It’s time to be nice to the people you can’t stand. (Blink-182)

I’m too easily distracted. Anyway, ho ho ho have a merry affiliate christmas. Although I hope for many of you this christmas will be more green than white as the dollars roll in from this highly profitable season. AM is all about preparation long beforehand in the case of seasonal marketing, (in some cases it’s reacting instantly to trends and buzz’s) and this christmas is no different. It’s just turned October, from the time of writing, you have around 79 days to get ready for xmas because before you know it sales will start creeping up, CTR increasing and your conversions will hopefully see a big boost.

Ideally by November, you want to have your arsenal of sites all ready, if you’re going for the PPC method, you should have your campaigns at the ready and running.

To help you along I’ve compiled some top tips to help you this xmas, from where to promote to PPC tips, the full list is available after the jump!

2009 Affiliate Xmas Tips

1. Choose your merchants carefully

The obvious rules apply here. Trust is #1, if you waste your time and money sending a customer to a website that doesn’t look trust worthy, or has a lot of faults in the website, chances are they’re going to take their cash (with your slice) elsewhere.

Amazon is great for trust, the brand is instantly recognizable and the profit they take in over the xmas season is unreal. It’s amazing how they cope! The downside with Amazon is a fairly low payout, starting at around 4%. So if you sell something worth $100, you’re getting 4 bucks. Not amazing really when you consider how low your PPC costs would have to be. If you have a very cheap source of traffic, or lots of organic (lucky) then Amazon is great. The downside being you really have to pump volume to get a big return.

There are many, many, many sites that offer affiliate programs and look legit. Make sure if you’re going for “christmas gifts for dads that play golf” then you check to see if any big online golf stores have an affiliate program with a better payout.

2. PPC Bidding

It’s obvious that around winter, cost-per-click for terms like “best xmas gifts for dad” go much higher than they are in spring. Be sure to focus on long tail keywords for cheap clicks, for example; rather than “geeky presents”, go for “christmas presents for a geek” or something similar.

Another thing with PPC – I’ve seen people bid on “Sony Handheld Cameras” and similar, is that what you search for when you want a handheld? A majority of the market are more likely to search “Best Handheld Cameras” or something similar, be sure to use long tail keywords, but don’t narrow your market too much by adding brands in their too. Of course if you have the time, you could make a small review site for each brand which all point to one major site with reviews of all.

3. Go for non-generic presents too

iPods, Biographies and Xbox Games are all popular products with attractive payouts, but the market is going to be saturated with people trying to push these products. What I tend to do is write my own shopping list first, what am I getting my mom for christmas? And my dad? Could I market those products? Thinking like a customer will aid you in picking products that are much more specialized. Whilst every dad would love an iPod, there are dad’s out there who may love fishing, motorcycling, painting – you name it!

4. Services sell too!

Remember not every christmas present can be wrapped up in a box. Last year my mom and auntie received some of those adopted-on-your-behalf polar bears (I think that was the animal!). You got a small plush toy and a letter stating money had been donated to look after a polar bear, you’d get periodic updates of its status with pictures – quite a sentimental gift, but they’re also quite popular and I’m sure there’ll be affiliate programs out there for them!

Not just that, but people get subscriptions for christmas. Maybe to a photography, golfing or music magazine they’ve expressed interest in, just remember that there are more gifts than just the ones under the tree!

5. Take notes

Remember, christmas happens every year! Take notes of what you’ve done this year, maybe even keep the sites running (or just put a temporary “maintenance” sign up for 8 months) and if everything works this year and you make your goal amount of cash, do it again!

New products and trends will come along, we never know what’s going to change but most new affiliates are stabbing in the dark when it comes to christmas, unsure of what type of site to create and what products to review. If you try a mashup of 10 and 4 convert well, remember that for next year!

And Finally – Relax

What do I mean by relax? Obviously you’re going to need to work hours and hours every day, christmas can be a very stressful time for affiliates. If you’re sat working for 10 hours straight, make sure you take an hour out in the middle to unwind. If one of your sites isn’t an instant winner, rather than scrap it, tweak and test it. Remember, the christmas period for online shopping lasts 2-3 months – don’t do rush jobs and don’t lose your cool.

Good luck to everyone getting your sites up, why not share your previous experiences from past christmas’ in the comments below?

Thanks for reading, remember the thoughts above are mine – but I’m not a supper affiliate (yet) so don’t take them as golden, they’re simply what I believe will help you through this crazy season!