Be an Affiliate - Feel a Fraud?

Rob Stone

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Amazon still seem's to be a favorite in building an affiliate website, had more success before penguin with direct affiliate scheme's with independent companies.

Anyway, with SEO getting harder .. do you feel a fraud building an affiliate site and using Traffic Leaks/Reddit and so forth? Even if it was lead generation as I can see people seeing lead sites as salems.

Wondered how you all saw things? Compared to the overall scheme of things of creating your own product.

Intruiged what you all think... Rob :smile:
 
It shouldn't matter if you got traffic from Google vs a niche forum or community. If the content is helpful or entertaining there's no reason to "feel a fraud" if you've actively promoted it. That's marketing.

It's so important to diversify traffic, even established brands that play by the rules can feel the wrath of Google if one day they decide your site isn't up to their standards.
 
Thanks Ryan
Great to have feedback
I have done outreach before as an affiliate but always felt . awkward compared to how I could feel if I had my own product.
Anyway, thanks again.. really appreciate you answering
Rob
 
I don't feel like a fraud, but I also classify my site as an authority site. The affiliate site model is what's getting harder because it doesn't really leave you with a marketable asset unless you're doing it really well like TheWireCutter, and many that did it that well still got slapped by Google Fred. The model itself came under attack with the "thin content penalty" too years ago.

Building a huge, classy asset makes it real easy to get attention, whether that be eyeballs, links, social signals, direct traffic, etc. And it's hard to do that right and even be remotely associated with the feeling of fraudulence or low quality work. I suppose you outsource a lot of nonsense content but then you'll hit the marketing problem all over again.

I feel great about my site. I've personally written what has to be nearing a half a million words of expert content across several niches and don't intend on slowing down, and now I've got an expert churning it out, that I overpay, for another niche in the vertical on the same site. As far as the affiliate stuff goes, I'm publishing it at a current rate of 14 to 1, where that's 14 informational and entertainment posts to every one designed strictly to earn cash, and even those are getting hands-free links and shares due to their quality. I aim to raise that ratio to 25:1 and higher eventually, if not even higher later.

But yeah, if I was making small sites of 15 pages of review content, I wouldn't feel great about it. I don't think I'd feel bad. I don't think I'd feel anything because I wouldn't do it. It doesn't motivate me like building an actual resource that contributes to society. But no, I don't feel bad extracting money in return either. I teach people how to use products, which are the best, and connect them to the manufacturers. Nothing to feel bad about, quite the contrary.

It really boils down to doing something you believe in and enjoy that you can take pride in. Otherwise we're right back to the start of the industrial revolution and compartmentalization and removing the human element out of the product and replacing it with a conveyer belt. You don't have to do that to yourself and you'll be heavily rewarded by others for not doing it to them.
 
Brilliant, a deep thankyou again Ryuzaki.
I used to make more than my dayjob before Penguin but not tried to rebuild since then in a niche I am interested in, hense my fitness question the other day you answered which was awesome.

At the moment I am building a site in a different niche for the UK as I have a close relationship with a retailer, even went round his house many years ago. I could turn it into an affiliate site but also seeing how it goes as could just charge him.. its a bit of a test for now but enjoy writing about the niche which is.. odd lol

But as I said, fitness is my interest but I think where I stemmed my original question from partly was, reviewing items in a niche without buying them? or.. invest £200 say a month but if you wanted to write a guide on the top 10 Asics running shoes for example, that's alot of money.

Either way, thanks again indeed. My eyes have opened widely as at 42.. I don't want to do IT Desktop Support till im retired lol Grim!!

Cheers again

Rob
 
Something I've been thinking about too - I started my online business journey buying websites about random topics, improving them and selling them for a profit. The websites were in niches I knew nothing about, had no interest in, and didn't create anything I was especially proud of - it was about making money essentially.

I enjoyed learning the ropes though and the freedom an online business provided, but for the past little while I've been working on a project I am passionate about and which I feels like adds value to the world - and it makes a big difference. I still promote other products as an affiliate, and make sales, but I am doing it to help people rather than simply make money.

Might not be the same for everyone - but it works for me!
 
Hi Tom
Coming from the days of the 30 Day Challenge, back then it was small site's wasn't it yeah.

Love how you have put it, combined with Ryuzaki. Whereever you go you get told to add value but so many affiliate sites never did.. but with the Fred update Ryuzaki that explains when I look at the SERP's in all the niches I was in and looking to go back into to a degree, I don't see a single affiliate.

End of the day, a site to to help people is much more powerful in how you put it so I will stop waffling and pass on a huge thankyou to you, Ryuzaki and Ryan for your thoughts.
Awesome!.. will go get to work :smile:
Rob
 
I've had this conversation with a few people before especially when you're talking about "10 best XYZ" keywords and you haven't used all of the products yourself.

You can either throw up a garbage article 'reviewing' them, or you can actually spend hours and hours learning about the products and creating a useful resource.

Why on earth would your personal opinion be worth more than hundreds of others, even if you're an expert? Let's say you're reviewing running trainers. I don't care what Usain Bolt says about them, because he has different requirements than me.

The person searching "best running shoes" is likely a novice runner who wants to get into the sport. Therefore, they should be looking for information aimed at novice runners from other novice runners.

If I strap on a pair of shoes and run them for 3 months, why is my opinion on them more valuable to the potential customer than the same experience from 100 other people. People try products and leave reviews, I'd argue if you spend hours learning about the products and creating a singular resource from hundreds of peoples combined hours of research you've created a more valuable resource than a personal review.

However, it goes back to what I said at the start which is that it depends how you do it.

You can either make it garbage or not. I have no moral or philosophical issue with these kinds of articles, presuming they are done well. It's unrealistic for most people to trial every product before giving an opinion and many times there is no need to.

So thats that.

On another side of the coin, if you only have £100 - £200 or whatever, don't try and create hands-on reviews for "best" keywords, do a single product review.

I.e. go buy one pair of trainers, run them, create a video about them, take a high-quality photos and make ti the worlds best review on those trainers. This will make it easier to attract links, traffic and shares. You'll also be able to rank for a "review" keyword, which is a much more valuable term than a "best" keyword.

This is simply because the customer is further into the sales cycle or pyramid (or whatever shape) and has already decided what product they potentially want, they are now just looking for reassurance that the product is solid.

On the other hand, the person searching for "best" keywords has no clue what they want, all they know is that they need a product in that niche.

I've created plenty of "best" articles about products I've never used, but at the same time I have the knowledge to have a pretty good idea about the product just from knowing the company and the specs. Then, I have the knowledge to pick through the crap and the legit reviews and make an informed decision.

In my opinion that provides LOTS of value to a potential customer. Rather than them having to search for hours and read hundreds of reviews, I've done it for them and my time isn't free so you best believe I'm taking an affiliate check with 0 guilt.
 
Prentzz said:
On the other hand, the person searching for "best" keywords has no clue what they want, all they know is that they need a product in that niche.

I've created plenty of "best" articles about products I've never used, but at the same time I have the knowledge to have a pretty good idea about the product just from knowing the company and the specs. Then, I have the knowledge to pick through the crap and the legit reviews and make an informed decision.

In my opinion that provides LOTS of value to a potential customer. Rather than them having to search for hours and read hundreds of reviews, I've done it for them and my time isn't free so you best believe I'm taking an affiliate check with 0 guilt.
Click to expand...

Exactly this.

I was literally in this spot yesterday.
For the new home, I need wifi range extenders - I have not the faintest idea which one to get, as I never before needed them.

"best wifi range extender" saved me hours of searching and comparing.

My notes:
If you do an article like "the ten best XYZ" please, mark the best clearly and explain WHY you think this is the best product. Also mark the best bang for buck cheap option, as I might not need the absolute best, but a viable alternative.
(In my case, getting 1200Mb/s throughput is completely beside the point, as I only get 100mb up/down)
 
Many Thanks Prentzz.. really like your ways of how you would do it.

As we all have really, seen review's out there that its obvious people havn't purchased the item, or even 1 item for a list of 10 or say, even used software properly they are an affiliate to.

I don't or would never want to be seen as someone doing that which is why I was asking as it's been bugging me for ages so very glad I asked.

The niche I am in, very very happy to learn everything there is about the range .. did outreach for it a couple of years ago and people we happy to link.

Also love the individual review aspect, again I am happy to invest my own money until I have a ROI income.

Thanks again for your reply, just so good from you all and hope my question and your answers guys helps others who come here as this site has changed and opened my mind even more.

Thanks again :D

darkzerothree said:
Exactly this.

I was literally in this spot yesterday.
For the new home, I need wifi range extenders - I have not the faintest idea which one to get, as I never before needed them.

"best wifi range extender" saved me hours of searching and comparing.

My notes:
If you do an article like "the ten best XYZ" please, mark the best clearly and explain WHY you think this is the best product. Also mark the best bang for buck cheap option, as I might not need the absolute best, but a viable alternative.
(In my case, getting 1200Mb/s throughput is completely beside the point, as I only get 100mb up/down)
Click to expand...

Excellent feedback Dark, shows the 10 best isn't always needed as you want to know what to buy or the top 3 and then decide.. if not the best as you found on the article that showed you and why.

Given me so much more scope on how to see things, whoever started this forum .. I think we own them a inmmense thankyou. Completely different mindset here than a .. internet marketing forum I wont mention lol

Thanks everyone. In the UK, I personally don't believe pensions will be around when we retire so looking o build asset(s) that hopefully mean later in life is easier than those who just replied om the 9-5
 
I just got told my newest small affiliate site (I start from zero), was and I quote "outstanding". Of course, I have barely put anything commercial there yet, in fact, I am thinking to remove the ads completely for now. I think this is a good mindset to have. Start out the site with not a single money earning ad or link, only aim to provide the full experience of enthusiasm and helpful content. I've become much more focused on the "enthusiasm" part, which is - marketing - but without monetization. Building the site first, for months even, with no monetization will give a better mindset I think. Then it will be easy to add in some keyword optimized pages later. Just my thoughts.
 
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