10 affiliate sites that rock
Last week in this post I said I would give 10 examples of affiliate sites that I think are cool and are of real value to their users. Here we go…
1. Allkids- When talking to people just starting out in Affiliate Marketing I always use AllKids as a perfect example of what an affiliate site should be like. It was set up by my friend Elaine (who has no technical experience whatsoever) in 1999 when she saw a gap in the market for a site that offered resources for parents. She never intended it to make money - which is always the best way to approach a new venture I think. Anyway it now generates over £200k in sales per month for the merchants she promotes.
2. OSOYOU- Osoyou cleverly mixes a traditional shopping site with social media and a big dose of community spirit. Instead of just a static shopping directory they use datafeeds from the merchants they promote very cleverly by giving their users the chance to create a virtual shopping list of items they would like to purchase. This site is definitely worth checking out to see how a bit of lateral thinking should be employed in order to do things differently.
3. Loquax- This site has been around for 10 years now, which is a huge achievement in itself. Loquax is mainly known as a competition portal but has now expanded to shopping, discount codes and online gaming. It does really well in the search engines proving that regular fresh content does work and has an active community with over 167,000 members.
4. Travel Rants- winner of the Best Travel Consumer Blog in the recent Travolution awards. A shining example of how to find a unique angle in the saturated online travel market and exploit it. Instead of just knocking up another me-too travel site that features say “nice hotels in Benidorm” - yawn - Darren (the owner) has taken the approach of being a bit controversial and writing about a subject that anyone who has travelled abroad before will have experienced, i.e. bad customer service etc. His posts are always passionate and he is obviously knowledgeable about the subjects he discusses.
5. Alex’s Coupons- This site was born from a father’s need to raise cash for his daughter Alex who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 1998. Click here to read the full story. 10 years on the site is still going strong and has a very loyal following from people who have been touched by Leukemia and Cancer as well as a very strong following from people who just want to donate to a worthy cause by shopping through the site’s affiliate links. Not the prettiest site ever, but it does the job very well.
6. Shlogging- A deal site that utilises votes from users to display the biggest offers to users. A bit like Digg but for special offers/discounts. I really like the simple, clean crisp layout.
7. Purse Blog- “Shallow obsessing strongly encouraged” is the tagline for this site about designer handbags. I love the attention to detail and high quality photo’s on this blog. A really good blog and well monetised. Another example of writing with passion.
8. The Bargainist - Dead simple bargain and offer site that has tons of fresh content updated daily. This site gets a ton of traffic and rightly so. As I often say, simple is best and this site doesn’t try to be over clever and it works.
9. My Deco- Brought to us from one of the founders of LastMinute.com, MyDeco uses product feeds and affiliate links in a unique way. Instead of just a plain shopping directory the site lets you pick items for specific rooms in your house and visualise how they will look. It also offers tons of tips, style ideas, makeovers and loads and loads of unique content to bring users in. Very well put together and a great idea.
10. VoucherCodes.com - An example of a voucher code site done really well. Loads of fresh content, well optimised and gets a ton of traffic and converts well for its merchants.
Are there any affiliate sites that rock that I’ve missed out?
What I’m listening to right now: Usher – “This Ain’t Sex”
Post from: Affiliate Marketing Blog Here.org.uk
Original post by Kieron