The following is what Cayce Daye had to say in response the the question, What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved?
Affiliate marketing is a very powerful promotional tool that when implemented correctly can be extremely profitable for both merchants and vendors alike. That said, affiliate marketing has flaws that could stand to be corrected and should be.
Web sites that contain zero real content and only have forty or so blinking, flashing, shifting banners stacked in a careless, mindless manner are detrimental to the whole of affiliate marketing.
I believe the most effective way of making money through affiliate marketing is through relevant content on the page that the affiliate banner is located on.
Better yet, featuring the merchant using product reviews or recommendations lends credibility and relevance and primes the prospect for buying. Too many web sites have completely unrelated banners to their sites’ content.
These types of web sites are very damaging to webmasters whose sites are solely reseller sites. Search engines are only getting smarter and it won’t be long before they can distinguish a reseller site for what it is and penalize it.
Pertinent content is necessary. Without search engine generated traffic you’re left having to buy traffic which cuts profits. Affiliate managers should provide chunks of promotional text embedded with deep linked hyperlinks, ready for copy and pasting conveniently coupled with the appropriate banners/images to place with it on the affiliate’s site. I find that all too often affiliate managers let anyone join their program.
The benefits of this are obvious; however, the shortcomings far outweigh them. By taking the lazier path and not researching who’s marketing their name, products and/or services, they’re not maximizing the potential at hand.
By taking the time to look at the web site that their banner will be on gives the affiliate manager the ability to suggest placement and materials to help the webmaster sell more effectively. As well as keeping Joe’s Hammer Factory banner off flowerbaskets.com.
How would you answer the question, What is wrong with affiliate marketing and how can it be improved? There are no right or wrong answers – just opinions that can help improve the industry.
The author of any response that is published at affiliatetip.com or affiliatesummit.com will receive a limited edition “It’s an affiliate thing, you wouldn’t understand.” t-shirt.
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