Posts Tagged "TheRealTimJones.com"

BlogWorldExpo 08: Affiliate Marketing Secrets for Bloggers

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking | 6 comments

I was looking forward to attending this panel despite knowing that I probably knew all there was to know on this subject, because I knew two of the panelists.  Boy was I wrong – it just goes to show you that there’s always something new to be learned when attending trade shows! The panel consisted of:

I was proud of the boys – despite having a crowd of general noobs to affiliate marketing they did an excellent job and really threw out some solid information.

Bullet Point Review!

  • Blended ads look nicer and work better.
  • PopShops has a WordPress plugin that’s super easy to use.
  • Remember to work the ads in creatively.
  • Think and plan for the long term.
    • Your blog is your brand.
    • Be the expert.
    • Share your space.
  • Affiliate marketing is a great start but doesn’t stop there.
    • Be careful – advertising the wrong way can tarnish your image.
    • Think like a business and set goals.
    • Craft a business plan and follow it.
    • Look for other retail opportunities (your own affiliate program?)
  • There’s lots of opportunity for creativity.
  • Most people don’t know it’s an affiliate link and most don’t care (when using text links).
  • .htaccess redirect helps clean links up – fairly simple process.
  • 50%+ of subscribers come by email.
  • Utilize social media to build readership and establish yourself as an expert.
  • People have to get there before they can click.
  • MaxBlogPress, OpenX are good free ad serving plugins.
  • Ninja Affiliate 1.5 is a paid plugin that automatically ads contextual links to keywords you enter in.
  • Peel away ads (page ears) also work well
  • Target your ads to your audience.
  • Yahoo! Answers works well to help establish yourself within your niche as an expert.
  • Don’t venture too far outside your niche.  You want to upsell and compliment your blog.
  • The first thing you’d do?  Tim says sign up with the affiliate networks.  Shawn suggested doing a Google Search to get a feel for your competition.  Mike advises to make sure your site works and that content is up before applying for the affiliate programs – the merchant has to want you.
  • Spend the $10 on a domain & it’ll get over the first threshold when affiliate managers review your application.

I don’t have any notes from the Q&A portion of the panel because a lot of it was specific to those bloggers asking the questions – they wanted to know specifics.  Personally I don’t think a Q&A session is really the time for that but I understand the desire for people to take any opportunity they can get to ask a question of an expert!

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