Where to find affilliate
programs
If you’re looking for a repository of affiliate programs,
you may want to check out the popular programs below:
Commission Junction
Click Junction
Share a sale
Affiliate Future
Each of these programs are well respected and well supported,
between the three of them they have most of top products or
services looking for agents. To open an account, click on the
links above to visit their site. You will need to complete
your personal details, such as your name, address and contact
details, however once that is done, it’s usually just a day
or two before you are approved and can start to add links.
A quick note of caution here, if you forum is new you might
be better served working on promoting your site a little more
rather than looking for affiliate partners.
You can use your own admin area to search for specific companies
to affiliate yourself with, or you can look through the directory
of companies. Most also offer the opportunity to search based
on keyword. If you have a forum about finance for example,
you can search quickly for only finance related companies.
How to use affiliate programs with a forum
Due to the nature of forums, they do not always make the best
medium to sell affiliate products. However, for the canny marketer
they can be very profitable, it basically comes down to positioning
and your reputation within the community. Let’s take a look
at the possible ways we can position an affiliate product or
service via a forum.
- As a banner or flash animation
- Via forum posts, for example a for sale section or trading
area
- Specific forum posts which answer questions
- Forum post signatures
- Via a newsletter to forum or community members
It’s most likely that we will add to the list above; however
for now let’s have a look at each point in more detail below:
As a banner or flash animation – The problem
with banners and blatant advertisements is that web users become
blind to these type of incitements very quickly. As most of
your forum members are regular users, it is unlikely they will
ever click on a banner more than once. This is probably not
the best use of your community real estate.
Via forum posts – This will really depend
on your reputation within the forum. We know from experience
that most forum owners contribute regularly to their own forum,
so assuming the reputation is high, this approach will work.
However it is a little bit of a scatter gun approach, we find
it better to limit these types of post in favour of more focused
posts.
Specific forum posts – By far and away the
most profitable way to make money from a forum. Read your users
posts, take the time to answer them and insert affiliate links
to appropriate products or services. Again it depends a lot
on your reputation within the community.
Forum post signatures – This is a very popular
way to drive traffic to your affiliate links. Often a cryptic
or enticing anchor text is enough for people’s curiosity to
get the better of them and click through. You do rely on the
affiliate sales page closing the deal to some degree, however
a proven method. Again, this is more so if you have a strong
reputation within the community.
Newsletter – Some forums never email their
members, while others email their members too often. It depends
largely on the objectives of the forum. If it is to simply
make money, you’ll want to be sending your members regular
newsletters. Introduce just one affiliate product per newsletter
and explain the benefits of it.
Advantages and disadvantages of affiliate programs
If you’ve never tried affiliate products
on your community, it is definitely worth giving it a go. However,
don’t be despondent if it is not successful straight away.
Selecting the right blend of affiliate products and choosing
the right place to talk about them will be your biggest challenge.
Since every community based site is different, you will need
to use trial and error to see what works best for you.
Advantages
- Affiliate programs offer a residual income stream
- A great way to pay for hosting or technology related acquisitions
- Provide your community members with offers of interest
if targeted correctly
- Add value to your members
Disadvantages
- Many forum dwellers resent the idea of being constantly
“sold to”. Consider your message and impact on your users
- Banner blindness and empathy towards ads in general may
mean that your community real estate is better served in
a different way
- It’s an addition to your work load, affiliate programs
end and need replacing. There are also seasonal trends and
special offers to look out for.
Summary
In summary, if you’re not already using affiliate programs
as part of your marketing strategy to your forum members, there
is a strong possibility that you are leaving money on the table.
In some cases, this will be fine. Every webmaster has the right
to choose exactly what they do with their site; however affiliate
programs offer more than just an additional residual income
stream. They also offer the canny webmaster the opportunity
to offer their members extra value. A well positioned product
link that solves a member’s problem will be remembered, you’ve
added value by solving something that was causing a member
pain (enough pain to post about it), you’ve also made a little
bit of additional revenue, so surely that is a perfect win-win
situation? |
