Stop Screwing Your Fellow Niche Marketers
Did that get your attention? Good. I’m gonna rant here for a short little post about a big pet peeve that I have, so bear with me.
Since beginning to use affiliate ads on my sites, one of the biggest problems that I have faced is what to do with affiliate links. You know, you put a product on your site that is an affiliate product that you are promoting. Do you cloak the link with Javascript? Do you redirect the link to a subdomain and forward it to the landing page for the affiliate?
Either way that you do it, one of the biggest problems that I have is when people don’t follow your link to buy a product, and screw you out of the commission you are rightfully entitled to.
Niche Marketers are a smart bunch. We generally know how to see a product, recognize it and then search for the source of it. So, why don’t you want to click on my affiliate product? Would you prefer that I not be entitled to make a little money from your purchase? Why shouldn’t I be able to do so?
By bypassing my affiliate link and going directly to the “source” of the product, you are not only hurting my efforts at making money, but you are hurting yours as well. Why? Why should I click on your affiliate ad? See? What goes around comes around.
So, stop screwing your fellow niche and affiliate marketers. If you see something that you like, follow their link to the product and buy it. I promise, you will still pay the same amount either way, trust me on this one. The product owner or clickbank or who ever is selling it won’t give you a discount if you don’t follow the affiliate link.
Besides, isn’t it nice to support other marketers as part of the community of support?
**end rant, resume normal breathing rate**
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Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, blogging, google adsense, internet marketing, make money online, niche marketing
Stop Screwing Your Fellow Niche Marketers | Blog Explosion dot NET…
Have you ever found a great product for your niche marketing or affiliate marketing program? You research it, buy it and try it out, and promote it on your site. You see that it is getting tons of clicks to your sales page, but no sales.
Niche and a…
Just a test comment.
Very clever, nice ranting but it still does not make me want to buy your affiliate promotions.
You should blog about your affiliate products and convince me I need to buy them, don’t show me an image and expect me to click, especially in this industry, your audience is mainly a tech savvy bunch and we never click on those ads.
Maybe you should blog in an industry like “Working From Home” I bet your affiliate ads would be a great success!
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Sweet Rock,
Thanks for the comment, and you are correct! My intention wasn’t about trying to get someone to click on my affiliate links on this site. It was actually for another niche site that I have, but that’s another story.
You are correct about us being a tech savvy bunch, which brings me to a point that was pointed out to me by Grizz. Using your own affiliate links to products will earn you a “discount” on that product.
Working from home, huh, maybe I should check that one out!
Thanks for the comment, and hope to see you back again!
Hi Elliot,
I understand the rant. But …
I can’t help but thinking that if people aren’t buying what you’re promoting, it could, just maybe, be an indication that you’re not promoting the “right” products or service for this audience.
… and/or you’re not promoting them in the “right” way.
Also, blogging (in this niche anyway) is kind of unique in that your colleagues, are also your potential customers.
As a fellow blogger, I definitely “feel” your pain.
But as a potential customer, i can honestly tell you that a store trying to “guilt me”, has never been a very good way of motivating me to whip out the old credit card.
Just my two pennies,
Todd
Todd Morris’s last blog post..One Resolution Already Broken
Todd, you are right, and I have learned more that I thought possible after posting this. Some of my “mentor” bloggers pointed out some things that didn’t occur to me.
I wasn’t trying to guilt anyone into buying anything, and I apologize if it comes across that way. It was just one of those rants that makes you feel good afterwards.