Articles and Tips
How to Earn More Affiliate IncomeAffiliate programs offer a great opportunity to earn some extra income, or even to make a full-time living. Here are some tips and ideas to help you make the most of the opportunities in affiliate marketing.
Convert More Traffic with our Opt-In Landing Pages
Occasionally we are contacted by affiliates who are puzzled by the nature of our main landing pages. Why do we send traffic to a page that just asks them to opt in to our mailing list? Why not link directly to our home page, or at least a page with a sales link?
That's a very good question – and there is a very good answer. Those opt-in landing pages convert like crazy! By persuading more people to opt-in to our mailing list, we make fare more sales than we would with a straight sales link.
And of course, that means more commissions for you, too.
Still puzzled? OK, let's explain…
How it Works
Freelancers visit Go Freelance in order to find work. But on their first visit, they may not see a job that they wish to apply for, and so may not sign up for membership. But we know that with so many jobs going through our system, it is only a matter of days or weeks before that perfect job for that particular visitor comes up.
Of course, if they have just clicked through to our site once and left, we have no way of telling them about this great job. But if they have joined our mailing list, we can email them an update. They see the job in the mailing, click through to find out more – and sign up with Go Freelance…and you get an extra $10 you weren't expecting.
Makes, sense, huh? In fact, our testing shows that this approach substantially increases our conversion rate.
The higher the percentage of people joining the mailing list, the higher our eventual sales. So it makes sense to concentrate all our efforts on getting people to opt-in to the list.
Naturally, it goes without saying that we follow the highest standards in email marketing. All subscriptions to the mailing list are double opt in, so the visitor has to confirm the subscription before being added to the list. There is an unsubscribe link in every message, and are mailings are CAN-SPAM compliant. We never sell, rent or otherwise disclose email addresses to anyone.
So remember…this approach works for us! And that means it works in generating more commissions for you, too.
Link from Content for Best Results
The Internet may be a relatively new medium, but although the technology is very different, people still read web sites in much the same way as they read newspapers and magazines.
We all know that such media contain editorial content, which is likely to be of interest, and advertising that we do our best to ignore. Because of this, our brains have become accustomed to ignoring display ads and concentrating on text, where the good stuff is likely to be found.
So why do so many affiliates still run good old-fashioned banner ads? Not for the click-through rate, that's for sure. Yet so many affiliates still run affiliate links that are as good as labelled as advertising. No wonder they get such poor results.
The affiliates who are pulling in the big bucks know better. They understand that the way to get the best click through rate and conversion rate is to include your affiliate links as part of editorial matter. And that's surprisingly easy to do. Just write a review of the product you want to promote, or mention it in context in a relevant article.
If you take this approach, you will find that the results can be astonishing. At Go Freelance, we find that affiliates using content links get far high click through rates than those using banners.
It only takes a short time to write some good, relevant content, and the results make it all worth while. Plus, your improved pages may rank better with the search engines, bringing you even more traffic – and more conversions.
You can't lose! So rip out those blatant ad-style affiliate links and replace them with quality content links.
You won't regret it.
Ditch the Parasites
Although the Internet has brought amazing advantages to all of us, it does have its dark side, too. Anyone who has surfed the ‘net for any length of time will have come across malicious software.
Whether you call it adware, spyware, malware or any one of a dozen other names, the principles are the same. The software aims to take control of the user's browser in some way, and force unwitting consumers to click on ads. Not only is this frustrating for users, it is hitting genuine affiliates in the wallet, too.
These parasite programs are often affiliates of otherwise genuine merchants. They overwrite the ‘real' affiliates cookie with their own, then steal the commission on any sale. Make no mistake about it, this practice is costing the affiliate industry millions of dollars.
So what can you do about it? Well, these adware vendors rely on major merchants for products to promote. Regrettably, many merchants accept such parasitic affiliates – it's too hard to turn down the sales.
However, there are many merchants who will not stand for such practices. At Go Freelance, for example, we constantly monitor affiliate applications for any which may relate to parasites. If we find any, they are banned – for ever!
By choosing merchants who make a stand against such underhand business practices, you can help to protect your own income. With the affiliate industry working together, we can beat the parasites!