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Affiliate Millions Newsletter 6/15/2007

June 30, 2007 on 9:10 pm | In Newsletter Archives | No Comments

Hi Everybody,   

Well, I’m taking the whole family up to the ranch on Monday to spend the summer.  The kids already love it, but this will be Robyn’s first time actually staying there.  Hopefully, she will fall in love with it too, and I can finally start leading the life of a country gentleman.   

“Land spreadin’ out so far and wide… keep Manhattan just give me that countryside!” 

Before I get started with the advice this week, it has come to my attention that some of your newsletter requests did not make it onto the newsletter list until this week, including some from as long ago as April.  I want to apologize to those subscribers who have missed out, and offer them the chance to read through some of the archived newsletters, should they wish to do so.  I will be trying to publish these newsletter archives to the Discussion Board, but until then, you may simply reply to this email with “Request for archives” in the subject or body of the email, and I will make sure you get copies of any newsletters you may have missed. 

Tips for Beginners 

This issue’s big tip is to check out the Affiliate Millions Discussion Board, which is now fully functional.  We now have a number of posts and comments on a variety of subjects, and there is a lot to be learned for a beginner – or an expert – on the board.  Also, you may feel free to post your own questions or comments as well.  As always, you may also query me directly at AffiliateSupport@AffiliateMillions.com.   

Affiliate Network & Program tips 

Using Landing Pages 

Earlier this month, I promised some more detailed advice on how to use landing pages for affiliate programs like eBay’s, whose new payout structure includes a prohibition on direct search marketing (running ads for eBay on search engines that link directly to eBay).  Under this prohibition, you are still allowed to advertise a site of your own on Search Engines that in turn will link to eBay. 

The success of this new strategy will depend on more than just your ad text and keyword selection – your primary concerns in direct search marketing.  Now you will need to add the quality of your landing page to your list of concerns.  Google will be looking at two things when they review your ad’s landing page; relevance and content. 

Relevance is simple, if you are running an ad against keywords like baby carriage, car seat, baby stroller, etc., then you will want to make sure that these items are featured prominently on the landing page.  Luckily, eBay has an easy to use Editor Kit that will help you create dynamically relevant eBay item lists for your own page to display.  This is almost as good as sending them to a similar page on eBay, as you will get up to the second listings, and they will be able to shop and buy from your page as easily as from eBay.   

Content can be more difficult, and Google can be funny about what they do and don’t approve.  Sometimes, just offering a relevant list of items for sale like suggested above is enough.  Other times, Google might decide that the page is only an advertisement (without other content) and shut off your ad.  The key is to be certain you offer some content besides just what is for sale. Content can be relevant tips, advice, discussion or news.  The fresher the better, as this will improve your Google page rank, and landing page rank will help your ad in the Google AdWords algorithm.  One simple trick, if you are stumped on how to provide fresh content yourself, is to get relevant news stories delivered to your page by a free news content provider like InterestAlert.com.  This news is easy to incorporate into your page, can be customized to the content of your page, and will satisfy Google’s content requirements. 

I have a VERY simple example of these two tools – the Editor Kit and InterestAlert.com – at www.Find-Great-Deals-Here.com/eBay. 

I leave it to you to make the necessary improvements to the look and feel of your page to make it as successful as possible, or you may enlist the help of the experts at Dotster for Fast and Affordable Custom Web Design.  They can also assist you in finding and buying a domain name, as well as hosting your new site. 

Search Engine Marketing Tips 

Search and Content Networks 

Up until this week, Google AdWords has always been my first recommendation for Search and Content Networks.  They did pioneer pay-for-performance advertising, after all.  But after several weeks of Yahoo’s new pay-for-performance system being in place, I have moved them to the top of my list of recommendations.  It is not so much that I can say they are simply better than Google – they each still each have their own advantages that make that a difficult, case by case call – but I believe they are certainly as good as Google, and in many areas the competition is not yet quite as fierce (or savvy) as on Google AdWords. 

I encourage all of you who have not given Yahoo a try already to take advantage of the current offer; 

Yahoo/Overture Sponsored Search – Yahoo! represents one of the largest and oldest search engines on the web. They are currently running a promotion offering $25 worth of free advertising to new customers.  That could translate to as many as 250 free clicks through to the affiliate programs you choose to advertise.  Click on the link below to take advantage of this great offer. 

Yahoo! Sponsored Search connects businesses and customers online. Sign up and get a $25 credit.  

That’s all for this week. 

Good Luck, Affiliate Millionaires in training! 

Anthony Borelli