If you spend much time talking to other affiliates, you’re probably well aware of the changes with Facebook’s advertising system. In essence, they have released a new set of advertising standards that all but eliminates affiliates running CPA offers. It’s shocking for a lot of people who depend entirely upon Facebook for their affiliate income, but it’s also not surprising. Facebook is just one of many sites trying to clean up their advertising. Google, for example, has spent the last year or so banning thousands of affiliates for promoting deceptive products or questionable sites.
So what is an affiliate to do when it seems like the best traffic sources are drying up left and right? My recommendation involves two things:
Diversify. Affiliates who made all their money from Facebook are hurting right now. Those who had 4-5 steady traffic sources, however, are only mildly irritated at the changes. Don’t ever put yourself in a position where you rely on a single company for all of your income. If you wanted to do that, you could go to a day job
It’s true that most people will earn a little less by spreading things around instead of specializing, but for most of us, a more stable income is better than one that fluctuates wildly and has the potential to disappear overnight.
Go legit. The reason these offers are getting banned from networks is that they deceive, mislead, or otherwise attempt to swindle the customer into doing something they don’t fully understand. Rebills don’t usually make it clear that customers will have to pay and pay and pay…credit report offers relied on the fact that customers didn’t always know about the truly free credit reports they could get from the government…dating sites often misrepresented their members…financial offers often sold customer data to anyone and everyone who would buy it…the list of shady practices goes on and on.
Given the state of things, a lot of affiliates are now returning to physical products. Instead of promoting free trials and zip submits, they’re promoting dishes and clothing and electronics. Because not everyone is letting go of the shady offers just yet, this point in time represents a great opportunity for affiliates to get a head start on promoting physical products before the CPA network affiliates fully migrate in that direction.
If you’re not sure where to begin, Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook is an excellent place to start. Her guide is extremely long, but it’s also packed with a ton of good information about finding real, long-term success in affiliate marketing. Check it out here.