Have Patience with Affiliate Marketing

A few weeks ago I talked about selling T-shirts on MacTips because affiliate programs weren’t performing well for me.

Even though the affiliate programs weren’t performing well, I kept trying–determined to get my first sale.

Difference Between Affiliate Marketing and Banner Advertising

With Banner advertising, I saw revenue right away. Every day I saw how much I made that day. Whether I was counting clicks or impressions the revenue details were instant.

When I began affiliate marketing–I didn’t make any sales my first day. The second and third days came around but no sales were made.

I began to feel like I was loosing guaranteed banner revenue and started to get discouraged.

Finally on my fourth day I made a sale that accounted for much more than I would have made in four days worth of advertising.

Two days later I made another sale. Maybe there’s something to this affiliate marketing thing after all.

I’ve now made more in 6 days with affiliates than I would have in two weeks with advertising.

This is an exciting new area for me because it proves there are programs out there that work for my visitors–I just need to try harder.

Making Adjustments

This goes back to Test, Review, Adjust and Start Again.

Small adjustments make huge differences. Never stop experimenting and never stop pushing ways to monetize your site.

However, always remember to keep your users best interests at heart.

Users understand the need for advertising. But keep it relevant and don’t force it down their throat.

Sudden Success with Selling Shirts

While I was adjusting affiliate banners, I began testing selling t-shirts as well.

To my surprise I’ve already sold two today. While the commission is not as high as other affiliate programs–I love seeing initial success when I try something new.

This means there’s a lot of room for growth with some tweaking.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated with my progress in this area as it’s somewhat unexplored territory for me.