Presentation on Affiliate Marketing for Type-A-Conference 2012

1. What is Affiliate Marketing
 Quick survey – what level are we at?
 101 – Affiliate Marketing is just advertising fees
based on actual customer purchases.
 201 – Affiliate Marketing is product searches,
product links, reviews, and exploring deep links.
 301 – Affiliate Marketing is datafeeds, RSS feeds,
PHP, MySQL, and more…
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

2. Why am I here?
 Our retail customers are looking for you.
 New customers to them are more important than
some of the more tired out concepts in Affiliate
Marketing.
 We work with thousands of bloggers annually to
help them branch in to Affiliate Marketing.
 You are in an enormously advantageous bargaining
position.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

3. How to Get Started?
 Bottom line, relevancy is the number one key. This
isn’t adwords, display rotations, or CPC – this is
relevant content chosen for you, to be directed at
your audience.
 Think of the audience concept – your readers are
your audience – what will they respond to?
 The number one benefit to Affiliate Marketing is the
ability to be relevant, and it is also the number one
roadblock to activity.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

4. Get Away from the Sidebar
 Easy to add – usually of no worth. If this is what
you’ve tried in the past it is likely the reason for
failure.
 Contextual links directly to products work best.
 Product reviews can be good but requires careful
attention to the review/paid/disclosure issue.
 http://www.shoeaholicsanonymous.com/styles/bo
ots/blake-lively-loves-her-gray-boots/
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

5. Get Away from the Sidebar
 Think about how you see things as an audience
member. What makes you interested.
 Affiliate Marketing works because you get to choose
these subtle moments when your audience will
react the best.
 Think movies / product placement vs. billboard ads.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

6. Get Outside the Box
 Don’t market what everyone else is marketing. Your
audience isn’t generic – neither are products.
 Promote products that you use, care about, are
passionate about, or those that you can relay
pertinent information to your audience.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

7. Use the TV!
 Pop culture is one of the easiest ways to figure out
where to start.
 For almost every blog topic there is a current event
going on right now that affects your audience. Find
it, get on top of it, and use it.
 Use Twitter, Google alerts, etc… Think about it even
from the #typeacon feed on Twitter right now.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

8. Beyond the Banner
 Don’t rely on Google.
 Create sticky sites.
Readership/Audience/RSS/Email/Capture
 If you aren’t capturing customers at reading time –
you are missing out on customers.
 Content can be syndicated
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

9. Datafeeds
 What are they?
 Essentially a giant spreadsheet of data that an
individual retailer has in inventory.
 They turn affiliate marketing into the powerful
marketing channel that it is.
 http://www.costumzee.com/ vs.
http://www.costumzee.com/shop/?search=batman
 How do I turn this into a database that I can use?
 MySQL helps you.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

10. Supplement by using Deals
 I don’t recommend just specifically deals marketing
to anyone at this point due to the crowded nature of
the space.
 Supplementing reviews, blogs, with available deals
is a great plan – but if you do it, contact the
merchant and get a custom code. Find out how they
are commissioning coupon sites.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

11. After all that – how do I pick and start?
 Affiliate Networks offer the most variety
 ShareASale, Commission Junction, LinkShare,
Google Affiliate Network make up the vast majority
of the space.
 Amazon Associates program among top
independent.
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale

12. How to search by Product
Brian Littleton @brianlittleton ShareASale @shareasale