Questions From New Affiliate User

[sowalter]

Hey, new to the forum here. I stumbled upon it via google, and I'm hoping you guys can answer a few questions I have.

I run a football Web site. The amount of traffic I receive varies depending on the month. During my peak months (December-April), I tend to get somewhere between 300,000-600,000 page views per month. This April the site garnered 670,000 page views - its most ever.

Right now, however, traffic is a bit down because the NFL Draft is over and the season is months away. I'm getting anywhere between 5,500-8,500 page views per day.

I've been utilizing ads for a few months now. I've used Google Adsense since January. I have one ad at the top of the page, one toward the bottom of my content and one on the right. I also have a Google search mechanism at the bottom.

One other affiliate program I'm part of is Ticket City's. I've had links for them placed at key places of my site since April.

Problem is, I haven't seen much of a reward from either. I've obtained about $150 from Google (since January) and $115 from Ticket City.

How can I increase my ad revenue? Do I need more traffic coming into my site? Am I placing the ads in the wrong places? Are there more lucrative affiliate programs out there? Are there any tricks or tips you can give me?

I just signed up for eBay and LinkShare, so I'll try those out.

Thanks in advance. Sorry if I've asked too many questions and sound like a newbie.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi sowalter,

Welcome to 5 Star and thanks for starting off with some good questions.

First off, entertainment sites are typically a bit difficult to monetize.

So the 1st thing to do is think like your visitors. I'm not a big football fan but assume you are so you should know how they think and what things they'd be interested in.

Tshirts, hats and other sport memorabilia comes to mind. I know CJ has some programs in that niche. Ebay should be good for football related stuff.

For Ebay products you may find that it's easier to join AuctionAds.
See my blog about it and there's an example in the lower right corner of the blog. 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blogs, Google and SEO Blog ? ShoeMoney Launches AuctionAds Ebay Ad Widget

It's cool because you don't have to learn the Ebay API or any tricky stuff if you arent that technical. Just enter keywords to pull the right type of auctions, customize the colors of the ad box and paste on line of code onto your sidebar and it will always show the latest auctions.

Any football fans with other ideas?

 

[sowalter]

Thanks Linda, I'll definitely check out that blog tonight. Any other ideas?

 

[JAmieF]

Hi Sowalter,

Your site offers some great football information. You do have some call to actions on your site but you might like to add more, lead your visitor to a purchase.

Have you looked at sports handicapping sites? They can give you more ideas about what type of call to actions to include.

 

[rifinder]

Hi Sowalter,

I looked at your site and a couple of things come to mind.
1) Your pages are long and you only have AdSense at the top. You are allowed three different placements (I think) so I would suggest adding a couple more on the really long pages.
2) Rotate your banner ads. You probably get a lot of repeat visits so showing them the same ad over and over isn't going to get you more sales. Join a few programs and use different ads on different pages. Basically, give your viewers more options and more chances to click.

Good luck.

 

[sowalter]

Thanks for your input

JamieF, what do you mean by "call to action?" How would it lead to more advertising revenue?

rifinder, I have Adsense at the top, on the right, and in the middle or toward the bottom of the content. I'm not sure why you only saw it at the top. You said "join a few more programs." Any specific ones in mind?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Walter,

When I gave my feedback you didn't have your link up so I was not commenting on your site, just making general recommendations.

Now that I see your site, one thing you really need to change is your text formatting. It's SOOO hard to read. Use Arial or Verdana font and never center body copy. Just "justified" text. Also put some dividers and titles to separate different sections and help people find the info they are looking for instead of having just one long rambling page.

This feedback won't help conversions specifically, but to get visitors to stay and look around to even find your ads, people need to be able to read and navigate the site.

 

[sowalter]

Walter,

When I gave my feedback you didn't have your link up so I was not commenting on your site, just making general recommendations.

Now that I see your site, one thing you really need to change is your text formatting. It's SOOO hard to read. Use Arial or Verdana font and never center body copy. Just "justified" text. Also put some dividers and titles to separate different sections and help people find the info they are looking for instead of having just one long rambling page.

This feedback won't help conversions specifically, but to get visitors to stay and look around to even find your ads, people need to be able to read and navigate the site.

Linda, you're right about my home page. I'm going to fix that.

Could you give me your thoughts on the Draft Central page? That page receives MUCH more traffic than all the other pages. In fact, my home page is only the fifth or sixth most popular page (in terms of traffic) on my site.

 

[rifinder]

Hi Sowalter,

I recommend residual income affiliate programs such as sports betting. I recommend these because they are directly related to your sites content (sports) and because they offer residual commissions. If you aren't sure what residual commissions are, basically the company will pay you over and over whenever someone buys something even when they go directly to the website and skip your site.

We are always trying to find other sports related residual income affiliate programs and if I find them I'll let you know.

Good Luck.

 

[Linda Buquet]

rifinder thanks for your feedback.

Now BIG question!

Isn't sportsbetting considered gambling? Due to recent legislation, well even before that, I don't recommend any gambling related programs for a number of reasons. Not only could the affiliate potentially get in trouble, but if the company gets in trouble they many times pull the program or go under without paying affiliates.

 

[sowalter]

Thanks rifinder, I'll check those out tonight and let you know what happens.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Walter, yes the draft page is lots better. I would still justify and change the font, which would make the whole thing look more up-to-date.

 

[rifinder]

Hi Linda,

Sports betting is considered gambling however that isn't a problem in most of the world. I live in Canada were online gambling sites (such as PartyPoker) are perfectly legal.

It is my understanding that even US affiliates can promote gambling sites but they can't make any money off of customers in the US or other countries that don't allow online gambling.

 

[sowalter]

Linda,

Booking is illegal; betting is not, depending on the circumstances. Otherwise, you could get arrested for betting someone $1 about anything, sports related or not.

Sportsbooks are free to operate on the internet, just as long as their base of operations is not in the U.S. I know a few that operate out of Costa Rica. If, however, the books were found to be on American soil, that would be a problem.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Better read this guys: Especially #2 where an affiliate had to pull his whole site because he wrote about gambling and had ads. Nothing to do with WHERE the gambling companies were based - only had to due with fact HE was in US and promoting them. (He was in Washington where laws were stricter, but not sure if other states have adapted anything similar._

<a href="http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2006/10/24/gambling-affiliates-new-law/">Gambling Affiliates Can be Prosecuted Due to New Law</a>

<a href="http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2006/06/16/online-gambling-illegal/">Warning - Affiliate Casinos and Gambling Links Can Get you Busted</a>

 

[rifinder]

Thanks for the info Linda.

I didn't realize that Gambling was such a problem in the States. I live in Canada where gambling is legal.

Sowalter, make sure that being an affiliate of a gambling site is okay where you live before you place those banners on your site.

Is there a problem is an American promotes a gambling site but has a little * that tells Americans they can't play?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well if he's in US and most of his traffic is US that seems like a moot point.

If his traffic is US they can't even gamble so he shouldnt even bother with the risk of adding gambling programs. He also needs to check his state laws to see if they prohibit promoting gaming like Washington does. But no matter which way you look at it, I wouldn't risk it.

 

[JAmieF]

Thanks for your input

JamieF, what do you mean by "call to action?" How would it lead to more advertising revenue?

You need to guide the visitor to do what you want. You do a great on your homepage as mention "Check them out by clicking the links." There is just not enough of it on the other pages of your site.

For Example: on your Walters Football Site: NBA Columns page. You can add "If you are a Sixers fan like me and want to see how the draft picks play this season, visit [ticket merchant] for pricing on season tickets"