific affiliate received on this site.
Visit a site that appeals to you. If it has an affiliate program that fits your Site Concept, first enter what kind of merchandise it sells and then enter the URL of the “join page” into POSSIBLE PARTNERS for that keyword (as explained above). Check the top ten sites -- twenty if you are feeling ambitious -- and record those with potential.
Repeat the process for each keyword in your MASTER KEYWORD LIST (i.e., replace “fashion” above with another keyword like “fashion model”), starting with your specific HIGH-PROFITABILITY keywords and then following up with your general Concept Keywords (ex., “accessories” and other “concept-level” keywords that you develop, such as “design,” etc.).
Read the review of each potential match. Look at the ratings and take advantage of any other evaluation services the AssociatePrograms directory may offer.
You can also look for “cross-concept companies.” These are companies selling products that, because of their nature, fit with most or all Site Concepts. For example, whether your concept is about “Renaissance art” or “pricing” or “fashion,” you’ll find books about it. So always include a bookstore in your group of affiliate programs.
Grow through Affiliate Backend Providers/Networks/Aggregators
There are several companies that provide the tools, technology and services that online businesses need to register, track, report and pay affiliates. In other words, merchants don’t have to “do it themselves” because these companies provide all the backend functionality necessary to run an affiliate program.
If you find merchants with products that fit, enter what kind of merchandise they sell and also enter the URL of the “join page” to the POSSIBLE PARTNERS column in your MASTER KEYWORD LIST for each keyword that is relevant.
Grow through Alexa
Do a search for the Web site you are evaluating. In this example, we are looking at modaitalia.net . This was the first result in our Search Engine affiliate search. Now it's time to use Alexa to find potential affiliates.
When the page opens, click on Related Links on the left of the page. Alexa also displays traffic ranking, in-pointing links, and even visitor reviews!
Once you establish which sites in your niche are the big players, use the Related Links tool from Alexa to expand your horizons!
Grow Through Search Engines & Directories... Favorite Tricks
How else can you find merchants through the Search Engines? Easy!... 1) Visit the advertisers! 2) Sniff affiliate sites. (They’ve already done the homework for you!)...
These “linked-to” merchants already have affiliate programs -- all you have to do is check them out and see if they fit with your Site Concept! Add the ones that do fit with your list of POSSIBLE PARTNERS.
Grow Through Back Links
Take the site modaitalia.net as example. You can find the sites that link to it.
Search It! > Back Links (STEP 1) > Back Links to Site (Yahoo! Search) (STEP 2) > modaitalia.net (STEP 3)
This search yields a number of results. Let’s say your eye catches this site…. 123world.com/fashions. From the list of designers, you find two that have affiliate programs (Reebok and Liz Claiborne Inc.).
Liz Claiborne fits with an idea that you had added to the IDEAS FOR CONTENT column. So you entered lizclaiborne.com into your list of POSSIBLE PARTNERS for the keyword “fashion accessories.” (See how you can use the MASTER KEYWORD LIST to group programs according to keywords?)
We’ll use lizclaiborne.com as our example of how to grow your list of POSSIBLE PARTNERS for “fashion accessories”. Start by checking which OTHER affiliates link to lizclaiborne.com! How? Simple. Go to…
Search It! > Competition (STEP 1) > Back Links to Site (Yahoo Search) (STEP 2) > lizclaiborne.com (STEP 3)
At the time of writing, 12,600 pages linked to lizclaiborne.com. Many of these sites will be CONTENT sites that also link to other fashion-related merchants as affiliates (you can often tell by the linking URLs). More than likely, these linked-to merchants already have affiliate programs -- all you have to do is check them out and see if they fit! Add the acceptable ones to your list of POSSIBLE PARTNERS for each keyword.
And you can use this Search It! link-finder technique for all of your POSSIBLE PARTNERS for all of your keywords!
Reduce Risk by Diversifying
If a merchant or backend provider goes out of business, it takes you with it. Let’s talk briefly about how to minimize this risk...
Your best bet is to spread your business among as many programs as possible that fit with your Site Concept. But there are some important qualifiers to this policy...
1) If you represent 10 programs, don’t put them all on the same Keyword- Focused Content Page. Work in only the few that are tightly relevant to the content of each page.
2) Pick the best-of-breed from each category of merchant. For example, if you plan on representing a Net marketing company, SiteSell would be the obvious choice (ahem!).
3) Don’t choose too many programs. Tracking each program takes time, so 10 programs is probably a good balance. If any one of them dies, you don’t lose too much.
4) Your best results will come from focusing on a smaller group of quality programs (from within the 10). Their products must... • be excellent • be complementary with, even enhance, each other • fit your concept and... • be from a rock-solid company. Since you will give these companies more attention than the others, you must feel very comfortable with their business prospects.
The Affiliate Masters Course also show you many ideas how to prune programs. However, I will not cover the session here.
Check Out Other Monetization Models
• Google’s AdSense Program -- AdSense is tailor-made for Theme-Based Content Sites. Combine participation in the AdSense Program with membership in two or three quality affiliate programs and you have a solid monetization base in place.
• Referral/Finders’ Fees -- With this model, you send visitors to specific businesses (offline businesses, especially) and get paid for the lead or sale that results.
• Net Auction Selling -- Auction products (hard or digital goods or services) that relate to your theme. Put eBay to work for you.
• E-good Creation/Sellers -- Almost anything can be digitized and sold… ebooks, photos, software.
• Services -- Offer a service related to your niche. Build a client base, locally and/or globally.
• Network Marketing -- Use the networking power of the Web to generate warm, willing-and-wanting-to-talk-to-you prospects... people who will call you, not the other way around.
• Online store -- Sell hard goods that are related to your theme.
So... if you have brainstormed a good Site Concept, picked your HIGHESTPROFITABILITY topics, selected excellent merchant-partners that you are proud to represent, and if you have identified other potential monetization models, then you are ready to roar ahead.
