The famous Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes of Syracuse is known for saying: “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the earth.” For an affiliate marketer (and any online marketer, for that matter!) the “place to stand” remains the same as in 2010 — the Internet. Now let’s look at the “levers” to use in moving towards success in 2011.
There are a number of directions we can explore this year; and I believe there are at least 5 trends to take advantage of:
1. Marriage of Search & Social — At the end of 2010 both Google and Bing confirmed that Twitter and Facebook signals influence search rankings [more here]. While I do not believe Social to be the new SEO, it is hard to overestimate its importance. How will you leverage this in 2011?
2. Local Marketing Opportunities — More and more people are searching for local products, services, coupons and deals. Are you taking advantage of this tendency yet?
3. Rise of Mobile — Mobile Internet devices market is expected to overtake the traditional PCs in the next 5 years, and the mobile Internet will eventually grow to “at least 2x size of Desktop Internet” [source]. Are your websites even mobile-friendly yet?
4. Pay-Per-Call is Hot — Whether you’re reading this as a merchant, or as an affiliate, you don’t want to miss out on this one. For merchants pay-per-call works beautifully with other payment models [more here], while affiliates should take notice of the impressive conversion rates PPCall draws.
5. More Networking Opportunities — The number of affiliate marketing forums and conferences has at least doubled in 2010. Many of them present affiliate marketers with good networking opportunities which can also be leveraged for success.
Have I missed anything?
Nice post! The mobile market is increasing significantly and the rich internet experience is being introduced to mobiles quickly! Though be careful, just because it’s HOT doesn’t make it easy, it’s another new ball game to learn again, I am going to stick with CPV until I try mobile again. I have always been tempted to go app developing route with mobiles, lorry loads to be made there if you do it right!
You’re right on the money there: “just because it’s hot doesn’t make it easy”, but the greater the reward! 😉
Hey Geno – great list! These are all trends to watch and potentially capitalize on this year. Another big trend to keep an eye on is the push for a do-not-track program. It could obviously have a big impact on our industry.
Yes! Good addition, Tom. Thank you.