As the affiliate marketing arena shifts and evolves, it’s up to the marketers to shift and evolve with it. One way to do that is by offering your readers something unique.
Something I’ve been testing with success for the past year or so has been to offer a serial soap opera on some of my affiliate websites. And it’s something you may be able to do as well.
What’s a Serial Soap Opera?
Actually, maybe the term “soap opera” isn’t the right one. Instead, create a fictional story that directly relates to your niche and release it weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
For instance, if your niche is medical, you might consider creating a story along the lines of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Mind you, don’t copy Grey’s Anatomy, but create a story with a unique plot and characters set in a hospital or other medical care facility.
Even if you’re not a writer, you can hire a ghost writer. It’s also a great way to help brand your website (i.e. ‘A My Website Name’ story).
How to Implement it On Your Affiliate Site
Write your short stories, which shouldn’t be more than 15,000 words apiece, and offer the first one for free. You can even use it as incentive to sign up to your affiliate marketing website’s newsletter.
Whether or not subsequent editions are free is up to you—once you hook the subscriber with the first edition, you can then charge 99c for future editions—or you can use it as a way to keep a reader subscribed to your newsletter. Of course, you’ll have opportunities to market more products to your subscribers while they’re waiting for more installments of your story.
Another option is to compile the serial into a full-length book and offer that up for sale directly from the website or through Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, and other avenues.
While this technique may not work in every niche out there, it can work in a great many of them. (Selling tents and camping supplies? How about ‘Campfire Stories’? Patio supplies? ‘Backyard Shenanigans’.) You could always create the first story and put it up as a test on your site. If it works, write more.