Affiliate Marketing in a Five-Screened World

Affiliate marketing is not the unspoiled wilderness it once was. The milk and honey is still flowing, but more hands are reaching out for the sweet nectar. Meanwhile, an education infrastructure, of which Ace Affiliates is a part, has sprung up to teach people affiliate marketing. Resources like these have reduced failure rates and created a culture of best practices.

One aspect of affiliate marketing that is being overlooked, though, is the reality that even as this world is being created, this world is being destroyed--or at least enlarged irrevocably.

Welcome to the Five-Screened World.


One: Affiliate Marketing on Cell Phones

The most intimate relationship most people have with any electronic device is the beautiful love that arises between a human and his or her cell phone. Oh sweet BlackBerry, oh rose-cheeked iPhone, how may we count the hours we spend looking at you.

Are you, as an affiliate marketer, aware of the importance of the cell phone screen? Are your pages optimized to function on cell phone screens? Are your links optimized for cell phone love?

Do you respect the phone enough?


Two: Affiliate Marketing on 3G+ Cell Phones

There are cell phones, and then there are 3G+ cell phones.

The second variety are a potential affiliate marketing goldmine for affiliate marketers who can figure out how to use that extra processing power, better color and graphics, and high quality video to get more phone users to click on more affiliate links.

Think apps. Think interactive, downloaded, direct response-style applications that contain your affiliate links. Read this nice post by CT Moore to get an idea of where mobile affiliate marketing is headed--and realize that this game has only just begun.


Three: TV and the Re-Rise of the Infomercial

Remember TV infomercials? They're back in a big way.

With regular TV ad sales in the toilet, even mainstream networks are selling airtime to infomercial purveyors. You can now see Cash4Gold mini-infomercials on any channel at any time. With about a million TV channels struggling to stay afloat, airtime is plentiful.

When will the Internet and the TV truly merge? Stay tuned.


Gas Station TVs and Other Totally Random Screens

The next screen that the average American might see on the way in to work is one of those gas station TVs just above the pump area. These screens, like all other screens, represent an opportunity for you, as an affiliate marketing kingpin, to make a connection and a sale.

There are more of these random screens every day. At the dentist's office, in the coffee shop, and so forth. How can these random screens generate you more affiliate marketing cash?


The Old-Fashioned Internet

And now, finally, our hypothetical average American has arrived at work, and is sitting down in front of a screen that affiliate marketing people know and thinks they understand: the Internet.

But even that world is changing so incredibly fast…