Starting to use CJ the right way, profitably

I have several content sites on which i mostly just have CJ 120x60 banners at the tops of pages, sitewide.

Recently, i started going through and finding advertisers related to words within specific pages, and linking just one word. For example, on the following page, i linked the word election to a political books affiliate, the word gay to a gay dating service, and the word divorce to a legalzoom divoroce proceedings page.

http://www.heartheissues.com/gaymarriage-divorce.html

Is this the way to really use CJ to one's advantage, rather than having a couple of sitewide banners at the top?

What other suggestions can those experienced with CJ give me to get this project off the ground (the project of linking within pages).

 

That is better than banners, but the links don't offer any explanation of what the user will get when they click. Rather than trying to hide the fact that the link leads to a commercial site, you'd be better off pre-selling it... you have people reading about divorce, give them an option if they want to click. You'll get more targetted clicks and more conversions if people know what you are selling and you sell it to them in a non-intrusive manner.

 

Interesting. If we stick with the divorce example, would you suggest something as bold as putting a the link and a short explanation a la "click here for information on line divorce filings" within parentheses right after the word appears in the article? That seems somewhat instrusive in itself, but i am sure you know more than me about this.

 

There are many different approaches that can work. First, it depends what sort of visitors you have.. are they looking for divorce information, looking for online divorce filings, or just browsing a general site about societal issues? That answer will tell you how you should sell to them... so are people getting to that page from the rest of your site-- meaning they are content browsers-- if so, you have to go easy. If they are hitting that page from a search phrase "online divorce filings" then you can push hard to get them to the merchant.

I believe the best approach is to be honest. If you know something about the topic, look over the merchant's site.. give your users the "pros" of using the service along with a few possible cons as well. If they are interested, they will click through and perhaps complete the lead/sale. Unline Adsense or other PPC, your viewer really has to be interested and ready to buy the product. With PPC, you can live off of curiousity clicks; with CJ and CPA you have to sell the product and target search phrases that buyers use and not content browsers.