David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Stuck for a website idea? Seen something on another site and thought 'I could do that'? The chances are that you could. But what would be the point? Okay, you could take some traffic away from your competitors but if they've been established for a few years, that's going to be tough. Plus, is it really going to make you as rich as you desire?

Instead of copying, why not try complimenting?
 
Eh? What the devil are you talking about?

We’ll use a fictional successful website which is an Easter website. It advertises a couple of Easter egg retailers. Most of it’s traffic consists of people searching for Easter egg retailers.

Copying in the vaguest possible sense means that you will take the broad idea and replicate it. You will create a site about Easter eggs. So long as you don’t use a domain name similar to that of the original site, and so long as you don’t copy and paste the web site design, there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone does this, from the affiliate starting out by creating a price comparison site to an experienced affiliate with a mobile phone website.

Unethical copying is basically copying and pasting. It’s copyright infringement. This adds no beneficial content to the Internet. It demonstrates that you are unable to conceive an idea properly. It also demonstrates that you have no morals and it also suggests that your business will not strive that much in the future.

Complimentary web development is building a site similar in theory to the original but taking a different slant or offering different content. So in the case of our Easter egg site, we would build an Easter egg forum. Perhaps we would have an Easter egg price comparison site, or a section suggesting complimentary products.

Perhaps we would take a different perspective and offer nutritional values of popular Easter eggs. How about recipes you can make using Easter egg chocolate? By offering something different to the original site, you are helping add to the value of the Internet. You are more likely to get a link exchange with them if you offer complimentary content. You are more likely to have a winning business idea and you are also opening up new revenue streams, untapped by the original site.

Next time you think about copying a site, look for a twist to make an old idea new.