e-Business-Formula Internet Marketing Discussion Forum

[julian4239]

Sorry, I'm a little new at the Affiliate market venture. Does the website presentation need to look like it's professionally done? Or, does it even matter?

I see websites out there that look like there's no effort involved. I keep wondering if these even succeed. Does it matter?

[CarrieGee]

That depends on what type of website you're wanting.

Do you want to provide information and sell affiliate products in conjunction with your subject matter? Are you purely sales-oriented? What is your target audience?

I agree, many sites seem thrown together with little thought to the overall appeal or presentation. These are the sites that tend to die out quickly though.

Making money with affiliates takes a LOT of work, both in updating and marketing your site, and in trying out different products and strategies to bring in revenue. Presentation is definitely important, especially if you want repeat traffic and returning customers. If you put out a professional face to the world, you're more likely to be taken seriously.

Does that help?

[julian4239]

Thanks, that does help. I've been seeing a lot of sites with just links and nothing else.

Do you have any good examples of sites that might fall under your example? Again, I'm a newbie.

Thanks much.

[CarrieGee]

I'd be happy to post some examples julian - but it might be easier if you can give me some kind of idea what type of site you're interested in creating. Do you want to stick with straight sales, or are you thinking of combining content with relevant sales, or ... ?

[julian4239]

Actually, both would be great. Since content is important for traffic generation, it would be interesting to see what's common practice.

Thanks much.

[CarrieGee]

Well this site is perfect for an example of content-driven websites!

Others would be:

[url]http://www.absolutewrite.com[/url]
[url]http://www.howtodothings.com[/url]
[url]http://www.wisegeek.com/[/url]

And, in my humble opinion, my own site - link is in my profile.

I'll have to do a bit of searching for good marketplace sites. I have a gazillion bookmarks, but I'll get back to you with some of those soon!

[AJH]

Affilate marketing is the hottest thing going. When you have big joint venture with large companies than the site is always going to look professional and clean. So for newbies, always do the same and follow the lead of bigger websites.

[busybeehelpers]

I always feel that any website that you are trying to generate an income from should have a professional look and design. It helps to establish you as a legitimate business type.

[GuRu]

I would not recommend anything that looks to much like a template. I am not saying to not use a template (I do it all the time) just make sure to customize it the best you can. I hate seeing the same theme on websites and I generally do not do business with those types of looking sites. Just my two cents.

[Liz]

I can agree with the template thing. If I think it looks as if there are a lot of them out there and it is just a name change at the top, I usually leave the site. I like original looking stuff. I will try and find one of the websites, but I like the new bubble looking icons. No one probably knows what I am talking about, but they are used on IM and I have now seen them on sites.

[Keith Winton]

Here's my two cents...

You have only a few seconds to catch a web surfers attention so your website needs to have that "wow" factor, something that captures their eye.

Maybe a bold headline or statement, you need to draw them in, take a look at a few newspaper or magazine ads and learn from those that catch your eye, you will soon work out what appeals to your market.

You may need to have three or four attempts before you get it right, but as they say, nothing ventured nothing gained!

Regards

Keith Winton