How do you compete with large mega programs?
 

I've been going to our trade shows since around 1996. I've noticed that many of the attendees are owners of small or average sized affiliate programs. There seem to be hundreds of new programs cropping up every year. So how does a small program compete against the Huge mega mart type programs for webmasters and traffic?

Let's take the dating niche for example. The largest programs like AFF and Sex Search etc spend huge amounts of money on branding at trade shows, trade magazines and webmaster sites. They make sweetheart prepaid deals with the largest sites to buy out all their ad space. This makes the average webmaster think that since these programs are so pervasive they must be the best and most trustworthy programs. While these and other Mega Monster sized programs do make affiliates good money they are not the only ones and surfers love variety. Saturation is a too edged sword. It's great for a big program but surfers love to try new things.

This is where a smaller sized program can create their corner of the market. If one can differentiate oneself from the other programs and paysites sufficiently to get the attention of surfers and webmasters there is a chance to do well.

The whole trend of "Reality Porn" last year or two was in my view based on just that phenomenon. Do something "New" and "Unique". Reality porn like Amateur Porn is by definition unique. Each amateur has her own story that entices the surfer into seeing more pics and new updates. Each Reality site is based on a unique hopefully interesting back story. So whatever you do to really break through the competition you need to tell a unique story, make a unique and provocative pitch to the surfer and the potential affiliate.

How is your dating site, your big tits or trannie or solo girl site unique and how are you promoting that unique quality to your customers? Writing descriptive text on your galleries, beneath your banners and on your free sites is very important. You only have a few seconds to grab the surfers attention and get across the idea of what makes you worthy of them taking a deeper look, ie clicking through to your sales tour. I see our best affiliates consistently doing more to entice, tease tantalize and treat the surfer. Treat meaning give them Good quality sample movies and pics. Entice them with the promise of what more they can see on the next page and tease them by not giving away the best shots for free.

In much the same way that a successful affiliate must create and promote a unique product to the surfer, a small affiliate program needs to reach out and educate potential affiliates about what makes their program special. What can make you worth the affiliate giving up their valuable website real estate to try you? One thing I just described is having unique paysites. Another is having a personal interest in each affiliates success. Contacting them after they signup or before hand and reviewing their websites with them. Giving them suggestions about how they can make more money by adding your program into their marketing mix. If they tell you they already "have a such and such niche sponsor" remind them that surfers like having choices. We had an affiliate sign up recently who was afraid we would detract from his AFF sales but after putting us up on the same pages found that not only didn't his AFF sales decrease but he now was adding five to ten more sales a day to us at $50 a pop! Because not every surfer likes the same thing and SexOnTheSideClub is a unique provocative type site.

In conclusion, the way to compete is to offer high quality products, personal service, and offer a unique or provocative product. If you don't chose to spend or can's spend thousands on board and magazine ads put some of that money into higher payouts for your affiliates instead. Pool your money with other small programs and sponsor a tradeshow party or dinner. Trade mailings to your affiliates telling them about eachothers programs. Most importantly in my opinion is be honest both with surfers and affiliates and you'll do great in the long run.

Happy selling!
Joe S.
EntertainmentCASH.com
Sex On The Side Club

I dont really no...

Bump for you Joe

heres a bump for joe

Bump for Joe
 

Well thought out post Joe.. Keep at it!

good informative thread.

I think if you have the right consept within the niche, the right tools, content and not the least - the DRIVE - and you will do just fine.

:thumbsup

Hello and thanks Roger, Dave , Oystein, TrafficGuy.

Hope you're all having a great Easter/Passover Holliday!

Oystein yes the right tools are important. Thanks to your great crew at Mansion we have been able to add new tools to MPA3 like our built in Private Label tours and SEO encrypted link urls!

Joe

cliff notes.

Cool post Joe, thumbs up!

I agree with you, and can only say that there are NO SHORTCUTS when you're smaller and competing with the big fish.

Strive for excellence in every aspect.

Find the right positioning for your product/service. If you're small - be unique!

Use your financial resources to actually strengthen your business - don't spend tons of money with advertising before you're well structured. By "well structured" I mean:

Buy/Produce quality content.
Buy/Develop a killer back end.
Host somewhere FAST and reliable.
Get your billing lined up intelligently.
Treat your end users and affiliates like gold.
Hire a design company that will care about your online performance, so your sites can PERFORM and communicate your positioning effectively.

If all of the above factors are taken care of, now NETWORK YOUR ASS OFF - and spend some money on advertising!

Cheers Joe, great thread!

Bruno Dickman :thumbsup

Man not trying to be an ass... but your conclusion I thought was common knowledge?

In conclusion, the way to compete is to offer high quality products, personal service, and offer a unique or provocative product.

Agreed.

8freakingcharacters

Point taken. However, I tried to expand on the point with more detail in my post. Specifically in saying that it is important to spend time describing what makes one unique to surfers and affiliates. I wish offering personal service was common but it really isn't in my experience with dealing with many programs.

Bruno adds some great points! (Thanks Bruno) Such as treating your surfers and affiliates like gold. That can take different forms. Not redirecting surfers massively in using skimming trade scripts, popping exits etc.. Answering customer service emails from surfers and affiliates promptly is also important. It's also important to use the best content , design firms, hosting company that you can afford. Bruno is absolutely right. Those are areas one should not try to save money on. There's an old saying ,"One can never be so rich they can afford to be cheap". The most costly lessons I've found come from trying to save money in areas that are too important to cut corners on. I know others try to save money on hosting, design, content etc as well and so while the idea of not cutting corners on quality or service is "common knowledge" I thought it was important enough to say again.

So Detox no you werent being an ass. You are right. My conclusion should have included my point about making sure you take every opportunity to describe in detail what makes you unique and worth while.

Thanks for your input!

Joe

kinda nice read

great post Joe:thumbsup

Nice pitch Joe. Nice pitch Bruno. :)