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This Is Why Affiliate Competition Does Matter - Debate Encouraged

by Daniel Molano
40 replies
This is a response to a reply I got in another thread.

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Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

The competition doesn't mean anything once you've got them to your site. The competition would only affect the number of clicks on your actual articles OFF site, such as EzineArticles.com, or would affect your PPC clickthrough.

Once you've got the visitors to your blog, it makes absolutely no difference how many other people are competing to sell that same product.
I would have to strongly disagree with you, the bounce rate is there for a reason. If someone is not sold by her blog, they will go look for another source or review. So most likely people who are using some sort of interception method (such as Chris' Conduit Method) will get the sale. There is no such thing as 0% bounce rate.

Although less bounce rate does mean more sales and also less affiliate competition means a higher chance your solid review/pitch will make the sale and not someone elses.

The conduit style is a very viable alternative, all those bounce rates will end up in someone elses page using such methods taking the sale.

In more simple terms:

Visitor A lands on her blog and is not convinced. Visitor A goes to Google and does a search for the product. Conduit affiliates have dominated page 1 of the Google search results for that search term (the product's name). Conduit affiliate takes the sale.

Grab your all time unique visitors and multiply that number by the bounce rate, that is an estimate of how much potential sales your are losing to conduit affiliates.

Low affiliate competition means a lot less conduit affiliates and a MUCH higher chance of ranking in page 1 for the product's name on the search results and therefore a much higher chance the visitor goes back to your page for the affiliate click through.

In the majority of affiliate programs, the affiliate cookie is replaced if another affiliate link is clicked and gives credit to the last affiliate linked clicked. All CB affiliate programs work like this.

Not to mention that if there is a lot of affiliates for any given product, chances are the visitor (who has already been looking around for a solution to a specific problem) has already seen the product before and was either not interested or already has it.

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I encourage a debate because I think this is a subject interesting for every single affiliate out there. Maybe I'm mistaken and I always enjoy constructive criticism.
#affiliate #competition #debate #encouraged #matter
  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    I understand your point Daniel, but in practice, once the reader has left your page without purchasing, the chances of getting them back to complete the sale via your link are remote.

    Nick's argument was that once you get the initial visit, you're ahead of the competition, however great it is, and you have every opportunity to make the sale with a compelling offer.


    Frank
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
      Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

      I understand your point Daniel, but in practice, once the reader has left your page without purchasing, the chances of getting them back to complete the sale via your link are remote.

      Nick's argument was that once you get the initial visit, you're ahead of the competition, however great it is, and you have every opportunity to make the sale with a compelling offer.


      Frank
      Really? Then why do my affiliate landing pages have a high level of returning visitors? There's no content or new content added to them, it's basically a pitched review.

      It's all about interception, read Chris Rempel's Conduit Method for more information.

      PS: Chris, thank you for that sweet tip, it's skyrocketing my affiliate sales.
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      • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
        I've got Chris Rempel's Conduit Method. Doesn't alter the fact that your best chance of getting the sale is on the first visit to your sales page, regardless of what affiliate method you're using.

        And if you invite debate, try not to be so touchy.
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        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
          Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

          I've got Chris Rempel's Conduit Method. Doesn't alter the fact that your best chance of getting the sale is on the first visit to your sales page, regardless of what affiliate method you're using.

          And if you invite debate, try not to be so touchy.
          I'm not touchy Frank, I actually agree with you there.

          But you are still losing potential sales if you are not taking advantage of the interception. And higher affiliate competition does lower the chance of intercepting.

          So why lose potential sales and money when you don't have to?
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    • Profile picture of the author Monetize
      I would have to agree with Nick. I personally don't concern
      myself much about competition as it will always be there.

      Have you ever noticed there's a 7-11 directly across the
      street from Circle K? A Chevron across from a Shell?

      Anyway, take this true life scenario - Visitor A has done a
      search engine query for a product he desperately needs
      and he has clicked through from the search engine results
      to my inviting and informative web site. The product that
      he so desperately requires is right there right in front of
      his desperate face and available for purchase.

      He purchases.

      Happy customer.

      Happy me.

      The End.
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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
        Originally Posted by Monetize View Post

        I would have to agree with Nick. I personally don't concern
        myself much about competition as it will always be there.

        Have you ever noticed there's a 7-11 directly across the
        street from Circle K? A Chevron across from a Shell?

        Anyway, take this true life scenario - Visitor A has done a
        search engine query for a product he desperately needs
        and he has clicked through from the search engine results
        to my inviting and informative web site. The product that
        he so desperately requires is right there right in front of
        his desperate face and available for purchase.

        He purchases.

        Happy customer.

        Happy me.

        The End.
        When there are more affiliates, the chances you actually rank in the first page for the search term are VERY low, especially if you are competing with many super affiliates that know how to dominate a search term by heart.

        All the time you would need to knock them off by building backlinks is wasted time, time you could just be using in promoting another good product with less affiliate competition.

        If you can make more money the other way, why bother?
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        • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
          Daniel

          Interception, as taught in the Conduit method, is arguably the most efficient means of affiliate marketing. It works even in the face of high competition, as most competing affiliates will be trying the "hard sell" approach.

          I was just supporting Nick's point in relation to the example in the other thread. She'd got the customer to her site in spite of the competition. That was the time to close the sale.

          I agree that if the product had been better presented (perversely), some potential customers may have been interested enough to conduct a wider search (and been intercepted), but a great landing page would have captured the sale first time.

          Frank
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          • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
            Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

            Daniel

            Interception, as taught in the Conduit method, is arguably the most efficient means of affiliate marketing. It works even in the face of high competition, as most competing affiliates will be trying the "hard sell" approach.

            I was just supporting Nick's point in relation to the example in the other thread. She'd got the customer to her site in spite of the competition. That was the time to close the sale.

            I agree that if the product had been better presented (perversely), some potential customers may have been interested enough to conduct a wider search (and been intercepted), but a great landing page would have captured the sale first time.

            Frank
            That was when the conduit method originated a while ago, now many take that approach.

            Let's test it shall we? If you rank postion #1 for the highest current gravity product in Clickbank in the next week I will pay you $50 through PayPal.

            Also, check out your bounce rate on your landing pages and multiply it by the number of unique visitors, then multiply it by the payout of the product. That number is the potential $ sales you are losing to other affiliates.

            On the other hand, you could be making MUCH more with a product that has less competition.

            I never said you can't make money while competing against other affiliates, I'm just saying you can make much more money when there is less affiliate competition for a product.

            Of course this has been tested, 80% of my sales come from low gravity products that barely anyone knows about, but I have bought them and know they are good. Probably because the author doesn't know how to market them, but the products are great and I make daily sales out of them.
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            • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
              Competition matters....really?

              I would have to strongly disagree.

              One of the niches that I generate the largest amount of affiliate commissions through is a service that offers Criminal Background Checks. I can assure you that the competition in this niche is nothing less than FIERCE...and that is putting it mildly.

              However, that still has not stopped me from earning in excess of $1,000 at a bare minimum each and every month with that niche alone and that is without a first page Google ranking for a search term that even remotely resembles a money maker.

              I do well because I do an excellent job of selling the service once a potential customer hits my website. If I don't do a good job selling it, they are going to click their back button and find another site that has similar information. This is true whether you are in a niche that has 5 competitors or 5,000,000 competitors.

              I can definitely see what you are saying. However, I think you are failing to put the scenario to real world situations when you are coming to your conclusions.
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              • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                Competition matters....really?

                I would have to strongly disagree.

                One of the niches that I generate the largest amount of affiliate commissions through is a service that offers Criminal Background Checks. I can assure you that the competition in this niche is nothing less than FIERCE...and that is putting it mildly.

                However, that still has not stopped me from earning in excess of $1,000 at a bare minimum each and every month with that niche alone and that is without a first page Google ranking for a search term that even remotely resembles a money maker.

                I do well because I do an excellent job of selling the service once a potential customer hits my website. If I don't do a good job selling it, they are going to click their back button and find another site that has similar information. This is true whether you are in a niche that has 5 competitors or 5,000,000 competitors.

                I can definitely see what you are saying. However, I think you are failing to put the scenario to real world situations when you are coming to your conclusions.
                Jeremy, I am talking about affiliate competition for a specific product. I do agree that the niche competition doesn't matter at all, in fact, I always say that the more competition within a niche the better, it just means more demand.
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                • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
                  Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                  I never said you can't make money while competing against other affiliates, I'm just saying you can make much more money when there is less affiliate competition for a product.
                  And I agree with you.

                  We're talking at cross purposes. I was merely defending Nick's quote in relation to the other thread. Namely:

                  "Competition doesn't mean anything once you've got them to your site"


                  Because then the onus is on you to make the sale.


                  Frank
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                • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
                  Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                  Jeremy, I am talking about affiliate competition for a specific product. I do agree that the niche competition doesn't matter at all, in fact, I always say that the more competition within a niche the better, it just means more demand.

                  What is the difference?

                  If I am an affiliate for your product for instance, what difference does it make to me whether one person is promoting it or a million people are?

                  Honestly, I don't see where it makes a bit of difference. Your results are going to come down to how well you have done your JOB in comparison to how well the other affiliates have.

                  As an example, every time a new product comes out and starts doing heavy promotion for affiliates, tons of people come on board. Yet, only a small portion of them really make a whole hearted effort.

                  Half of the affiliates put one article up on EzineArticles and then move onto the next thing. A third of them throw up a video on YouTube and call it a day.

                  Maybe I needed to read the original thread that you are carrying over to this one in order to get a full grasp of what your position is.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                    Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                    What is the difference?

                    If I am an affiliate for your product for instance, what difference does it make to me whether one person is promoting it or a million people are?

                    Honestly, I don't see where it makes a bit of difference. Your results are going to come down to how well you have done your JOB in comparison to how well the other affiliates have.

                    As an example, every time a new product comes out and starts doing heavy promotion for affiliates, tons of people come on board. Yet, only a small portion of them really make a whole hearted effort.

                    Half of the affiliates put one article up on EzineArticles and then move onto the next thing. A third of them throw up a video on YouTube and call it a day.

                    Maybe I needed to read the original thread that you are carrying over to this one in order to get a full grasp of what your position is.
                    Read Chris' reply to see the difference.

                    I never said you can't make money if you are competing against super affiliates, I'm just saying that it is much easier to do so when you are not.

                    Of course, if you are willing to take the time and effort to develop a website that does compete you can still make a killer with a competitive affiliate product.

                    Like Chris said, both are effective.

                    A product that has almost no competition for the product's search term (SEO wise) is much easier to intercept and to generate sales by doing half the work load.

                    Both can be as effective, only that the low affiliate competition one is easier, takes less time and less work.

                    After reading the Conduit Method and implementing it I have discovered SEO is one of the best (if not the best) targeted traffic generation method along with article marketing (IMO).

                    It's as simple as:

                    Potential buyer inserts search term in Google, potential buyer sees a great reviews for products he is interested in (in your site), potential buyer clicks through (your affiliate link), potential buyer becomes an actual buyer and you get the commission. Competitive affiliate programs are harder to rank for, it is as simple as that.

                    Why is article marketing not AS effective as SEO (But still really effective)? They have to go through a three page process (Article, Landing Page, Merchant Page) while in SEO there is only a two page process. I gotta love organic search engine traffic.
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                    • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
                      Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                      Why is article marketing not AS effective as SEO (But still really effective)? They have to go through a three page process (Article, Landing Page, Merchant Page) while in SEO there is only a two page process. I gotta love organic search engine traffic.
                      Amen to that.


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                      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
                        Daniel,

                        I'm not misinterpreting anything.

                        I agreed to the fact that it is not as easy when there is more competition.

                        You would have to be half stupid not to believe that.

                        Like I said, I guess I would have needed to read the original thread that you carried over to a new thread to understand exactly where you are coming from.

                        All I am trying to say is, regardless of the amount of competition, if you do your job better than they do, it is all good.
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                        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                          Daniel,

                          I'm not misinterpreting anything.

                          I agreed to the fact that it is not as easy when there is more competition.

                          You would have to be half stupid not to believe that.

                          Like I said, I guess I would have needed to read the original thread that you carried over to a new thread to understand exactly where you are coming from.

                          All I am trying to say is, regardless of the amount of competition, if you do your job better than they do, it is all good.
                          LOL Jeremy, then why are we even arguing? We are agreeing on the exact same things.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                    Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                    What is the difference?

                    If I am an affiliate for your product for instance, what difference does it make to me whether one person is promoting it or a million people are?

                    Honestly, I don't see where it makes a bit of difference. Your results are going to come down to how well you have done your JOB in comparison to how well the other affiliates have.

                    As an example, every time a new product comes out and starts doing heavy promotion for affiliates, tons of people come on board. Yet, only a small portion of them really make a whole hearted effort.

                    Half of the affiliates put one article up on EzineArticles and then move onto the next thing. A third of them throw up a video on YouTube and call it a day.

                    Maybe I needed to read the original thread that you are carrying over to this one in order to get a full grasp of what your position is.

                    Jeremy, you're making a dangerous assumption here that most affiliates
                    are lazy. Yes, many are, but let me tell you, there are some smart cookies
                    out there who really go above and beyond. The more of them out there
                    that YOU have to compete with, the harder it's going to be for you to
                    make sales. That's just basic math.

                    Sure, the bums don't matter because their effort is so half ass it's a joke,
                    but every guy out there who steps up his game, is one more person who
                    you are most definitely in competition with.

                    I finished number 20 in the Nitro Marketing affiliate contest. I was up
                    against some of the best in the business. If I didn't have so much
                    competition, not only would I have finished higher, I would have sold
                    more units.

                    Again, it's just basic math.
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                    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
                      I think it is also dangerous to assume that because there are a lot of affiliates promoting a product that you can't get more than your share of the pie

                      Steve, you should know this first hand.

                      Not going to get into it real in depth, but you have made mention of the latest product you are promoting...there are tons of others promoting the same product. From what you have said, you are making out a little bit more than OK
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                      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                        I think it is also dangerous to assume that because there are a lot of affiliates promoting a product that you can't get more than your share of the pie

                        Steve, you should know this first hand.

                        Not going to get into it real in depth, but you have made mention of the latest product you are promoting...there are tons of others promoting the same product. From what you have said, you are making out a little bit more than OK
                        Again, you are misinterpreting the whole point. Read my quote below. No one ever said it can't be profitable. Just harder.

                        Steven made a point once which I believe to be VERY true. Something like "Don't let anyone tell you there is only 1 way to do things".

                        And Chris just illustrated that point to perfection by stating that both methods are effective.

                        Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                        Read Chris' reply to see the difference.

                        I never said you can't make money if you are competing against super affiliates, I'm just saying that it is much easier to do so when you are not.

                        I remember Steven once saying something which I believe to be very true. Don't let anyone tell you there is only 1 way to do things.

                        And Chris just illustrated that point to perfection by saying that both methods are effective.

                        Of course, if you are willing to take the time and effort to develop a website that does compete you can still make a killer with a competitive affiliate product.

                        Like Chris said, both are effective.

                        A product that has almost no competition for the product's search term (SEO wise) is much easier to intercept and to generate sales by doing half the work load.

                        Both can be as effective, only that the low affiliate competition one is easier, takes less time and less work.

                        After reading the Conduit Method and implementing it I have discovered SEO is one of the best (if not the best) affiliate targeted traffic generation method along with article marketing (IMO).

                        It's as simple as:

                        Potential buyer inserts search term in Google, potential buyer sees a great reviews for products he is interested in (in your site), potential buyer clicks through (your affiliate link), potential buyer becomes an actual buyer and you get the commission. Competitive affiliate programs are harder to rank for, it is as simple as that.

                        Why is article marketing not AS effective as SEO (But still really effective)? They have to go through a three page process (Article, Landing Page, Merchant Page) while in SEO there is only a two page process. I gotta love organic search engine traffic.
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                      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                        I think it is also dangerous to assume that because there are a lot of affiliates promoting a product that you can't get more than your share of the pie

                        Steve, you should know this first hand.

                        Not going to get into it real in depth, but you have made mention of the latest product you are promoting...there are tons of others promoting the same product. From what you have said, you are making out a little bit more than OK
                        Well, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the point of the original post and
                        thread. Won't be the first time.

                        If it's simply to say that competition matters, well, duh!

                        But if it's beyond that, I'm not getting it and quite honestly, at this
                        point, I don't want to.

                        All I know is this.

                        If John Doe comes out with a hot product that the whole world is going
                        to want, I'm going to make more money selling it if I'm the only one selling
                        it as opposed to going up against 500 affiliates selling it.
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                        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

                          Well, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the point of the original post and
                          thread. Won't be the first time.

                          If it's simply to say that competition matters, well, duh!

                          But if it's beyond that, I'm not getting it and quite honestly, at this
                          point, I don't want to.

                          All I know is this.

                          If John Doe comes out with a hot product that the whole world is going
                          to want, I'm going to make more money selling it if I'm the only one selling
                          it as opposed to going up against 500 affiliates selling it.
                          That is exactly the point Steven, well part of it.

                          The other part is that you can also make a killer in a competitive affiliate program if you work your ass off, but it does take a lot more work.
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            • Profile picture of the author kevin campbelle
              Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post


              [/B]Of course this has been tested, 80% of my sales come from low gravity products that barely anyone knows about, but I have bought them and know they are good. Probably because the author doesn't know how to market them, but the products are great and I make daily sales out of them.
              Are these sales coming from using the Conduit method keywords like review and product name or from the methods in your newbie blueprint? You mention products with gravity below 5. Now people will always type in product review, name etc for any product in clickbank and low gravity products like under 5 will have less competition, making it easier to rank for them but the overall number of visitors should be real low for products with such low gravities, or not?

              If the 80% above is not using the conduit method (at least solely) and more the methods in your newbie blueprint or Confessions of a LSA then I can see that happening easily.

              Kevin.
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              • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
                Originally Posted by kevin campbelle View Post

                Are these sales coming from using the Conduit method keywords like review and product name or from the methods in your newbie blueprint? You mention products with gravity below 5. Now people will always type in product review, name etc for any product in clickbank and low gravity products like under 5 will have less competition, making it easier to rank for them but the overall number of visitors should be real low for products with such low gravities, or not?

                If the 80% above is not using the conduit method (at least solely) and more the methods in your newbie blueprint or Confessions of a LSA then I can see that happening easily.

                Kevin.
                I use the methods in my blueprint, but as you might have seen in Version 2.0 of TNB I have implemented some concepts of the Conduit Method in the Additional Steps section. It doesn't make a reference to the Conduit Method's strategies per say, but I largely explain SEO.
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                • Profile picture of the author kevin campbelle
                  Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                  I use the methods in my blueprint, but as you might have seen in Version 2.0 of TNB I have implemented some concepts of the Conduit Method in the Additional Steps section. It doesn't make a reference to the Conduit Method's strategies per say, but I largely explain SEO.

                  Man I didn't know there was a version 2 as I hardly check that email. I just downloaded the new version and I'll have a read later.

                  Kevin.
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                • Profile picture of the author Chris Monty
                  Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

                  I use the methods in my blueprint, but as you might have seen in Version 2.0 of TNB I have implemented some concepts of the Conduit Method in the Additional Steps section. It doesn't make a reference to the Conduit Method's strategies per say, but I largely explain SEO.
                  There's a Version 2.0 Daniel? Do I have that?
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          • Profile picture of the author chris_surfrider
            There's no hard and fast answer to the question of what is more profitable, low-demand or high-demand.

            What it comes down to is visitor value, every time.

            It's easier to obtain traffic in high-demand niches, even for product keywords, since there's more overall exposure and therefore more rebounding research. And it's not just "________ review" that gets traffic. There's the endless long-tail combinations that apply here, and every piece of unique content you have is essentially your entry into the "SEO lottery".

            However, due to the size of the affiliate force for popular products, Daniel is correct - ranking strongly across the board for those terms will be more difficult because there's simply more available content for those queries, thus creating a competitive SEO environment.

            And likewise, products that aren't marketed aggresively will be much easier to rank for.

            But which one is more profitable?

            There's too many variables.

            Acquiring traffic in the hot niches isn't hard, but can you get enough of the "product" traffic to experience high conversions and visitor value?

            Acquiring traffic in the speculative niches IS hard, even though there's very low competition for "product" traffic.

            So there's no clear answer.

            Personally, I have sites that do well in BOTH types of situations, and I also have sites that have tanked in both.

            But if it's about which is better - then the answer to that is simply that you can't quantify or compare the models.

            Both are effective.

            -Chris
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            • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
              Originally Posted by chris_surfrider View Post

              There's no hard and fast answer to the question of what is more profitable, low-demand or high-demand.

              What it comes down to is visitor value, every time.

              It's easier to obtain traffic in high-demand niches, even for product keywords, since there's more overall exposure and therefore more rebounding research.

              However, due to the size of the affiliate force for popular products, Daniel is correct - ranking for those terms will be more difficult because there's simply more available content for those queries, thus creating a competitive SEO environment.

              And likewise, products that aren't marketed aggresively will be much easier to rank for.

              But which one is more profitable?

              There's too many variables.

              Acquiring traffic in the hot niches isn't hard, but can get enough of the "product" traffic to experience high conversions and visitor value?

              Acquiring traffic in the speculative niches IS hard, even though there's very low competition for "product" traffic.

              So there's no clear answer.

              Personally, I have sites that do well in BOTH types of situations, and I also have sites that have tanked in both.

              But if it's about which is better - then the answer is to that is simply that you can't quantify or compare the models.

              Both are effective.

              -Chris
              Thank you Chris, that is basically what I was trying to say.

              I guess you just have a better way of wording things hehe

              My statement was intending to say that affiliate competition is an important factor to take into account and it is a significant variable, not that you can't make money if you are competing against other affiliates.
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Originally Posted by chris_surfrider View Post

              There's no hard and fast answer to the question of what is more profitable, low-demand or high-demand.

              What it comes down to is visitor value, every time.

              It's easier to obtain traffic in high-demand niches, even for product keywords, since there's more overall exposure and therefore more rebounding research. And it's not just "________ review" that gets traffic. There's the endless long-tail combinations that apply here, and every piece of unique content you have is essentially your entry into the "SEO lottery".

              However, due to the size of the affiliate force for popular products, Daniel is correct - ranking strongly across the board for those terms will be more difficult because there's simply more available content for those queries, thus creating a competitive SEO environment.

              And likewise, products that aren't marketed aggresively will be much easier to rank for.

              But which one is more profitable?

              There's too many variables.

              Acquiring traffic in the hot niches isn't hard, but can you get enough of the "product" traffic to experience high conversions and visitor value?

              Acquiring traffic in the speculative niches IS hard, even though there's very low competition for "product" traffic.

              So there's no clear answer.

              Personally, I have sites that do well in BOTH types of situations, and I also have sites that have tanked in both.

              But if it's about which is better - then the answer to that is simply that you can't quantify or compare the models.

              Both are effective.

              -Chris

              Just more proof that this guy knows what he's talking about.

              Thanks for a great post Chris.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Okay, this is something I was discussing with OregonGal earlier - how DO you design an effective sales page that is search engine optimized? How do you design a sales page that gets good organic search? If you have links on it that is distracting to visitors. If you have other pages on your sales page website that is distracting to visitors.

    Basically a good sales page, from everything that I have seen and heard, is one page which funnels visitors towards a specific action. I would LOVe to know how to make that search engine friendly!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Logically speaking...if a product doesn't have many affiliates selling it, isn't there usually a good reason? Like the product isn't that great, or its sales page isn't that great?
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
      Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

      Logically speaking...if a product doesn't have many affiliates selling it, isn't there usually a good reason? Like the product isn't that great, or its sales page isn't that great?
      Usually, yes. But I have found gems in CB and CJ with VERY low gravity, like below 5.0 (that indicates there are not many affiliates) which are absolutely fantastic, maybe the merchants/publishers don't exactly know how to market them, so I give them a hand and take the loot home.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
        Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

        Usually, yes. But I have found gems in CB and CJ with VERY low gravity, like below 5.0 (that indicates there are not many affiliates) which are absolutely fantastic, maybe the merchants/publishers don't exactly know how to market them, so I give them a hand and take the loot home.
        I guess I should give some of the lower gravity products a try. So far I've had good luck picking products with pretty high gravity, and I have done that on the theory that if a lot of people are promoting a product, the product is pretty good. (I don;t do that blindly; I stay away from things like Water 4 Gas, which were super popular but struck me as dodgy.)

        But it certainly would be nice to promote a product with less competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Hatfield
    Dana,

    If a product doesn't have a lot of affiliates promoting it, it may just mean that the vendor isn't doing a good of promoting it and getting affiliates to sale it for them.

    Many clickbank vendors are great at making products but have no ideas how to get affiliates.

    If the product is in a market that you know is popular and the sales page looks good from a copywriting point of view then give it a test.

    Terry
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Monty
      There are more and more affiliate programs now that go with the FIRST cookie placed, and not the LAST.

      Your post does illustrate the need to know what you're doing when it comes to SEO and ranking at the top of the SERP's for your set of keywords.
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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
        Originally Posted by Chris Monty View Post

        There are more and more affiliate programs now that go with the FIRST cookie placed, and not the LAST.

        Your post does illustrate the need to know what you're doing when it comes to SEO and ranking at the top of the SERP's for your set of keywords.
        Hey Chris, I think I did make the reference to CB affiliate programs as for the last cookie placed.
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        • Profile picture of the author Chris Monty
          Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

          Hey Chris, I think I did make the reference to CB affiliate programs as for the last cookie placed.
          Yes, you definitely did. Clickbank is a great money-maker for a lot of folks. I'm just pointing out that they're not the only game in town.

          Most of my income these days is coming from privately run affiliate programs.

          You make some great points...just presenting another angle.
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          • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
            Originally Posted by Chris Monty View Post

            Yes, you definitely did. Clickbank is a great money-maker for a lot of folks. I'm just pointing out that they're not the only game in town.

            Most of my income these days is coming from privately run affiliate programs.

            You make some great points...just presenting another angle.
            Yes you are right, a lot of affiliate programs now force the cookie to the first affiliate link clicked. CB is not the only option, there are many others out there and many are privately hosted.
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        • Profile picture of the author naruq
          There is always going to be competition. Actually I think competition is good.
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          Please do not use affiliate links in signatures

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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    Dan, I see your point and agree with THAT point you made, however... I'm a little miffed by the fact that you took my point and created a new thread, completely taking out of context what I was trying to say. I don't want to appear aggresive or narky, but you've missed my point somewhat.

    Here's the point I was making:

    A marketer comes to the forum and asks why her landing page was not converting into clickthroughs and subsequent sales from her affiliate offers on her blog.

    One suggestion as to why the clickthrough/sales were not happening was the fact that there is a lot of competition for that particular product.

    My response was, If a visitor reaches your site and then sees the product you are promoting, how is the fact that hundreds of other people promoting the same product going to make the slightest bit of difference?

    The visitor is not going to think "well, I've seen this elsewhere so you're not having my money".

    They might think "That looks interesting, I'll remember that product and do some research on it", which supports your point. However, what is clearly being overlooked here is that the original query was "How can SHE get more clickthroughs" which is resolved by better copy, a review perhaps, more call to action...

    ...all of which I suggested, and all of which will eliminate the issue of the visitor thinking "I'll do more research or come back later".

    Do you see what I am saying now?

    I agree with your point, but with all due respect, you're kinda seeing it from a lopsided angle.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

      Dan, I see your point and agree with THAT point you made, however... I'm a little miffed by the fact that you took my point and created a new thread, completely taking out of context what I was trying to say. I don't want to appear aggresive or narky, but you've missed my point somewhat.

      Here's the point I was making:

      A marketer comes to the forum and asks why her landing page was not converting into clickthroughs and subsequent sales from her affiliate offers on her blog.

      One suggestion as to why the clickthrough/sales were not happening was the fact that there is a lot of competition for that particular product.

      My response was, If a visitor reaches your site and then sees the product you are promoting, how is the fact that hundreds of other people promoting the same product going to make the slightest bit of difference?

      The visitor is not going to think "well, I've seen this elsewhere so you're not having my money".

      They might think "That looks interesting, I'll remember that product and do some research on it", which supports your point. However, what is clearly being overlooked here is that the original query was "How can SHE get more clickthroughs" which is resolved by better copy, a review perhaps, more call to action...

      ...all of which I suggested, and all of which will eliminate the issue of the visitor thinking "I'll do more research or come back later".

      Do you see what I am saying now?

      I agree with your point, but with all due respect, you're kinda seeing it from a lopsided angle.
      Okay, now I finally get what this whole argument is about.

      I can see both sides of it. Personally, I'd still rather be the only one selling
      water out in the desert, but if my sales pitch, review, presentation, freebies
      given as incentive, and everything else is better than the next guys's I'm
      certainly going to get my share of sales.

      Hey look, it's a dog eat dog world and survival of the fittest.

      (anybody else wanna throw in some additional cliches, be my guest)

      Just be the best that you can be and you'll make your money.

      Sheesh, how hard is that to figure out?
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
      Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

      Dan, I see your point and agree with THAT point you made, however... I'm a little miffed by the fact that you took my point and created a new thread, completely taking out of context what I was trying to say. I don't want to appear aggresive or narky, but you've missed my point somewhat.

      Here's the point I was making:

      A marketer comes to the forum and asks why her landing page was not converting into clickthroughs and subsequent sales from her affiliate offers on her blog.

      One suggestion as to why the clickthrough/sales were not happening was the fact that there is a lot of competition for that particular product.

      My response was, If a visitor reaches your site and then sees the product you are promoting, how is the fact that hundreds of other people promoting the same product going to make the slightest bit of difference?

      The visitor is not going to think "well, I've seen this elsewhere so you're not having my money".

      They might think "That looks interesting, I'll remember that product and do some research on it", which supports your point. However, what is clearly being overlooked here is that the original query was "How can SHE get more clickthroughs" which is resolved by better copy, a review perhaps, more call to action...

      ...all of which I suggested, and all of which will eliminate the issue of the visitor thinking "I'll do more research or come back later".

      Do you see what I am saying now?

      I agree with your point, but with all due respect, you're kinda seeing it from a lopsided angle.
      And I agree with you there, I just wanted to make a thread that would make for an interesting debate for affiliates out there. Sorry for making the thread with you quoted without your permission, it's not my intention to 'devalue' what you said. I just wanted to make an interesting debate, which was achieved as intended.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

    This is a response to a reply I got in another thread.

    I would have to strongly disagree with you, the bounce rate is there for a reason.

    Although less bounce rate does mean more sales and also less affiliate competition means a higher chance your solid review/pitch will make the sale and not someone elses.
    Isn't this what we were talking about in the original thread? That's the whole point! Reducing the bounce rate so that the visitor DOESN'T click out and buy from the competition.

    Originally Posted by Daniel Molano View Post

    If someone is not sold by her blog, they will go look for another source or review.
    Again, that's nothing to do with my point. Sure, competition matters WHEN the visitor clicks out, but the point of the post (and my advice) was to make sure they don't.
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