advertising Archives - Daniel J. Lewis

How much consideration do you put into choosing which affiliates links you use?

For most of my podcasts, affiliate links are easy—Amazon.com for everything because they sell everything at usually great prices.

But on my “how-to” podcast about podcasting, The Audacity to Podcast, affiliates are more complicated. I recommend many more products:

mixers,
microphones,
software,
audio cables,
video cameras,
mobile devices,
web hosting,
and anything else that helps podcasting.

In the past, I've used several affiliates:

The decision for a link is hard when affiliate programs vary in payouts and certain companies will happily reshare my content if I use their affiliates exclusively. But when a single product is the same price on several sites, it's even harder to decide which affiliate to use.

I appreciate the affiliate relationship I have with B&H, but I know it's often more convenient and cheaper for my audience to purchase from Amazon.com.

A quick poll on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ revealed overwhelming preference for Amazon.com, even when other retailers had the same price. The reasons usually focused on the following.

Amazon Prime members who could get free two-day shipping
Amazon.com giftcards earned through programs like Swagbucks
Account already exists on Amazon and don't want to sign up somewhere else
Amazon.com's trusted reputation

I even prefer Amazon.com for most purchases because they usually have the best price, we have a warehouse nearby, and I regularly earn free giftcards from Swagbucks. Am I violating any rule by using an affiliate link to a retailer I may not prefer?

Then looking on the profit side, I usually make more money through my Amazon affiliates than I do with other affiliate links. Almost every month, I sell enough items through my combined Amazon tracking IDs that I earn a 6.5% commission (I'm always so close to 7%!). Each additional item sold through Amazon increases the possibility that I could earn a higher percentage rate.

Amazon offers handy widgets and plenty of linking options, including simply adding “tag=danieljlewis-20” to any URL to turn it into an affiliate link.

Then there's B&H. They have a great website, accurate search, great customer service, and handy link creation. While they offer a variety of widget formats, making widgets are a pain. My earning potential with B&H is a little lower. But they've reminded me that if I exclusively use B&H affiliate links in my product reviews, they would share my reviews with their social-media followers. And the better I perform, the more likely I can borrow some demo units for more reviews.

For most podcasting equipment I talk about on The Audacity to Podcast, I end up including affiliate links to both Amazon.com and B&H. This makes my linking process twice as long.

So what's the ethical thing to do? I believe that is to continue offering Amazon.com affiliate links first unless a better price or better product is available elsewhere. Sure, this won't make me popular with companies like B&H, but I believe this will give my followers the right options for them to make their own choices. After all, they're smart people.

How do you handle affiliate links for the same product from competing retailers? I'd love to hear your opinions and experience in the comments below.

I had an early flight out from Las Vegas back to Cincinnati after New Media Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show.

Along the way, I discovered many ways that Delta could have provided a seamlessly enjoyable experience for their customers. Maybe you can do the same with your customers.

1. Make clear instructions

When I arrived at the Delta check-in line, I found one line that spit me into the electronic, self-check-in system, and one line that went to humans. I had already checked myself in, so I needed a human to take my luggage.

Where do I go?

Some simple signage would have gone a long way. “Assisted ticketed or luggage check-in here” would have cleared my confusion, and the confusion of several other customers who had to ask questions.

2. Don't force your customers to waste

I hate paper and I love the convenience of my smartphone. So I choose to use an eboarding pass whenever possible.

Upon checking in my luggage, the ticketing associate proceeded to print my two boarding passes, “in case your battery dies or there's a problem with the scanners.”

At this point, the whole purpose of eboarding passes just died.

Let me worry about my own battery or how my phone works.

If you think there's a possibility of your system failing, fix that before inconveniencing your customers with wasteful “insurance.”

3. Default to convenience

Inside the airplane, every seat faces a small LCD screen for in-flight entertainment, messages, and other purposes.

My flight boarded at 5:20 in the morning and not many people were interested in looking at a glowing screen. Thoughtfully, Delta has a power button below the screen so it can be turned off.

For the first hour, I think I was the only person to recognize the power button and turn off my screen.

You can serve your customers better if your default is convenience. For Delta, I would suggest this being the screens turned off for flights in darkness.

Don't make your customers have to inconvenience themselves in order to receive the convenience.

4. Don't advertise to paying customers

I have a big pet peeve about ads. I welcome ads on free content, because the bills have to be paid somehow.

But if I'm paying for something, I shouldn't have to see ads. (Cable companies and Hulu, this is why you will never receive my dollars.)

I was surprised that after spending hundreds of dollars on my airfare, Delta still showed ads on little LCD screens. These ads were unavoidable and the screens could not be turned off during the ads.

Ironically, the intro to the ads said that the in-flight entertainment was provided by the advertising company. But the in-flight entertainment cost money, too!

If your customers pay you, try not to ask them for more money or force them to see advertising.

5. Use humor

Delta gets points here. Instead of the normal flight-safety presentation by stewardesses, Delta played a video through all of the screens.

Version 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noE1YzvfA08

Version 2:

The words of the video were serious, concise, and simple. But the accompanying video contained small bits of humor that made the safety video a delight to watch.

They didn't use too much humor, which would have distracted from the video's important message. Instead, the humor was like a seasoning that added subtle flavor without overpowering the most important part.

If you can make your customers smile, then you're in the right track.