There are several factors to consider when evaluating an affiliate program to promote. First off, it’s got to fit into your site or blog’s niche topic, otherwise, you’ll never be able to pre-sell it well enough. For example, if I have a blog about fishing, my blog is not going to be able to convert CPA ads promoting search engine marketing. This is just common sense, right?
There are a million other things to consider as well that I won’t get into today. Instead, I wanted to talk about one thing that has been on my mind lately that has affected my online businesses greatly. Particularly, this thing that I’ve learned can help you avoid making the same mistake.
The big mistake I’ve made when promoting affiliate programs is that I pick products that are oversaturated in the marketplace. It’s a pretty easy mistake to make. When you find good products, with good affiliate programs, it’s very easy to jump right in promoting the product.
But it is a real problem. Sometimes the product and the program you find are too good. And when that happens, you have a market saturation, leaving your ability to convert to sale much smaller than normal. There’s simply too many other people out there promoting the same product, that’s all.
A perfect example of this is Aaron Wall’s SEOBook.com (not an affiliate link). Great product. Great guy. Great program.
But you know what? It hasn’t converted well for me. I think it’s too saturated in the market. (Or, maybe I just didn’t sell it right, could be.) I’m going to guess that it converted at amazingly high levels back when it first launched, but has faded as time has gone on. That’s a guess, one that is usually correct based upon my experience.
What I would suggest for Aaron at this point is to develop a new book, or new product that he can offer to affiliates to start the cycle over again, which could bring new life into the program, and in turn give his affiliates a better opportunity to convert and earn. I hope you do Aaron, let me know if so!
How do you know if an affiliate program is oversaturated?
Well, testing is the biggest way to find out. Set a time limit for your test, say 1-month, and measure the conversion rate against your other ones. If it isn’t converting high enough, make the decision to dump it right away and try something else. Stick to that decision.
My mistake is that I used to stick with a program for too long, in hopes that it would suddenly start selling. That’s a recipe for failure in the affiliate business.
“Well, testing is the biggest way to find out. Set a time limit for your test, say 1-month, and measure the conversion rate against your other ones. If it isn’t converting high enough, make the decision to dump it right away and try something else. Stick to that decision. ”
What if the others have a higher EPC (but lower conversion rate) or if you make money with them regardless. Conversion rate is just one factor, whether you make money with the program is the ultimate one. You could actually have one program in the same vertical converting better than another but the other one could actually be making you more money.
“Conversion rate is just one factor, whether you make money with the program is the ultimate one.”
I only spend time on a few programs trust. So when I put everything into a program, it’s a full-shot. After a month, you have to be able to walk away if it’s not converting with that approach.
Now, if you run a “mall” site or something, maybe you can afford to make a tiny bit of money across a wide reach.
I think we agree. I’m just saying…
Yep, mall sites are great. Great way to test out many merchants and make great money if you know what you’re doing. After time you’ll find which ones do good for you and find ways to send them more traffic or further develop them out with new pages, sites or ideas.
Not sure what you can do with SEO Book. I think it is one of best out there on SEO so it should convert pretty good. Usually when it doesn’t it’s like what you said, the marketing or oversaturation.
Thanks for the mention Jim. I totally agree that my brand has a lot of exposure.
I don’t think I want to make another ebook at this point. The one I have is already a lot of work.
I know it would be more profitable to create another product and resell it to the same group, but my goal (at least for now) is to do a lot more doing than teaching, just keep on doing SEO Book while I develop many other passive revenue streams away from that site.
There are other factors
1. Did you review/pre-sell it
2. Is it just saturated for your readership?
I only casually mentioned it when I did a paid review of Aaron’s SEO Glossary yet that converted 2 sales (and Aaron paid me)
It is never a saturated market if you can still find websites (as you recently pointed out) who have sucky SEO.
Congrats on the fixed permalinks, did you use the permalink redirect plugin?
@Aaron, would you consider then upping your commission then? That might be a good way to keep the program interest for people like me.
@Andy, You’re absolutely right, you do have to consider the audience saturation level as well.
Yes, I used the migration permalink plugin. Worked pretty good, even though the instructions are kinda wacky.