How (and Why) to Win the Affiliate Marketing Popularity Contest

Affiliate marketing is a highly competitive business. The temptation, with hungry competition on every side, is to become a ruthless lone wolf, single-mindedly pursuing the elusive prey called cash money and not worrying about anything or anyone else.

Resist that temptation if you want to achieve supreme affiliate marketing success. Instead, think of affiliate marketing as a popularity contest, and seek to win it.

Why to Win the Affiliate Marketing Popularity Contest

Before we discuss the best techniques for winning the affiliate marketing popularity contest, let's discuss the best reasons for trying to win the affiliate marketing popularity contest.

The number one reason why to undertake such a mission is because search engine rankings, especially at Google, are highly dependent upon the quantity and quality of your in-pointing links. Just like high school, your friends make you cool.

A lone wolf attitude will not win you any in-pointing links. And you need those, if you want to rank high at the search engines and obtain the juicy free traffic that results from ranking high.

The number two reason why to try to win the affiliate marketing popularity contest is really just an add-on to reason number one: besides quantity and quality of in-pointing links, the search engines value the relevance of in-pointing links.

Therefore, it's wise to play at least somewhat nice with the kids who play in your same sandbox. That's not to say that you shouldn't compete hard with your rivals, only that being a respected member of the community has its benefits.

How to Win the Affiliate Marketing Contest

The first thing to do, if you want to garner in-pointing links that win you traffic and affiliate marketing commissions, is to create a website that people want to be associated with. In other words, the best way to get other people to think you're cool is to…actually be cool.

Secondly, take concrete actions to show you are part of the community. Such as:

Link to non-competitive sites that impress you, then contact the admin person for those sites and ask for a little reciprocal link love.  Many webmasters will be happy to oblige.

Post in relevant forums, including your website in your signature file. Being voted "best answer" on a particular topic in Yahoo Answers, for example, can help establish your credibility, which can bring you more traffic. Again, always include your website in your signature file.

Attend conferences in your category. Even in the "work in your pajamas" world of affiliate marketing, there is still no substitute for meeting people face-to-face.

After you've attended a few conferences, inquire about speaking at one. Rock the house with an insightful speech and watch your reputation and your traffic grow exponentially.

The Purpose of Popularity

Ultimately, of course, it only matters to your affiliate marketing success that you are popular with one group of people: potential customers for the products you're promoting.

Being popular with everyone is just a mean to that all-important end. But sometimes, and this may be one of those cases, you can't get the ends if you don't do the means.