I finally downloaded a copy of the Super Affiliate Handbook yesterday, and did a quick skim. It's definitely chock full of info, and I look forward to digging in. One thing I noticed, though, is that the example affiliate sites that Rosalind shares (e.g., roamsters.com) are essentially what I would call monetized blogs. I'm looking to create one of these as my kind of flagship site for my niche, too.
However, I'm wondering if that is typical of the type of affiliate sites that those of you who've found success in affiliate marketing build. The other type of affiliate site I'm familiar with is more of a mini-site with a fairly small amount of content that doesn't really get updated like a blog. The notion, I guess, is that it's kind of a "build it and forget it" type of site that just drives people to the product sales page.
Does it make sense to pursue a mixture of these different type of sites? Would you recommend going one way or the other first? I'm just curious to hear other's experiences with these two approaches.
Different strategies will work better with different products, markets or even keywords. The web is becoming more conversational and social, and so the content format is working really well.
Mini-sites can be a bit harder to promote, because you generally have to use paid links or paid ads to drive traffic. It's hard - not impossible, but harder - to get quality inbound links to a landing page or mini site. Compared to a blog or content-based site, of course.
Once you set up a blog/site on your domain, you can always add one-pagers (landing pages, opt-in pages, etc) as well, so you're not limited to just the blog format.
I had been led down the path of the mini-sites initially by some other resources. I guess you can make them work, but if I can't get too excited about the content, then I don't think I can get many customers excited about it either. With a content-rich site like a blog, I feel like I'm building the "mothership" of an actual online business. I can think of lots of ways to provide value through content, and I can think of ways to not only monetize the blog like Rosalind's examples, but it can also be a springboard to other aspects of your business as you suggested.
Super Affiliate Handbook / Affiliate Sites
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