All eggs in Adsense basket

[triumph]

I've been running a relatively successful site with Adsense for about 6 months now, and I'm thrilled with the results. It has really worked out beyond my expectations. That being said, I'm worried all of my "eggs" are in the Adsense basket. So in order to diversify, I've been doing affiliate links, and running some banners. So far, compared to Adsense, my affiliate earnings are non existent. I run a shopping "deal" site, so you would think it would naturally work with affiliate marketing. Anyway, I would love to do this full time, but without a backup, I'm stuck in my day job. I read these affiliate success stories, and I wonder how they do it? Any words of advice/inspiration?

On a side note, I’m planning to go to webmaster world conf in November, maybe I’ll learn more there?

[Procyon]

Read WebmasterWorld for at least one hour a day. Scour every forum, participate in threads, and apply what you learn. I promise you you'll find all the success you could ever want if you do that.

I'll be attending my first PubCon this year, hopefully I'll see you there. :)

[triumph]

Procyon -

Appreciate the help... I read webmasterworld all the time.

I only run one site, maybe I should expand?

Anyway, see you at pubcon.

[jasonlambert]

I dont know the exact specifications of your site, though you mention it is a deal site?

The obvious 2 questions are:
1) What do your visitors come to your site for?
2) What affiliate things have you tried?

I would (without knowing specifics about your site) suggest that your visitors arrive looking for a) freebies, and b) cheap/discounted stuff

A lot of companies pay money for "leads", not hard sales. Let me explain:
1) Company X offers free samples of its products
2) You become an affiliate of company X
3) Company X pays you a small amount (maybe as little as $1 or $1.50) per person that enter's their email and postal addresses to receive the free sample.
4) Company X makes it's money when it follows up on the lead, eg, emails the person a month later saying "did you like the free samples? we're running a special offer atm, get the full product at a 10% discount if you buy now".

It is simply a case of matching the right product to the right person.

If my above predictions were correct and people are visiting your site for freebies/discounted items then trying to sell them full priced items as an affiliate will offer a very low conversion ratio.

[nakulgoyal]

yes, u should expand your network too, amongst other things!

[quebrada]

I have been finding many top sites no longer running affiliate links but rather only adsense. They seem quite happy with the one revenue stream.

But you might try replacing the adsense ads with affiliate product links and compare the income. Then consider if the lower revenue stream would be sufficient.

Q

[shri]

>> top sites no longer running affiliate links

Not all top sites. If your content and theme is oriented towards people who have already removed their credit cards from their wallet and are looking to buy, affiliate links are still working.

I don't see shopping.com, dealtime etc moving to an exclusive adsense model. (They're super-duper-affiliates at the end of the day).

[triumph]

Replacing adsense with affiliate links is not an option for me right now. I make 30x more on adsense then my best affiliate program. That's what makes me so nervous. I'm doing great, but I keep thinking that the rug is going to be pulled out from under me...

[Jane_Doe]

You have to factor in the "opportunity cost" of not doing Adsense, too, and this may outweigh the risk of having all of your eggs in one basket. However, you may want to focus on Adsense but experiment with other programs a certain percent of the time.

Who knows, maybe over time you'll hit upon something that makes even more than Adsense for you? But if you never do anything other than Adsense you'll never find out.

[mfishy]

A LOT of adsense folks are gonna get crushed if adsense stops performing.

If you cannot make money with aff program links, it is probably because your visitors are not buyers. Adsense is the first program since the early days of banners that pays well for traffic that does not convert. The best thing to do IMO would be to focus on trying to get "buying traffic".

It amazes me when folks say they have sent hundreds of hits to any merchant without a sale/lead. Even the worst converting stuff for me is 1/150...

[triumph]

Mfishy -

That's a good point, but my site is basically a shopping/deals site. I would think most of the people arriving are potential buyers.