Alternatives to the ePN – eBay Partner Network
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Do you see it as Half Full or Half Empty?
I know there is not much consoling anyone can do right for affiliates who were shut out as part of the new eBay strategy, but I am going to try anyway. Who knows, I am just as vulnerable to the next round of cuts as anyone else right?
The most important thing we must ALL do right now is look for the best way to insulate ourselves from future change at the company we have all placed alot of our unjust confidence in.
eBay Partner Network is NOT the Only Game in Town!
For however long you have been building your niche websites, you have the one thing that NO affiliate program can take away from you, your website! You have built an asset in your portfolio and there is no need to let this bump in the road derail all of your efforts up to this point.
I posted this on the BANS forum yesterday afternoon and there were several who questioned where they could possibly find affiliate programs for oddball niche markets, one reader asked: “Where do I find an affiliate program for Refrigerator Filters?” My answer of course is: http://www.fridgefilters.com/affiliate-program.html
Just because eBay no longer wants your quality and highly targeted traffic, there are plenty of others that do!I would venture to say that some of them even pay better than the eBay program, but its up to you to find them and build them.
Type your target phrase into a search engine and visit the top 5 results. My guess is that you will find 3 of them have affiliate programs, anxiously awaiting your visitors!
Don’t Wait for the Dreaded ePN Email – Prepare for it Now!
If there is one thing you have heard every successful affiliate say all the time, its that you have to be diverse in your efforts. The ePN currently accounts for less than 30% of the income Kim and I have coming into our home from affiliate websites! Is it a fair amount, Yes… but still nothing we could not live without!
Several weeks ago, I wrote about moving from straight BANS sites to the wordpress model, with different ways to build a BANS site and prepare for the worst. At that time, I wrote the post as part of a Google slap, but I still included the possibility of ePN issues. I have been using blogs with BANS since April of this year on several of my sites and I can tell that if (or when) eBay decides my traffic does fit the hidden criteria, changing from BANS monetization to other affiliate programs is only a few hours and mouse clicks away.
If you Don’t Know how to Use WordPress -Start Learning Today!
There are many resurces for using WP as a content management system. This site is run on WordPress and I assure you, once you get the basics figured out, you will only use one page of WordPress, the post page!
Here are a couple great reading resources for learning more about WordPress:
If I could offer a few tips of my own, they would be:
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ONLY use WP Pages for Static content!
In other words… Home > Contact > About > Privacy > etc. These are pages that will ALWAYS remain static for the most part. Sure, you may change a thing or two, but very rarely. Use categories for your site as often as possible! -
Install and Activate Plugins one at a Time!
Never install all of your plugins at once and activate all of them together! Sure enough, the site will choke on you and you wont know which plugin caused it! Install them one by one, activate them and test your site between each activation! -
Review your Plugins at Least Once a Month!
If you haven’t used it, deactivate it and delete it! -
Write new Content at least 3-4 times a week!
You don’t have to write a 1000 word post, some of my very successful posts on niche sites are less than 150 words of targeted content! The key is to be sure you add it often and always stay on focus to your buyer market. Don’t write about stoves on a car website! -
Use Sidebar Widgets 100% of the Time if you Can!
Sidebar widgets are nothing more than sitewide bits of code, you only need to type once, inside your WYSIWYG editor! If you begin hardcoding areas of your site, you will have a harder time finding and editing these code blocks later. SideBar Widgets are the way to go!
Last and Most Importantly – Do Not Give Up!
For all it has done now, the ePN has been very good to most of us up to this point. It has given us a way to create more passive household income and you have learned manyweb specific skills along the way! From SEo to code to working with graphics, you HAVE the skills to do this on a different platform! You have developed a network of sites that are still YOURS! The traffic is Yours and someone else wants it just as bad as eBay used to!
Moving from a point and click interface like BANS is not going to be an easy road, but its also not as hard as you think it is! You have already learned the skills and built your foundation. Now you just need to repaint the inside of the house to appeal to different people!
We are all in this together folks… lets pull together and help each other out.
I am NOT moving away from the BANS model completely, but my posts will definitely swing to helping all of us with different affiliate programs. I am active in several other affiliate programs already and you will immediately see the shift from BANS centric posts to affiliate website marketing posts, focusing on ALL avenues of success.
Adam and Kelvin must be sick over this as well. It’s nothing to do with their software, but an large affiliate program that is not being up front with its sales force!
What other methods do YOU use to monetize your sites for your visitors?
Mark
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- 10 Alternatives to eBay Partner Network for Affiliates
- eBay Partner Network Kicking Affiliates in the Face!
- eBay Partner Network (eBay Affiliate Program) Open for Enrollment
- Get Ready for Another Slap by Ebay Partner Network!
- eBay Partner Network $20k Affiliates Contest
- All is not Lost when Dropped by eBay Partner Network
- eBay Partner Network wants Quality Traffic, Not Random Visits!
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I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
I’m also going to try and take a positive approach to all this.. Unlike alot of folks who used BANS as a sole income, when I signed up for BANS I had 1 purpose to use the extra income for and what I have made so far has helped TREMENDOUSLY! But along the way I have learned so much and started realizing how IM and all this stuff worked and it is sooo interesting. Even though I have learned so much, I have so much to learn.
If/when i get the boot from EPN, of course it will be a blow, but I’m going to do my best to remain positive and look at it as an opportunity to learn MORE. That’s about all I can do!
Good insights Mark. Thought I would chime in.
Unlike most of you, the eBay EPN affiliate program is over 95% of my business. People say don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It wasn’t by choice at the time, they have just been that part of my business that has grown enormously for me. I am sure I am not the only one. Recap: I was laid off last year from my computer desktop support job and that is when I devoted my time to my website hobby, which is developing ecommerce sites from BANS as passive income. Too much belief, one year later (7-2007), I am still cranking away and doing pretty well as a sole proprietor with the eBay affiliate program. I have tried other affiliate programs, but never had real success. I enjoy eBay and always have been fascinated with their business model because people love auctions and get caught up in the buying frenzy.
I had been looking forward to the new value based pricing model. But, over the past week I have felt sick to my stomach and have become very frustrated with the turmoil over the situation of some people being removed from the program. They must have done something to become removed because of poor quality and value. It is overwhelming when you read some of the forums and bulletin board posts trying to figure this all out. I have also tried searches to find more information and came up empty. However, I will be listening to the eBay town hall today. I want to know more about how eBay’s business model affects me and my business.
Then there is the hype of combining WP with BANS and it has become frustrating, as easy as it should be for me to do this. I tried to install these 2 together 3 times and failed, but I want BANS first, then WP.
And at the same time, last week I spent $$$$ on 4 very nice generic domain names (aftermarket purchases) and 1 brandable name to help keep my footing in some niche markets. Then I hear this news about some affiliates being removed from the program. I was like, oh man, now what? I was trying to figure how it would affect the development of my new names. Felt like that first hill on a roller coaster ride, ugh. Time will only tell if these names can become assets, but when it comes to domains, there is only one of it’s namesake. That is something I am positive about.
So, with those key elements, I have had a frustrating week. It can be difficult to stay positive, but you have to realize that there is a lot of opportunity available. No matter what area, niche or business partner you chose.
But I need to take a step back, relax and reanalysis some things, especially before I make another attempt to combine WP and BANS for an ultimate ecommerce solution
After hearing what Mark, Kevin and Adam all have to say, you just have to stay positive, think about the future, make the best of the worst and use it to your advantage, be a great business partner and you will be successful. I, on the hand, just want enough $ to buy one those Cayman Islands.
What I do is if I see something online for sale and cant find the affiliate network I email the company and ask if the will work with me. If they have a affiliate program my account normally gets pushed through because I started with the person who approves them. I did this lots when I 1st started because I didnt know about all the resources out there.
There are 1000s of affiliate programs for sure.
Mark….
thanks for the excellent post. It is always refreshing to come by here and read your ‘down to earth’ posts.
I think diversification is the key and I have also been looking at alternative affiliate programs to include in my portfolio and I must say there hasn’t yet been a niche where I haven’t found any.
Probably the biggest issue I am facing with these alternative programs is that many of them reject my application based on where I Iive (Australia) even though my websites target 100% US traffic.
Notwithstanding this I have managed to sign up with a number of different programs…you just need to keep looking.
This just reinforces my original goal for my golf site.
To create a niche CSE. I feel if you have a niche that has a good number of manufacturer/retail sites, then the niche CSE is the wave of the future!
Chuck
@ Sean -
I am right there with you feeling sick over all of this. heck, I have been in a massive ball of knots since Google delisted one of my sites months ago! LOL
The good part is that we do have alternatives and we have that one single natural resource nobody else does, our own traffic.
As I have been looking around tonight, I found a great resource: http://www.affiliateseeking.com/ There are essentially affiliate programs for everything!
Additionally, I have 2 large ecommerce sites I run for a customer of mine in the music gear industry. I assure you, we will have our own affiliate program up and running within a few months, if not sooner. From Guitars to stands and Strings… ANYTHING music will be involved.
One other thing I never really touched on in the post is that most affiliate programs, while they are slightly harder to convert visitors to buyers, they pay much better than eBay. The power of eBay was in its name…
Mark
Found this in my search – a list of them in http://www.dmoz.org under affiliate programs
I got banned and am on review. So far I have 95% BANS sites without wordpress. I have been thinking of adding wordpress but so far have not gotten around to it. I am taking a course in PHP next semester so that should make everything go more smoothly.
I have a collegue who does affiliate sites part time (he is also part-time SEO consultant) and he makes 10x more per site than I do. He uses all non-Ebay, non-BANS sites. I have been looking over his techniques this week and trying to figure out how to do what he does quickly. I think his sites take longer to build but I am guessing they do not take 10x as long.
He is a big time Wordpress proponent and says he would only use Wordpress to build sites in the future. I have a few wordpress/adsense sites and really enjoy them, although I have not spent the time to master Wordpress like I have BANS. The two are not really that different once you get used to them. Wordpress is just a lot more easily customizable but more dificult to get affiliate links on.
You got badly expired from the eBay program at pepperjam too (seems like ebay is telling the jam brothers who has expired). Any ideas what I can do now with my stores beside selling them?
Hey Mark,
I’ve a question regarding EPN and BANS. I recently launched a site which is powered by BANS. Its based on the Indian version of eBay.
Now the thing is, I purchased a software (Kaspersky Internet Security if you wanted to know) by clicking on a listing from my store. Its been 4 days and I have been credited yet.
Any ideas?
Regards,
– Naif
@ Naif -
It sounds like your security software may have blocked the cookie. Its not uncommon.
Clear your broswer cookies… close the browser. Reopen it and visit your site, then ebay.
Go into your folder and see if the cookie is in place.
Mark
Mark,
I already see a cookie in place. Do all products sold on eBay carry a commission?
I am scared now because I am receiving many visitors to the site and I see many clicks at the ebay partner network website. So its possible users might be purchasing few things through my website but I haven’t been credited anything yet. Does it on occaisions take time for the commission to reflect?
Regards,
– Naif
Great info, I never got on the BANS bandwagon. I have stuck with the wordpress model either using phpbay or affomatic (I just found). I’ve built some pretty bigs sites and Google really seems to like wordpress. I use adsnse and I do pretty well with it as an add on. You really need to add content.
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