Affiliate Program Guide
You signed up for the affiliate program and the first thing you are probably wondering is, how much money (or credit) can I really make off of this program? Sky is the limit, there are no caps on what you can make. What can you really expect? It all depends on how much you are willing to put back into this program. This guide is going to map out ideas and methods to really capitalize on making as much money as possible with the level of effort you are comfortable with.
Automotive Forums
Forum Signatures
We know that most of our customers are familiar with are automotive related forums. I bet a lot of you reading this may have found out about Detailed Image from an auto forum. There are thousands of automotive forums on the web, so this is a great avenue to reach thousands of automotive enthusiasts, your target market. If you are an active poster on a forum, the easiest thing you can do is add an affiliate link to your forum signature. If you have a lot of posts built up, say 300, you instantly just made 300 links with your affiliate ID code. The more you talk, the more links you have out there for other viewers to click on. Try using a creative approach, just having Detailed Image in your signature doesn't make me want to click it. One idea is to list out your vehicle, along with mods, and somewhere in there say something like "Maintained by Detailed Image", "Always Detailed", "Shine by Detailed Image", etc.
Forum Profiles
Another very simple one. Most forums have a spot for you to list a webpage or homepage in your member profile. Here's a good spot to throw in an affiliate link for added exposure.
Actively Answering Forum Questions
Many automotive forums have a dedicated section to detailing, or it may be bundled under maintenance. If you plan on registering on a new forum and start linking on your first post, expect to be banned or flagged. This gorilla marketing method won't lead to any sales. We highly suggest developing a good reputation on each forum and building up at least 50 posts before putting any affiliate links on any forum. You will gain more credibility from the members this way if you can share your detailing knowledge, build your trust, then offer product recommendations. Providing detailed explainations on why you like a certain product, why you'd recommend it to them, will give more credibility to your post and a higher chance of someone following your advice and following through with a purchase. Including details of your personal vehicle being detailed using the products can help as well.
Product Reviews
Doing a quality product review is probably one of the easiest ways to generate sales. Your goal should be to thoroughly explain and document the product you used, how you used it, before and after pictures, comparison between the product you are reviewing and similar products you've used, price per use is a good one to throw in, and of course, an affiliate link back to where you can purchase the product. Here's a link to a couple of product reviews.
Another option instead of using a text link is to use a signature image. We have a variety of images and banners listed in your affiliate page.
Make Sure to Link Using Best Practices
Hyperlink keywords that are describing the page you are trying to show someone. For example, if you are trying to link to Menzerna PO106FF polish, you do not want it to look sloppy like:
Build the URL into the product you are trying to link to, so that it looks like this:
To do this on a forum, we suggest typying out your entire reply first, then go back and highly the products that you referenced, highlight the word you are looking to link. Press the link button and paste in your affiliate link, like shown below:
Automotive Websites or Blogs
Own or manage an automotive website? Using banners or text based links is an easy way to generate some income. We've found that text based links with some content behind the links works best. Banners typically do not have as high of a click-through-rate and do not convert as high. The more traffic you have going to your site, the better the chance of landing a sale.
Product reviews on your website are great ways to generate quality affiliate leads. If you need content for an article or product review, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Auto Related Newsletters
Have a list of automotive enthusiasts? Consider featuring a product or detailing related article to get some well qualified affiliate links in the hands of car enthusiasts. If you need content for an article or product review, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Professional Detailers
Professional detailers probably have the highest potential to earn affiliate money. Many automotive enthusiasts look up to professional detailers advice and put their trust in their knowledge and expertise. Auto detailers often have more avenues to market to because they are usually active on forums, have a website to promote their business and we also offer an addional avenue to promote their business and affiliate programs through Detailed Image's existing customers and viewers. We recommend that professional detailers take advantage of the same things we recommend above with forum interaction.
Beyond that, if you happen to have your own website promoting your detailing services, here's a few things you can do to land some affiliate sales. Create a page on your website that explains what differentiates yourself from the competition. Here's your chance to show your readers that you have more knowledge than the detailer down the street. Explain different detailing processes and techniques and also list some of the high quality products you use. Now you may think that you will lose customers by doing this, but it actually builds credibility in your work. Your ideal customer doesn't have the time to detail themselves and are not going to look into spending hundreds of dollars in products and allocate hours of their time to detail their own vehicle. By adding your process and recommendations to your website, you are also building more content for your site, which will ultimately drive more traffic to your site. The more traffic to your site, the more calls you will get for details.
Here's how I think professional detailers will benefit the most from our affiliate program. Detailed Image is looking to add recommendations of professional detailers to our website. We are willing to put up a page on DetailedImage.com promoting you and your business! This gives you an opportunity to put a quick bio on our site, a link back to your website and some product recommendations that will have your affiliate code on there. That means, if someone finds www.detailedimage.com because of your product recommendations or bio, and ends up purchasing products, you get credit! Detailed Image receives thousands of visitors each month that find our site from search engine traffic, so this is a win-win opportunity for both yourself and Detailed Image. If you are a detailer and interested in setting up a bio page on Detailed Image, please contact us using the Affiliate Program as the subject.
Shop for Friends & Family
An easy way to rack up some affiliate money is by ordering for friends and family members. Simply click on your own affiliate link and you will be credited for your sale at Detailed Image. Getting credit for your own purchases is an added bonus for anyone who participates in our affiliate program.
Other Recommendations
We want to reward you if you can think of other methods of promoting DetailedImage.com . If you come across a method that seems to be working for you, and feel others can benefit from doing this too, let us know and we'll be sure to reward you with some incentives to make even more affiliate money! Good luck and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
