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As far as theory goes, this was just a simple, but specific example of what you should look for to make your efforts pay off. There are many different opportunities to get ahead in existing programs with data-feed sites; you just have to look for them.

Now, let's talk about flaws of merchants and how you can exploit them to make more money and help consumers at same time.

I will give another specific example, but you should be able to apply this concept to many different programs.

Our site has one huge structural flaw: we only list products by product-oriented categories.

In other words, there is no way to navigate our site by a specific occasion or by purchasing intent of a visitor.

You can follow a path like:

widgets -> wooden widgets -> red wooden widgets

This setup works fine for some type of shoppers, but is a complete turn-off for others.

And problem is that most affiliates simply mirror catalog structure of a merchant according to their feed.

But if you structured your site to list widgets as: - widgets for birthdays - widgets for girlfriends - widgets for those who are over 50 - Independence Day widgets etc.

then you would attract different type of shoppers. You would no longer compete with merchant, but instead you would complement them.

A visitor who is looking for a gift for his 50-something friend and has no idea that a red wooden widget would be perfect, will not travel down path laid out by our catalog. So if he gets to our home page, we simply lose a sale. And if your data-feed-based site follows same structure - you lose as sale as well.

Also, since visitor does not know that he really wants a red wooden widget, he we not use those keywords while searching for a present on search engines.

But if you attracted that visitor to your site, presented him with ideas for older friends' birthday gifts and guided him to that specific widget's page - then we would make a sale, you would make a commission, and visitor (turned customer) would get his present with much less searching around. Everyone wins.

Such approach takes more work than simply cloning merchant's site with a feed, but affiliates who actually do something to complement merchant instead competing with them make a lot more money. After all, if you create a copy of a merchant's site - you are not only competing with merchant, you are also competing with all of their affiliates that use same feed in same way.

Konstantin Goudkov manages an affiliate program with a merchant that carries 2500+ gifts. If you enjoy working with companies that treat affiliates like valued partners then be sure to check us out.