It's all About Balance

Is it good to have lots of different offers all the time or should we just have a few ongoing offers? Should we spend time on banners for everything or just create text links? Do commission increases work well or are bonuses or gifts better? Do % off or $ off offers work best? Do incentives work, or should we just increase our payout?

The answer is: YES

Very often there's no right or wrong when it comes to the affiliate marketing channel. We're dealing with hundreds if not thousands of different types of sites and each one will have a different person behind it making decisions. There's not going to be that one strategy or one idea that will work for everyone. It's going to come down to balancing these things out and often a lot of trial and error before you can find exactly what works for you. Even then, what works now may not work a month or two months from now. This channel is ever-changing as more publishers join the market and new innovative sites are created.

So what do you do?

Plot out a solid plan that's as best balanced as you can and test it out. See what works. Give a good 2-3 months and then regroup to see where your traffic was best and which offers converted well. Make some tweaks and try again. Make sure to stay in contact with your publishers and get their feedback. Most of them will know what does or does not work for them and their visitors. You'll want to work with some of your top players one-on-one to make sure they have exactly what they need from you. Try plotting out 2-3 different strategies based on the type of publisher and/or how well they perform for you. Talk to publishers about your plan and work out some kinks with them first. Make sure you're plan includes strategies that target as many of your publishers as possible.

And don't forget, it's all about balance!