Affiliate Internet Marketing | Building an Online Affiliate Business

Is your affiliate marketing program riding the hungry tiger of consumer demand in the Internet jungle or is it being mauled by one? Tigers hunt alone. Their preferred hunting method is to ambush unsuspecting prey and grab it by the throat until it dies. Tigers zero in on their prey. Zoologists say that medium to large sized herbivores are the favorite meals of tigers, like gazelles, antelope, or zebras.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association estimates that 12,000 tigers are kept as private pets in the United States, which is much more than the world population of tigers in the wild. The hungry tiger of consumer demand is found lurking in keyword research.

In an earlier post, I made the analogy of the dying breed of the “lone prospector” affiliate internet marketing to the gold rush prospectors of the 1840s. The pendulum of online community, the original intention of Internet visionaries, has swung back into major focus by online businesses.

How so? Consider the recent landmark book by Chris Anderson, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling More.” Mr. Anderson’s premise is that mass merchandising of only a few choices to the public is being overtaken by entrepreneurs who serve the “have it my way” culture in the United States. The rise of niche marketplaces online for products, information and services is growing faster than ever. Why online? A review by Publisher’s Weekly on Amazon.com said this about The Long Tail:

Today, web sites and online retailers offer seemingly infinite inventory, and the result is the “shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards.” These “countless niches” are market opportunities for those who cast a wide net and de-emphasize the search for blockbusters.”

Web sites and online retailers have the edge over traditional brick-and-mortar stores since the Internet offers affiliate marketing programs that can be tailored to a product as specific as hard-to-find collectible dolls to short run nuts and bolts to customized certificates for customer loyalty programs. All a savvy entrepreneur need do is match a source of products with finding the hungry tigers - those customers who are in hot pursuit of a specialized, customized product or service.”

How do you find the long tail of the customer demand? Relatively easily, look for the keyword search phrases that contain several words that are very specific. For example, the keyword, “buy cars” is very broad and general. Often, those who are just starting to look to buy cars go online and type in a general, broad term into Google, Yahoo or MSN. These people are often tire kickers at the very beginning of an information quest.

But the hunting consumer tigers are different. They have been watching and weighing what is being offered. They have narrowed down their prey – the “2008 Bright Red BMW Z4 3.0i Roadster with premium package, M sport seats, onboard computer and fully automatic power top” is highly specific. This degree of detail indicates a very hunger consumer who is ready to pounce (that is, ready to buy.)

An effective affiliate marketing program that seeks to tame the long tail of hungry consumer demand needs an efficient website, portal or even blog building system. Since there are so many products and services that are very specific, it would take months of programming time to build a comprehensive site.

However, efficient software tools, like Portalfeeder, can speed up this process dramatically. Do yourself a favor and check out Portalfeeder for yourself or you can read my detailed review by clicking here.

Dave Pipitone, www.portal-profits.com