Keep Your Affiliate Site Profitable for The Long Haul

I was recently talking to a friend who had signed up for an
affiliate program that I am also involved with. She mentioned
that she had never really made much money from it and that she
rarely thought about it anymore. She said that she was so busy
with her other business ventures that she just didn't have time
to bother with it. She said that occasionally she sees a little
money, but not enough to change her attitude. I told her she was
making a big mistake.

Affiliate programs can be easy to let slip away. After all, no
one's checking up on you, and you aren't' making a serious
investment, so why waste time for small change when you've got
other things going on? This is a defeatist attitude. Maintaining
your site and staying involved is the key to making a profit with
your program, and it doesn't have to be work intensive. I assure
you that with just a little work, say an hour a week, you can
turn your affiliate site from lame duck to cash machine. Here is
a list of tips to help you stay on top.

Be functional. Make sure the mechanics of your site are in top
working order. Links can break down at any time for no reason,
so test them weekly. It usually only takes a minute to fix, and
you'd hate to lose a sale just because a link didn't work,
wouldn't you?

Get really involved in your program. Be the squeaky wheel. Stay
in contact with your program manager by asking for marketing tips
and new links. Keep up on new promotions and new items. This
can all be done through e-mail with just a few minutes in the
morning.

Be available to your target market. How can you make a sale if
no one can find you? Relying on links from other affiliate sites
is not enough. You've got to be listed with at least a couple of
the major search engines. This will make you accessible to
people who are actually already interested in your product, and
will greatly increase your chances of a sale.

Keep your information current. Frequently update your site and
your affiliate links. Nothing turns people off more than a stale
site. Set a little time one day a week aside to maintain your
content. Add quotes and pictures and delete old items. You may
even want to consider having an item of the week feature. This
is attractive to potential customers, and it lets people know
you're still involved.

Make sure your site is relevant. Remember, people aren't
surfing there to click on your links. They're going there
because of the actual content of the page. Keep up with your
relevant industry and update your site regularly. See that
your content is useful and that it relates to your target market.
For example, if you're a member of a program that sells
cookbooks, then wouldn't it make sense to have your website
feature cooking tips and a weekly sample recipe?

Don't give up. Affiliate programs can be a great source of income
if you just spend a little of your time and have a little
patience. With just a little work you can really turn a slow
affiliate site around, and watch those checks start rolling in.