Some of you may know that lately I’m trying my hand at affiliate marketing. The process is simple: discover what people need, find out how they are searching for that on the internet, then work hard to be there with your website, promoting the product they need.
The theory sounds clear, but when it comes to practice, lots of questions arise. All I’ve ever bought online were books, and even for those, I had to go to the post office to take my parcel and pay for the order. This was how things were going in my place and they haven’t changed a lot ever since. Buying from USA stores is almost prohibited, as many merchants don’t deliver here, and even if they did, the shipping fees are high, so I can find those products cheaper or at the same price in local stores.
Under these circumstances, I have no idea what people actually buy on the internet. I work my affiliate stores based on the same principle I use for content sites, where I display advertising: find those keywords with good traffic and weak competition, optimize the websites for those keywords and watch people coming in.
In the advertising case, the next step was to watch them get out of the site by clicking a link. In the affiliate case, getting them leave the site via an affiliate link is not enough. The purchase is required for me to get paid.
I do have a clue how to see what products are hot online, but I want your input now, because you are people, not statistics, and with many of you I had the chance to talk more than once. What are you buying online? Shoes? Doors? Handbags? Pencils? Do you buy groceries such as corned beef and rice online?
I’m curious. Thank you.
4 Comments
Lately I’ve only been purchasing music online. If I’m buying something I think I’ll return, I’ll buy it at a store.
Thanks Ronald, I would have also thought this way. I would never buy, for example, shoes online, because I definitely want to try them before.
Hi Simonne,
Yes, I agree, I would never buy shoes or any clothing online as it will most likely not fit and will need to be returned. I buy calendars online as the selection is superb, quality is high, and I can never find what I am looking for at the bookshops I frequent.
I am not much of an online shopper. I wish I had more ideas for you.
Thank you, Diane. Actually I’ve set up a big bunch of online shops, in different categories, and so far, I’ve already got a few surprises, as I recorded sales in fields I would have never expected to perform well.
You gave me a good insight: I’m doing to take a look to see if I can find some good affiliate programs on calendars, and maybe for 2009 you’ll get your calendars from my shop