Advertising with a Local Connection - Affiliate Tips

If given the option, most people would prefer to make a purchase from a business they believe has a local connection to the community. People shop online for convenience, for the ability to research and view many different options, and for lower prices and deals.

With the plethora of online advertising choices businesses have today, there’s no reason an online business in Petaluma, California can’t create a local connection to Flatbush, North Carolina. Let’s consider some ideas on how to build that connection.

Suppose you are reading the news, and you come across a story where a particular city, let’s say Austin, Tx. is having a big festival, or won a big award, or perhaps a local team won a sports championship. (It can be something big like the Superbowl, or it can be small like a Double-A Minor League Division win, or a University NCAA title in 2nd tier sport). With ad targeting on Google or Bing (and even Facebook now allows you to specify location), you can title your ad to directly address that even in that locality.

“Tea for AA Eastern Champs”

Now these aren’t keywords for the ad, this is the actual ad heading text. Your keywords would be your typical keywords you use in a campaign, and the ad would geo-targeted to the specific area. Set-up a quick landing page on your site with the heading text directed to your target audience. Point that ad at your landing page, and voila! You have built an instant local connection. You should definitely be able to catch the eye of anyone searching for Tea from that local area, and your local hook should bring them in.

The cost would be nominal, as you’re targeting a very specific audience, but conversions will be high (provided your keyword text is still targeting interested buyers). Anyone interested in Tea and from that locale would have that extra incentive tugging at them of, “hey, this company is recognizing my town!”

Consider all the huge number of local newspapers, dailies and classified ads that are available out there for another local tactic. Typically the cost to put an add in a local paper is relatively low, but the response could have a definite impact on your business. (By the way, if the affiliate program offers pay-per-call, this is a tremendous way to promote). Even without pay per call, just make a very easy to remember URL, or use a Q-Code that they can easily scan with their mobile phone. Another option could be to offer an email address. The message being: send us an email, and we’ll send you back a coupon and offer details. This tactic is also easy to do from a mobile phone, and you’ll be able to capture their email address and send them the direct offer with your affiliate link.

Local, geo-targeted advertising is a powerful tool, if you take the time and effort to localize the ad. Don’t be overwhelmed with the idea you have to localize hundreds of ads. Experiment, try a few different locations on different days. Learn for yourself locations respond best to what kind of offers. But consider the impact on your business if you’re able to get 5–10% increase in sales coming from one specific area just because you put in a little bit of time and effort in creating a local headline and tweaked a landing page with a local message.

To check out some other additional affiliate tips and help feel free to friends us on the AMWSO Facebook page, or circle us on Google+ for affiliate marketing.

Strategies for Conversions through Effective Affiliate Landing Pages - Part 2 (Directing Visitors Who Want to Buy)

In Strategies for Affiliate Landing Pages Part 1 we discussed the idea of a value added landing page, talked about two types of site visitors, and discussed strategies for designing a landing page for early buying cycle visitors. Now, I'd like to discuss strategies for those buyers who know exactly what they want to purchase.

You can usually identify these buyers by how they are arriving at your site. If they've used exact product names, or very specific keywords, then you can generally assume that they have already narrowed down their choice to this specific product. Now it's all a matter of directing the visitor to where they can make the purchase.  Your job as an affiliate is not to convince them to make the purchase, this must be accomplished by the merchant. If you are promoting a specific merchant, then you should already know that the merchant is able to convert visitors to customers.

Visitors who have arrived at your page from typing in a specific product name, or model number, are expecting to see that product clearly on your page. Header, title, bolded, make it very clear to the visitor that they have arrived at the correct place. K.I.S.S., or Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't clutter up the page with unnecessary distractions, banners, etc. Be concise and clear, keep sentences short, paragraphs short, and even use bullet points. Emphasize promotions or coupons that a merchant has available, and make the value proposition clear.

If you have a comparison on the page of the product from a few different merchants, highlight the value proposition for each merchant. Guarantees, free shipping, return policy, etc. The visitor knows what they want to buy, now they need to be directed on where to buy from. Give them the information to make a quick decision, and pass them to the merchant to close the sale.

And finally, but critically important, make a very clear, very easy to identify, call to action:  Click here; Buy here, Buy now.

Don't be afraid to test and try different things.  Try two different pages and alternate them. Does one convert better?  USE it. Good affiliate marketing takes effort, so don't be afraid to put forth the effort and build a couple landing pages and test them.

Recap:

• Product name/keyword featured on the page.
• Keep it simple.
• Emphasize coupons/discounts/promotions.
• Provide short value propositions if different merchants promoted.
• Clear, visible, distinct call to action

If you have any other tips or advise, or want to share successes, please feel free to leave them in the comments.