Affiliate Marketing: Stop Lowballing

If you’ve ever read much into affiliate marketing or read some courses or other informational material, you’ve probably been told to find your niche and get a domain name based around an exact match to the keywords you’re targeting, based on search volumes published by the Google AdWords Tool.

Let me be the first to tell you, good luck with finding an exact match domain name that is available for normal registration, whose exact match search volume is higher than a thousand or two. They’re out there, but they are very obscure, and to be frank, it’s a waste of time anyway to put hours and hours of work, and perhaps investing into advertising, SEO, marketing, etc., based on a domain name with low search volume, if you’re taking an EMD approach.

The trick is to stop lowballing when it comes to picking out your domain name. Stop scrounging around low search volume keywords and find one that looks great, with an exact match domain that is available via auction or buy it now price that isn’t astronomical. I would say $300 or less is a good range. The reason is that you’re just starting out, but consider this: If you were doing business in a physical setting, would you buy an office suite tucked away in a part of town that very few people frequent, or would you try for a nice storefront with heavy traffic?

Now I know, this means more competition, however, simply by having a more prime piece of real estate, all of your efforts are going to go further. For instance, think of posting a link to your website on a forum, or just the action itself, of a potential visitor mousing over your link and seeing your domain name. How likely is someone to click http://www.thepoint.com versus http://www.gettothepointalready.com? Obviously, if it’s a long tail keyword EMD, perhaps that appeals to them, however, getting to the point appeals to them too, and makes your “brand” look much more trustworthy.

A catchy domain name is good too, however, we’re about to start talking about traffic, so unless you’re going to be doing some serious SEO, some other considerations need to be made as to how you will get traffic. 

One thing that people don’t consider much is type-in traffic, meaning, someone just says “I wonder what’s at http://www.whatever.com.” Just based on the keyword phrase, they’ll go check it out. While this isn’t the norm, and you won’t get a ton of traffic this way, most likely, it will lead to some traffic, if you have a shorter domain name that is spot on for your target audience.

What I’m getting at is this: if you’re not ranking highly in Google, and you’re not doing any other promotion of your website, type-in traffic is all you have. Of course, you’d want to do much more than that, but when you’re starting out and you don’t have big G sending organic searchers to your website, or may never reach that point, consider that type-in traffic is free.

For instance, if you are doing PPC advertising and paying, say, even a low amount such as $0.10 per visit to your website, every type-in visitor you receive is basically $0.10 earned, in a manner of thinking. I’m not saying type-ins are going to be a huge source of traffic, but, it can be a nice added stream of traffic, if your domain name is chosen wisely.

Furthermore, having a domain name that is higher up in the hierarchy of keyword group(s) you’re targeting allows you to go after long tail with increased power, since not ALL of the long tail keywords are part of your domain name, but some will be, and they’ll be echoed in your actual page / post URL.

Also, consider the value of your website, if you decided to put it up on the open market one day. Lots of factors contribute to what it should go for, and what it will actually sell for, however, if you have the same stats and revenue on two websites, with the only difference being a lengthy long tail domain name, I’ll virtually guarantee you that the shorter domain name will sell for more, simply because there is more opportunity for higher search volumes that match the domain name.

Also, from a branding standpoint, it’s much easier to brand a shorter domain name, than a long tail domain name, and easier to advertise it using methods that are a bit outside of the box.

For instance, if you’ve got a really great domain name that is only two to three words, you could even get into image watermarking. Simply add a solid color bar to the bottom of all of your images, with your domain address clearly posted within that bar. Then, whenever you share that image off site, you’re putting your domain name in someone’s face, and if it’s short enough, they just might remember it, and type it in, even if there is no link to it.

Also, this saves you a lot of trouble, as you’re not posting a link to your website. The audience, and the moderators at wherever you are posting said pictures probably wouldn’t even know you are the owner of that site, unless you make it apparent, however, what I’m getting at is that you open a lot of opportunities to advertise your brand that just wouldn’t work that well if you have some long drawn out domain name, and you don’t have to be allowed to post a text link.

Additionally, images are becoming more and more useful in the world of affiliate marketing, through the sharing of images. If you can get a few watermarked images to go semi-viral in your niche, you could be looking at some pretty nice traffic. You could probably even take a shot at creating a MEME with the hopes of going viral, with your watermark appended to the image. 

Keep in mind to watermark tastefully. You want it to look professional and not overpowering or intrusive. You want it to add to the image, not take away. Avoid posting the watermark over the actual image itself.

Using this approach, even without big G, you could realistically draw traffic to your site, with only investing time instead of money. The money was invested pre-launch, in the quality of your domain name. Your business should be something you’re proud of, even if it’s just one of many affiliate marketing websites. 

You will feel more positive about investing into the website, since for one, you spent more money on it, and two, it’s a more prominent domain.  Gauge your own level of excitement when you’re searching for domain names. If you’re not excited about it, how do you expect to keep working on it for months and years to come to ensure it’s profitable? Also, if you’re not excited about it, how do you expect your visitors to be excited about it?

Consider how many long tail domains you’ve purchased for cheap (if you’re a seasoned affiliate marketer), and look at what wound up happening with them. There’s probably a good chance that quite a few of them, you never even got around to building, or monetizing, or maybe you just let them expire when their registration came up for renewal, etc. Stop wasting time and money jumping from one thing to the next, and focus on quality first, and quantity second. Quantity is still very important, however, quality should be first.

If you’re putting hours and hours into domain names that are long shots to start with, think of how far you could go with a quality, high search volume, exact match domain name. Think about how you would feel working on a domain like that, versus one of the cheap long tail, long shot domain names you’ve worked on in the past.

Even if you’re not spending a couple hundred bucks, even spending $50 on a domain name should allow you to up the ante for yourself, and result in a much more reputable domain name.

You’ve spent $50 on much worse investments haven’t you? Ever purchased a crappy info product? I think that’s enough said.

Give it a try, and I’m sure you will feel more energized about working on the site, will have a brighter outlook (which is very important), and you’ll be more heavily invested from the word go since you paid a pretty penny for the domain, rather than using a 99 cent promo code.

The Downfalls of Relying on Organic SEO for Google Traffic

While relying on Google for traffic is fine for some businesses, it’s definitely not fine for all businesses.

The reason? There are only 10 spots on page 1, and only a few of those are above the fold. Then consider that Google ads take up prime real estate at the top for many searches, displayed above even the first organic result! I don’t know about you, but if I had done what it takes to reach the #1 spot in Google SERPs for a given search, only to be topped by an advertiser paying Google AdWords for traffic, I’d be pretty peeved, especially depending on the investments I had made to obtain that position. Consider further, that if you’re a business, local business results will take up more prime real estate, pushing the normal SERPs even further down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that being listed high on the first page of SERPs in Google is a bad thing, it certainly is not. What I am saying, is that for your business, it may not be the most feasible approach as a means to an end of getting a lot of traffic.

Bounce back to the point I made above regarding Google AdWords. While your particular search keywords will determine the price range that a click will cost you, if you’re interested in short term traffic results, AdWords may be a good solution for you. The reason is that you are paying for a targeted visitor, and if traffic isn’t targeted, well, it shouldn’t even count in most cases, as the conversion rate of that untargeted traffic into taking the desired action on your website is going to be abysmal. Past Google AdWords, there are a lot of alternatives to paying for targeted traffic out there, and these should be considered as well. I’m not saying to give up on organic SEO, but if you’re launching a business, you don’t have time to rank in Google in most situations. You need results, you need customers and customer engagement, you need traffic, and you need it yesterday!

For some keyword searches, it may not even be feasible to shoot for #1 in Google. Take a look at your competition and decide for yourself. If #1 in Google is a long shot, near impossible, or possible, but only at some point in the distant further, don’t be naive or give up, simply look at your alternatives. Spinning your wheels wishing on a star isn’t going to change your SERP spot or your traffic generation. 

Also, social media has created a great way to generate traffic. While you can also run paid advertisements on social networks, you can also market the old fashion way, as well as the new school way and way of the future. What I’m talking about is direct customer engagement. If you’re a small business, nothing is stopping you from seeking out potential customers on social networks and connecting with them. While you have to conduct this networking in a legitimate fashion, as you don’t want to spam people or come off as such, some thought needs to be given to how you will approach these potential clientele.

The bottom line is this: if you run a business website, you need traffic to that website for it to turn into conversions, even if that conversion is your phone ringing, an eMail popping up in your inbox, or an order being placed and paid for via your shopping cart. To get traffic, you will have to spend time and money, it’s up to you how much time and how much money you spend, but that’s really all there is to it. Competition online for traffic is so fierce currently, that the days of doing some great SEO to your website and watching the traffic pour in are all but over. Chances are, your market, your niche keyword term, is saturated, which means even if the competition isn’t very stiff, it’s still competition nonetheless, and you have to outrank them. Not only that, you need to consider Google algorithm updates and whether any practices you employ can be construed as unethical, in which case, your website might be due for a whop from the Google hammer, knocking you way down the SERP list, banning you from SERPs for the keyword you are targeting so adamantly, or in extreme cases, deindexing your website altogether. Staying in the #1 spot isn’t going to be an easy thing, and it’s only going to become more difficult as time goes on and Google continues to evolve it’s search algorithms.

The best solution I have found to generate traffic is to diversify and be transparent. Focus on your brand, focus on traffic goals, and try to keep all of your efforts in line with bringing in targeted traffic. One big marketing move that brings in a lot of untargeted traffic is not going to yield the results you’re looking for, and deals you a major blow: your metrics will be totally skewed to the point that your targeted traffic will be lost in the mix, and you may not be able to gauge the results accurately for other traffic sources.

This brings me to my next point, which is all about metrics. While doing some marketing campaigns may yield the results you’re looking for as far as revenue is concerned, tracking the results is key, it’s priceless, without it, you’re taking shots in the dark. You need to know which marketing campaigns brought you traffic, and how much traffic it brought, and how that traffic converted. Without metrics, you could easily miss a great opportunity to scale up in the case that you run a small marketing campaign which only resulted in a few conversions. However, it may be the case that this small campaign had a much higher conversion rate than other campaigns you’re running on a regular basis. The numbers aren’t everything, and they’re kind of like Tony Montana, they always tell the truth, even when they lie. The beauty of metrics is that it gives us the opportunity to gain insights into these statistics in a way that isn’t nearly as easy to do with a physical business, so you would be infinitely wise to take advantage of them as much as possible.

In short, diversify, spend the required time or money, track the marketing campaigns, and adjust your approach based on the metrics.