Offers, GEOs, and Traffic: How to Choose the Most Profitable Affiliate Strategy

One of the best parts of being an affiliate marketer is the ability to work with traffic from virtually any location or vertical. That said, there are many elements that affiliates need to monitor in order to increase their chances of being successful, including the offers, locations, and the type of traffic they’re working with.

ActiveRevenue is one of the leading self-serve DSPs out there, so our team is familiar with the steps affiliates have to take to find the most profitable strategy. We understand the importance of the offers you choose as well as the locations and traffic types you have to target, so we’ve put together a guide to help you choose the best approach for your next affiliate campaign.

Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

Why Are GEOs, Traffic, and Offers Crucial for Affiliates?

The locations, traffic, and offers you work with directly affect the performance of your campaign. After all, the location defines the language as well as the approach you take in your content, so you need to adjust your materials for each individual GEO you target.

Not only this, but the users that make up your traffic will also influence your creative process and campaign structure. For instance, if you are targeting a younger user base, you can implement more innovative graphics and promote your content through newer social channels.

Lastly, the affiliate program contains all the details that marketers need to know to produce valid conversions. In other words, the offer or program you choose will determine how much work you have to do to get a commission, so choosing wisely can help boost your revenue without increasing the workload.

How to Choose the Most Profitable Affiliate Strategy

Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy that ensures a successful outcome. All affiliates are different, so you need to build a tailored strategy that takes the resources you have available into consideration in order to produce the best results. Furthermore, you need to test out multiple options to find the best traffic source, locations, and offers for your specific case.

Traffic

The quality of the traffic you acquire is influenced by a collection of different elements, so you need to make sure that the visitors you acquire are engaged and actively looking for something related to your content.

Types of Traffic

There are many different types of traffic, but they can all be divided into either organic or paid visitors. Organic traffic is acquired through non-paid means, like SEO or unpaid social media marketing, but it’s more difficult to obtain. Paid traffic, on the other hand, can be purchased from different sources.

Not only this, but buyers can decide what type of users they want, for example, people under a certain age or using a specific type of device.

Testing Traffic Sources

Affiliates can choose from hundreds of different paid traffic providers, so the only way to find the best option is to run split tests and compare your results. During these tests, you need to run the exact same campaign and just change the traffic source in order to get accurate results.

Locations or GEOs

The locations or GEOs that you target influence your cost-per-acquisition, user engagement, and other key affiliate campaign metrics. Affiliate GEOs are located into country tiers 1, 2, and 3, with the first tier consisting of the top locations.

Top Locations

Tier-1 countries include the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, and other developed nations where consumers have a lot of acquisitional power. Even though these GEOs may come with higher-paying commissions, remember that tier-1 countries are also the hardest to convert.

Testing Locations and GEOs

Testing locations is a bit trickier because you always need to adjust your content for the local audience. However, you can compare the results you obtain from launching a campaign in nearby locations and run micro-split tests in order to weed out underperforming areas.

Offers

Finally, offers that come from different advertisers often have unique requirements and, therefore, produce distinct results even with the same traffic source. By identifying the best offer for your specific case, you can increase your chances of success without changing anything else.

Types of Affiliate Offers or Programs

There are countless types of affiliate programs out there, so you’ll be able to find a suitable option regardless of the type of content, payment method, or industry you prefer. Just remember to verify that the product being promoted is desirable as this will directly impact how your ads perform.

Testing Affiliate Offers

If you can’t decide between two offers that are promoting a similar product, the best way to find the best alternative is always to run split tests. Similar to traffic sources, you should run the same campaign to make the tests accurate, with the exception of changing the product name and any other necessary details of course.

Looking to Take the Next Step? Contact ActiveRevenue and We’ll Be Glad to Help

Want to find out how to create an affiliate campaign? Contact ActiveRevenue and our team of specialists will be glad to help.