I've been an adult blogger for several months (I regularly posted high-quality streaming adult videos with quality information about them, people involved, etc.), I did SEO, link building, promoting, adding content everyday, and reading DP in the whiletime, so I'm used to regular AM techniques. But with all the Tube-sites out there, and being my web exclusively for my country, and being also a very high competition niche, with a keyword-poor domain for the keywords I was trying to focus in (at the moment of the domain registration I was completely a newbie), I'm just getting about $200/month (being my profits ONLY from that web), what I think is really to little with the amount of time I've spent on it (at least 5 or 6 hours per day). Besides, I have got some earnings with other methods, but after some time I didn't spent much time with them as I decided to focus on my adult website. Now, I'm willing to move to "regular" Affiliate Marketing as a long-term job, and doing it international, not just for my country language. I was thinking of starting promoting product sales, with the affiliate paying me per sale made. But I have a few questions that, although I could have the answer already by myself for some of them (according to what I have learned here on DP), I would like to know yours based on your experience, specially as a way to help newbies that want to start in this world too. 1) What is more profitable, which one would you recommend to start with? ZIP submits or Product Sales? If the one who one to start is a newbie, would you recommend him the same thing? 2) Which one is better to promote the products? A blog with 6 or 7 articles about the product, and add something about it once a week, or a content page (static html webpage, or any page that isn't a blog) with several reviews? As adding regularly quality content is one of the more given tips about SEO, in what should be anyone focusing on to improve the SERP of a static non-blog web? 3) If I want to promote, let's say, skin care products, which option will be the best? Creating a general skin-care web (for example, www skincare com or something like that) with articles about skin care, and besides that add some reviews of skin care products so you can get sales from that, or make a web about that product itself, then add several reviews and start getting traffic? 4) Is organic traffic the real deal? Is SEO the magic wand? Or would it be better to focusing on creating ads (youtube videos to market your product, text ads for some kind of thematical forums, maybe some offline advertising...) These questions have different answers, some people will say one option, other will say the other. Anyway, I would like to now your advices and answers based on your experience and time dedicated to Affiliate Marketing. This could be an interesting thread if people get involved in it, as I this questions are common between newbies and even experienced people.
With ZIP submits, you have to work a lot harder, and longer hours to see any kind of sales. Some say that they make X amount of dollars. Yes, but the whole story isn't being told. How many hours did they have to put in to make that much? When buying a product, most, if not practically all people do not do that much reading, so adding a bunch of articles about one product may, may be be a waste of time. If you have ever notice, the more successful product sellers briefly talk about the product, maybe give a couple of reviews, and try to sell it in the end, all on one page. They do not go on and on and on and on.... People don't want to read that much info. The real deal? Oh, hell no! Not even close. Just about everybody goes to the store and or they look in the Yellow Pages when looking for a particular product and or service. I mean, think for a second...as an example...why would women go to the Net to look for skin cream, when they have a wide array of stores to go to? Now, some do do a search, but practically all don't. Of the very few who may go to your site via a search, just about all will do comparison shopping, which means many will go to, say, site #3 before buying. ... IF they buy at all. Did you know that super affiliates make practially all their sales not from organic traffic, but from the ads they put out there, and from repeat business? Now that is not to say to not do the seo. Even though I think search engines are highly overrated, I myself have optimized my sites. Just don't focus on it, or, expect a lot of sales. It is a myth. I always get a kick out of the dumbasses, noobs and kids here when they say that seo is the way to go. They talk like they are on page one, and they are not. heh heh Because you, as a seller, are going to potential customers, advertising will always, always outperfom organic traffic. Always!
First of all, copper12, thanks for your post, you have answered to the questions pretty good. But let me ask you a question, you say this: When you talk about a particular product, you mean a trademarkt product (for example Windows instead of Operative Systems) or some kind of product (more generic niche), such as those skin care products we have used as a example? As it's not the same if someone is looking for tomates, which can be found in any supermarket, than if he's looking for some kind of tomates, let's say RAF Tomates (which can be found in just a few sites and tend to be delivered by mail) It would be nice if you could answer this and answer the question 3 (promote one single product or the kind of products/niche?) as I think your answer could be interesting. Regards.
The latter, everday stuff we buy. Yesterday I bought a pair of running shoes. Why in the hell should I go online, when the mall is 15 minutes away? Yes, some do go online, but what percentage? See, that's it, right there. And, again, how many of them are window shoppers, hopping from site to site? That's not to say it is like that with all products, of course. It amazes me, I mean it really amazes me how so many, mostly newbies, put search engines high up on the pedestal. They have no idea. Absolutely. But how many really want those??? Granted, a webmaster may make the occasional sale here and there, which, again, is why I think search engines are overrated. Although the sales suck, it adds up, and it is free advertising (that is if one is even lucky enough to land on page one), of course, but it is still not the, in your words, "magic wand," like so many people seem to think it is. In my line of work I sell e-books on dating, and, how to market/advertise a website, and practically all who do a search on those subjects are looking for free info, so there is another example. When it comes to free stuff, or with such sites as, say, an online magazine, like Askmen.com, where they make their money off of their advertisers, then, yeah, I would then put engines high up on that pedestal. But, hell, even then, advertising will still be better. MUCH better!
you can not market common houseold stuff, not when there is a walmart on every corner these days...you have to market stuff that is not commonly found in a common store. If it is a shoe, then it has to be a hot shoe that very few have and you can market..then again, why waste time with finding a hot shoe, when just any shoe would work from walmart, or payless...