Should Your Affiliate Ads Coincide With Your Blog’s Niche?
by Eric Hamm on March 19, 2009
in Advertising
I’d love to know your thoughts on this, guys! See you in the comments…
- Share this post Stumbleupon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Twitter
Subscribe to The Blueprint
RSSEmail | Follow Eric on
| Follow Sean on
Comments
23 Responses to “Should Your Affiliate Ads Coincide With Your Blog’s Niche?”Share Your Thoughts
The Blueprint’s Social Profiles
The Blueprint Blogging Kit
My blog has ANYTHING I’m passionate about because my message is that I only recommend products and people I really rate! My blog doesn’t even have a niche – shock, horror!!!! – it has three! I have niche-rebellion-itis! I’ve more than one interest and I love and support all kinds of people. I know it’s marketing suicide -but hey, at my age, do I care?! I recommend other writers, coaches and homemaking sites. You guys are there alongside financial coaches, recipes and gifts for kids! Share win/win abundance, spread PASSION! Life’s too short to see competitors lurking in every bush. Visitors will click if they want to. If they’re not interested, their scan instincts will probably make the affiliate links invisible anyway.
I wrote a piece called ‘Be like Santa Claus in Maceys’. The summary? If you don’t have it, point visitors to people who do! I recommended you to a mentor coach today, Eric, because I can’t help her with a banner but you can!!
I say put up whatever you like! Just do it with integrity, and people will know that you’re simply promoting people and products you are personally happy to endorse.
Interesting topic Eric, I’ve thought about this… and I agree that some ads blend in because they’re everwhere.
I put ads in one of 3 categories… 1) those that compliment my niche or messaging (blog admin or financial guru books would fall in this category for me). 2) topic neutral ads – cookies or flowers are good examples, and 3) ads that run counter to my message – car loans and credit cards would fall in this category for me.
I think a blend of items from the first and second category are fine but I’d avoid the third because it can compromise or delute your messaging and undermine your motives.
Good topic, I look forward to the discussion.
Do You Dave Ramsey?’s last blog post..meme…
They don’t necessarily need to be in your niche – but I would think you’d get better returns if they were in your audience. If most of the people who read your blog fall into a certain demographic then putting up an affiliate ad for something that tends to interest that demographic would make sense. Why waste the space if it’s not going to interest your readers? Caveat – I have yet to put ads on my sites…
Beth Robinson’s last blog post..Experiences Enhance the Opposable Mind
I’ll be honest and say I have yet to watch the video but in all honesty I can’t see why you would *not* have ads that coincided with your niche.
Why are you going into a niche in the first place. Short answer: money.
You want to be laser focused on your niche. You want to talk about that niche and nothing but that niche. Anything that detracts or dilutes your message will cost you in sales. It’s that simple.
Unless that affiliate product can help your readers solve their problems then leave it off. Sorry “Do You Dave Ramsey” but that includes your “neutral ads” as well.
Why do you think the good copywriters advocate writing sales letters based around one product? Because it avoids reader distraction and the very real Information Paralysis. Too many things to choose from and they will end up choosing nothing (think cable TV).
Don’t work hard building authority in a niche only to throw it all away by trying to sell things they are not interested in. I’m telling you now, they will not convert.
Marc’s last blog post..Giving Appreciation and Honor To Entrepreneurs
I agree with Beth Robinson – at least in theory.
Because, for example, most people who read blogs have their own blog. That’s my impression at least. So if an affiliate is blog related, there’s a good chance those interested in your blog may also be interested in the affiliates, independent of whether your blog is about blogging.
Copyblogger champions the affiliate “Thesis.” Yet, his blog is all about copywriting. Well… doesn’t matter because most people who read his blog also have a blog of their own and the Thesis product is very attractive to them.
Just clicked over to your blog to examine your affiliates. Looks like they are all blog related. Yeah, I don’t see that as a bad thing… as I said… most people reading your blog either have a blog or are interested in having one and thus your affiliates will be beneficial for your audience.
And it’s true. When every personal-development blog out there has the same e-book affiliate, well, it may prove less effective. Your strategy may even be better. Nice.
When you start getting the traffic of Zen Habits, at that point it may be wise to have mostly motivational affiliates – but I’m not even entirely sure about that.
Good subject to discuss.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended’s last blog post..The Art of Artery Clogging: A Recipe
“…and the Thesis product is very attractive to them”
Why is it attractive to his audience? When you start looking at the answers to that question you begin to see that though the product isn’t copywriting it is in fact a highly related product.
Much, much more than blogging stuff being related to motivation.
Furthermore Copyblogger has built up a trustworthy reputation which is a massive benefit to selling products and services that are only somewhat related to your niche.
@Eric: I understand what you are saying (I watched the video now) but “Who cares if it specifically pertains to it or not” is a very idealogical way of thinking.
You’re looking at it from the wrong angle and if I may be blunt making all the wrong assumptions. A new visitor is *never* going to buy from you on his or her first visit. Statistics show it’ll take at least 7 visits.
I’ve got so much to say on this subject but let’s try to break it down a little.
Two questions for you:
How much traffic does Motivate Thyself get a month in terms of unique visits?
How many people have clicked to download your e-book and how many have clicked on your affiliate ads? (You can get a percentage indication from Google Analytics Site Overlay feature if you haven’t got hard numbers)
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Giving Appreciation and Honor To Entrepreneurs
@ Marc: You’re right, copywriting is highly related to blogging. All bloggers want to get better at copywriting. The smart ones do, anyways.
Very true. Copyblogger’s superb reputation is indeed a massive benefit to selling products and services.
I don’t have a final opinion on this subject yet. I will say, though, that it’s probably the case that most of Eric’s readers are bloggers. That being the case, his affiliates in theory may not be such a bad choice after all.
New visitors may not be likely to buy a product or service directly from Eric on their first visit. They may require more time spent on Eric’s blog… to develop a trust for the person behind Motivate Thy Self. Then, once that trust begins to develop – they then may feel at a requisite comfort level to purchase a product or service that Eric sells.
However, when it comes to click-throughs with affiliates… In that case… I think it’s conceivable that search engine traffic may convert and not require a building up of trust that purchasing a product or service would entail.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended’s last blog post..The Art of Artery Clogging: A Recipe
Not quite Bamboo. It doesn’t matter where they come from, search engine traffic is still a “new visitor”. Also the link that his readers are bloggers is too tenuous to build upon.
I think his choice of affiliates is terrible. Sorry Eric but you said it yourself, they have nothing to do with motivation and productivity. Keep the ad to Frugal Site Design but get rid of the rest.
The idea is that you want to draw people in who want to motivate themselves, improve their productivity and experience personal growth. You’re doing that with your blog posts but then putting up an advert for web hosting, aweber and *three* Wordpress themes and expecting them to click on those, why?
Put it this way. If you were to place Google Ads on your blog what do you think they would be, motivational based resources or dog training info products?
Why do you think the worlds most popular advertising platform want to serve up contextual, highly targeted ads?
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Giving Appreciation and Honor To Entrepreneurs
HA! LOL, I thought I’d commented but it turns out I left to take the kids to school and never hit submit. Sigh. SLOW DOWN, Sean!
I believe that it’s your blog and you can put whatever ads you want up there. However, the more targeted you are, the more money you will make. I don’t think it’s a should or shouldn’t as those answers would be as different as the people who blog. However, there is only so much ad space available and if you want to maximize your dollars than you should fill the space with highly relevant ads.
The only thing I have up on WD is an affiliate for Thesis. This is because I highly believe in Thesis and have not had much of an interest in monetizing the site outside of my services. However, if I were, I would analyze my traffic (per Eric’s great advice) and determine what ads would be best based on the traffic I was getting).
My take thus far…
Click to play this video.
@ Marc – good point on the google adsense comment but I wonder if there’s another way to view that point. Here’s what I mean.
Google has many platforms for ads AND they are faceless… so focused ads work best for them. On the otherhand, Eric has a steady audience that is more likely or willing to trust his recommendation – or at least recognize a blog as an opinion product. If I’m on a site and Google wants to sell me a pizza it doesn’t fit but if Eric say’s “hey, this is good pizza” the ad may be off topic but it isn’t out of context.
@ Eric… love the “airy fairy”
Do You Dave Ramsey?’s last blog post..Congress thinks you’re an idiot. Are you?
I don’t know about you guys… but I really want to start a food fight right about now.
Google ads go everywhere, not just blogs. So as to why google ads are designed to serve up contextual, highly targeted ads – it’s because they are used by websites everywhere and this is indeed usually the best option, particularly when it’s just a text ad.
But blogs are unique in that much of the audience they have are by default bloggers.
I think the amount of traffic is also important to consider.. And it’s also essential to realize you make money just by having someone click on a google text ad.
But with affiliates that’s not how it works. With those, you need more than just a mere click-through. You need your reader to click and then purchase.
@ Ramsey: That’s a good point you make and I think ties into mine. Those ads you have in the square boxes are much more a reflection of the author of the blog than just some random showering of ads that google will create.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended’s last blog post..The Art of Artery Clogging: A Recipe
@Eric “about 75%” and “most are bloggers” are vague statements mate. Have you actually asked them? Marketing really is no more complex than finding out what your customers want then giving it to them.
I am a blogger but I can tell you right now I do *NOT* read Motivate Thyself to find resources on hosting services or Wordpress themes.
A person logs into their PC, loads up Google and types in “how to motivate yourself”. They’re in no mind to buy anything about Web hosting or Wordpress themes. By the same token anyone looking to buy Wordpress themes isn’t going to click on a web link or an advert or anything to do with motivational products.
How many people walked into Sean’s family flower shop in a week? How many do you think owned their own computer? How many wanted to have their computer repaired or upgraded?
How many of Copyblogger’s 54,363 subscribers are bloggers? Where are his ads for Hosting and Aweber?
As for not finding the right affiliate to promote think beyond e-books. What about tools that increase productivity?
@DYDR Once you build that trust, sure you can start recommending other products but you still have to do it in context. Eric trying to sell pizza? On a self-motivation and productivity site? How is fast food a conduit to motivation?
OK so his long term visitors might buy that pizza on his recommendation but what kind of a message do you think it’s sending to the newcomers?
Sorry guys but you’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole. If you want to maximise the potential of making money you *must* use highly targeted, contextual and relevant ads. To do otherwise is just leaving money on the table.
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Giving Appreciation and Honor To Entrepreneurs
@ Bamboo – “it’s because they are used by websites everywhere and this is indeed usually the best option, particularly when it’s just a text ad.”
Adsense can also serve banner images. It’s not just Adsense here but Adwords as well. Why are people paying to have their ads displayed only for searches related to their niche?
There’s nothing complex or unique about Google’s advertising system.
This entire argument that Eric’s audience are themselves bloggers is extremely counter-intuitive. I am a blogger, I have cheap web hosting with unlimited domains why would I click on the GoDaddy advert? I also happen to have Thesis so there goes that advert. Thesis is a highly flexible, premium theme, I’m not likely to click on the other two premium theme ads. That’s 4 out of 6 ads completely wasted on me (HostGator falls into the same category as GoDaddy).
Still not convinced? Create a web page, throw in some adsense and irrelevant affiliate products. I’d be willing to wager you make more money a month from adsense than you do from those ads.
Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Giving Appreciation and Honor To Entrepreneurs
I guess you won’t be visiting my site then Marc! You’d go a funny colour with frustration! SEO Ninjas and tulips, recipes and DVD’s, politics and poetry, interior design tips and coaching courses, personal development pieces and book reviews – know why? Fun! Because I want to, because I can! Because there are no blogging police. There’s no get rich quick. I reckon pro-blogging’s hard slog built on trust building, learning lots of skills and finding and sharing what you love doing. It also helps in today’s saturated market if you have a slick looking site like Eric’s. If I went to Motivate Thyself for motivational stuff because I was a stuck blogger, I’d be tempted to buy site building services from him to help me move forward! Or a model airplane because he sounds like he knows which one to recommend!
And that’s cool Janice, it really is. But do you think Eric can make a living out of that? Recall his end goal is making 6 figures a month from blogging.
His end financial goal is to make six figures; his current strategy is pro-blogging and offering online services. If I’ve understood him through his writing, his big picture goal is actually to enjoy his family and earn that amount so he can support them – and then make some other non-blogging dreams come true…
Goals, strategies, life purpose…there are important differences.
Sorry Janice but I have no idea what you are getting at. His current strategy, no matter what that happens to be has one purpose, to make money.
What he does with that money is another kettle of fish which has no real bearing on the questions he asked.
My thoughts…
Click to play this video.
I think that the most ideal way to get clicks is if you are able to tailor your ads to each article. However with Adsense I found that sometimes they still display irrelevant ads.
In my opinion it is better to display ads that are about the same subject as your blog. This is because people that are interested in the subject you are writing about are more likely to click on an ad of the same subject.
For example if the person is reading your article about focus. And he sees the ad that claims to improve their focus in a week. It is very likely that the person interested in this topic will click on such ad.
But I do understand the point you made about all the ads being the same in one niche. I am writing personal development articles and I have noticed that all ads are similar in PD sites.
However I go around this by placing ads where visitors are more likely to click. I maximised the location of them by placing them at the top, in the middle and at the bottom of my articles. Although that makes my articles quite ad-rich, but if I provide value I do not see why I cannot be paid for it this way.
I did not get any complaints about such ad placing, so I will continue placing ads this way.
P.S. ..Wine people.. LOL!
Simona Rich’s last blog post..Self Improvement Plan
Eric… you mentioned a critical factor in closing on your most recent video clip. You said that people were asking you about themes and hosting… people were seeking your advice on a topic, therefore, you included the ads.
I think Marc’s point about target audiences resonates more with me as a result of your comment. People are implicitly asking for your advice and recommendations on motivation by visiting your site. For this reason I’d be inclined to load up on these topics. Given your perception of may items in this genre it may take some effort but it should be your focus.
I have an Amazon widget I really like that you may want to mimic… you can also profile some of the books/products to further point out where you think those authors are falling short… this may lead to your own ebook to fill the gaps you point out which then provides you with the best ad opportunity – your own product.
I’ve given this much thought over the last couple days and I’ve even modified my ad selections and altered my initial read on this topic.
I certainly want to track this topic further and you’ll have to keep us posted as to your progress and successes.
Thanks!
Dave
Do You Dave Ramsey?’s last blog post..Some Answers Are Obvious
I am glad you have brought this up as I have been looking at advertising for my blog and was not sure whether or not to aim at giant companies for a quick payout or to look for some decent ads.
Steve’s last blog post..Music Catch 2
Hi Eric,
When I blog, I provide a service to help people. For that reason, my products are designed around the same thing as my niche. My website brings in money, from my own products, and on my blogs I began writing and posting to help, not necessarily to make money.
Most my ads are directly related to my niche and I have put in other products, indirectly related to my niche, that I have enjoyed, especially if I write a post about it. For example, I put up books like, Think and Grow Rich and The Science of Getting Rich, because they are classics, give excellent advice on how to process thought, and I refer to them a lot.
So, I guess I am saying that ads directly related to my niche are best, for my readers and me, and ads related indirectly are helpful as well.
ps show us the red plane, lol!
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Stanfill’s last blog post..DESTRESS YOURSELF WITH AFFIRMATIONS