Affiliate marketers are constantly looking for new ways to generate new traffic, and one of the most effective forms of traffic generation is through SEO-powered websites. From micro-sites to major authority affiliate websites, the world of SEO is packed with affiliates looking to increase their earnings, decrease their direct workload, and create a long-term marketing asset.
The problem is that a lot of affiliates make major mistakes when embarking on their SEO campaigns. From picking poor offers to creating websites that simply are not profitable in the long run, affiliate SEO campaigns are often let down by beginner errors or simple unwanted interference.
These four tips are for affiliate marketers looking to move from PPC traffic to 100% SEO traffic. As a long-term traffic source, it is difficult to find anything better than pure SEO-powered marketing. These four tips will help you figure out whether SEO is worth it, create a great SEO campaign, and measure its returns effectively.
1. Test offers with PPC first.
The dashboard on most affiliate networks gives you a good idea of just how profitable most offers can be. You are given CPC values, payout statistics, and a general idea of how popular each offer is. While these statistics are great for picking out offers to experiment with, they’re too widely spread to be accurate enough to build a campaign on.
SEO, in terms of time spent, is a very expensive exercise. No, it does not cost any money, but it costs a lot more time than a similar PPC campaign. In order to test an offer before engaging in SEO, it is wise to experiment with PPC marketing first. Create accounts using common PPC platforms — Google Adwords is a good place to start, as it mirrors search traffic effectively — and check conversion rates to your offers. If they are profitable, move forward and invest in long-term SEO.
2. Count your time against profits.
Counting your profits alone is a poor way to gauge the value of an offer. Remember that time spent on SEO is time that could be spent elsewhere, and incorporate it into your earnings effectively. If you value your time at $50 per hour, take note of the hours spent on your SEO campaigns and assign a $50 loss to each of them. That way, you are not just working for instant profits, but for enough income to override the opportunity cost of spent time.
3. Set up short-term SEO earners first.
Before you go out and build your authority website, you need some cash flow. With small articles ranking relatively high with the right linking strategy, even a few quick write-ups can be enough to drive targeted traffic to your offers. Create small micro-sites and articles while you work on the big search asset so that you are generating income, however small, 24/7.
4. Check that your offers are SEO-friendly.
Some affiliate networks limit the forms of traffic that you can drive to an offer. Some only allow PPC, for example, while others limit their offers to search-only traffic. Before you embark on a major SEO campaign, make sure it is alright to drive search traffic to your offers. There is nothing worse than investing time in an offer that is not compatible with your marketing platform, and a few minutes of checking could save days of wasted time.
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