I am ready to start implementing affiliate Marketing into my business. I have 2 websites selling in the Children's products industry. one is kids chair world, and the other is Brianna's Bedding and Beyond. I also have blogs linked to those sites as well.
I have done some research in the past on affiliate marketing, so I have some knowledge and I already have some affiliate accounts set up through linkshare for my niche.
I also have a killer SEO plan that got my kids chair world to # 5 on google in about 3 months, and I am ranking somewhere in the top 5 position for many of my top keyword phrases, so I am definately getting the traffic to my sites which is pretty targeted.
What is the first thing that I should start doing to start with affiliate marketing to go along with my business already.
If anyone has any suggestions on where I should start that would be great!!
If you are able to convert traffic to sales on your (very nice) sites, then I am not sure I would try to add affiliate marketing to those. Rather, I might consider building a new affiliate product site in a related niche.
How are the conversion rates on your product-based sites?
Also, what are your thoughts/plans about adding affiliate marketing to the mix? Do you plan to add new product lines through these merchants, or what do you feel will work best?
One last question: I assume you have a customer database - a mailing list of all of your buyers?
My suggestion to you would be to invest in a good mentor or coach like Lynn Terry and become a part of a mastermind group like SSWT's Elite Members' Mastermind Group.
I believe Lynn has just closed the doors to membership (as of last night). So, I would put my name on her waiting list.
Good luck with your ventures. I think you have a great niche.
(How are the conversion rates on your product-based sites?
Also, what are your thoughts/plans about adding affiliate marketing to the mix? Do you plan to add new product lines through these merchants, or what do you feel will work best?
One last question: I assume you have a customer database - a mailing list of all of your buyers? )
Answers to your questions Lynn,
Actually my conversion rates are not that great and I have made a lot of updates to my sites recently as recommended by Lisa Suttora at whatdoisell.com. They are improving though since I made the changes, not sure what percentage though. My Bedding site is converting better than the kids chair world site.
I am not sure how or if I should add any affiliate marketing to the mix. I am actually thinking about doing a seperate affiliate marketing site outside of my websites. I added a couple of amazon links to my kids chair world blog, not sure if it is the right idea or not.
I do the marketing, design and everything for my current sites so I think it would be fairly easy to set up and affiliate site seperate. I purchased Rosalind Gardners Book , the super affiliate handbook and I am reading that right now.
As far as the customer list I have just started building one. It is not very big at all though.
Maybe you could give some feedback on what you think about adding affiliate links to my current blogs.
You've got websites, blogs at least one lens and a twitter account.
Enough already!
I would focus on getting all this to work maximally before doing anymore building
Is your traffic going up or is it going down?
And the most crucial thing is to convert the traffic you do have. It's no good to focus on driving more traffic to a site that does not sell!
And survey the list you have - you don't need a big list, but you do need one that opens and reads your emails. Invite them to your blog, you can do free surveys using survey monkey.
Work on better copy and conversion - look at other sites in your niche and study them - how are they doing things better?
I love the super affiliate handbook, and Lisa Suttora is a great mentor from what I hear. This is a great community as well. So you're in good hands so far
That said, let's do look at the numbers before you get so much going that it's overwhelming - because you can usually earn more with less (less work AND less stress) if you do it right, and build strategically.
You said you're not sure how well it's converting. How many unique visitors did you have in the month of July to the bedding site? Not hits or visits, but unique visitors. Then see how many sales you made - orders, not individual products. Is it one sale per 100 unique visitors, 1 sale per 200, or what?
(You've got websites, blogs at least one lens and a twitter account.
Enough already!)
I have to say this really made me laugh. Thanks for bringing me back into check, I am always trying to take on too much and then I always wonder why things are not as successful as I would like them to be.
(Is it one sale per 100 unique visitors, 1 sale per 200, or what?)
The bedding site is 1 sale per 138 visitors and it is improving. The site is fairly new, about 3 months. This site I have a marketing company working on the marketing.
The kids chair site is much less than that, I actually just made my first sale in July, I made 2 sales . This site I market myself.
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That's not bad at all, Brismom. I would definitely focus on this, and keep improving on it - and of course build customer lists for both sites and start following up with them regularly. Two ecommerce sites is more than enough to keep you busy if you work them to their full potential
Of course, you can integrate affiliate marketing into your follow-up series. Especially when you can offer cool finds or special offers that are a good match for your list.
Where to start with Affiliate Marketing?
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