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As an affiliate you are really an advertiser and your job is to communicate with your users so they’ll be inclined to purchase products. Throw a bunch of random links, banners or products up and your users will leave. Engage in a dialog and you’ll capture their interest.

Competition is fierce and only those with an edge will end up making money. It’s easy to launch a website, join an affiliate program and set up an affilate storefront. To be successful you have to be a good business person, have a unique website and connect with your users so they’ll keep coming back. These merchandising tips will help set your affiliate shop apart from the rest.

Pick great, niche products and make them personable

• Pick relevant, contextual, niche products that people will identify with.
• Don’t just feed in products that may not belong on your site.
• Write succinct, catchy copy describing the merchandise
• For a few products, talk or blog about why you love the items. Put a picture of your toddler wearing a t-shirt you sell, for instance.
• Call out items that are best sellers. Describe why.
• Ask your users for feedback and post it.
• Pick products that support a pet niche cause.

Keep your shop interesting

• Rotate your products seasonally.
• Think about your competition and try to stand out.
• Sell things from all price ranges, including inexpensive “impulse buys”

Know and communicate with your users

• Inform users of sales and promotions.
• Think about your user demographic and pick products accordingly.
• Research your niche. It will be obvious to your users.
• Make it easy on your users. Link directly to the product details page.

Be a better business person

• Understand the basics of SEO.
• Start thinking about the holiday season in July.
• Have a blog, a forum, a site and a shop.
• Provide “forward this page” links.
• Don’t hide your shops behind a single link that nobody can see. Have an eye-catching, graphical link to your shop on high traffic pages.
• Distribute your links in newsletters, signatures and blogs.
• Think about your competition and try to stand out.
• Know how much traffic your shop pages get, what the click-thru is and what the conversion rate is. Adjust things and see if it changes.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Make money online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.