GPWA Times Magaine - Issue 23 - February 2013

The search engine’s Penguin and Panda updates have dropped the hammer on pages that are over-optimized for web crawlers. What this means is that keyword-stuffed sites with irrelevant, duplicate content are now disappearing off the top of search engine results pages. As the joke goes, “What’s the best way to hide a body? Put it on Google’s second page.” The idea now is to create pages that are relevant to your brand or niche and as appealing to users as possible. Try implementing a clear website structure that is engaging, appealing and quick to load, with clear messages, banners and calls to action. You might think that stuffing the page with banners is a foolproof strategy, but clutter is only going to work against you. Make sure you also pay special attention to landing pages, which have to match the message and content of your banners and operator site. More importantly, they also have to match your users’ expectations. This is also where a great affiliate manager can come in handy. The best managers understand the characteristics of a quality affiliate site, and they can encourage constructive feedback to improve the effectiveness of marketing materials and website structure. Your content, meanwhile, has to be as informative and useful as it can be. “Quality” content is now worth its weight in gold online, as aside from improving your rank, it can also help you gain authority within your field or niche. Working with brands that supply frequent content and program updates will be a big help in this area, keeping your content fresh and relevant. Ultimately, the more obstacles put in a user’s way (including the amount of clicks needed to get to registration, page loading time and the aforementioned cluttered content), the more gaps will develop in your conversion process. Evaluate the player journey of the brands you partner with and make sure to ask the right questions. Are they equally invested inmaximizing conversion rates? Testing kills guessing The best way to overcome stumbling blocks in the conversion process is to split test like a madman. If your traffic is dismal, start with A/B split tests and get creative. This is your chance to go nuts. Try everything, including different calls to action, landing page, and content, until you start to find a creative layout and navigation path strategy that works. If, on the other hand, you’re generating decent traffic, multivariable testing is probably the way to go, as it will help you figure out what tweaks canbestmaximizeyourROI. Affiliate marketing is an ongoing process that requires long-term focus and work. Trial and error, as annoying as it may be, is anessential component. Stop fumbling around in the dark and start testing yourself, while demanding the same conscientiousness from your partners. And in the end While affiliate marketers faces a number of challenges, it’s important to remember the source of influence and control in the conversion process. After all, affiliates do not promote their own product, have no control over the price and can’t offer any service after the sale. Their time and focus, therefore, have to be spent on awareness, raising interest and supporting the registration and purchase decision. After that, it’s up to operators to maximize player value andmaintain a solid and attractive product offering. To do that, it’s best to recall the wisdom of Glengarry Glen Ross , remembering exactly what you’re doing (always be closing) and how you have to do it (attention, interest, decision and action). Deanna Dobson is part of the Client Relations Team at Income Access. Previ- ously working as a Senior Affiliate Man- ager with a degree in Marketing, Deanna understands how to optimize affiliate mar- keting relationships from both an operator and affiliate perspective. Her role is now focused on leading affiliate program strat- egy development. Quality content is now worth its weight in gold online, as aside from improving your rank, it can also help you gain authority within your field or niche.” 11