Using Local Search For Affiliate Marketing
Technology developments including the increase of mobile search using mobile devices have increased the usefulness and presence of various local search sites. Use the tips below to include the increase in local search to increase traffic to your site.
Many local search sites include options for site owners to sign up as affiliates for the local search site. This can be seen in companies such as Groupon that have an application, review and acceptance policy for site owners who want to carry Groupon as an affiliate advertiser on their sites.
Local sites that seek your participation as an affiliate will frequently make the process of connecting their advertisements to your site simple. In this way you become a participant in affiliate advertising and can learn about how the business works from participating with the programs developed by sites seeking affiliates.
Including well-known sites on your site can increase readership to your site because you become connected in a small way to the company whose ads you're carrying. This relationship can be a benefit in the case of quality companies you're dealing with or a drawback if you hook up with less legitimate companies.
If you decide to participate in a local affiliate marketing strategy, consider contacting other local businesses and creating your own link referral program by agreeing to carry each other's ads.
If you decide to reach out to another local business and create an affiliate relationship, establish ground rules for the arrangements. These rules should include whether there are incentives besides mutual advertising that you'll provide to each other such as payments for specific business transactions that occur from the mutual advertising.
Make sure that your affiliate company is stable by periodically making sure that the link on your site remains usable and is usable in the way you first agreed to have it used, so that you're instantly aware of changes that might make an affiliate less desirable for you. Such changes can include the addition of a redirect feature that might be added that takes your readers to a different site than the one you thought they would reach by clicking on your affiliate.
Don't ignore your affiliate advertising content, but instead periodically review another company's content that is accessible through your site. If you have a formal affiliate agreement, make sure that you leave yourself the option to terminate the affiliate relationship.
Pay attention to politics in case your affiliate programs become associated with a specific political move that goes against what you believe your target audience will want to learn about. For instance, the recent uproar about Chick-fil-a would require those sites carrying Chick-fil-a ads to take some action in response to publicized viewpoints that have come to light.
Don't include too many affiliate links on your mobile sites. The reduced screen size should always be part of your consideration in the content you prepare for mobile devices. The inclusion of too many affiliates or sometimes even a few can make your site less user friendly to mobile customers or potential customers.
Affiliate marketing opportunities are expanded by new options for local search. Use the tips above to incorporate local search tools into your affiliate marketing strategy.
