Geotargeting, pet project and uber-lurkage!

[MikeFishcake]

Tweet

Hello everyone!

On the advice of another forum member, I signed up for A4U probably about a year and a half ago, but because I didn't have any time to get any stuff done, didn't bother posting.

But I've taken the plunge now Had a good browse around this site, a look at a few blogs and so on, to get some ideas.

Anyway... I've got a bit of a project on the go at the moment - it's more to have a go at creating an ad-supported content based site rather than trying to make a quick and easy few quid. I just want to see if I have the technical ability to do it really!

I've got the Joomla CMS running with the MetaMod extension which allows me to use Geotargeting, which I plan to use for ad-serving. After a bit of fiddling around, I managed to get the Geotargeting to work properly. It's been tested by a friend in Canada, so I know that's fine.

I've been signed up to AffiliateFuture.co.uk for a while; just never got round to using it properly, and got signed up to AffiliateWindow and Amazon Associates this week.

What I need to know is who are the best affiliate networks to sign up for with regard to being able to advertise stuff internationally? I don't actually need the affiliate network to supply the Geotargeting code, because I've got no problem with setting up the filters within my own CMS, all I really need is an affiliate network that allows me to sign up to programs that advertise products aimed at the US, Canada, Australia etc...

I've taken a look at AdSense, but I'd much rather have control over what ads I show, and from witnessing AdSense on other sites, it can be hilariously inaccurate at times (adverts for Christian singles on heavy metal forums for instance).

Will Amazon allow a UK seller to sign up for it's US/Canadian/Australian associates program as well? Same for affiliate future?

Well, it's nice to have made my first posting here now - I hope it's the first of many, and you never know, I may one day end up being a person actually giving advice rather than just requesting it ;-)

Cheers

Mike

[web-strategies]

What I need to know is who are the best affiliate networks to sign up for with regard to being able to advertise stuff internationally?

I don't do much USA stuff, but you might want to check out Commission Junction - A Global Leader in Affiliate Marketing, Online Advertising and Search Engine Marketing , LinkShare | Online Marketing Services, Search Marketing, Lead Generation, Affiliate Marketing and ShareASale. Affiliate Future also have a USA operation I believe, and webgains is international too.

Will Amazon allow a UK seller to sign up for it's US/Canadian/Australian associates program as well? Same for affiliate future?

The Amazon programmes operate independently of each other. You need to sign up for them all individually (and be able to speak/translate the language), and all payments are made separately. For example, Amazon.de programme is at http://partnernet.amazon.de.

There is no Australian associates programme, only USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany & Japan. Amazon.fr and Amazon.de pay in Euros direct to your bank account. Amazon.com will pay out by cheque only

David.

[Gavinio]

Well Mike, you've actually already given out some advice in the form of the MetaMod application! An alternative to that used by many would be OpenX: Take control of your advertising | OpenX

I second what David above has said actually - the above are all good recommendations.

For what it's worth out here in Oz we tend to use Amazon.com or .uk depending on the exchange rates (there's no equivalent in the local market at all) and/or eBay.

So things like Amazon, eBay and AdSense would make good fillers for markets where you don't have specific advertisers - don't be too scared by the irrelevance of AdSense from time to time - even bible-bashers like to rock out from time to time! Maybe not to Doom/Sludge/Death metal though.

The key is that these programmes all offer contextual advertising so you don't need to worry too much about it. There are other mainly US companies that will give you geo-targeted ads too.

One thing I would say is that the majority of sales and money don't come from banners so much as inline text and articles with text links in them - so try and incorporate those if you actually want to make some money You could maybe put "Check out here (US/UK/DE/ROTW)"

Obviously keep an eye on your logs to see what is converting, what is working and what countries your traffic is from so you can really concentrate on those markets.

Let us know how you go and good luck!

[yesasia]

You can sign up with YesAsia.com and YesStyle.com on Webgains. Sign up with the UK program to be paid locally. You can then advertise us worldwide. Outside of US / Europe, we also have good sales in Asia / Australia / South America.

thanks,
Stefan

[MikeFishcake]

Thanks David, Gavin and Stefan!

I did take a look at OpenX, and it did look good, but there's apparently some bugs with the Geotargeting in the current release, so I've gone with MetaMod for the time being.

OpenX looks a bit less fiddly though, so hopefully by the time I get to launch the site, the problems will be gone.