Keep Your Affiliate Site Profitable for The Long Haul

By Keegan Michaels
Posted Wednesday, November 17, 2004

I was recently talking to a friend who had signed up for an affiliate program that I am also involved with. She mentioned that she had never really made much money from it and that she rarely thought about it anymore. She said that she was so busy with her other business ventures that she just didn't have time to bother with it. She said that occasionally she sees a little money, but not enough to change her attitude. I told her she was making a big mistake.

Affiliate programs can be easy to let slip away. After all, no one's checking up on you, and you aren't' making a serious investment, so why waste time for small change when you've got other things going on? This is a defeatist attitude. Maintaining your site and staying involved is the key to making a profit with your program, and it doesn't have to be work intensive. I assure you that with just a little work, say an hour a week, you can turn your affiliate site from lame duck to cash machine. Here is a list of tips to help you stay on top.

Be functional. Make sure the mechanics of your site are in top working order. Links can break down at any time for no reason, so test them weekly. It usually only takes a minute to fix, and you'd hate to lose a sale just because a link didn't work, wouldn't you?

Get really involved in your program. Be the squeaky wheel. Stay in contact with your program manager by asking for marketing tips and new links. Keep up on new promotions and new items. This can all be done through e-mail with just a few minutes in the morning.

Be available to your target market. How can you make a sale if no one can find you? Relying on links from other affiliate sites is not enough. You've got to be listed with at least a couple of the major search engines. This will make you accessible to people who are actually already interested in your product, and will greatly increase your chances of a sale.

Keep your information current. Frequently update your site and your affiliate links. Nothing turns people off more than a stale site. Set a little time one day a week aside to maintain your content. Add quotes and pictures and delete old items. You may even want to consider having an item of the week feature. This is attractive to potential customers, and it lets people know you're still involved.

Make sure your site is relevant. Remember, people aren't surfing there to click on your links. They're going there because of the actual content of the page. Keep up with your relevant industry and update your site regularly. See that your content is useful and that it relates to your target market. For example, if you're a member of a program that sells cookbooks, then wouldn't it make sense to have your website feature cooking tips and a weekly sample recipe?

Don't give up. Affiliate programs can be a great source of income if you just spend a little of your time and have a little patience. With just a little work you can really turn a slow affiliate site around, and watch those checks start rolling in.

About the Author
KEEGAN MICHAELS knows affiliate programs. He knows what to look for and what pitfalls to avoid. Let him show you the roadmap to affiliate profits. Contact him today at keeegan@affiliateteacher.com or 801-328-9006. Get his Extra Money Newsletter FREE at (http://www.AffiliateTeacher.com)