Like most affiliate marketers, I created my website first, then discovered affiliate marketing programs later on. In that sense, we're actually publishers first, and marketers second.

But some of us are actually marketers first. These folks have affiliate marketing in mind, and create websites designed to take full advantage of a particular affiliate program. I've created several of these websites too.

But publishing remains as my primary interest. This website, In Your Web, exists solely to provide an outlet for my interest in writing. I do monetize it with Google's AdSense program, but it doesn't earn enough to influence my priorities. If anything, I use it to learn something about AdSense.

Eventually, when publishers monetize their websites with affiliate programs, they will arrive at a conflict where the need to make money interferes with the need to publish quality content. That is, you will soon discover that you have so many affiliate links (ad banners, text links, pop-ups) that you will alienate your loyal audience.

That's when you have to draw a line in the sand. In short, you will have to decide how much of your website will you sacrifice for commercial purposes, versus how much of its "soul" will you preserve? I can't define that for you, but let me describe what I do.

Typically, I do not place any advertisements or affiliate links on the homepage. The reason is that I want to entice people to click through at least one level down into my website. I'm hoping that if they drill down this far, they will get a better sense of what my website is about. The goal is to establish a sense of credibility in the minds of my visitors, so that they will return, and they will recommend their friends to visit it. Besides, what magazine or newspaper puts a big advertisement right on their front cover?

I place image ads (ad banners, ad buttons) on non-content pages only. Non-content pages are the navigational pages and the administrative pages (privacy policy, about, contact). I don't want to put these ads on my content pages, because I want my give my content the most spotlight. However, I don't want to ignore the value of image ads. So I make use of these ads, but I place them only on non-content pages. I generally place one 468x60 size banner at the top fold of the page, and another at the bottom.

I emphasize the use of "contextual text links". These are text links with the affiliate merchant's tracking code in it, but where the text of the link is pertinent to the content on the page. For example, if I have an article about pet food, I can place a contextual text link on the word, "pet food" within the body of the article. This link will take the visitor to the merchant's site. This type of linking generally provides the greatest click through rates, and your visitors don't perceive this as an advertisement.

Content pages should include a list of links for further reading. Using the pet food article as example, provide a list of links at the end of the article that claim to provide additional information. Some or all of these links should be affiliate links (contextual text links). I generally make most of my affiliate income through these "links for further reading".

I think the reason why this performs well is because, quite often, people are in "research mode". When someone runs a search on Google, they are trying to research a topic. If they find your webpage, and actually take the time to read it, it means they found your webpage to address their questions. In that case, providing them links to additional resources satisfies their need for more answers. If those links are affiliate links, there is a good chance they will make a purchase. But the key point to this, is that they took the time to read your article. This means you have a "qualified lead" on your hands. Hence, the affiliate links you provide will have a high probability for conversion.

As publishers, it's necessary for us to maintain the right balance between publishing quality content, and maximizing revenues. I've found that most people, maybe as many as 90%, are willing to tolerate ads, and even click on them, because they understand that advertising revenue is what supports free content. But the trick is to not over-do it to where visitors feel distracted.

Labels: Contextual Relevancy, Monetization