AMA: Affiliate Marketing

[ApparentHorizon]

Not sure if you can comment on physical product ecomm, but here's another for you.

Quick checklist for a store, in no specific order:

• Standard article optimization (headings, descriptions, url, canonical, etc.)
• Product structured data
• Descriptions on category pages (usually overlooked)
• Less than 1s load time
• Mobile UI/UX (90% of sites suck at this)
• Strong trust factors (shipping, guarantees, returns, etc.)

What else is usually overlooked?

 

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[lludwig]

How many unique daily visitors did you usually get?

Monthly 300k uniques or around 10k a day

 

[lludwig]

Not sure if you can comment on physical product ecomm, but here's another for you.

Quick checklist for a store, in no specific order:

• Standard article optimization (headings, descriptions, url, canonical, etc.)
• Product structured data
• Descriptions on category pages (usually overlooked)
• Less than 1s load time
• Mobile UI/UX (90% of sites suck at this)
• Strong trust factors (shipping, guarantees, returns, etc.)

What else is usually overlooked?

For SEO?

Where are the product descriptions coming from? The Vendor? If so, that means they are dupicate content.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

For SEO?

Where are the product descriptions coming from? The Vendor? If so, that means they are dupicate content.

Yes for SEO....

( @MJ DeMarco I accidentally posted this in his Aff thread, can you move it over to AMA: SEO sorry )

Say you have 100k products. All with thin content. What would you do then?

Few options that come to mind:
- Hire a team of VAs to put together at least "unique content"
- Take the top X% that are selling, and optimize for SEO
- Add in a ask questions and review section, to populate the page. Would require a moderator.

 

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[lludwig]

Yes for SEO....

( @MJ DeMarco I accidentally posted this in his Aff thread, can you move it over to AMA: SEO sorry )

Say you have 100k products. All with thin content. What would you do then?

Few options that come to mind:
- Hire a team of VAs to put together at least "unique content"
- Take the top X% that are selling, and optimize for SEO
- Add in a ask questions and review section, to populate the page. Would require a moderator.

Yes on all of those.

Keep in mind the way I treated affiliate products was as if they were my own. At least in terms of how to improve monetization.

Add FAQ schema to each product (I know this takes time). But will help SERP.

Going with the low hanging fruit of already good ranking content and improve the SERP for them first.

Meaning:

• FAQ schema (see above)
• The title isn't cut off
• the description isn't cut off
• Replace a generic description to something that would cause someone to click. (ie some unique selling point)
• Product schema (hope you are using this Product | Search | Google Developers)

 

[lludwig]

Yes on all of those.

Keep in mind the way I treated affiliate products was as if they were my own. At least in terms of how to improve monetization.

Add FAQ schema to each product (I know this takes time). But will help SERP.

Going with the low hanging fruit of already good ranking content and improve the SERP for them first.

Meaning:

• FAQ schema (see above)
• The title isn't cut off
• the description isn't cut off
• Replace a generic description to something that would cause someone to click. (ie some unique selling point)
• Product schema (hope you are using this Product | Search | Google Developers)

The other thing which can work great on your type of site are you selling competing products?

'X vs. Y' articles are great. They are typically:

• Low competing
• High converting (last steps in the sales funnel)

But low volume. Which is ok since the intent is very high.

You win no matter which one they buy. But also help make sure you send the right person to the right product. I would even consider it for products you currently don't sell to compare against. Hell you could even link up the competing product to an affiliate in most cases and still make it a win-win for you.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Definitely selling competing products. Though the only difference is brand recognition and product "quality", since the industry is standardized. So Company X has to have Specification 123, just like everyone else, to put that label on it.

• The title isn't cut off
• the description isn't cut off

Cut off in the sense that importing them removes part of the text? Or in the SERPs?

I can see how it could go to...

Actual title: Amazingly Unique and Hand Carved Widget X with 3.5 inch Dimension for High Performance Advancements.

vs

SERP: Amazingly Unique and Hand Carved...

Though that would get into search term placement within the title. IE at the beginning for highest relevancy.

 

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[lludwig]

Definitely selling competing products. Though the only difference is brand recognition and product "quality", since the industry is standardized. So Company X has to have Specification 123, just like everyone else, to put that label on it.



Cut off in the sense that importing them removes part of the text? Or in the SERPs?

I can see how it could go to...

Actual title: Amazingly Unique and Hand Carved Widget X with 3.5 inch Dimension for High Performance Advancements.

vs

SERP: Amazingly Unique and Hand Carved...

Though that would get into search term placement within the title. IE at the beginning for highest relevancy.

so this is a B2B site? It’s hard to know without detail.

Anytime an ellipsis shows up tells me you haven’t optimized your SERP for Google. To the reader also it may not make sense what is displayed

 

[lludwig]

Though that would get into search term placement within the title. IE at the beginning for highest relevancy.

You are modifying the title in SERP not on the page. You are doing this so it’s a complete thought so it’s clear the people visiting your site they are going to the right site.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

B2C

so this is a B2B site? It’s hard to know without detail.

Anytime an ellipsis shows up tells me you haven’t optimized your SERP for Google. To the reader also it may not make sense what is displayed

You are modifying the title in SERP not on the page. You are doing this so it’s a complete thought so it’s clear the people visiting your site they are going to the right site.

Now that's interesting, about the ellipsis.... It seems 90% have taken this into consideration on the first page.




So what if your title is longer on page than on SERP? Doesn't that create a disconnect between the reader, even if they convey the same message?

On the other hand, about half of the shopping ads (Google Merchant, specifically) are showing the ellipsis.



Then a lot more breathing room, on the shopping results themselves:



(Car battery is not my niche, by the way)

 

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[lludwig]

B2C

Now that's interesting, about the ellipsis.... It seems 90% have taken this into consideration on the first page.

View attachment 29309


So what if your title is longer on page than on SERP? Doesn't that create a disconnect between the reader, even if they convey the same message?

On the other hand, about half of the shopping ads (Google Merchant, specifically) are showing the ellipsis.

View attachment 29310

Then a lot more breathing room, on the shopping results themselves:

View attachment 29311

(Car battery is not my niche, by the way)

Yes Google Ads show up in many different shapes and sizes some are hard to prevent within that realm. Unless you tell Google not to display for specific ad types.

Same can apply to SERP as it has changed over time and Google can display more or less at times. Lastly, the meta description can be outright replaced by Google. You no longer have control over that..at times.

Though the last three look the most congruent in my eyes.

The point is this is the first step in SEO optimization. Controlling (as much as you can) what's displayed in SERP so you increase your CTR.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Yes Google Ads show up in many different shapes and sizes some are hard to prevent within that realm. Unless you tell Google not to display for specific ad types.

Same can apply to SERP as it has changed over time and Google can display more or less at times. Lastly, the meta description can be outright replaced by Google. You no longer have control over that..at times.

Though the last three look the most congruent in my eyes.

The point is this is the first step in SEO optimization. Controlling (as much as you can) what's displayed in SERP so you increase your CTR.

Do you still recommend optimizing meta descriptions? Or is it an afterthought at this point, where you can just copy and paste it from your in page text, and format it a bit?

 

[lludwig]

Do you still recommend optimizing meta descriptions? Or is it an afterthought at this point, where you can just copy and paste it from your in page text, and format it a bit?

In most cases Google still uses it. But it is keyword dependant.

One keyword will use it, another will not. What that exactly isn't I haven't determined or seen research on.

I would do it as I always look at 1% improvement (or more) in my CTR. If you collectively improved your CTR for all your existing ranking SERP how much more traffic would you get? How much would that help in revenue?

I look at meta description is different intent then what's on-page. Yes it is possible to be the same but the SERP is getting them to click, the web page is to get them to add to cart (in the case of an ecom site).

Notice I didn't say buy, as that's the cart page and other things like an abandoned cart email.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

In most cases Google still uses it. But it is keyword dependant.

One keyword will use it, another will not. What that exactly isn't I haven't determined or seen research on.

I would do it as I always look at 1% improvement (or more) in my CTR. If you collectively improved your CTR for all your existing ranking SERP how much more traffic would you get? How much would that help in revenue?

I look at meta description is different intent then what's on-page. Yes it is possible to be the same but the SERP is getting them to click, the web page is to get them to add to cart (in the case of an ecom site).

Notice I didn't say buy, as that's the cart page and other things like an abandoned cart email.

Awesome! This will come in handy on my next audit. Thanks for your time and answering my questions.

 

[Raja]

Hi @lludwig
I want to start affiliate marketing as my side project.
I will learn from the best and learn by applying to shorten the time of success.
I will give 6 months of time for 2hrs every day for Learning.

Please share some roadmap what can I do and how can I start

 

[lludwig]

Hi @lludwig
I want to start affiliate marketing as my side project.
I will learn from the best and learn by applying to shorten the time of success.
I will give 6 months of time for 2hrs every day for Learning.

Please share some roadmap what can I do and how can I start

Do you have your niche determined? That's the first step.

IMHO I think you need more than 6 months and 2 hours/day of time to be successful.

 

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[Timmy C]

Do you have your niche determined? That's the first step.

IMHO I think you need more than 6 months and 2 hours/day of time to be successful.

Affiliate income is apart of the current model I have.

I have been working at least 6 hours a day on it so far, everyday.

I don't see this pace slowing down for at least 6 more months.

 

[lludwig]

I don't see this pace slowing down for at least 6 more months.

At least IMHO.

 

[Timmy C]

At least IMHO.

Setting up the base will be 3 months.

I hope it doesn't take longer than that...

Building my community at the moment.

I'm not using paid traffic or SEO.

It takes how long it takes, but I will list my product before the affiliate offers most likely.

Winging it.

I have a plan and I'm working the plan.

 

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[Raja]

Do you have your niche determined? That's the first step

@lludwig NO SIR, I have 0 knowledge.
would you mind sharing some resources so I can Start STRONG

I think you need more than 6 months and 2 hours/day of time to be successful

6 months is for learning only but learning with implementation so after 6 months I will at least have a decent side income.

what do you think is a realistic time frame?

currently, I am not even on sidewalk so my first step is a sidewalk to start my fastlane journey.


I am an app developer, will start freelance app development along with affiliate marketing.
I do have some experience with wordpress

 

[Timmy C]

NO SIR, I have 0 knowledge.
would you mind sharing some resources so I can Start STRONG



6 months is for learning only but learning with implementation so after 6 months I will at least have a decent side income.

what do you think is a realistic time frame?

currently, I am not even on sidewalk so my first step is a sidewalk to start my fastlane journey.

I personally wouldn't worry about learning.

I would just start working on the business as soon as possible.

That is your learning.

 

[Raja]

I personally wouldn't worry about learning.

I would just start working on the business as soon as possible.

Yes I get it, but thing with your approach is I need to figure it out it will slow me down.

I want to stand on shoulder of giant and learn for his mistake.
The thing is I believe for the start, I can exectly follow a proven plan and develop and adapt it later.

Anyways thats what i think, so i dont have to think just do

 

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[Timmy C]

Yes I get it, but thing with your approach is I need to figure it out it will slow me down.

I want to stand on shoulder of giant and learn for his mistake.
The thing is I believe for the start, I can exectly follow a proven plan and develop and adapt it later.

Anyways thats what i think, so i dont have to think just do

I could sell you a course if you just want to learn.

Ok that was a joke.

You just have to jump in man honestly.

All that time you spend learning could have been time spend building the system.

 

[Raja]

I want to Get SMART and then Work Incredibly Hard.

 

[lludwig]

@lludwig

what do you think is a realistic time frame?

I am an app developer, will start freelance app development along with affiliate marketing.
I do have some experience with wordpress

Realistically? 1-2 years minimum and putting in many hours.

If you have development experience that is good as many bloggers don't and do understand how to automate and make their site look good and functional.

 

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[Raja]

Realistically? 1-2 years minimum and putting in many hours.

If you have development experience that is good as many bloggers don't and do understand how to automate and make their site look good and functional.

Do you also preach just do it and learn from my mistakes or replicate others success

 

[lludwig]

Do you also preach just do it and learn from my mistakes or replicate others success

If you can model and study people have done it successfully yes. Why repeat the same mistakes others have already? That's not to say you shouldn't do new things, but success leaves clues.

 

[Raja]

thanks @Timmy C and @lludwig for response.

I will try to implement your suggestions

 

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