🎣 This Affiliate Tactic ROCKS for New Sites

It’s no secret, large publications are eating more and more space on affiliate queries as Google has a massive bias towards them lately. And that, even if the topic is COMPLETELY irrelevant to what the site is primarily about. I mean, when you need advice on steak, would you think of consulting Forbes.com? Well, Google thinks so, apparently.  While I’m hoping this is just a phase, it’s no doubt that smaller publishers are looking for ways to drive affiliate conversions without running into these behemoths on the SERPs. And that’s exactly what we’re going to be giving you today so buckle up 😎.  Let me preface this by saying that this tactic can be used for Good or Evil like many powerful tactics we teach. So remember uncle Ben’s last words before you use this one. I trust you. Now let’s get started! For the sake of today’s example, let’s jump into one of the most competitive niches out there: VPNs. If you Google the review of a big player like Express VPN, your chances of ranking as a small or medium site are… nonexistent. With most of the top 3 being DR 85+ with 170 - 314 backlinks to page, good luck rookie. Even established VPN sites like VPN Mentor are starting to get their ass kicked by large generic tech sites like Cnet and PC Mag. And the reason this query is so competitive is that Express VPN’s affiliate programs is very lucrative. While they advertise only $36 commission for a yearly plan sale to new affiliates, I know for a fact the people that have the sales volume make up to $200 for the same sale. So how does a small site generate these juicy commissions if all the roundup and product review keywords are completely saturated? Glad you asked! See, the VPN market certainly has those big popular players, but there are HUNDREDS of B-grade providers below that. - Panda VPN - Open VPN - Dot VPN - Tiger VPN - Unblockr - VPN Area - Viking VPN And people do search for reviews of these products (albeit a lot less) Unfortunately, these second tier providers often don’t have an affiliate program… And when they do, their conversion rates are so low that they’re really not worth the time of most affiliates. This is why many of the bigger sites do not bother reviewing them. So if you Google say "Unblockr.net review", you will not find the DR 90+ behemoths on top but much smaller sites you actually have a chance to compete with as a small challenger. But anyway, how do these smaller fishes make money from these kinds of keywords if the conversion rate is trash? Well, you take people who thought they needed an Unblockr.net subscription that doesn’t pay you at all and convince them they need Express VPN instead and pocket a $200 commission. And don’t get stuck with the search volume. When you have a high-paying offer, any keyword with intent is worth writing about, trust me. So how do you do that? Let’s look at how the clever folks of the VPN niche do it, shall we? 1. Highlight the shortcomings of the product in the review Obviously, if you want to rank for these terms, you will need to write an actual review of the product you’re talking about. But if you want people to opt for the alternative you want them to pick, you probably want to highlight the (true!) shortcomings of the product they came here for in the first place. 2. Have a prominent & colorful alternatives section in your article Another way to bait people into buying the product you want them to buy is to tempt them with a juicy table of alternatives right in the middle of the article. This works particularly well in this niche where the biggest providers offer substantial discounts and offers that can sway consumers to them rather than the competition. 3. Make a strong recommendation for the alternative in the conclusion Suppose people didn’t bite on your strong alternatives section. In that case, the conclusion is a strategic location for you to engage your editorial responsibility and flat out say you’d pick the alternative instead. If people are still reading, chances are they’d take your advice. The key is to give a few reasons why the alternative is superior without hard selling to keep your trust level high. 4. Catch living visitors with an exit pop up promoting the alternative If all else fails, building an exit pop-up promoting a special offer for the alternative works like gangbusters. I’ve made some of my best affiliate money from this tactic, and it’s pretty easy to do with a tool like [Thrive Leads]( [Convertbox]( or [Opt-in Monster](. If you notice on the screenshot, they are using a timer to add scarcity. This is flat-out a lie. The offer is always on the table, but I can’t deny that countdown timers increase conversions more than the world’s best copywriter. My advice is to find an ethical angle to add scarcity to such an offer rather than lie about it. Wrapping it up Sometimes, when you look at niche, it may seem impossible at first to compete with the big players. That’s why you have to be creative. Rather than driving into the wall, sidestep your competition and be creative to promote the best paying offers. And that’s something that the VPN niche has understood for a while, but many other niches haven’t. That’s your opportunity. Pick keywords with buying intent that seems impossible to monetize by selling the product mentioned but shift your visitors to buying the products that pay you money. Most big sites will NOT bother doing this. They will just go for the biggest keywords leaving these opened up for smaller sites. And while ranking for the main keywords should be your goal, while you’re not ranking yet, these can put some bread on the table. I hope this email gave you some ideas, and if you don’t want to miss the next ones, don’t hesitate to move them to your main inbox 😎. Gael Breton Co-Founder of Authority Hacker P.S: I just released the video version of my Fool.com analysis and how they monetize their info keywords. [If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here](. Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Authority Hacker, 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom