There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs out there, all of which claim to be the best. Many of them try to give you the impression, that all you have to do is use their banners and links, and then wait for the money to start rolling in. Although this can be the case, this type of scenario normally applies to large sites with a lot of web traffic.
Choosing banners
With most affiliate programs, you are offered a variety of banners to place on your website. One problem you might run into with banners are their sizes. Choose a banner for your site that stands out, but is not overpowering. Also, make sure that the banner you are using loads quickly. There is nothing worse for your visitor to wait for your site to load.
When you select any types of graphical advertising, you should try and keep the theme of your website in mind. Even though graphical ads are meant to stand out and catch people’s eye, they shouldn’t be to the point where everything else on the page is completely ignored.
Pop-ups and -unders
A lot of companies will now give their affiliates the chance of using pop-up or pop-under ads. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, when using these types ads. They can be very effective, and at the same time very annoying to your visitors. The first thing is to make sure that they load fast. Again people are not very patient, and will click away if the load takes too long. The second thing to keep in mind is that the pop-up is set to come up only once per visit. An exit pop-up, of course, eliminates that concern.
Text link ads
One of the most successful means of advertising are plain text link ads. They are easy on bandwidth, don’t use a lot of space, and they easily be incorporated into most of page layouts. Good text links offer some information as to why your visitor should investigate, and click on your offer. Keep the text short and compelling.
Email advertising
The direct promotion via email has really taken off, and there is a reason for that, it works. If you plan to use email as a method of advertising your affiliate products, make sure your email communication does not look spammy, and provides useful content, that your subscriber can use in their life, or business. Providing useful content, will make sure that your readers will eagerly open your emails, and actually read them.
Patience
If you feel confident that your site can generate great sales, you might want to contact the company to negotiate a more profitable deal. Be aware that the vendors are approached every day from affiliates looking to make better deals. Your performance in supplying leads and sales, is what will make them take notice. They will listen, and be open to make a deal, if you bring in a lot of business for them.
In closing, you should always keep in mind that most forms of advertising will take time. No matter what methods you plan to use, results often will not happen overnight. It is very important that you track your results, and once you determined which method is most profitable, put all your effort behind it.
