David Fiske Affiliate marketing & web development musings from Fiske Towers

Ling Valentine of Lings Cars fame and fortune has really got to me.

After seeing her on Dragon's Den and writing a brief summary of my thoughts, I have spent a lot more time reflecting what it is that makes her successful.
 
At first, I thought it was obviously the fact she was selling cars on finance. A typical car will cost you around £4,000 per year for two to three years. In fact, let's use a real example. A Vauxhall Meriva 1.4i 16v Life MPV 5dr 1364cc Met (today) will cost you 38 payments of £8,656 over three years including VAT, based on 10,000 miles per year. That's £2,886 per year which for a brand new Meriva is great!

Of that £2,886, some will go to the finance company and some will go to Ling. I would like to guestimate that Ling sees nearly £1,000 per car per year. That's a ball park figure I have plucked from the sky. I could be wrong.

Anyhow, to get the £120,000 profit per year, Ling needs to sell 120 cars per year.

Many affiliates find it easy to sell 120 products per year, be it credit cards, books, DVD's, etc. So is it just a case that Ling has been lucky and gone for cars which earn a high commission?

Well, no. If she promoted CarCraft via an affiliate network, she would be paid £15 per valid lead, equivalent to £1,800 at her current conversion rate. Having said that, 120 cars is my guestimate. If she did make £15 a car, she would have to sell 8,000 of them.

So it must be down to the fact that she deals with merchants directly?

Possibly.

But there is something that doesn't tally here. She sells (possibly) 120 cars a year and walks away with £120,000 clear profit. Why does it work?

This is where it gets interesting.

A successful affiliate website is down to five factors:

• Fresh, relevant content
• A reason to convert
• A desire to convert
• A unique selling point
• Commission/niche offset

The fresh content concept has been drilled into me time and time again. It's something I cannot get a grasp of - except here. This site has fresh content pumped into it nearly every day. In 4 months, it has got a PageRank higher than my web design company which has been going for 2 years. Having said that, the web design site gets more relevant traffic than this one. Swings and roundabouts?

Fresh, relevant content

So ultimately, for a successful site to work, it needs fresh content. Ling succeeds with this and she puts it more elegantly than I could ever:

"Don't let 1 day go by without changing or feeding or petting website, even tiny thing. If you don't feed website it will die. Like pet. This is all emotion, not fact. You think I'm wrong? Look at your website, look at my website. When last time you even visit, never mind change? In real life you tell jokes, eat, drink, shout etc; do all this on website! Wah, this is so simple but most people consume in "professionalism". Visitor just want website to work well for them." (Ling Valentine, Lings Cars)

So what I need is a website that I update daily. Like this one. Compare Sat Nav benefits from 2 hours a week. That's not enough and probably why it hasn't seen terrific sales.

A reason to convert

This is where psychological factors come in. A website's design can ensure or kill a sale. Fact? Well, perhaps not.

Perhaps it is more the content that is more important here.

Lings Cars is a busy website, packed with possibly too much information. But it works. Why? Because Ling writes as she speaks. Rather than distance herself from her visitors, she tries to form a relationship with them. She tries to reassure them and make them feel comfortable. The site comprises of sales patter, humour and chit chat. All of this, coupled with daily updates helps drive more sales.

But design is important. I have never been to design school. All my computer knowledge is self taught. But I know what works and doesn't in terms of design and colours. I know how to turns sites around to make them more desirable. I have helped several people via email redesign their sites and the transformation is amazing.

The rule of the web is that if it looks ugly, people won't stay or revisit. It's true. You tend to revisit the most memorable sites - those that look good and serve a purpose.

A desire to convert

I'm a customer and I land on your website. What is there that makes me want to convert? Ling's main asset is cheap prices. However, only 1% of the UK buy cars on long term hire contracts. But she sells them. You have to wonder how many cars are on Britain's roads that are hired.

So if only 1% of the UK makes these kind of purchases, Ling has to be doing a good job at building desire in customers. When I first heard about the site, I thought I would never hire a car for three years. Now, it seems sensible if only to keep the accountant happy!

So in addition to fresh content, I need a good design (goes without saying) and I need to write in a style that connects with my visitors. I don't want to hard sell because that usually doesn't work online.

A unique selling point

A site with all this is not enough. Most affiliates will slap up sites with some sort of comparison on it. Product comparison or price comparison. They are everywhere and the reason they are is that they are easy to get going. However, the sales aren't great because there are bigger and better sites (Kelkoo and the like).

What affiliate sites are lacking is a unique selling point (USP)- something that differentiates their site from another. It could be trivial (better site design, an easier search tool etc.) to something major (a price comparison site that texts you when products drop in price, etc.). A USP is not something that just happens. You have to delve deeper into what it is you are trying to do.

Ling uses her branding as a USP, together with cheaper prices than other dealers. Her branding is powerful and she has unique advertising methods. For instance, she now owns a double decker bus with her name splashed over it together with a rocket launcher parked on the side of the M62. Mad, daring but bold and memorable. Richard Branson is another example of strong leadership branding. Think of easyJet and think of Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Think of Ann Summers and think of Jacqueline Gold. Strong leadership branding can help. Plus, with Ling, it means she is a celebrity within her own right. Visitors feel a bond with her once they visit the site.

Commission/niche offset

The biggest problem with affiliates is the constant urge to be pulled left, right and centre. There are hundreds if not thousands of affiliate programs and it is often difficult to concentrate on what it is that we are trying to do. Loans sound great because of the commission rates but CD's and DVD's are more practical because of a natural affection of them. But what about Holidays? They'll see all through the year just like car insurance. Why stop there - why not sign up for every insurance type possible?

STOP!

The main lesson from Ling is that she is a one woman band with one website. It concentrates on a niche. She doesn't advertise flowers, CD's or books on her site. She doesn't run free credit check banners or banners to sign up to credit cards.

She sticks to what she knows, enjoys and does best.

So why do we do it?

Summary

After all that, what I'm getting at here is the need to stop, regroup and start again.

The project is fine if I enjoy earning a couple of hundred pounds a year.

But I want more.

So to do that, I need to carefully find a niche and go full steam at it. I should consider everything I have done until now as a test bed. I won't let it die as it offers a small revenue stream. But I need to go away, look through what programs are available to me and concentrate on one.

I won't do "Dave's Cars" but the principle will be based upon Ling's efforts. Everything mentioned here will be the founding principles.

Consider the project stepping up a gear!