Going
Beyond the Banner
When
I casually surf the web these days, looking at how various web
sites have implemented affiliate programs, the most common means
of promotion is still the standard 468x60 banner ad. Over the
last several years, as any Internet marketer worth his weight
in salt could tell you, banner click-through rates have continued
to fall.
When
I first started ClickQuick about a year and a half ago, I distinctly
recall the standard saying was that industry average click-through
rates were around 2%. Now, most articles on web advertising mention
click-through averages of 1% or lower. What does this mean to
affiliates? Well, quite simply, banner ads have become one of
the least effective means of promoting affiliate programs. Yet,
they often continue to be the most frequently used. Banners have
not only seen their click-through rates plummet, but also their
overall effectiveness once the visitor arrives at the advertiser's
web site.
A
recent study by LinkShare, one of the largest affiliate networks,
showed banner ads as the least effective promotional technique,
with a 1.12% conversion ratio (the number of clicks converted
into sales). That means that for every 100 times the banner ad
was displayed, 1.12 visitors would click-through and make a purchase.
Honestly,
this ratio seems high to me, since banner click-through rates
are often near the 1% mark, and we all know that everyone that
clicks doesn't buy. But, for the purpose of this article, we will
use LinkShare's numbers since they give the best glimpse at what
promotional methods work for affiliate programs.
Taking
a look at the LinkShare study from earlier this year, the following
conversion ratios for various types of links were reported:
Text
Links: 1.80%
Storefront Links: 1.43%
Email Links: 1.41%
Product Links: 2.18%
Banner Links: 1.12%
Search Box Links: 1.22%
From
this study we can see two methods in particular that stand out:
text links and product specific links. Let's take a look at each,
and how they can be added to your site to improve your affiliate
program results.
Text
Links
Text
links are indeed unglamorous, but they are perhaps the most overlooked
method of promoting affiliate programs. Although text links could
be as simple as adding links where banners would otherwise be
placed, there are much more effective ways to generate revenue.
One
of the most beneficial strategies are including text links inside
an article on a particular subject. I use this method quite frequently
on the ClickQuick web site, and even in this newsletter. When
writing an article about a particular subject, such as pay-per-click
networks, I am usually sure to link directly to reviews of some
of the programs that are rated the highest.
This
method can be easily expanded to just about any subject matter.
Articles above improving your golf swing can include text links
directly a golf web site you are an affiliate with, or directly
to the particular brand of product you describe. Embedding these
links inside an article creates an easy to follow transition for
your readers. Your visitors can quickly follow your affiliate
links if they are interested in learning more about the product
or service.
A
second, and very effective means, for promoting affiliate programs
through text links is the personalized testimonial. Generally,
this would be some type of recommendation of a particular product
that you endorse. It is important here to only endorse products
or services you are familiar with, and those you have actually
used and are satisfied with. Endorsing products that result in
negative feedback from your visitors is a guaranteed way to lose
their trust and interest in returning to your site.
Product
Links
For
a while, affiliate program promotion was almost entirely based
on product specific links. Back when Amazon.com
was about the only affiliate game in town, nearly every link was
pointed to one product or another. The reason behind this was
Amazon.com's affiliate program, which only paid affiliates on
purchases of specific books that they linked directly to.
To
make it even worse, if the visitor followed your affiliate link
to Stephen King's latest novel, surfed Amazon.com for awhile,
and bought 3 other books plus the Stephen King novel, you earned
nothing. Nada. Unfortunately, the visitor needed to click from
your site, to a particular book, and purchase it from that initial
entry page. All without clicking elsewhere in the Amazon site.
Obviously, this led to many unhappy affiliates, and Amazon.com's
eventual changes to the program.
Thanks
to this 'dark' period of affiliate program history, product specific
links quickly lost their popularity with webmasters, especially
once other programs started allowing affiliates to link directly
to the home page, and earn commissions on all products purchased.
It was simply so much better to link to the home page, and make
sure you got a commission, no matter what the person bought.
However,
product-specific links serve a very valuable purpose, as witnessed
by LinkShare's results: a conversion rate nearly double that for
banner links. The benefit product links provide is that they allow
you to better control what your visitor's see before clicking
through to the merchant's web site.
Product
links allow you to send visitors to the merchant site with a specific
interest or goal in mind. Then, once they get there, the visitor
is much more likely to make a purchase because you have already
helped them find what they were looking for. There is no need
for them to wade through menus, or dozens of web pages to find
the product they want.
Of
course, the trade off is that product links require more time
from you to set up. Instead of one generic link to the home page,
or simply plopping down a banner on the top of your page, product
links will take some planning, and a little extra HTML work.
Selecting
which products to link to will be the most important factor for
success. Be sure to match product selection closely to your visitor's
interests and needs. The next step will be to carefully place
links where they are most likely to catch your visitor's interest.
Another
interpretation of product links would be using bridge pages. A
previous ClickQuick article took an in-depth
look at this strategy, which has been real-world proven to improve
conversion ratios.
So,
is it time to kick the banner ad habit? Of course, banner ads
can be very effective in some conditions, especially when they
are very well targeted towards the audience. However, text and
product links give you much greater control in where and when
your visitor's see affiliate links, and have been proven to be
more effective in many situations.
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