The development of social media has been a huge boon in the world of affiliate marketing. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter make it easier for affiliate marketers to reach out to larger audiences, often with a noticeably smaller time commitment. However, some marketers fail to understand that simply logging in to a social network will not ensure success.

Social media is a tool that can be used to make great gains in the field of affiliate marketing. But as in any type of tool, the misuse of social media can bring about some terrible results. Unfortunately, a number of affiliates are privy to a variety of mistakes while advertising on social networks. Over time, seemingly small mistakes can cost affiliates big time.

While audiences are able to look past certain mistakes, there is one thing that they are rarely willing to forgive: excessive enthusiasm. This concept may initially seem counter-intuitive. Aren’t affiliate marketers supposed to remain positive at all times? The answer is yes, affiliates should maintain a positive outlook in their dealings with present and future customers. But there is a big difference between displaying a positive demeanor and browbeating audiences with a message.

There’s an old cliche that bears repeating: “It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.” This cliche certainly applies to affiliate marketing. Two different affiliates can provide the exact same message and get completely different results. The content of the message is not nearly as important as the delivery. And the right amount of subtlety is everything when it comes to providing a decent delivery.

The problem with social media is that it leaves less room for mistakes. There is a lot less room for recovery in a Tweet or a Facebook status than there is in a blog post. On Twitter, you only have 140 characters available to get your message out there. There is little room for mistakes. While a direct and concise message is a necessity on Facebook and Twitter, it does not give you license to be brash. This will only turn visitors off of your site. Instead, you’ll have to work all the harder to craft a message that is both direct and subtle.

Subtlety is most needed when inserting links into text. On a blog or website, it is easy to get links in the right place without giving visitors the wrong impression. This is a little harder on a Twitter feed, where there is less room to work. Instead of turning your Twitter account into a big advertising feed, simply use the site to post links to your blog or website. Use the Twitter or Facebook page to introduce the topic that will be covered on the blog. If visitors like what they see on your blogs, they’ll be more willing to click through the ads.

A modicum of subtlety is helpful in any business, but this is especially true for affiliate marketing. Don’t just fire off random links and tell visitors to click on them; provide some sort of material that will interest them. Social media works best with affiliate marketing when it is used as a tool for gathering audiences. Use that tool carefully and you’ll find yourself with a targeted audience that is willing to listen to what you have to say.

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Ihre Consulting Appoints Tomas Eliasson as Marketing Director
PR.com (press release)
Stockholm, Sweden, February 09, 2012 –(PR.com)– Ihre Consulting AB, primarily offers affiliate marketing expertise, acting as a broker/agent but also traditional consultancy services. Another aspect of the business is to act as introducer to various …

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Did Google’s “Panda” update destroy the Internet? For some affiliate marketers, it appears so. After Panda, many successful affiliate marketers suddenly found their rankings tanking, and as a result their income dropping. Yet, others are still thriving, and even bringing in greater numbers than before the change. Understanding Panda and what these changes mean is the key to thriving in the new world governed by Google.

Who Was Hurt by Panda?

The Panda update was designed to make search results more useful to the user. Before Panda, all you had to do to get site after site filled with Google ads and weak content was search a popular keyword string. It took several clicks or advanced searching techniques to find the quality content you wanted. Panda changed this, because the new algorithm lowers the ranking for sites with thin content, while sites with relevant, quality content soared to the top. For the user, this was a welcome change. For the affiliate marketer relying on poor content, the change destroyed a once lucrative income stream.

How to Thrive in Post-Panda Affiliate Marketing

If your affiliate sites were hurt by Panda, all hope is not lost. With a few changes to your marketing and content, you can improve your rank again and start bringing in profit. Panda did not kill affiliate marketing, but your poorly written site is hurting your efforts. A few tweaks and a change in focus is what you need to thrive post-Panda.

Focus on engaging, authoritative content. Content that contains research, analysis, and reports is going to rank better than rehashed gibberish. Original content is also essential. If your content is similar or identical to the content on several other sites, even if they are your sites, you need to change it.

Remove low quality pages. Take the time to analyze the various pages to find those with a huge drop in traffic. Separate the pages with high-quality, unique content from those with auto-generated pages, placing the poorer quality pages on a separate section that is blocked from crawling or deleting them altogether. You may find that your ranking improves drastically in a very short period of time with this step.

Optimize your site for social media outlets. Do you have Twitter and Facebook share buttons on your articles? If you do not, add them to make it easy for your readers to share the posts you are writing. Google is watching the social media giants to see what users are viewing as relevant content, so the more ways you give your readers to share your web pages, the better your results will be. Of course, getting shares from readers requires valuable, engaging content.

For years, content has been king on the Internet, and in reality Panda has not changed this. Content is still king, but affiliate marketers can no longer push their sites to the top with cheap, auto-generated, or copied content. Instead, the content Panda awards is unique, authoritative, and relevant. In the end, by focusing on making the content that Panda will like, you will turn your page into a trusted resource, and this will only increase your affiliate marketing income.

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Bloggers often feel that it is sufficient to provide regular and timely content to their readers. What they often overlook is the need to blend their social media networks into their blogs. While it may be great to have well written content, unless people are finding, reading and sharing it, you might as well be talking to yourself when you blog.

Why Social Media Matters

There have been numerous accounts of how Google’s Panda update impacted blogs, writing sites and even high-powered websites. Many of these sites screamed that their content was original, timely and relevant. However, Google went a step further and rated content based on how much traffic it was able to attract. Today, bloggers who fail to share their content on their social media sites will typically find their traffic staying at the same levels for days, weeks or even months at a time.

Incorporating social media

Bloggers often feel that incorporating their social media activities into their blogs means they are going to have to learn how to do all types of fancy programming and that it has to be time consuming. This is no longer the case since social networking sites have made it easier than ever to link blogs to social media accounts. There are several options available, some depending on the platform that the blog is created on including:

• Plugins – WordPress platforms work best with high-quality plugins. These are generally created by independent programmers and available for a small fee or donation to the developer. These plug-ins vary from those that will allow readers to share content with others to those that will automatically notify social media sites of new posts.

• Badges – Many of the popular social media sites offer users the ability to obtain code directly from the site and insert it into individual blog posts or along side-bars. These badges link the readers directly to the bloggers social media sites. These are especially good for those who maintain fan pages on Facebook, Groups on LinkedIn or have an active Google+ account.

• RSS Feeds – Perhaps one of the most overlooked tools for bloggers is the RSS feed. These feeds allow bloggers to do numerous things including (a) setting up an interactive newsletter, (b) making a “sticky” post of social media feeds or (c) feeding new posts directly to social media accounts.

Today, webmasters must prepare their blog and social media campaigns carefully in order to draw attention to their websites. Whether a business is providing services or products, all of the pieces must be carefully integrated for maximum success. Not too long ago, many business owners felt that having a website to display their products or services was enough. Today, this is not the case as users are growing more demanding and Google as well as other search engines are putting a higher emphasis on the value of social media.

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