Affiliate Marketing

November 18, 2019 By adamriemer 2 Comments

7 Best Speakers to Listen to at Affiliate Summit

Affiliate Summit is coming up soon, and the only thing that comes up short at this show is time. You have incredible networking opportunities, tons of meetings and parties, not to mention a crowded expo hall. But something else you won’t want to miss are the speakers.

(The links in this post are ads and I earn commissions if you shop through them.)

Affiliate Summit speakers are almost always on point, or ready to help. They provide you with information, entertainment, and some let you know when you’re making money. That is one of the best things about the show, you get all the networking in the world, and also access to some of the most informative speakers. That’s why I’ve created this list of my favorite speakers to listen to at Affiliate Summit.

And if you haven’t purchased your ticket to affiliate summit yet, click here to buy it today since they always sell out and the prices go up the closer you get to the show.

If your favorite speaker from Affiliate Summit is not on it, I apologize, but this list is kept for the top 7 only. It may change from show to show, but these are my personal choices and the reasons why.

November 11, 2019 By adamriemer Leave a Comment

31+ Ways to Recruit Affiliates for Affiliate Marketing Programs

Are you looking for information on how to recruit affiliates for your affiliate marketing program? Then you’re in luck! As a two time Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award winner and affiliate manager for 15+ years, I’ve learned and come up with numerous strategies. As a way to give back to the community, here are 31+ of my favorite ways to recruit affiliates for a program.

The strategies below are in no particular order. There is a good chance you have probably have tried some of these, and others will be new to you. If they didn’t work to recruit affiliates, or you didn’t get enough sign ups from them, I go into detail about how I do each. The details may help to determine why affiliates didn’t sign up for your program. I also highly recommend reading this post about reaching out to high value affiliate partners and making sure your pitch is good enough to stand out. [Read more…] about 31+ Ways to Recruit Affiliates for Affiliate Marketing Programs

June 10, 2019 By adamriemer 11 Comments

Firefox is Blocking Affiliate Tracking – Here’s How to Stop It

The newest version of Firefox, and we can assume each moving forward, will be blocking tracking platforms by default. Most notably is Google Analytics, Facebook and other large sites. So before anyone else says it, Firefox killed affiliate marketing and it is now dead.

If you believe that Firefox killed an entire industry with this one change, then you’re done, don’t continue reading and go watch videos on YouTube, which is also being blocked oddly enough. =0)

If you don’t believe that affiliate marketing is dead, then you belong on this post.

Read below and you’ll learn why and how Firefox blocking cookies as well as tracking code placed on the merchant’s own website may impact your affiliate tracking, and your revenue, from both an affiliate and merchant standpoint. I also share a step-by-step with screenshots on how to see what the impact on your own revenue will be. After, I share new tracking options that you as a merchant can implement, or if you’re an affiliate marketer, you can give to your merchants to help provide extra layers of protection for your income.

First, here is the blog post that started the discussion in the SEO industry, but I didn’t see anything from the affiliate blogs and resource sites which was odd (and why I’m writing this post). Here is another post from the Mozilla website which sources the site and solution they may or may not follow for which sites to block ads and tracking from. Now the important one, this is the potential list of sites and ad platforms (including affiliate networks and servers which will possibly no longer be tracked).

If you look at the list, almost every major affiliate network, CPA network and affiliate platform is listed. But remember, this also blocks tracking code within a website. That means your monetization scripts like viglink and skimlinks will potentially be blocked. They’re both on the list too. I hope they are able to find a work around because they do represent a huge network of sites and a lot of my friends use them on their blogs. But no, that is not a recommendation from me that you should work with them, you need to evaluate your own business model.

I didn’t check all traditional affiliate and CPA networks, but everyone that came to mind is there, including the URL redirects and server redirect links…it is very complete. So now that we know sales and traffic may no longer track, and unlike ITP compliance with apple and Safari, I haven’t seen any network give a solution. So let me help either alleviate your fears, or give you reason to invest in a solution.

It’s also important to note that this isn’t only wiping cookies, it is blocking code installed on a merchant’s own website. That is why many of the newer, advanced and cross device solutions may not be effective on this. They rely on code placed within and across a merchant’s website, and this new form of blocking will possibly block that too.

Find How Many Firefox Users Are on Your Website

Log into your Google Analytics account or whatever platform you use. If you are a blogger, affiliate or website owner [Read more…] about Firefox is Blocking Affiliate Tracking – Here’s How to Stop It

January 28, 2019 By adamriemer 2 Comments

Yes, Google Likes Affiliate Websites & They Can Rank.

Whether it’s a Blogger in a Facebook group claiming they got penalized for using affiliate links and warning others not to try them, or a resource or directory website that swears their Google traffic is gone because they joined a specific affiliate program, you’re going to come across some scary stories. Don’t let them turn you off from affiliate marketing.

The main thing to look for is the person claiming “Google hates affiliate programs” or “Google hates affiliate websites” and my favorite “Google hates affiliate links”.

Using affiliate links and programs is just like any other monetization plan or ad placement. Google even has an entire section in their webmaster support area of search console specifically for building solid affiliate websites to make money. For the most part, affiliate links are 307 redirects, cloaked links or just a direct link with parameters (which should be no followed). They are treated just like any other part of a page and piece of your website’s structure and anatomy. This is no different than some of the other things you’re already doing.

Just like with other inbound and outbound links, too many dilute the authority they can pass internally and externally, and you should not add them if they won’t provide value to the visitor and support the topic. You also should not load your sidebar full or place too many on a page and above the fold. It’s that simple. So why do so many people blame them for their sites not ranking or losing rankings?

Let’s dive into why some people say Google hates affiliate websites and links.

Thin content being added and banners/links in the wrong places
Irrelevant content being created
Duplicate pages diluting your entire site
Not using disclosures to say it is paid placements (use blogging penalty for sponsorships)

Thin Content Being Added and Using Ads in the Wrong Places

Some sites make their first few sales and go crazy adding new posts and pages to make more money. Others add a javascript to automatically turn a link to a store or service into a link that is monetized through affiliate programs while forgetting that anything paid should be no follow. Some begin adding ads everywhere and the wrong way which creates a bad user experience. All of these can cause a drop in traffic or rankings when done incorrectly. Here’s some examples of problems and how to do proper implementation so your site can hopefully keep its traffic and you can make sales.

Example 1 – Bloggers and their first sales.

Bloggers who make their first sales sometimes start [Read more…] about Yes, Google Likes Affiliate Websites & They Can Rank.

June 4, 2018 By adamriemer 1 Comment

Are Banner Ads Dead for Affiliate Marketing?

Banners are high converting for remarketing, display, email and other forms of marketing, but when it comes to affiliate, many people pass them up. For good reason too. There’s banner blindness (people naturally ignoring them), ad blockers which recognize them as ads so they get blocked, and poor design quality as they’re made for lifestyle, branding or to balance like artwork so they blend in with the site and the purpose gets ignored. But that doesn’t mean they can’t or do not work.

It is true they may not perform as well in most cases as in text or product links, but that’s because the affiliate normally treats banners differently. There’s no pre-selling, value statements, proper placements, etc… And that’s what this post is about.

Banner ads are still important for affiliate marketing because they do in fact work. You just have to know how and where to use them or have an affiliate manager that knows how to monetize and do SEO. You also need good design (not pretty, lifestyle and art wise) and proper strategy based on the specific situation or scenario which includes a traffic and SEO analysis.

There is not a one size fits all banner strategy, but this post will give you what you need to know to audit your affiliate banners and some ideas to help get you started implementing them so they may be able to work for you too. I do this regularly with some of my monetization plans for clients, and banners are almost always a part of it because they do work.

February 5, 2018 By adamriemer 6 Comments

What is Affiliate Marketing?

By definition – Affiliate Marketing is a sales channel made up of three parts. Affiliates who drive the sales, affiliate programs which are the offers or stores the affiliates promote and affiliate networks which provide the tracking and payment platforms that connect affiliates with affiliate programs.

Now if you’re ready to learn everything from terminology to how much you can expect to make as an affiliate, or even if an affiliate program is right for your company, then read through this post. It is question and answer style and will be updated as I think of more relevant sections or as you request them (assuming they’re a fit). If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, use the contact form or leave a comment below and I’ll try to add it to the post.

Affiliate Marketing Terminology
How Much Can I Make as an Affiliate
Is Affiliate Marketing Right for my Company
- Stores and merchants
- Publishers and content sites
Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam or High Risk
Are There Any Legal Issues With Affiliate Marketing
Why Didn’t Affiliate Marketing Work For Me
- I didn’t make money
- Why didn’t any affiliates join my program
- I only had coupon sites, trademark bidders and scammers sign up
How Long Does Affiliate Marketing Take to Work
- Publishers
- Advertisers

Affiliate Marketing

Find How Many Firefox Users Are on Your Website

Thin Content Being Added and Using Ads in the Wrong Places

Example 1 – Bloggers and their first sales.

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