31 Days to a Better Blog — Find an Affiliate Program
Day 13 is here and even though I’m definitely not going to get through this series in 30 days (more like 90 . . . maybe), I will get through it. I’ve gotten some good feedback and I’ve actually felt like certain parts of the site have improved over time. Today is about finding a new affiliate program that fits in with the site and might generate some decent income.
I had heard about Linkshare for a while but never really tried it after not getting any results with Commission Junction. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right or maybe I didn’t give it a full shot — who knows. But I have a feeling the way I went about picking ad partners was my downfall: I selected business I know, like or actually use myself. That really narrows things down. I’ve been trying to get myself out of that mindset without feeling like I’m pimping my site out, but we’ll see how that works. Ideally, I’d like to increase my revenue without having links for companies that are crap. At the same time, I have no idea what ads will come up on the AdSense tool bars, so I guess I’m not as picky as I thought.
Anyway, the only strategy to find out what works is to try it, monitor it and adjust accordingly. I’m trying out a couple of Linkshare ads right now that may or may not do well. We’ll see. But the idea here is to always be on the lookout for more opportunities. Maybe this won’t be it, but in the future I may find my cash cow that won’t force me into selling things like the Garden Claw or something.
What affiliate have you had the most success with? And which ads worked best?
PS I tried a Commission Junction ING ad because I’m such a big believer in that bank and it got me nowhere. I was much better off just promoting the ING referral program that nets readers $25 and pays me $10. So that was a bummer.
PPS I’ve temporarily removed my Linkshare ads because I want to make sure that Google won’t punish me for having their ads up on the site. Anyone out there having zero Adsense issues once they go with Linkshare?
