Any life left in affiliate sites, worth restarting back up?

[pbryd]

Hello Guys

It's been while since I've been here and worked on any of my sites.

I'm looking for some advice / inspiration on whether to start up again.

Background:

A couple of years ago I was building small affiliate sites while at uni and the more I worked and built the more money they generated. Brilliant.

I was making around £300 per month.

Then of course google changed the whole game and it all started coming crashing down with the Panda update and then the EMD update.

Sound familiar?

I now want to start again, I've waited for the dust to settle and I'm now looking for information on what to do and which is the best course of action to take.

Any tips or links to follow?

P

 

[Skinner]

I'm still making xxx a month on affiliate sites mostly on EMDs, the whole time google was kicking, I just concentrated on content, and the occasional link, in the last 3 months or so things have started to look up again.

Drop Shipping and Self Stocking have been going well throughout.

 

[Jamie101]

This is just my opinion at the moment (and has been for 6 months or so):

Making loads of small affiliate sites to make money doesn't really work anymore. Those days are gone unfortunately.

Instead, I think you'd have much of a better chance if you spent some time thinking about how you can make a site that people will actually find really useful (and return back for more!). This obviously isn't as easy as it sounds though.

That's why I haven't made any new sites in around 6 months or so. Instead, I'm trying to think of an idea that people will love and share around with friends etc.

I'll probably get people telling me that they have loads of small affiliate sites doing well even after the recent updates - but from my experience (and from talking to others) this isn't the case.

 

[pbryd]

Instead, I think you'd have much of a better chance if you spent some time thinking about how you can make a site that people will actually find really useful (and return back for more!). This obviously isn't as easy as it sounds though.

This is also what I'm thinking, whether or not I can develop one of my existing sites into an authoritative site or come up with a new idea or two.

It seems a shame to throw in the towel on my existing sites but also it not worth trying to flog a dead horse.

I'm looking for different opinions before I start working on them again to try to help avoid wasting time.

P

 

[Adem]

I agree that working and focusing on a couple of sites is the way to go.

It's taking a lot more effort to get sites ranking and earning, and a lot of my micro niche sites simply don't have the legs for it as I've exhausted the content for them. Still are still earning a little but it would really be too much effort for the minimal potential they have.

I'm looking into making a couple of sites that have larger potential and scope for making more money with almost the same amount of total effort e.g 1 hour a week each on a dozen sites could mean 12 hours a week on one site which would hopefully pay off better.

I just need to decide on what that site will be...

 

[pbryd]

I agree that working and focusing on a couple of sites is the way to go.

It's taking a lot more effort to get sites ranking and earning, and a lot of my micro niche sites simply don't have the legs for it as I've exhausted the content for them. Still are still earning a little but it would really be too much effort for the minimal potential they have.

I'm looking into making a couple of sites that have larger potential and scope for making more money with almost the same amount of total effort e.g 1 hour a week each on a dozen sites could mean 12 hours a week on one site which would hopefully pay off better.

I just need to decide on what that site will be...

This looks like the position I'm in now.

I have a couple of one page sites that did well (for what they were) for a period of time then they hit a brick wall.

It wouldn't be worth trying to build these, like you say, there's only so much you can do on a given topic.

http://diyloftinsulation.co.uk/

Did well nicely with lead generation but it's dried up and there's not a lot I can add to the topic.

Another site I have that did well was

http://www.diyloftconversion.co.uk/

This is something which can be expanded but I'm a bit stuck as on how to start building it.

P

 

[Skinner]

Just to clarify none of my sites are "light aff sites" most of them have 10+ pages of relevant content, some have rewrote product information (working through them) and I've reduced the amount of ad blocks as it tends to send people elsewhere for a few pence per click rather than pounds per aff.

I also drilled down my product list, instead of having 100s or 1,000s of products, I nailed it down to to the top 10 best sellers, mixed in the top 5 best looking highest priced, and a few of the cheapest, so restricting the selection, makes rewriting descriptions a little easier and makes the site more focussed (imo).

There is money still in there, but 1 pagers and very light sites are well and truely dead unless you have buckets of type in.

 

[pbryd]

I hear what you're saying Skinner and agree with it all. In the past I've built a sites with product feeds and they haven't done a thing - too much un-original content.

For one of them I started from scratch, build my own database of products and links with rewritten descriptions but still it didn't seem to get the hits.

I'm now trying to decide which of the sites I should focus on and how best to develop them and where to get value adding content and how to best moneytise them.

Ideally I'd like to moneytise is by selling advertising space to businesses in the same sector.

P

 

[boxfish]

It seems a shame to throw in the towel on my existing sites but also it not worth trying to flog a dead horse.

A lot of affiliate sites failed because they ether:

1) relied on the EMD bonus to rank
2) had to use crap links to rank
3) didn't add anything to the transaction

When they had to get real people to give them real links they couldn't as the site wasn't suitable (I am guilty of this too) and those visitors who did find the site didn't benefit from it.

I wouldn't dev something like fourslicetoaster.org.uk or 42inchtv.org.uk as there is no way on earth you can provide value, get legitimate links or really get people interested enough to share it.

I would however dev something like freechildplaces.org.uk as you can add value and also get decent links (mum bloggers etc) if you provide something useful enough.

My thoughts on your diyloftconversion.co.uk site is it's a difficult area to go indepth with and your advertisers (builders) will be advertising to people who want to save money by doing it themselves. If it was a step by step photojournal of a loft conversion I could see it getting decent links and coverage but still not really sure how it would be monetised.

 

[Adem]

I wouldn't dev something like fourslicetoaster.org.uk or 42inchtv.org.uk as there is no way on earth you can provide value, get legitimate links or really get people interested enough to share it.

Ha Ha! 42inchtv.org.uk is one of mine, but as you say, there is no point doing any further work on it as it only ranked as an EMD and one which will devalue over time as technology develops. It did make a few sales but is now pointless and I've left it to rot away.

Anyone want to make me an offer

 

[boxfish]

Ha Ha! 42inchtv.org.uk is one of mine, but as you say, there is no point doing any further work on it as it only ranked as an EMD and one which will devalue over time as technology develops. It did make a few sales but is now pointless and I've left it to rot away.

Anyone want to make me an offer

I just plucked it out of thin air - didn't check to see if it was regged, sorry - wasn't trying to pull you up or anything.

 

[Adem]

I didn't take any offence at it. It's an old site and matches exactly what you were talking about so all fine with me

 

[figleaf007]

I think I sold the .co.uk on here a while ago

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Great discussion and some useful tips. Some of you will remember this thread Sick of Affiliate Marketing there was some brilliant advice in that thread and is relevant to this one.

I came in on the act just as it was dying emd's penguin, panda, crap sites etc but I don't regret it. It taught me how to do it right and that's the path I'm now on.

Without question 1 or 2 useful authority sites that can be a business in their own right will trump thin affiliate sites you just need to decide to do it and keep doing it.

In the thread above Boxfish gave good advice about one of my domains "Disabled Friendly, for sale by the way", I took the advice but used it and am using it on other domains, so far his advice is paying dividends.

Pick a niche and kill it, drill it, milk it and become the only point of reference in that niche, it won't happen overnight but it will happen. What I've found is all of my failures and there's been many have prepared me for what I'm doing now.

All the best

Rob

 

[ScottJ]

We are having our best period in affiliate sales but if I were to offer any advice it would be to upsell the aff sales on the back of another reason for their visit, so no ranking one page/thin sites targeting a product, rather make an info site about a topic and upsell affiliate sales once they are on your website while also using adsense for info only seekers.

For example make an info site about bicycle maintenance, how to change a chain, how to change a tyre/repair and then upsell affiliate links for cycling products - the way it would have been done 2000-2005 generally before the thin aff site really escalated.

 

[cc976a]

Another site I have that did well was

http://www.diyloftconversion.co.uk/

This is something which can be expanded but I'm a bit stuck as on how to start building it.

P

Just an idea - you could see if you can get a loft convertor to provide you content. Something in the way of articles, or even a videos shot on site with tips / tricks etc...

This way:

- For anyone who does decide to DIY, you can upsell aff products on doing the job;

- The builder can pick up the trade for anyone who thinks sod this work, time to bring in the expert (which us how many who give free content away build up a reputation)

- He can become known for being the expert in this field (being linked to, talked about, go to person etc...)

- Once becomes established and ranking you could the build a directory (paid for submission or featured post) for tradesman, for those deciding not to DIY after seeing what's involved

It'll take time, persuasion and some money, but will help set you apart from the usual big standard article and stock photo thin site

Just an idea or two

 

[addz123]

I think you need to be a great allround marketeer to survive these days. You need to be smart, generate a following, engage with other bloggers, journalists and do plenty of outreach and PR. I can't imagine being able to successfully run more than 2-3 sites at a time to be honest.

I also think it "helps" to have a lot of money that you can throw at projects until they build enough velocity (e.g. email lists, ability to stuff to go viral when posting on FB).

I think although SEO has got harder in the last year or two, there are additional opportunities to build traffic such as Twitter, G+, personal Authorship, Pinterest, guest posts etc.

 

[pbryd]

Thanks guys - lots to think about.

I'm going concentrate on this one site and build it into a valuale online resource for anyone considering a loft conversion or even just converting for storage space.

Where do I start?

I'll need some articles to get going, so I'll probably buy a book for the ideas and some basic content.

I need to plan out the site and create a logo brand for it.

When I have a good looking site with some basic content I can start asking others to come onboard.

Facebook and twitter accounts also need to be set up too.

P

 

[pbryd]

One thing which could be encouraged on a site like is taking user submissions where people could of their own diy conversion.

P

 

[srccode]

definitely agree about bringing something of value especially for the long run. If it was me, I'd offer a free loft conversion guide, probably pay an expert to write it. There's your traffic and links straight away, one look from a Google review monkey and you'll be on page one no doubt. Then I'd probably build a forum or a yahoo style QA site or even a "ask an expert" site, most scripts are out there somewhere.