Affiliate Content, Duplicate Content And The Crucial Differences Between Them; Er, There Are None...

Going by word on the Search Engine news group, alt.internet.search-engines, it's looking like Google is getting better at spotting and demoting affiliate content. It could well be that because the same text content is repeated over and over on
every affiliate site that carries it it gets demoted by Google purely for being duplicate content. I see this as being a problem, a growing problem, for every affiliate merchant and client using a data feed to power the pages. While the templates folk use may well vary in detail due to individuals customising them to their taste, essentially they're all variants on the same theme and of course they all contain the same few lines of text content in the same order.
Repetition of this kind shouldn't be too hard to identify and either ignore or remove from the listings or do whatever with which may well mean in the future that the idea of affiliate sites as we now have them is simply no longer practical.

My crystal gifts site is powered by a feed from GoCollect.com using a Cusimano script. I've personalised the templates so if you know me you'll recognise the standard BB layout of the individual product pages. Visually, therefore, it isn't like any of the other sites using the same feed. It still has the same text content, though. Inputting a sample into Google produces "about 584" results, all of which, or the majority of which we must suspect as I'm not going to go through them all to check it absolutely, are built around the same feed. The problem here for both affiliates and for affiliate merchants and for Google is, what's the point in having them at all? If there's one site that has them,
namely, the original, where's the point in Google having the rest of them in the index? They all sell the same product for the same price, so why bother to index them? At the moment, it's the battle of the SEO's. Why should someone buy product A from my site as opposed to anyone else's? The answer would be, because when they search for product they find my site before they find any of the others, and there are ways of promoting sites with which we are all familiar here. But this can't really last. The world only really needs just the one web site for these custom-made products and speciality items, and that's the one from the original manufacturers. All the rest essentially constitute duplicate content and we know what happens to that, it gets filtered out.

So, to counter this problem, you could substitute your own text for the original, and you could take your own photographs of the product. Not a problem for a small site, however, many have tens of thousands of pages. How is anyone going to re-write that lot? Obviously any lone affiliate can't begin to, so the idea of affiliate sites as we now have them, I think, must inevitably give way to niche sites where the affiliate presents a small range of items in an individual style that will appeal to certain of the buying public. The idea would be to create a brand of presentation that clients would get to be familiar with and feel comfortable with. If you look at the items on my crystal gifts site they're all photographed out of context. In your home they are unlikely to be suspended in mid-air against a white background, which is how they're presented in the data feed and thus on my site. I'm suggesting taking pictures of items as they might actually appear in situ, do a little mock-up of a down-lit corner table and snap that from a typical viewing angle, or have an item on a coffee-table against a background of muted lights, featuring an expansive sofa, giving a feel of general relaxed easy-living. This, by comparison with simply outputting the existing data from the feed, would cost a bundle, but it just might might be the only real way forward for niche affiliates. You know what that would result in? Quality sites.   The kind Google professes to like.

Meanwhile, though, I suspect people who've built one multiple-product affiliate site, and seen it do well and are now busily engaged in building more and more multiple-product sites on the basis that they'll all do well too, are in for multiple disappointments. I'm trying to go niche in general with my affiliate sites and I've picked on crystal and glass gift items to work with as I can break then down into categories and maximise the potential of each category. What I've got then, in effect, is a legion of niche sites all interconnecting.

For choice, now that I understand more of the industry than I did when I began with affiliate sites, I'd really like a site that does watches and jewellery, these are the items that people are happiest buying from the web, research has
suggested, but I don't know a good feed other than Amazon and I've stayed away from getting too involved with Amazon as it has the high profile it does and will inevitably attract the greatest number of affiliates and so likely will be penalised in the earlier days of any affiliate purge. From what I'm hearing, this purge has already begun.

Avoid Profit Loss By Ensuring Your Affiliates' Success!

One of the most frequently asked questions from people who have affiliate programs in this day and age is, “How do I keep from losing profits with my affiliate program?” 

Losing some profits is a given aspect of our time, but there is a way to cut back on the loss.  

As the economy continues to slump, website owners, including affiliates, lose interest because monies are tight.  We must remember most new affiliates have no “get up and go” knowledge that helps them gain confidence and assurance about marketing and sales. 

You would be surprised to know that in some programs, there is no mentoring or “coaching” involved.  The green affiliate is sent out on their own like Christopher Columbus to discover the world. 

Not equipping and motivating affiliates effectively are the main reasons they fail to bring in substantial profits!  When it costs the affiliate for information or time, the bottom line is that it cost both of us our success at making profits.

Any CEO whose company is making substantial profits will tell you it takes work to keep their crew motivated.  The Internet marketing circle is no different.  If we want to make the most profits from our Internet marketing business we need to create a healthy, responsive crew.   This means we need to keep the affiliate’s needs utmost in mind.  If we tend to their needs, they can be more effective and we can make more profits. 

There are many aspects to maintaining a healthy and responsive crew.  Here are some tips that can and will highly motivate your affiliates so both of you can profit.  They have been proven time and time again by the many marketers that run successful affiliate programs. 

Any CEO whose company is making substantial profits will tell you it takes work to keep their crew motivated.  The Internet marketing circle is no different.  If we want to make the most profits from our Internet marketing business we need to create a healthy, responsive crew.   This means we need to keep the affiliate’s needs utmost in mind.  If we tend to their needs, they can be more effective and we can make more profits. 

There are many aspects to maintaining a healthy and responsive crew.  Here are some tips that can and will highly motivate your affiliates so both of you can profit.  They have been proven time and time again by the many marketers that run successful affiliate programs. 

1) Make it worth their while!  The first thing I do when I want to start an Affiliate program is come up with an irrefutable deal; one they can’t refuse.  If you truly want to captivate someone’s attention, you have to make it worth their while to look at you   and your product.  You are “selling” them the idea of working to make profits for both parties.

2)  Equip them!  Try Giving them free information they can actually apply to their Affiliate business.  Give them information about how to make great articles, good sales letters, or how to boost traffic. 

Tell them they need their own website.  I have a great tool to make mini-sites displayed on my site.  I say mini-sites because they are easy and go up quickly.  This way the affiliate won’t lose a lot of time and waste energy getting frustrated.  Once they are motivated they need to get up and running quickly before they lose interest. 
   
Show them how to use the inevitable autoresponder, prepare and post messages, e-courses, and reports.  You can sell your e-books to them.  I am talking about giving them various ways they can gain information so they can be successful.

Another one that drove me nuts was how to build a subscribers list of potential repeat  costumers and actual keep them coming back!   Articles you write having great content helps too.  They can use them to gain a competitive edge over everyone else.
       
You will be surprised at the results you get!  Experience has taught me when affiliates gain more information, they feel confident and assured about what they are doing.  As this happens, they keep focused because he or she is getting results.  If they get results, you get results!

3) Show them You care about their success!  Nothing motivates affiliates more than having someone care enough to see them succeed other than primary results!  You can do this by staying in contact with them.  Show interest in them!  Encourage them!

4) Teach them about ethical marketing!  They can keep their credibility and remain in business.  Remember, if they are successful, you are successful! 

Take pride in your affiliates because they are a reflection of you and your business.

Please remember these tips are suggestive only.  If you want to continue losing profits, by all means, disregard them and continue making less money.  But if you seriously want to succeed at making the most out of your affiliate business, try the suggestions.  What do you have to lose? 

My hope is that all marketers are successful in making tons of profits.



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