Product Question

August 27, 2008 on 7:08 pm | In Questions and Comments | 1 Comment

First of all, loved your book! I am a displaced IT consultant too (project manager). Prior to buying it, I started down the path of creating my own site, but quickly discovered affiliate search marketing is easier and cheaper. I signed up for several affiliate networks – CJ, Clickbank, RevenueWire. So I was at about step 5 prior to buying it.

My dilemma now is which product(s) to promote, and which networks best support the products that I choose.  Based on my experience, I have narrowed it down to 3 areas:

1. Computer Software (optimization, antispyware, etc.). I know that the margins here must be razor thin due to the competition. I have connected with a SW publisher that has give me good support and tips on how to market, and their conversion rates, etc.

2. Sporting Goods. I think i could promote niches, like Camping. Their may be opportunites for seasonal campaigns too.

3. Real Estate Investing – Short sales, investor tools, etc.

4. Credit cards

Any help you can give based on the products that i have mentioned and Networks that support them best would be greatly appreciated. It seems like amazon would lend itself nicely to sporting goods.

 Also, do you ever recommend running the same campaign, and then swapping out the products if it is underperforming. In theory you could do it if you had broad keywords, and then just replaced one products’ hoplink with another.

 Thanks!

Jim

1 Comment »

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  1. Jim,

    Thanks for buying my book. I’m glad you liked it so much.

    I think the products and services you listed are certainly large markets with lots of opportunity for making money.

    You mention possibly tight margins – which for most advertisers is probably the case – but I promise you that the folks whose ads occupy the top sponsored positions enjoy – for the most part – wider margins than you might think.

    This is because the ads in those top positions are usually there because they are significantly outperforming (in terms of CTR) the other ads in that space. As a result of Google’s algorithm, this high performance is rewarded with lower costs. Keep this in mind when your first ad results come in, because if you forget that a well-written ad is going to dramatically lower your costs, its easy to make the mistake of thinking the margins will never be there for you.

    I know I harp on it all through the book, but I can’t stress enough… your success or failure hinges on good ad copy, more than any other factor.

    Commission Junction is still the largest affiliate network, with the best tools, but I would always make a point of shopping around. Occasionally, I have found the same program on more than one network – sometimes with higher payouts on one.

    As for your suggestion of swapping products within the same campaign, the concept is good, but I would use seperate ad groups for seperate products, to protect better performing ads.

    Tony

    Comment by Administrator — August 27, 2008 #

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