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Less is More: How to Maintain Affiliate Focus
August 22, 2001

By Cynthia Arko

For more information about affiliate programs, check out these other articles from Cynthia Arko's ongoing weekly series: Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing Revenue Sharing 101 In this first in a series of weekly articles, Cynthia Arko, Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com affiliate directory, presents a no-nonsense approach to generating revenue from your Web site. How to Indentify Quality Affiliate Programs With literally thousands of affiliate programs available on the Internet, it could be difficult to determine which ones are high quality. However, the process could be made easier when using some basic criteria. Understanding Affiliate Commission Structures If you want to get paid, you need to understand affiliate commission payments and the many different commission structures that exist. Content Sells Making money with affiliate programs requires much hard work and continued attention to developing and retaining visitor traffic. Search Engine Tips, Part I For affiliates, it is important to be listed with the major search engines because they can potentially generate much needed traffic. Search Engine Tips, Part II Cynthia Arko explores the impact search engines have on affiliate programs in this second article of a two-part series. Develop an Opt-in E-mail List Mailing lists are a very popular way to create traffic and generate repeat visitors to a Web site, often leading to additional affiliate sales and referrals. How to Achieve Super Affiliate Status How to take your affiliate program from "ordinary" to "extraordinary." Common Mistakes of Affiliates If you're not generating much revenue from your affiliates, it could be due to some common errors. Profiting from Seasonal Coupons and Hot Deals! Now is a great time to increase affiliate commissions by offering your visitors seasonal coupons, special offers and deals available exclusively to the Internet bargain hunter. Helpful Affiliate Terms: Part One It's not easy to understand the many terms associated with doing business online. We've put together a list of terms to help guide your affiliate marketing efforts. Helpful Affiliate Terms: Part Two To be a pro, you have to sound like a pro. Cynthia Arko concludes her glossary for affiliate marketers. Exploring Affiliate Product Links Cynthia Arko discusses how the various linking options can lead to affiliate success. Analyzing Site Traffic How do you gauge the success of your site? Well, a brick-and-mortar business would count cash at the end of the day. Aside from running to your mailbox to collect commission checks, analyzing site traffic can help achieve your goal of boosting affiliate sales and commissions. Affiliate Fraud Most merchants, especially those using Commission Junction technology, have taken a proactive approach to the practice of fraud; and most, if not all, of these "cheaters" will eventually be caught. Less is More: How to Maintain Affiliate Focus Maintain FOCUS for your Web site by keeping it "Free of Cluttered Unused Space." It's important to maintain focus in your affiliate marketing efforts as promoting too many merchant offers may be detrimental to your cause.

According to Merriam-Webster, focus is a point of concentration, a center of activity, attraction, or attention. It's important to maintain focus in your affiliate marketing efforts as promoting too many merchant offers may be detrimental to your cause.

I suggest you maintain FOCUS for your Web site and keep it "Free of Cluttered Unused Space." Having extra space throughout your site — is not a ticket to promote hundreds of untargeted offers. So, now we know that a site full of various banner sizes will not bring home the bacon. To ensure affiliate success you must promote a select group of quality merchants that pay well. Don't plaster hundreds of affiliate banners and links all over your site. Stay focused on your visitor's main interests. Create stickiness and frequently update your content.

Flashing banners and advertisements are a big attraction in Times Square, New York but Web sites free of clutter are easier on the eye, look more professional and have a better flow of information. Providing visitors with an easy user experience should be high on your priority list.

There are many simple ways to maintain a tight focus and significantly increase your conversion rate — resulting in more affiliate commissions in your pocket.

• The increased flexibility of individual product links allows affiliates to target specific product offers. Setting up individual product links can be a daunting task but finding merchant programs that offer individual product linking is equally important as spending a few hours a week monitoring your search engine positioning. Unfortunately not all merchants offer product links.

• Editorial or Product Reviews further enhance the content on your site and provide your visitors with additional information on a particular product. Let your words do the selling. A quick review of your featured item provides the visitor with additional information needed to make a purchasing decision.

• Providing articles of interest to your visitors is a fabulous way to maintain a balance between banner ads and content.

• Syndicated Content and Dynamic News are quick and easy ways to get fresh content without having to manually update HTML or source code on a daily basis. Syndicated content sites provide Webmasters with a wide selection of headline news, sports scores, stock quotes, e-mail, calendars, chat games, horoscopes, comics, movie reviews, weather reports and more.

Check your reports
Most merchants provide online statistics that report on impressions, click-throughs and affiliate sales. Check these reports weekly to identify those merchant programs that have the best conversion rates. After you feel comfortable with these reports, you can then begin to weed out those merchant programs that are not performing or hold little interest to your visitors. However, don't be afraid to test new offers. A site for dating or matchmaking may do very well featuring links to a Bride Magazine subscription offered through the new Primedia Affiliate Program. Be sure to monitor its success and remove all banners that do not perform over a specified period of time.

I found the following affiliate sites that have successfully adopted the "less is more" affiliate strategy — and as such provide a well-focused user experience:

OnlineDatingSite.com promotes only one matchmaking program in an effort to drive traffic to Match.com — a well known dating center. The site has the general look and feel of the merchant site and should do very well sending visitors to Match.com, which pays up to $40 for a paid yearly subscription.

MommyRx.com provides over-the-counter drugstore products through CVS.com affiliate links and displays targeted product offers for Moms such as baby wipes, powder, pregnancy tests, diapers and more. One small banner promoting the ClubMom affiliate program is ideal for visitors fitting the site's demographic.

Madeline.com is an extremely targeted site providing visitors with a wide selection of Madeline product offerings. It is clear from the first page that visitors not interested in Madeline will quickly leave.

OutFishing.com features a photo gallery, a tackle box store and books and magazines that promote the skillful art of fishing. Affiliate links to Travelnow.com offer discounted rooms, flights and car rentals for fishing vacations.

Until next time... stay focused!

Cynthia A. Arko is the Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com (Refer-it.com) affiliate directory. She coordinates advertising, site development, and conference planning. Cynthia helped grow Refer-it.com from a small directory of Affiliate Programs to the Web's leading resource for information about affiliate programs. She also currently maintains KidsTown Direct, a shopping portal for parents and young families. Cynthia can be reached at carko@internet.com.