Comments on: Examples in Affiliate Branding

By: The Agra Indian

The Agra Indian — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Yes, every one can do it if he wants to do it. Some times success might take some time but hard work with dedication is the guarantee of success and needs a little bit of smart working techniques.

By: Eren Mckay

Eren Mckay — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:28:31 +0000

When I brainstormed my domain name I thought about branding also. I asked myself- what is the most important thing that I wanted to do with this website?
Of course it would be great to have a keyword in the name but branding in the long run is much more important than the keyword in the domain name. Especially because ranking is more about keyword rich anchor text backlinks than anything else.
I love the fact that most of your articles focus the right thing which is having marketing in the forefront of your business plan and the SEO will follow.
Most people don’t have that mindset- very rare to find.
All the best,
Eren

By: Mark @ UK Affiliate Programs blog

Mark @ UK Affiliate Programs blog — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:20:45 +0000

Good post. Big UK sites like moneysavingexpert.com , moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com (the latter two part of a multi million pound publicly listed company (plc) are all basically giant affiliate sites for financial and other offers.

On a smaller scale there are some well known affiliate sites which have become brands, such as fatwallet.com, http://www.dealofday.com and flamingoworld.com

In the UK the big ‘cashback’ sites were all started by affiliates – they earn commissions from network overrides; adsense and/or annual membership fees. Examples include topcashback and quidco.

By: Creare Design

Creare Design — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:25:51 +0000

Really enjoyed your video from PubCon, was really nice to hear and see you! Could comparethemarket.com and gocompare.com count?

By: James Booker

James Booker — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:56:39 +0000

Everyone likes the idea of get rich quick affiliate marketing, but in most cases it’s a long hard grind with little to few benifits and gains. When you hear about people like Amit Mehta, someone who’s made a VERY good reputation for himself and his Super Affiliate Mindset website I’m not surprised that he’s doing well. Reputation is more than half the battle with Affiliates.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:04:01 +0000

I think Reese is spot on with the Mint.com example, their business model is exactly how most should be created. Starting with a free service that is extremely helpful at managing and keeping everything together while being able to stay on top of your finances. Focus on brand recognition, such as their logo and ‘domain name’ and make sure that everything works well and efficiently. That’s an example of a company that has really created and taken a new market by storm!

By: Isabelle

Isabelle — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:07:35 +0000

I think the main mistake people make when going into an affiliate network is thinking that all they have to do is put up a mediocre website, submit it to a few directories and bingo - thousands of people per day are going to click through from your site and make you millions in commissions. I saw a speech by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library at the Web 2.0- Expo in NY and agreed totally with his passion and vision for his business - I think that's what people forget sometimes - Affiliate marketing is a BUSINESS - not a get rich quick scheme - and needs the same amount of time and effort as a 9-5 job would (if not more!)

By: Missy

Missy — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:57:03 +0000

Hi, Rae:

Isn’t Amazon basically an affiliate site? I was there the other day, and it just me like a ton of bricks. I think they do have a warehouse for some products, but essentially they are like a giant affiliate site.

And what about all the shop comparison sites? I was on a site the other day, it is a t shirt search engine, and each merchant added is an affiliate. So when you go there to “search” for a t shirt, you then get directed to the merchant of said t shirt, and i thought to myself. Brilliant. Very very smart.

I can’t recall of the name, but it’s a pretty cool idea.

By: Rae Hoffman

Rae Hoffman — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:39:38 +0000

@reese I haven’t played with the software, but if the software is free and if they were smart, they’d definitely be using an affiliate blueprint. :)

By: Reese Spykerman

Reese Spykerman — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:46:05 +0000

I wonder if Mint.com would be included (in their money saving area, they say “Mint automatically compares your bank account and credit card rates and awards to thousands of offersâ€”finding the typical user $1,000 in savings.”)

if so, they’ve done one helluva job with branding and promotion. Granted, it was all built around a big TOOL, but perhaps that’s also something to consider: what if you can create a tool or service that improves people’s lives, but allows you ways to inject affiliate marketing streams into it as well? FOr sure it’s a riskier proposition, but after you’ve cut your teeth on some sites, it may be worth a look if you have a kick ass programmer on staff who can help make it happen.

If Mint is indeed in the affiliate marketing pool, I suspect part of their success is due a bit to how they come across as ‘helpful’ in promoting these external services, rather than pushy. Sort of like how Rae likes to do helpful review-based sites.