Have a Nice Weekend
In earlier posts (check the links below, I made mention that one of the ways of monetizing our blog is through affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a tool where we take a product that we like then put a link to that product in our blog or post. Readers can click on that link which will direct them to a pitch or sales page. Supposing a reader who reached this site this way decides and executes a buy of the product, you as the one who put the link there gets a commission from the sale.
I have thought much about this strategy. As you can see, I do have them here on this page. The right column shows two books which I recommend. I have found them good and helpful. The first by problogger is the one I am reading now and the other is a book based on the dharma teachings of the Dalai Lama.
I place them here simply because I have read them and believed in them. They make very low commission, 4%, but I don’t mind as I feel good to recommend them to people.
Which brings me to our topic of affiliate marketing. My main qualm with this blogging strategy is centered on the fact that in our eagerness to make some money online, we sacrifice detail. Most of the sales pitches which we may find in clickbank or in chitika do not reveal very much except an attempt to convince us how crucial it is for us to buy.
If we have no experience with the product, our readers may believe that we have and it pass muster. This is what makes me wary of using affiliate marketing. For example, I noticed a top selling feng shui ebook which from the excerpts looked impressive but as I have not read it, I would rather not recommend it given my own held belief of what feng shui is all about.
This is something to consider. What do you think? Am I wrong to feel this way?
http://www.mixedjar.com/good-book-bloggers
http://www.mixedjar.com/short-blog-ideas
http://www.mixedjar.com/money-blogging
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it’s a noble thing to do, to only recommend what you believe and have used before. But then again, it’s also not wrong to place other products even if you have not used them before because you’re not pitching the sale, just sharing information. Consumers these days are well educated and they do their own research and make their own decisions. All’s fair, I feel
Sharing information…hmmm..I see your point. All’s fair in the ring..buyers beware.. but I would still add a proviso – there must be sufficient correct info.