For those who do not know, cookies (literally “biscuits”) are small text files that websites use to store information on your computer. The cookie is sent from a website and stored on your computer. Are then read from the website during the subsequent visit of the user.

In the case of affiliate programs, cookies contain code that the affiliate has sent a potential customer to the merchant site. When the customer buys, the site reads the cookie code so that the franchisee may receive the amount due (eg a percentage of the value of goods purchased).

As mentioned, the literal translation of “cookie” is “cookies.” But since now I will speak of their term, continue to call them cookies to avoid an ambiguous reflection on “end of biscuits”.

Each cookie has a lifetime and this is decided by the site that creates it. Clarification of the use of this parameter with an example:
A user clicks on a banner on your site.
Sign in as an e-commerce site to which you are affiliated.
The website stores a cookie in the user’s PC with 30 giorni.Se time the user returns on e-commerce site within 30 days and makes a purchase, you receive the commission provided by the affiliate program.
If he returns after 31 days do not earn anything.
Also, if cookies are not deleted by the user gains nothing if the user uses a different computer than the one used during the first visit, do not earn anything (because it lacks the cookie).
You will start to come to the suspicion that cookies are a critical problem?
The duration of the cookie should always be unlimited. Many sales are not allocated to members for various reasons: delete cookies, phone purchases, purchases made by a different computer than that of the cookie, etc. .. I do not think it right that the situation is further worsened by playing on the expiry of cookies. I conclude with some advice: do not even take into account enrollment in affiliate programs that do not say clearly what is the duration of their cookies. A fortiori, ignoring those that do not use cookies. In other words: No cookies, no click!

Several aspects affect the performance of a banner, including: the location on the page, creativity, goodness of the product / service advertised and the landing page. If payment is Pay Per Action (pay per lead or pay per sale), then the earnings per thousand impressions (CPM) depends on the CTR (click number to the number of exposures) that the CR (conversion rate: number of conversions related to the number of clicks). Each of the aspects that I just mentioned influence your CTR or CR, but there is a factor that has the power both to increase strongly: the contextuality.

Google also teaches us: why AdSense ads have a CTR so high advertisers are willing to pay for each click regardless of conversions? Obviously, being contextual to the page where they are incorporated, allows a conversion rate high enough to make the payment affordable pay per click.

So how do you make banners to earn profits with affiliate pay per action? You have to contextualize the individual page where they appear. In many cases this is impossible, I think such a forum with tens of thousands of pages. In other cases you can do: the simplest case are the individual blog post that receive traffic (too little) every day from search engines.

Specifically Analitycs you can use Google (or similar software) to see which keywords people use your blog to find a particular post, under those keywords you choose an affiliate program corresponding to the interest shown by users of their research and include the banner in each post. An old post, now forgotten, could lead to pleasant surprises.

Beginning of this article I spoke of impressions which make few tens of euros, of course not always so, but I can prove that sometimes it’s true: ten days ago, for example, I added a banner 468 × 60 (the worst the worst) in a post, in a visible position, results: 588 impressions, 5 leads, 35 euros in profit.

In conclusion, with this post is not to say that the banners are better than text links, but if you really want to use the banner you do pay close attention to context and other aspects that determine their effectiveness.

Here a numerical example.

Suppose that CTR (ratio between the number of clicks and number of exposures) of a banner inserted into the template of your blog is 0.5%. Suppose further that the conversion rate CR (ratio between the number of sales and number of clicks) and 0.2%. With these data we want to make a click of the banner 200 exhibitions, to make a sale takes 500 clicks, then are required to make a sale of 100,000 banner exposures. When earnings with a sale? From a couple of euros to several tens of euros on the value of products you’re promoting. The same banner sold directly to an advertiser, for example 2 / 4 euros CPM (cost per thousand exposures), you might earn a few hundred euros el’inserzionista rightly paid to the visibility achieved on your blog. The data that I assumed were optimistic. These are the real data of an important site of hi-tech: 1,564,216 exposures, CTR: 0.04% CR: 0.17%. So to generate a sale, were required more than one million impressions. Fortunately, earning good money through normal text links.

Why not carry banners gain? The are two problem:

Banner blindness
Users unconsciously recognize the form of banners and shift their attention to the text content of Web pages, the advertisement contained in the image might not even be considered. This phenomenon is even more relevant if we consider frequent users of a website tend to unconsciously ignore the experience to know that the page contain promotional messages. Some websites try to solve this problem by proposing creative graphics ever more invasive and annoying. Now we’ve reached the point of preventing the site navigation to help you display the ad.

Low conversion rate
Users before making a purchase, seek information and views on offer. A banner does not contain any information, nor opinions and sometimes not even offered. Some banners are not just adapted to generate sales. A concrete example is the classic institutional banner with the logo of the advertiser, its slogan and a link to the home page. Put a banner like that in every page of your blog and you are sure you will not earn anything through an affiliate program.
Your goal is not to make known the advertiser’s site to your users, but to let him buy a product within a few minutes / days of clicking on the banner. So you only use banners appropriate.

For example, there is a banner eDreams that displays this message “= Flight + Hotel vacation. Guaranteed savings. What effect can be user who sees it? If you are lucky you are looking to book a holiday, click, look for the holiday and RESERVATIONS. More likely, the user is not interested in buying just a holiday, visiting for a bit ‘eDreams the site and do not book anything. The day will actually post relevant to holiday (maybe after a few months after the click), eDreams come back without going through your site, make purchases and you do not earn anything.
A banner much better offers this message: “Fly in the U.S. for € 499. Expires May 31. If a user click means that you really interested in the offer and will also be motivated to book now, would not have clicked on your site and would remain.

The problem of blindness banner can be partially reduced by periodically changing the position of graphics in web pages. The alternative of not recommend, is to use creativity and impossible to ignore this very annoying. Do you think a user would be inclined to buy a product for 20 seconds he was unable to read the page that was interested?

The conversion rate can be improved in these ways:

Use of banners that promote specific products and price. The user must receive immediate convenience and feel motivated to buy. And ‘unnecessary and improper to leave your site users who are not interested in buying the advertised product via banner ads.

Contextualizes the banners on the site. Hardly the same banner will fit on all pages of your blog. You can put different banners for each post, or any tags for each category. The banner in the right place can have unexpected results in terms of CTR and CR.

Pay attention to the landing page of the link in the banner: it must accurately describe the offer in the banner and not a generic web page (like home).
In short, advertising does work if it is not invasive and if it helps you to find something that really interests him. In fact, I just described the text links.

Information, advice and earn! Most times people try before you buy something else about it. If you know a site on this visit it (could be yours), or do a Google search. Among the search results may include: random blog that talk about the product / service, price comparison services that most often provide only a brief description and technical or specialized sites that comment, criticize, advise on various products.

If you own the blog in general, you probably read your pages and then will go to another site more useful not earn you anything.

Are you the owner of price comparison service, you’re likely to receive the visit of the user and make it go on one of the sites that sell the product you are looking for, in exchange for money.

However, if you own the specialized blogs, read user reviews and reviews of quality, perhaps thank thee for the service but then will compare the prices to buy the product at the site that it is best.

What considerations can be derived from this analysis?

Blogs generalists earn points only on the amount of traffic, among many users will buy someone. There are some exceptions exist, in fact, the generalist affiliations which have good conversion rates in most sites.

Blogs specialist focusing on quality content and have enormous potential for gain, but often untapped by its bloggers for fear of losing credibility, links to “sponsored”.
To me, quality content remains the same even if it contains links that allow bloggers to earn money. Quality blogging takes time and requires commitment and responsibility, so get some moral satisfaction and economic satisfaction seems minimal. Agree?

After this long introduction, I suggest some tips to monetize your blog using affiliate programs.

Unlike services like Adsense and the like, with affiliate programs you choose your sponsor. Use the unique chance to offer your readers only quality products.

Even if you’re interested in selling a product through an affiliate program, describe it in a neutral expert from expressing your opinion. Frequent users of your blog they trust you, why you should not recommend products that do not feel good. It ‘better to give a few dollars now rather than lose players that you can make money tomorrow, day after tomorrow ..

Sponsored links, those that let you earn a percentage of sales procured, can be incorporated in normal posting that write regularly. You can also create ad hoc posts to propitiate the sale of a product that you feel good, but if you propose a real review fee, users understand it immediately, so we should tell them explicitly.

To prevent a user (or habitual way) after reading your reviews, go to find the product you want to buy in a price comparison site, you have to be to help in the search. After talking about a product you can list sites that sell it, perhaps by pointing out what is the cheapest, the one proposed deal and maybe what you use or have you used for your purchases.

In general, you should put links (sponsored) that lead the user to really useful resources. A serious ecommerce site that sells the product you mention in your post is a useful resource for anyone who is reading this post.

Last but not least. Shows a problem and explains how the product you “sell” it solves. To do so highlights the benefits that this product will bring you to your blog (on this issue I wrote a post that I invite you to read).
Each topic is offered on many blogs, you can differentiate themselves from others specialize in a field. But if this sector is also your passion, combine business with pleasure: talking about what you like and earnings. Inolte, six more authoritative in the area of your expertise, the greater the opportunity to earn with your blog. I will not say more because this will be the subject of the next post.

The traditional model is to establish a CPM, that is a fixed cost for the advertiser per thousand exposures
of the banner.
There are basically two ways to make a profit by selling banner or other creative, in exchange a remuneration in CPM:

Selling advertising directly.

Entrust their advertising space to an advertising agency.
The first case I have already explained in other posts.

The second case, however, deserves to be deepened. An advertising agency usually takes the inventory management of several web sites
with similar themes or target to form thematic channels to bring to advertisers.

Let me clarify with an example: XYZ dealership management could have in 5 sites that talk about finance, 5 sites visited mostly by women and so on.
The advertiser wants to promote a product dedicated to women that addresses the dealership is able to achieve this target group.
Thus, unless your site has so many visitors to a great advertising channel also alone proponilo only to dealerships that have other sites with the
same target.

Another tip: Do not waste time to bring your site to a dealership if the site has many visitors and well-defined target.

Some dealerships manage their advertising only sites they own and then bring your site is useless to them.

Considering that buying advertising is essential for most sites that sell products / services online, should not be so hard to find advertisers.

The real problem is convincing them to buy advertising space on your own site. Why should they?

Your website will bring results? Why own your site and not another?

The biggest fear is that advertisers do not get an adequate return on investment made.

What is 100 euros, 1,000 or 10,000, the problem is always to obtain a gain higher than the sum spent.

Surely you’d be able to sell advertising within your website at a price it deems appropriate.

Considering that buying advertising is essential for most sites that sell products / services online, should not be so hard to find advertisers.

The real problem is convincing them to buy advertising space on your own site. Why should they?

Your website will bring results? Why own your site and not another?

The biggest fear is that advertisers do not get an adequate return on investment made.

What is 100 euros, 1,000 or 10,000, the problem is always to obtain a gain higher than the sum spent.

It must be said that someone invests mainly to publicize their brands and therefore has no immediate feedback to what he earned with an advertising campaign. This is a special case, it is usually companies that do not earn exclusively through its website, or plan to monetize the investment later.

Knowing that you want to earn money online by selling advertising, have you ever wondered if your site

is eligible to attract advertisers and allow them an adequate return on investment advertising?

I invite you to reflect on these 6 points:

1) Your site is a specific topic or talk a bit ‘of everything? If you speak a thousand different things you have a general site, virtually all Web users might be interested in your site, then you have millions of visitors. It ’s so?

2) Is there anyone who might be interested in purchasing advertising on your site? This is a key point, you have to be realistic and put you in the shoes of those who want to spend money on advertising: why should do it on your site? What in exchange?  The argument that whether it attracts a subset of all web users. Which publicity would be interesting for them?

3) Other sites that cover topics similar to yours have advertisers? If you have try to contact them to make them your site as an alternative to achieve the same target group. If not you may have chosen a difficult subject to monetize.  To obtain further confirmation of this fact, check if entering keywords that best describe your site in Google, are ad sponsored.

4) Is there anything that distinguishes your site from all others?  Your (possible) uniqueness factor could make the difference is with a view to get more visitors, both to achieve the objective of persuading someone to buy their advertising to you.

5) The appearance of your site is professional? Even the appearance counts: a site blatantly amateurish, ill-structured or graph full of grammatical errors, it certainly encourages the inserizionisti to spend money.

6) Your site has a good number of visitors? I left as the last item, but it is often the primary factor is analyzed by those who buy advertising.

Potentially attractive as a site content / target / aspect, but with very few visitors, is not very useful in terms of advertising. This is more relevant,

more general is the theme of the site.

If you answered yes to question 6, the next time you create an ad selling advertising (eg nell’ADV store or on the “Purchase Advertising” forum)

also tries to explain why the buyer should choose your own site (subject, target, quality, uniqueness, traffic).

If you answered “no” to some questions, you should be working to improve the site before you jump through hoops to find someone willing to buy advertising.

Knowing that you want to earn money online by selling advertising, have you ever wondered if your site

is eligible to attract advertisers and allow them an adequate return on investment advertising?

Here are 6 ways to earn with affiliations:

1)   Insert Banners, links, creative dynamics within a site / blog. Requirements: to have or be able to create a site with many visitors. Being able to place the site in search engines and apply different promotion techniques. Knowing how to create interesting content. Activities to do: update the website, promoting it online, look for affiliations most suitable according to the interests of the visitors, test different advertising solutions – not just the trivial ones like the banner – and monitor the results to improve.

2)         Buy advertising on AdWords (or equivalent) for vehicular traffic to a landing page. Requirements: excellent knowledge of AdWords (choice of keywords, creating effective ads) and techniques that work to create landing page (headline, text, persuasive, choice of images, call to action, etc.). Activities to do: choose a product-merchant to promote, create an AdWords campaign and one or more landing page to promote it. Do the spit test, monitor results and improve the advertising campaigns and landing page.

3)         Create and maintain a list of emails. Requirements: have a “source” to get email. To know how to install and use the software you need to register users and send emails. To know how to write useful content and email advertising persuasive (textual and / or graphics). To know the law on privacy and abide by its rules. Activities to do: create a list of emails through an existing site (see point 1) or through an activity similar to that described in step 2 selling / giving away your own product or products of others. Write and send the list is useful content, or advertisements (which you will have to create you). Identify suitable merchant according to the interests of subscribers.

4)         Create and manage a website with cashback. Requirements: to be able to make technically a site capable to handle a form of cashback, more or less evolved. Being able to promote this site online. Activities to do: create and promote the site through which the user takes actions (clicks, leads, purchases, etc..) In exchange of points, prizes, money offered by you. Finding the merchants who accept incentives (for subsidiaries pay per sale is easy for the affiliates pay per lead much less).

5)         Create a site that offers discount codes for shopping online. Requirements: ability to create and manage a dynamic site. Being able to promote this site online. Activities to do: get discount codes (exclusive or not) and publish them on your site regularly. Promote your site online. It is not essential, but you can use your content to apply the techniques described in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4.

6)         Create a price comparison site. Requirements: ability to create and manage a dynamic site that collects data from many catalogs products provided by the merchants and displays them in a useful way for users. Being able to promote this site online. Activities to do: to build the site, periodically import data from merchant catalogs, integrate these data with the unique content. Enforced very efficient techniques for placement in search engines.

How? There are several possibilities more or less effective:

- Insert banner advertisements on your website or in your newsletter.
-Buy contextual advertising in search engines and send visitors directly to the website of the merchant.
-Create content on the product that you intend to sell and insert a link to the site that sells it. For example you can write a review, news, reporting the views of other users, compare it with other products, and specify how much costs in the different sites.

I purposely wrote the various options in order of increasing effectiveness: the banner does not make much, the potential client normally looking for information about the product before purchasing and also hopes to find the site with the lowest price. Internet allows you to switch quickly from one site to another in search of information. For this reason, the credibility of your site is essential reading your pages the user has to think: “I’m in the right place. I’m going from here to decide what and where to buy.”

-Choose one or more merchant to affiliate with.

-Create contextual content to the products you want to “sell”.

-Bring potential customers to your web pages (via placement in search engines, buying ads, etc. ..)

Choosing merchant.

Merchants are thousands, each offers at least one product / service and many offer tens of thousands. So the choice is plentiful, the important thing is to choose well.
Factors to consider are:
1)  Quality of site-merchant.
Do you buying on that site? Has discount prices or, alternatively, products difficult to find elsewhere?
It ‘a famous site / brand? If you answered yes to all (or most) of these questions go to step 2.

2) Type of products / services. Users of your site may be interested in some products sold by the merchant? You can create content on those products? If you wish to purchase advertising on search engines quickly assess how much competition there is (a more detailed analysis can be done at a later time).
3)  How It pay? Estimate when you can earn for each sale is essential if you are considering buying advertising on search engines.
4) The merchant uses cookies to store the provenance of the customer? The merchant must assign the sales commission even if the customers buy many days (or months) after clicking the link on your site. Merchants who do not use cookies are to be avoided.

continue…