Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

Affiliate Marketing, an SEO Strategy?

Google rewards websites that represent expertise in a given subject, a go-to Internet property on a particular topic. Relevancy is vital to SEO success. Does the content and theme of your site relate to a specific keyword or phrase? And, do other web owners recognize your site as being a subject matter expert (SME)?

SEO success is made up of many factors, content being preeminent. However, to be truly recognized as relevant is best realized from your peers.

And just how do your peers recognize your web site as a SME? By linking to your site from theirs; known in the SEO industry as "linking" strategy. Next to content, linking strategy is one of the most effective means of naturally promoting your website. To be effective implement a linking strategy in a manner as follows:

• The site that links to yours should be relevant to the site's topic or keyword/phrase.
• The anchor text of the link to your site should contain the keyword or phrase that you are trying to be listed and search engine ranked.
• The link should be mono-directional, not reciprocal, from their site to yours.

Affiliate Marketing can support linking strategy. Affiliates, by their very nature, are mono-directional links to your web property, often with text/alt tags that describe your service. Great, except I can hear you point out two drawbacks to this strategy:

1) Affiliate links often go through an intermediary, such as Commission Junction.

2) Affiliate websites may be highly generic or not tightly relevant in relations to your own.

So how do you implement an Affiliate SEO strategy?

• Use a direct link from the affiliate to the merchant site, where the affiliate network supports a pixel based tracking strategy. The visitor clicks direct to the merchant, which then fires up the pixel tracking, which is placed on the merchant landing page, to the affiliate network.
• Approve affiliates that are "on-message" or relevant. If you want to have a large cast of affiliates, provide the direct link to the highly relevant sites, and the regular intermediary tracking code for all others.

In this way, relevant affiliates help support your SEO linking strategy, while driving business to your website. A winning Internet strategy for your business.

Affiliate Marketing, an SEO Strategy?

Google rewards websites that represent expertise in a given subject, a go-to Internet property on a particular topic. Relevancy is vital to SEO success. Does the content and theme of your site relate to a specific keyword or phrase? And, do other web owners recognize your site as being a subject matter expert (SME)?

SEO success is made up of many factors, content being preeminent. However, to be truly recognized as relevant is best realized from your peers.

And just how do your peers recognize your web site as a SME? By linking to your site from theirs; known in the SEO industry as "linking" strategy. Next to content, linking strategy is one of the most effective means of naturally promoting your website. To be effective implement a linking strategy in a manner as follows:

• The site that links to yours should be relevant to the site's topic or keyword/phrase.
• The anchor text of the link to your site should contain the keyword or phrase that you are trying to be listed and search engine ranked.
• The link should be mono-directional, not reciprocal, from their site to yours.

Affiliate Marketing can support linking strategy. Affiliates, by their very nature, are mono-directional links to your web property, often with text/alt tags that describe your service. Great, except I can hear you point out two drawbacks to this strategy:

1) Affiliate links often go through an intermediary, such as Commission Junction.

2) Affiliate websites may be highly generic or not tightly relevant in relations to your own.

So how do you implement an Affiliate SEO strategy?

• Use a direct link from the affiliate to the merchant site, where the affiliate network supports a pixel based tracking strategy. The visitor clicks direct to the merchant, which then fires up the pixel tracking, which is placed on the merchant landing page, to the affiliate network.
• Approve affiliates that are "on-message" or relevant. If you want to have a large cast of affiliates, provide the direct link to the highly relevant sites, and the regular intermediary tracking code for all others.

In this way, relevant affiliates help support your SEO linking strategy, while driving business to your website. A winning Internet strategy for your business.

Finding the Perfect Voice

If there’s anything you should know about DigitalGrit it’s that we are totally focused on helping companies be more effective on the Web.

So when a Web site helps me be more effective, I get excited.  I share the news.  And now that I have this incredible soapbox (blogbox?), I am officially inaugurating the More Effective Web Awards.

The first-ever recipient is www.Voice123.com .  Congratulations.

I was looking for voiceover talent for an online demo we’re producing for a pretty high profile client.  I clicked around on a number of sites.  Many were cumbersome or slow or limited.  Then in my Googlings, I found Voice123.

As I began my search, I became the Profiler … using a series of characterizing keywords to narrow the talent pool.  It was like online dating and I was on track to find the Perfect Match.

I listened to the voice clips and filed away the best in my Preferred Talent list on the site.  Some crisp, yet friendly.  Others throaty and magnetic.  They all sounded great – but would they do justice to my script?  And how much would they cost?  Voice123 let me post a cutting and call for auditions.  It even let me reach out beyond my original favorites.  Why not?  Others sites limited me to just one audition.

I was a bit behind the eight ball, so I asked for responses by COB the next day.  Within two hours, Outlook was smoking.  Voices from all over were pouring into my inbox.  In all, 181 auditions and price quotes.  Holy smokes.  How long would this have taken in the pre-Internet days?

Actually, the auditions came in batches, so it wasn't overwhelming.  I could click through to each from the email or retrieve and manage them all from one convenient page on the Web site.  And I could even send unbranded sample cuts to the client.  Go ahead, let them think that I spent countless hours calling all over the country for talent when it was really as easy as Voice123.

Okay, so I sound like a commercial.  I don’t apologize.  This company solved my business need in a fast, More Effective Web way.  [Which is the same thing we help our clients do.]  I LOVE this space! 

Want to nominate a site for the next More Effective Web Award?  Post it in the comments section below.

Finding the Perfect Voice

If there’s anything you should know about DigitalGrit it’s that we are totally focused on helping companies be more effective on the Web.

So when a Web site helps me be more effective, I get excited.  I share the news.  And now that I have this incredible soapbox (blogbox?), I am officially inaugurating the More Effective Web Awards.

The first-ever recipient is www.Voice123.com .  Congratulations.

I was looking for voiceover talent for an online demo we’re producing for a pretty high profile client.  I clicked around on a number of sites.  Many were cumbersome or slow or limited.  Then in my Googlings, I found Voice123.

As I began my search, I became the Profiler … using a series of characterizing keywords to narrow the talent pool.  It was like online dating and I was on track to find the Perfect Match.

I listened to the voice clips and filed away the best in my Preferred Talent list on the site.  Some crisp, yet friendly.  Others throaty and magnetic.  They all sounded great – but would they do justice to my script?  And how much would they cost?  Voice123 let me post a cutting and call for auditions.  It even let me reach out beyond my original favorites.  Why not?  Others sites limited me to just one audition.

I was a bit behind the eight ball, so I asked for responses by COB the next day.  Within two hours, Outlook was smoking.  Voices from all over were pouring into my inbox.  In all, 181 auditions and price quotes.  Holy smokes.  How long would this have taken in the pre-Internet days?

Actually, the auditions came in batches, so it wasn't overwhelming.  I could click through to each from the email or retrieve and manage them all from one convenient page on the Web site.  And I could even send unbranded sample cuts to the client.  Go ahead, let them think that I spent countless hours calling all over the country for talent when it was really as easy as Voice123.

Okay, so I sound like a commercial.  I don’t apologize.  This company solved my business need in a fast, More Effective Web way.  [Which is the same thing we help our clients do.]  I LOVE this space! 

Want to nominate a site for the next More Effective Web Award?  Post it in the comments section below.