Deal Breaker: Affiliate Lead Quality — Not Affiliate Lead Quantity Affects Affiliate Rates
Affiliates that drive a lot of traffic always expect better rates. However, quality traffic trumps quantity every time. It is essential to understand the demographics of your current traffic and how to attract more of the users that actually value the offer. Advertisers search for traffic that generates high quality leads.
It sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. The most difficult hurdle I have, as an affiliate manager, is the old school way of thinking, the belief that the higher the lead quantity, the higher the rates. In reality, it is higher lead quality that garners better rates.
Some of the factors that influence quality are:
- Know your audience – Niche audiences can perform much better in generating quality leads than mass audiences. Understanding what drives a niche audience makes it easier to find affiliate offers that match their interests. If you have mass traffic, try to determine if you can segment the traffic to gain a better understanding of specific target audiences.
- Original Content with Specific Key Words - To attract a “niche” audience, it is imperative you have quality content that can be found by search spiders. Identify what your target audience is looking for and include it on your web site.
- Update Content Regularly – Letting a web site with great content go dormant will not grow your business. Share your passion and update your content continuously to keep the search spiders working to your advantage.
The trick to success is to attract a specific audience with enough scale to be meaningful. As AOL mentioned in their earnings call, “We have a content plan which is based on hitting very important audiences with content that matters to them,” comments Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL. You may never get to the scale of AOL, but build your site on solid marketing principles and you will be on your way to maximizing revenue with affiliate lead quality.
If fun, downloadable consumer apps interest your audience, be sure to check out the W3i Affiliate Program. Top performing offers include downloads for music, video, games, social, and desktop entertainment.
Joan Jones, Account Executive, W3i, LLC
Joan is the guardian of Affiliate relationships at W3i, providing resources and solutions to strategic accounts.
Find Out More on How W3i Can Grow Your Consumer App Business
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