Affiliate sales for Fitness Equipment

[aaronmp2003]

Hey All. I've got an idea about using an affiliate program on my website, and just wanted to run it by some of the pros in here to see if you think it has merit.

Basically, I run a Personal Training website, and my main source of income is the clients I garner through the site. However, since my chosen field is very time consuming (training clients, travel time, research, exercise programming, etc.), I'm trying to find smart ways to utilize my website to bring in extra cash flow.

So far, I've got several affiliate links set up, as well as a Google Adsense account, although most of it is fairly new, so I really can't comment yet on how well it is performing. So here is my question:

From my Fitness Equipment page at http://www.aaronspersonaltraining.com/fitness_gear.html , I am going to set up links to "More...", more exercise balls, more jump ropes, more heart rate monitors, etc. Those links will go to pages that are branded with my site's navigation, but the entire content will be affiliate-driven fitness equipment.

To keep from getting 8,000 checks from every affiliate under the sun, I've set up a BeFree account, and have chosen The Sports Authority, Bally's, and FogDog Sports as my vendors. Between the 3 of them, I expect literally dozens of pages of affiliate products, each page optimized by keyword for the equipment found there.

Do you think this plan has a chance of pulling in some change, or should I stick to telling people "3 more reps... you can do it!" :)

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

-- Aaron

[Linda Buquet]

Aaron,

I think that's a very smart plan. You are focused on your market and everyting ties in. I would also suggest building up your newsletter subscribers and then offering any coupons or specials your merchants have to your list.

[elearning]

This will work.

I subscribe to "Secrets of their Success" and there is an article/story there about a website that does just this - and based on the owners testimonial - he is doing about $5,000.00 US in affiliate sales.

The website is www.exercise-equipment-review.com.

Remember though - fitness and exercise equipment is very (VERY) competetive so you'll need to highly optimize your pages and probably want to stick with PPC advertising to bring in the numbers.

Good luck!

Mohammed


Hey All. I've got an idea about using an affiliate program on my website, and just wanted to run it by some of the pros in here to see if you think it has merit.

Basically, I run a Personal Training website, and my main source of income is the clients I garner through the site. However, since my chosen field is very time consuming (training clients, travel time, research, exercise programming, etc.), I'm trying to find smart ways to utilize my website to bring in extra cash flow.

So far, I've got several affiliate links set up, as well as a Google Adsense account, although most of it is fairly new, so I really can't comment yet on how well it is performing. So here is my question:

From my Fitness Equipment page at http://www.aaronspersonaltraining.com/fitness_gear.html , I am going to set up links to "More...", more exercise balls, more jump ropes, more heart rate monitors, etc. Those links will go to pages that are branded with my site's navigation, but the entire content will be affiliate-driven fitness equipment.

To keep from getting 8,000 checks from every affiliate under the sun, I've set up a BeFree account, and have chosen The Sports Authority, Bally's, and FogDog Sports as my vendors. Between the 3 of them, I expect literally dozens of pages of affiliate products, each page optimized by keyword for the equipment found there.

Do you think this plan has a chance of pulling in some change, or should I stick to telling people "3 more reps... you can do it!" :)

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

-- Aaron

[aaronmp2003]

Thank you both for your help and ideas! I hadn't thought about throwing the promotions in my monthly newsletter - will definitely be doing that. And I may also dabble in PPC, depending on how my traffic goes. Based on what I've learned in here, I've got a good SEO plan... of course, finding the time to implement that plan is something else altogether.... :)

For now, though, the site is up and running, and I am going to be tweaking it on a daily basis, as well as adding new content. Right now I just have the basics up.

-- Aaron

[TranscendMedia]

Aaron,

Like you said having a plan and implementing it are two completely different things, but if you keep at it I think you will do very well. I have worked with some very large & small sites selling fitness equipment, suppliments, etc. Many of these sites had affiliates that drove traffic from reviews and instructionally sites.

My suggestion would be to build an overall fitness site and then build a more targeted niche for specific exercises or types of workouts. I am not that knowledgeable in the fitness industry and search around and try to find a niche in fitness that isn't heavily saturated so you can build your rankings faster and pay less for PPC's.

Stick with your site you know what you are doing and have some good goals. Keep up the hard work and you will definettly see some "change"! :)

Goood luck and happy holidays!
Gregory Van Horn
President & Senior Developer
Transcend Media Interactive Marketing & Development Group (http://www.transcendmediagroup.com/)
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