Maximizing Profits with Affiliate Marketing

Over the past year, the landscape for Affiliate marketers has undergone significant changes. With the ever-increasing competition on the web, along with legislative issues and Google's limitations, it has become challenging to succeed. Nevertheless, Affiliate Marketing remains a relevant strategy, and new attribution methods, technological tools, and best practices are continually being developed to push the limits further. Affiliate marketers are still receiving excellent ROI from their activities, and there is no indication of them stopping soon. While there are no shortcuts to success, there are a few key points to consider when setting up or refining an existing Affiliate Marketing campaign.

Create Valuable Content as an Affiliate Marketer

As part of their affiliate marketing strategy, many established brands go through lengthy content strategy approval processes to maintain consistency with their marketing language. Affiliates, on the other hand, have more creative freedom to produce captivating and dynamic content without undergoing such processes. For example, choose topics that refer to many brands within the affiliate program and create semi-monthly articles that are relevant to target audiences, that are SEO-optimized, and share-worthy. By doing so, the article will be shared and spread among website visitors, as well as the visitors of the affiliated brands and their websites. This kind of circulation can greatly benefit the stand with Google.

Why Affiliates Should Focus on Building a Strong Brand

In previous years, self-branding wasn't a priority for affiliates. However, this reality has recently started to change and self-branding has become an essential component in order to rank higher in search engine results. Google has gradually started dedicating more significance to the brand itself, and prefers websites that users deem trustworthy and engaging. To illustrate, popular shopping, finance, travel, and insurance affiliate sites like: Nextag.com, Shopping.com, Compare.com, Booking.com, Investing.com and Moneysupermarket.com – to name a few – are leading affiliate sites. Their strength lies in the value they offer their visitors: Credibility, fresh content and editorial integrity. Consumers frequently visit these sites for a rewarding experience, and are likely to find Affiliate Marketing content within them that are appealing and relevant. It is therefore worthwhile to dedicate thought to building a strong brand for your affiliate website. Doing it right can help you win the favor of both your consumers and Google.

Emphasizing Topic over Keyword Targeting for SEO Success

It is no secret that Google is taking actions, attempting to shift the focus of SEO specialists away from keyword targeting. These efforts by Google, including measures such as removing keyword data in Google Analytics and removing exact-match keyword targeting in Google Adwords, makes it a difficult task to target individual keywords.

While this may seem challenging, it actually presents an opportunity to advertisers to refine and reinvent their strategies. Rather than fixating on keyword targeting, the emphasis is on developing high-quality, engaging content centered around specific topics. This shift allows for the attraction of long tail traffic and an increased likelihood of conversion.

Mobile, Mobile, Mobile

As the digital advertising world transitions to mobile, it’s only natural that Affiliate Marketing would follow suit. The growth rates of mobile commerce continue to rise, with mobile traffic already exceeding desktop traffic in several parameters. Affiliate marketers who have achieved a favorable ROI and successful outcomes in the past by primarily directing traffic from desktop, should be mindful of these expanding trends. The game is changing, and mobile is definitely a must if you want to stay ahead of the curve.

For starters, ensure full mobile compatibility of all existing affiliates and brands, including all creatives and banner sizes. Secondly, ensure that all brands joining the affiliate program are mobile-optimized before they jump in. According to several reports, around 70% of consumers who reach non-mobile-optimized platforms don’t fully complete the funnel and leave before making the purchase. Generally speaking, over 60% of online users regard their mobile experience with a certain brand as a very significant ingredient in their overall opinion of that brand. A brand that provides a positive, memorable mobile experience scores many points. Other than providing a game-changing platform, the world of mobile has opened up certain niches and doors of opportunity for mobile-related products. For example, many partnerships are being formed and developed around buying/selling mobile advertising space in apps and mobile games. Therefore, if you haven’t fully gone mobile yet, the time is now. Don’t get left behind.

MMG manages a powerful affiliate network, and controls a platform from which both advertisers and publishers can benefit. With our advanced integration and real-time reporting tools, accompanied by our vast cross-vertical coverage, we can offer you various solutions for your exact Affiliate Marketing needs. Our experts will be happy to assist you and guide you through your marketing journey, all the way to success.

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