David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

A lot of people get into the affiliate marketing scene through price comparison, static content or writing a blog. I think that's a fair assumption for the majority nowadays.

But when it comes to writing content for a blog or static website there are some considerations that need to be addressed before you start if you want to get anywhere with it.
 
1) Who Is The Reader And What Do They Want?

Who will you be writing for? before you even start writing, you need to work out who it is you are aiming your content at. Let's take a pregnancy website as an example. I think it is fair to assume the majority of readers will be female. That's not to say men won't visit, it's just they are the minority.

So what is it that women are after? Reassurance? Information? Facts? Like-minded mothers-to-be? If they are looking for a community, a blog is only half way there and you would be better off looking into social networking or a forum. If they are afters facts, a blog can be a handy way to dispense those.

Throughout the content creation process, you need to think who your visitor is and what they are interested in.

2) Where Is The Reader?

The UK? The USA? China? If the majority of your readers are from France, advertising UK-centric merchants will not make you a lot of money. You're not cleverly targeting your advertising in this case.

The actual content itself may need to differ too. Is the language correct? Are there local spelling and language differences? Take my Orlando Florida Holiday website for example. It's written for people in the UK. If it was written with American's in mind, I would be using local spellings wherever possible (e.g. center not centre) and local terms wherever possible (e.g. Graham crackers not digestive biscuits).

Tailor your content to readers. Use their language wherever possible (including phrases and spellings). Select advertisers based on local profiles. UK retailers generally should be targeted to a predominantly UK based readership.

3) What's Your Style?

Writing content can be dull and boring if it is done incorrectly. I used to have a phobia of writing content and that's not that good for an SEO affiliate! I've now developed a style and format of writing that I enjoy. It differs between websites as each has a different audience but generally speaking, I imagine a reader and write as if I was having a conversation with them.

For a hen night party website, I would be writing content with a happy bride-to-be in mind. She's more likely to be looking for fun than worrying about costs. If I can build a reputation with her over time with repeat visits, she will learn to trust what I have to say. This means that whilst she may not buy something on her first visit, the more visits she makes (and she will if she likes the content), the higher the chance of a sale or multiple sales.

Imagine the reader and write to them. Develop a writing style that is comfortable for you. Perhaps you'll find a fact based article is more appropriate for your market (e.g. digital cameras). Perhaps it's the opposite end of the scale where price and facts aren't important - it's the experience that matters.

4) What Are Your Aims?

What are you after? New friends? Money? Repeat visitors? RSS subscribers? Newsletter subscribers?

You're unlikely to find new friends on the web when your aim is money orientated. That's not to say you'll never be happy. You'll get friendly messages but you won't make deep friendships. If you can accept this, then you are ready to continue.

Long term revenue streams can be generated through honest, reliable and consistent content. To build trust you need to get visitors back time and time again. The easiest way is to remind them to bookmark your site. Better still, why not offer a newsletter?

Remember that not everyone understands RSS. Offering this as your main means of repeat visitors in a market outside of the technical arena is plain daft. Newsletter forms have been around for years and in certain markets will beat RSS hands down.

Make a list of your aims and tailor your content around these. Be realistic and look at the long term. SEO based affiliate marketing requires a long term focus.

5) What's Your Time Worth?

It's worth mentioning that you can get content written for you. This can be a good and a bad thing. On the plus side, it frees up your time so you can allocate it elsewhere. It can also mean you need no knowledge of a market whatsoever.

On the negative side, you can't always be certain of genuine original content. Also, if you have no market knowledge, how can you validate the article? How can you help visitors who turn to you for advice?

Essentially, if you are cash rich and time poor, content writing services are up your street. If you are cash poor and time rich, your own content is a better path to take.

I always write my own content and have never paid for an article to be written. Ever. And I never will do either given my current business goals. Why? Because I couldn't afford the money to buy articles and then the time spend to proof read them and change them where required. I would be better off writing content from scratch.

Calculate the value of your time. If it is less than the full price of outsourced content (that includes checking it yourself), you would be better off writing content yourself. If it is greater than the cost of outsourcing, you would be better off outsourcing the content writing and then re-allocating your time to other projects.