I had a couple of very profitable blogs these past few months. I made a conscious effort to see what I could do as a holiday affiliate marketer. I did a good job! The next few months I will enjoy the money I get paid for blogging during the shopping season. However, I have to admit that I felt rather panicked December 26 when those commissions immediately fell quite considerably. The past two weeks have gone a little like this:
I need more blogs to make up for that loss. No way! Not now. There are barely enough hours in the day sometimes with what I have now. If I attempted to start more profitable blogs at this point, someone is going to suffer as a result. Inevitably it will be me as things fall apart.
I need to push more stuff. No. That isn’t the answer either. Again, that will come back to bite you in the butt.
I need to change everything I am doing. No. What I do works. I just want it to do better.
If you are looking to get paid for blogging, you may already have what you need for a profitable blog. You only need to make what you have better. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
That was the blogging for beginners talk I had to have with myself. I felt quite relieved after doing so. I don’t need to compromise my ethics. I don’t need to sell out my readers. I don’t need to give up sleep for the next ten months while I build even more blogs.
Strategy for Success
Mindful Marketing – I was already well aware of which avenues are not much ROI and which ones are “money.” This is about working smarter, not harder. There is no point in trying to convert something that won’t. Focus your marketing time where it matters.
Alternate Images – Banners statistically don’t convert well on their own (I.e. without accompanying text). They convert even lower over time. Your readers have already seen them so many times they are immune, even more so if they are banners you see on every blog in your niche. Take some time to see what new banners are available from your favorite advertisers. Change them up. Move them around.
Scrutinize Your Stats – Click-Thru Rate (CTR) and Earnings Per Click (EPC) should also be monitored regularly. You are already going to be in your affiliate networks looking for new banners, see how the products you promote are performing. If no one is clicking through that product you thought would go like gangbusters, ask yourself why. Do your readers already have it? Do you need to polish up your sales pitch? Are you using SEO, or is the life of every post only that one day?
If you want to get paid for blogging, you need to learn to perfect the process. Going in another direction may not be the answer. You may already be sitting on a few profitable blogs. They just need the right attention.
About Angie
I am not sure about Affiliate Marketing, I love the fact that you can make a lot of money, but I am thinking of stepping out of Affiliate marketing I don’t want to be a blog that is pitching to my readers always.
Eddie Gear recently posted ..Search Engine Optimization For Blogs
Twitter: allierambles
says:
Angie,
Right when I think I am on track you remind me that I need to learn ROI, CTR and EPC. Argh! I just learned SEO. It’s hard to be in affiliate sales when you are a slow learner. But I’m getting it.
As for those banners. I’m too scared to take them down or even move them at times. You know why? Let me give you my story of when I bought Market Samurai.
I read a lot of blogs, especially when I began blogging. Many bloggers sell Market Samurai, right? So when it came time for me to buy it I wanted the commission to go to someone I trusted. I looked around at a few sites but never saw their banners fro it or easy ways for me to just click from their homepage to the sales page. One blogger had it there and that is who I bought it from.
I remember who has sells what from their banners. If it is not there I may not buy from that site. I feel the banners are a great way to condition readers into remembering what you sell.
What do you think? I’m only going from my personal experience.
~Allie
Allie | Ramblings of a WAHM recently posted ..Why Does Google Care About Quality on the Internet?
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
You make an excellent point, Allie! If I have something that converts well, I don’t get rid of it. I will change up the creative or where it is located. Move it from the footer to the sidebar, header to the footer, change from a 125×125 button to a 300×260, etc.
I don’t know how much tinkering you can do with Market Samurai. The big companies usually change out their creatives seasonally. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. If it isn’t working, experiment.
Thanks, Angie. I think your tips are also going to keep me from staying up all night building blogs. Working smarter, not harder.
Twitter: RealWaystoEarn
says:
I was surprised by how much I was able to earn with affiliate marketing once I really tried. But, I am learning to walk that fine line … I don’t want to run my readers off by pushing things on them all the time. I know why they came to my website, so I try to make every post something that delivers on that. So it is sort of tricky business!
Anna recently posted ..Tutoring for Smarthinking
Twitter: thewahwife
says:
You will find your groove, Anna. The hard part is accepting the ups and downs and not panicking when things are on the low-side.
Angie recently posted ..Virtual Assistant Jobs: January 12, 2012
Twitter: manuelmarino
says:
I had an increase in visitors after completely changed the design of my blog. I changed the header, added my photo, more colours and a random top left painting that changes everytime you open a new page of my blog.
What else? Added huge buttons you can click for featured articles and featured categories… the impact of the images was important, initially my website was black and white and practically no colours.
Manuel Marino recently posted ..Find out more concerning Guitar Tuner