If you started affiliate marketing and online promotion services back in 2009, you might have noticed that the market today is more competitive, and the rules are stricter than before. If you would like to make money off promoting other people’s products and secure a steady income, you might need to change with the times. Online marketing just got harder, and you need to play by the rules, or your sites will soon disappear from search engines. Find out below which of the old affiliate marketing practices stopped working in the past few years.
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One Page Websites
Years ago, you could rank your affiliate marketing website easily if you bought enough links and used the appropriate keywords enough times. Today, however, it takes more than a single page to make a sale. Your visitors are looking to connect with you through different channels, and are more interested in your personal opinion than your sales page. They will have questions you have to answer before you can turn them into buyers. Without a blog, you will not survive the competition, and fail to make money off online marketing.
Loads of Products On One Page
If you feature different products in the same market and claim that all of them are the “best”, you will lose your credibility. If there are negative aspects of the product, you need let your readers know. After all, they are looking for honesty and informative content. If they wanted the ads, they would be watching commercials on YouTube all day. Make sure that you share your personal story and only promote products or services you have personally tried.
Promotional Reviews
The more promotional your content is the more likely your page will be dropped from search engines. You can publish reviews and product comparisons, but sales pages don’t do well when it comes to ranking. Posts that show you try the product are more likely to get reactions from social media and comments on your blog, and that is exactly what Google and Bing are looking for today.
Text Only Blogs
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You can no longer bore your audience with long-winded sales pages and 2000-word blog posts. Instead, you need to spruce up your content by adding images, infographics, videos, and graphs. This will increase engagement, and encourage people to share your posts on social media sites, which will boost your search engine visibility.
Sites Without Authority and Credibility
Your page needs to talk your language and include your unique style. You shouldn’t forget about branding yourself, as well as trying to get people to follow your recommendations. Share your story and personalize your blog. If your site looks just like any other in the industry, you will have a hard time differentiating yourself and giving your visitors a good enough reason to buy through your link and not somebody else’s.
Whenever you are finding that your affiliate site has dropped from search results, you need to find out which search engine algorithm has caused the change. You need to try to reconnect with your audience by personalizing your content and promoting your personal brand. If you would like to find out more, get in touch with fellow affiliate marketers on our Facebook page.