Hey Reader,

Thank you for hosting me in your inbox for the latest instalment of our newsletter! We are doing things a little differently with a three-part series called branding success for affiliates.
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The series will cover everything you need to know to build a strong brand as an affiliate marketer.
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Why does brand building matter?
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People can buy what you’re selling from multiple traders. The reason they choose to buy from you comes down to your brand.
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Part 1 of this series will cover:
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• How to choose your brand name
• Tips for homepage optimisation
• Brand recognition and recall
• Trust cues your website needs​
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So, with a sea of insights to cover and limited minutes in your lunch break - let’s dive in! 🤿

What’s In a Name?

I hope there are some copywriters in the reader base to clock onto my Shakespeare reference 👀
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A common mistake we have seen many affiliates make is to prioritise exact match domains when choosing a brand name. You know who you are! Names like 👇
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❌plumbernewyorkcity.com

❌besthairdressersydney.com.au

❌blackfridaydeals.co.uk

Now let me be clear:

Exact match domains do help your SEO (here comes the giant but)...

BUT, using an EMD for early gains in the SERPs isn’t a long-term strategy for success.
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Users skip over EMDs the same way they do sponsored results ⏭
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There are better ways to win in the SERPs than keyword stuffing your domain name.

So what should you be taking into account when choosing a brand and consequently, a domain name?
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✨Brandability ✨

(Side note: Whenever you read a word contained in sparkle emojis in this newsletter, you should imagine an “aaaahhhh” chorus from a choir playing in your head.)

Brandability is so important! And before you ask, I’ll tell you why; brandable names/ domains:

• Create an opportunity for unique visual components
• Are easy to remember and recall
• Roll off the tongue and are fun to say (cue word-of-mouth)
• Stay relevant and have longevity
• Sound more dependable (if you were the best hairdresser in Sydney you probably wouldn’t need to say it)
• Get a better CTR

Here are a few examples of brandable names we won’t easily forget:
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Now here’s the catch 🎣
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Creative thinking doesn’t come naturally to everyone. And that’s okay!
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⚠️Fair Warning: I’m about to toot my own horn…​
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That’s why it’s important to partner with the right people - for example, the creative genius who wrote the copy for this newsletter (I’m just saying!).

🔌And here comes a shameless plug…

If you want to know what services we have available to create a brand built to succeed, send us an inquiry about our top-secret services we only offer to a select few choice clients 🤫

Treat Your Homepage Like An Entrance Hall

When guests walk into your home, you assume they will see the items you have chosen to display in that space first; art, family photos, inspirational quotes (live, laugh, love).

Once your guests have taken in what is at eye level, they will look for a logical way to proceed into your home.

Your website has the same function as an entrance hall. Everything you display above the fold is metaphorically at eye level 👀
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Real estate above the fold is a precious commodity, don’t waste it!

When visitors land on your website they take in everything above the fold first, then they look for a logical way to proceed - keep scrolling, navigate to a subpage, click through on a pop-up, etc.

What you choose to display in your entrance hall is the difference between your guest continuing into your home or hightailing it outta there 🏃

In the case of your website, it’s the difference between increasing either your Avg Time on Page or your Bounce Rate.​
Let’s unpack a few examples of green flags encouraging visitors to continue exploring a website as well as amber lights that could become pain points in the user journey:
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​1. Email Tool Tester

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✅Their name works for SEO but is also brandable

✅They’ve highlighted the option to talk to a real person on a consulting call

✅Their website design is clean but coherent

✅They’ve incorporated a floating customer service chat button

🟠They’ve used illustration above the fold rather than photography

🟠They haven’t featured a customer review above the fold

2. Up The Gains

✅Their name is very brandable

✅The homepage leads with the face of the expert behind the site

✅They provide easy access to content across multiple channels (newsletter and podcast)

✅The copywriting is informative but also quirky, creating rapport

✅They feature a customer review above the fold
✅They back up their value proposition with statistics

🟠Their customer review could link to a third party like TrustPilot or have a link to the reviewer’s social media for added authenticity

My Move:

✅Their name is very brandable

✅Their colour palette (blue hues) is known to hold mental connotations to trust

✅They feature a private community for custom assistance in their navigation

✅One of their featured services is backed by a large and trusted service provider (UPS)

✅They’ve incorporated a pop-up for immediate assistance in finding a provider above the fold

✅They invite customer feedback above the fold

✅Not featured above the fold but a great trust cue - they’ve included links in the footer to their advertising disclosure and a page about how the site makes money

🟠They have only used illustrations and stock photography

🟠They’ve not featured any customer feedback or reviews above the fold

🟠There is no way to contact the site owner other than to submit a request via the help centre which is hosted on Zendesk

🟠They don’t have an ‘About Us’ or ‘Team Page’ to give insight into the people behind the website

🟠They’ve not made use of statistics to back up their experience (eg: 10 000+ happy movers)

All three of these websites had the same 1920 x 1080 pixels to work with but some of the examples packed way more trust cues and thus value into that real estate than others.

I’ll say it again and louder for the people in the back:

📣DON’T WASTE YOUR REAL ESTATE ABOVE THE FOLD! 📣

Everybody Can Recall The Golden Arches

We spoke about brand names and trust cues, now let’s talk about logos.

Here’s a little interactive exercise to kickstart my argument for the importance brand recognition and recall ✍️
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If I were to ask you to draw three logos right now, which would you draw?
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I can almost guarantee that you just pictured three of these logos:

• McDonald's
• Nike
• Adidas
• Apple
• Facebook
• Twitter or X
• Pepsi
• Airbnb
• Amazon

Why? Because they all have one thing in common ✨Simplicity ✨(cue the choir)

Simple logos are easy to recall.
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And if you recall or recognise a logo, consumer psychology dictates that you will trust the affiliated products and services.

Now obviously there are many factors other than your logo design that influence brand recognition and recall, but an iconic logo is a major advantage.

There are three types of logos, loosely speaking:

• Icon-based
• Text-based
• Icon-text combined

Text-based and blended logos are most commonly used in the affiliate space.
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The strategy behind using logo types that spell out the brand name is that reading the name of the brand often makes it easier for people to remember and search for.
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However, icon-based logos are the easiest to recall and are a nice pattern interrupt like in the case of the SafeWise logo (the owl icon).
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Whichever logo type you choose, the goal is to create an emblem for your brand that is striking but simple.
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✨ Simplicity ✨ is key when it comes to logo design.
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You want to make sure that your logo gets stuck in your prospective consumer’s brain like a corny Maroon 5 song 🎤
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Ideally, when a visitor lands on your website it should feel familiar because of that logo recognition which immediately builds trust.

🔌Time for another shameless plug…

The ideation and execution of a logo is an art form if not a magic trick. Luckily we know just the wizard who gets it right EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Want to consult the guy who puts Harry Potter to shame? Send an inquiry about our top-secret services 🪄

Keep the Trust Cues Coming

Let’s not beat around the green bush of dollar bills, you got into affiliate marketing to make money 💸
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For you to make money, you have to cultivate a customer base that is willing to spend it.
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Here’s the promising truth behind consumer psychology: People want to buy things 🛍
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So your job should be easy, sell things to people who want to buy them. The end. Thanks for reading this newsletter.
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Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Give me a second to build a bridge over the massive hole in that strategy 🏗
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People won’t let advice from obscure sources shape their buying behaviour.

When you are asking someone to spend their hard-earned money, you have to back that up with a whole lotta trust cues - green flags attract green bills 💸
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The trust cues don’t end above the fold on your home page, you have to consistently give your website readers a reason to trust you across every touch point.
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​Here are some excellent examples of trust cues across a few different touchpoints:

1. Newsletter sign up

Asking people to sign up for your newsletter is an important touch point that should be backed up by a trust cue. Sometimes it’s as easy as saying how many people trust you already! Here’s a great example 👇

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2. Customer Support

People won’t take advice on purchasing decisions from a nameless, faceless source. Here is why the below example is great 👇

• It puts a name and a face to the customer support representative
• It shows that the representative is online and immediately available

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3. Product Reviews

This touch point is the bread and butter of affiliate marketing, it should be loaded with trust cues! The Points Guy does it well, he has included:

• The date of his review in the title
• The date the review was updated in the byline
• Listed and linked the authors, the editor and the reviewer
• Introduced a component titled “Why Trust Us” (It’s so obvious but so effective)

Another great trust cue for product reviews is adding a video. Rather than only providing a written review with images, provide a video so that your visitors can see you physically review the product. Here is an example from Headphones Addict 👇

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The list could go on and on but I’m battling the constraints of email marketing in the era of 8-second attention spans ⏰

Also, there are two more instalments of this series still to come!

My Final 2 Cents

A successful affiliate website starts with a successful brand 💡
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Crafting a strong brand identity involves so many moving parts you need five years of work experience in the circus to be able to juggle them!
This newsletter series aims to chip away at the surface level of branding success for affiliates and get into the deeper insights that result in profitable websites.

🔌Last plug for today…

Our internal design team are talented jugglers, seriously - these guys belong in the Cirque du Soleil. Send us an inquiry to find out what we can do for your brand and your website.

If I’ve not bored you to death with part 1, accompany me to the finish line of this newsletter series by keeping an eye out for the next 2 parts ✌
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Hope to land in your inbox again soon,

Until next time,

Craig

CEO of My Content Pal

We are very excited to launch this limited Black Friday offer! ​ Jamie I.F. is an affiliate legend and for good reason, his niche sites make over $70k per month. His insights are the growth catalysts your site has been missing Schedule A Call