Speaking of Affiliates

Find Something New To Promote

There are a lot of us promoting something on Squidoo. Many of us share the same basic affiliate programs. That isn't necessarily bad because as people surf, when they see the same name come up, it builds credibility. Still, I have been thinking that it doesn't hurt to spice up the mix. Did you know that you can Google affiliate programs in your area of interest? In the search box, I listed "affiliate program gardening" and found an interesting list to dig through. Try it for your niche and see what you come up with.

Promote People You Trust

Over time you can meet some wonderful people online. If you have successfully used their products and found them trustworthy, share your secret.

I really like the PotPieGirl. She has been at this long enough to have something of value to share. If you feel like you have all the pieces but don't know how to put your affiliate efforts together into a viable system, consider this program. It is well worth looking into. It's the One Week Marketing Action Plan by PotPieGirl.

No Follow Links

Captain Squid recommends that all affiliate links be no follow ones. That doesn't mean that they don't work when you click on them. It simply means that the Google spider won't follow them and leak out your Google Love Juice :0)

Format = after the href address" type in rel="nofollow" and then the closing >

Speaking about 'no follow' lenses, some people think no follow back links are useless because the search engine robots won't follow them to your lens. That may be true but we don't create backlinks only for the search engines. Properly placed backlinks bring people to your site. If enough people like it, they tell other people and who knows where that can end. Because of that, I would worry more about making links that leave your site (like affiliate links) no follow ones. Over time you will find favorite places to create quality backlinks. Keep good notes and develop a routine.

Many of these sites are social networks. No one likes to talk to someone who is always pushing their product and doesn't have anything else to say. The social sites are the same way. They really are conversations. Be kind and join in. It's a good rule that for every site you submit, visit a couple of theirs. It will help all of us do better.

There are a lot of affiliate programs available. I am working with Pepperjam because Captaim Squid recommended them and had a tutorial based on their affiliate program. Being a newbie, it gave me confidence to know what I was getting into. They are adding new companies to work with almost daily and have products available that would work with a wide variety of lenses.

There is one thing that had me going in circles for a minute. If you sign up for the Pepperjam affiliate program on their Pepperjam.com site, you have to go to the Pepperjam Networks site (Pepperjamnetwork.com) to connect with companies that you can represent. On that site, you are considered a publisher not an advertiser. You can simplify it and just go to the Pepperjam Network site to sign up.

I once heard someone say that you shouldn't mix companies on a lens where you are promoting them. I don't adhere to that because Pepperjam will let you make an ad that mixes and matches a custom fit for your lens. That way if one company is selling golf supplies and another bocce balls, you can use both to demonstrate different types of involvement on a sports lens.

Something new at PepperJamNetwork!

Pepperjam has introduced storefronts for your blog or website. They are really cool and bring your chosen affiliate products to your site. I don't think you can use them with Squidoo yet but they are optimized for WordPress blogs and easy to set up. You can check out my Outdoor Garden Statues blog to see them in action. Just click on one of the pages.

Another thing Pepperjam offers is something called Pepperjam ads. You can create an ad block for the companies you want displayed that look similar to Google Adsense ones. Think about it, if people are going to click away from your site, why not send them to another one?