Affiliate Banners Don’t Generate Revenue

As long as Nika keeps commenting, I’ll have something to write about This time she mentions how she’s been experimenting with ads, but getting zero clicks.

Here’s the dirty little secret: despite the fact that the vast majority of links available from affiliate networks are images (banner, buttons, etc.), they just don’t convert very well. Nika, you’re finding that out firsthand.

Now obviously I’m painting with a very broad brush here. Many (most?) of the things I’ll say have to be taken with a giant grain of salt and applied to your specific situation.

In general, though, people are blind to image ads and completely block them out when they’re on your blog. I realize that that seems to contradict what I said this morning, but users will see ads if their brain signals that they’re important. In the WSJ example, their brain would often make that connection.

In Nika’s case, though, a big ad with a lobster on it evidently doesn’t resonate with her readers. What to do?

You want to integrate your affiliate links into your posts. Always use text links and make sure they flow with the text. Then you know that your readers will see them, and they’ll then click them as well if they’re interested. You’ll get a much higher click-through rate, and then it’s up to the advertiser to convert.

(Note that I’m talking specifically about affiliate links here. True advertisers, i.e. not cost-per-action (CPA) programs, are going to want visibility, not necessarily performance. This advice is almost exclusively for generating revenue from affiliate programs.)

I can’t stress enough how much these links have to mesh with your content. For example, if I’m in the middle of giving you advice like this and suddenly encourage you to Get DISH rk on 4 TVs free. Packages start at just $29.99/mo.…that’s going to be a little awkward. It’s like breaking into an Amway presentation at Thanksgiving dinner. Nobody appreciates that.

There’s a great bonus to this, too (other than actually generating some real revenue). You’ll find those links generating revenue long after you’ve forgotten about them. People stumble across your old posts from search engines, old links, etc., and they continue to provide value month after month and year after year. The more you do it, the more passive income you find your blog generating.

(If you have an old blog where older posts are still seeing some significant traffic, see if there’s an opportunity to work some text links into those, too. I’ve definitely done that before.)

Think about how you might be able to integrate some text links today. We’d love to hear about your ideas and your successes (and your failures, too).