Affiliate Marketing Trends According to Forrester

MyAdminSpace.com: Affiliate Marketing Trends According to Forrester

Forrester predicts that 2013 will finally be the year that affiliate marketing migrates successfully to mobile platforms. The marketing experts at MyAdminSpace.com take a look at all that it might entail.
The influential market research firm Forrester predicts 2013 will be the year affiliate marketing gets serious about mobile platforms. The affiliate marketing experts at MyAdminSpace.com say it’s about time.
Recent research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project confirms that in 2012, 46 percent of Americans used smartphones. Market penetration is more specific for certain demographics than for others.
Smartphones are most popular with affluent young people under the age of 45. The next largest groups of smartphone users are African Americans and Latinos respectively.
Most smartphone owners use their phones for accessing the Internet. At least 25 percent of all smartphone owners say their smartphones are their primary means of accessing the Internet.
Increasingly, e-commerce businesses design two sets of websites, one accessible by computer and the other accessible by smartphones. The design specs and elements for these two types of websites are very different from one another.
Affiliate marketers have been slow to jump on the mobile wagon. There are several reasons for this.
• Bumpy transfer between partners: The referral from the affiliate marketer’s content site to the retail site must take place as effortlessly as possible. If it doesn’t, customers start to wonder about the nature of the transaction.
• Referral must be properly credited: Affiliate marketers need to be properly credited for referrals they make to mobile retail partners. This type of programming is still problematic on a mobile platform.
This may mean that affiliate marketers and retailers will need to rethink their relationships with advertisers, says Forrester. “Now is the time for advertisers to form strong ties to the publisher community.” Increasingly, affiliate marketers will be forming relationships with advertising networks rather than with retailers themselves.
• Mobile platform templates: Finally, many affiliate marketers publish content sites using their web hosting site’s templates As of yet, though, no web hosting has begun designing templates specifically for mobile use.
Programmers for WordPress, the open source content management system, recently developed a Mobile plugin. In theory, any affiliate marketer who can use the WordPress content management system can customize content for mobile phones. WordPress may be difficult for neophyte affiliate marketers, however.
The WordPress Mobile plugin allows users to earn commissions through the global mobile advertising network AdMob.
• Conversion rate: The conversion rate for mobile phone affiliates is far lower than the conversion rates for laptop and desktop users. This is because many standard affiliate marketing strategies don’t work as well on mobile platforms.
For example, article marketing is not an effective mobile strategy. Many people prefer not to read content on their phones, so article marketing won’t be as successful.
MyAdminSpace.com is an online hosting network that provides its clients with the tools and expertise they need to become successful affiliate marketers. Whether clients are looking to supplement their job income or replace it entirely, affiliate marketing can help them succeed.