And Another… Amazon, etc. Affiliate Sites
October 27, 2004
Another one from Paul Scrivens.
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Sorry Mr. Smith, you can build all the damn sites you want, but it’s not gonna work for you until you start doing it the right way.
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Realize there are a number of factors at play here besides the design of the site, but its hard not to think that many visitors find my sites a bit more trustworthy than those produced by Mr. Smith.
My point is that whether you are creating a store, a service, or an ebook, do your best to make the site as professional as possible which means making it look less like an affiliate site and more like a site the visitor might want to come back to. Now someone feel free to correct if I am wrong with numbers proving that these affiliate sites can make more than well designed ones. Amazon and eBay don’t count since they offer great user experiences amongst other things.
I can’t tell you all how much I agree with this. I hold in contempt (well, that’s a bit strong, but let’s say I don’t care for it) those who just throw up AWS/affiliate sites that look BAD. Either with no design or a terrible design. I just said it in my last entry, but quality is important to my network. The quality I am speaking of is what is at the site and what the site looks like.
I am working on an Amazon.com AWS site right now, actually. But, for the very reason of quality, I am taking my time and making the site look fairly unique and professional – it just won’t be another slapped up AWS site, it will be a nice addition to my network. I plan to launch more affiliate sites, over time, but all of them will be following the same strategy. Slapping these sites up and effectively spamming the web, as Mr. Scrivens puts it (and I have always considered it to be), is not something I wish to do.
I seem to have a fair bit in common with Mr. Scrivens, I believe I’ll have to start reading some of his blogs…
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I’m in the process of learning/building AWS sites as well, but as part of a bigger plan. If all your site does is resell Amazon stuff, then you’re not going to be in business long. I’d rather have it as a small part of a large portfolio of ideas contained within a site.