I have read Chris Rempel's ebook on the Conduit method which sounded pretty good to me. I also followed up with some google research on the subject, which seemed to confirm that it can work well, with genuine interest. I'm a web designer by trade, so setting up these operations would be of little challenge. However, I am new to the world of affiliate marketing in general and I have a few questions on how exactly to go about it. Chris was a little blurry in his book when it came to the technicalities. 1) First and foremost, I'd like to hear some opinions on what affiliate programs are the best to use. Amazon seems to be the most obvious answer since they cover nearly every area of tangible merchandise, but it doesn't seem to be talked about very often, so I'm wondering if that's a good choice. I realize that the market which I choose to enter will partly dictate which affiliate programs work well, which brings me to my next question... 2) In choosing a niche, I'm a little unclear on what the characteristics of a good niche are. Chris suggests that the bigger the demand, the better choice it is, but this doesn't entirely make sense to me. Take cell phones or hand-held devices for example. There's a huge demand for these, so much so that the web is already saturated with review sites and conduit pages. Logic tells me that this would make it difficult to be found, being buried under all the others. I would VERY much appreciate it if someone could describe to me what makes a good niche market, possibly with some examples. 3) Obviously, the entire point of this process is to target buyers on the verge of buying. However, I'm also unclear on how this is achieved as opposed to a typical review site, which he claims target shoppers rather than buyers (which I don't want). He only says TO do this, not HOW to do this. He also says not to actually review products, but simply to give unbiased information about the products. I see little difference between this and a full blown review, which in many cases would seem to be more effective to me than an entirely positive fact page. Basically, I need to know how to differentiate myself from the typical review sites targeting shoppers, and pull in the buyers instead. If anyone could provide clarity on any of these questions, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Keep in mind, I'm just a beginner here, and I need advice in getting off on the right foot. Thanks guys!
Hi Extra, I actually work closely with Chris and should be able to help you out better than anyone haha. 1. Clickbank, Commission Junction, Shareasale, Amazon, eBay are all good ones. What I do is find my niche, find sites that sell what I plan to sell (if they are huge retailers like Barnes & Noble for books), and join their affiliate programs. 2. My advice for a good niche is some 3-4 word term that gets under 50,000 searches per month and the top websites for that term aren't the best. Take "Used Wrestling Equipment" for example. Search for that in quotes. Under 50k, top site is a damn Ezine article. Ripe for the picking. Cell phones won't do much, "pink cell phones" however, is a decent niche. Make sense? 3. Great thing to do there is have an unbiased site that lists positives along with negatives. You WILL want some products people may not like (might buy anyway, people are dumb). Here's a great example: beautyproductscompared click around the bottom for some reviews of different stuff. Notice how it's pretty unbiased but at the bottom links to a "recommended" product. Hope that helps out!
Thank you very much for the reply. Pretty much answered all of my questions. Next time you speak with Chris, be sure to let him know there's a real nice guy named extramask on the DP forum who's a great candidate for personal instruction. I'd also be interested to hear anyone else's advice concerning these issues. I've been reading a LOT on this subject over the last couple weeks and I'm trying to gather all the knowledge that I can.
I am thinking about getting Chris's e-book after reading few thread about it and give this method a try . By any chance does he discuss how to market/promote these sites. Do you primarily rely on article marketing and other link building method so that your site will be in a reasonable spot one day OR promote it thru ppc with the hope that you will have high enough conversion.
You can use article marketing and link building to get some extra traffic flow, but the beauty of this method is that it really isn't all that necessary. The way your meta tags are set up automatically targets people intending to buy the products you've posted, and this is the traffic you want. The program is basically about leveraging the pre-selling already done by other affiliates and vendors, and intercepting the sales. I haven't actually tried this out yet, but it does sound like a pretty good concept and I've heard from others that it can work very well. Considering the little amount of work involved, I'd say it's definitely worth a shot. So my suggestion would be to buy Chris' book and give it a read. It's only 15 dollars, 9 pages long and it's interesting. Oh and buy it through someone's affiliate link, of course.
The conduit method paired with VIP essentials works good but the templates are a bit outdated. His new Affiliate Genie thing is awesome though. I just built a site with it to try it out and it's great! No more messing with Dreamweaver for a while haha. He seems to recommend Linkvana and 3-way links for traffic but I've yet to try either one out.
Amazon doesn't pay a high percentage of sale. As a beginner I'd stick with Clickbank or Commission Junction.
I tend to use Amazon for their "Carousel" widgets (when my site doesn't break them). It looks nice to have in a "related products" section underneath a clickbank product.
For the current FTC guideline, you will need to disclose your affiliation connection to all your customers. Looking for the best affiliate network is important but to know how to properly use it without breaking any law is as important. Not trying to be rude though so no offense guys Anyway you can forget what I've said if your not planning to sell products in USA
I can personally recommend Affiliate Genie. The product is amazing! You'll be able to crank out review sites that look highly professional and polished in no time at all. Best investment I've made in a long, long time. Saves me hours and hours of work putting review sites together. If you're not familiar with Affiliate Genie and what it can do, may I suggest (humbly) that you check it out here: www.netbizwatch.com/affgenie and tell me what you think.