I received an e-mail a few days ago from a visitor of AffiliateWeb and I thought I’d pass it along (after I obtained his permission). I’ll give my thoughts on it after.

Cam,

I wanted to write you and ask for some advice about a problem that I have. A lot of affiliates work hard to SEO their sites and I’m no exception. I spent months and months working to get one website of mine in the top 5 rankings in Google and MSN and my affiliate commissions were flowing in. I was getting about 4000 uniques every day and my daily income was just over $300.

The problem that I’m having is that two bad things have happened: 1) I just dropped in ranking to number 9 on MSN and number 21 on Google, and 2) My affiliate commissions have dropped form $300+ a day to $20-$40 a day.

I don’t get it. My site has been SEO’d heavily and I don’t do any blackhat stuff. What happened to my rankings!

Chad (name changed for his privacy)

Chad brings a few good points to light here, and I think they are something that all affiliate marketers should keep in mind:

1. Nothing is permanent - Chad attained top 5 rankings, and even though he probably worked very hard to get there, that doesn’t mean that he will stay there. If anything, working to stay number 1 is just as important (if not more important) as actually getting there.
2. Competition exists - Because the internet is so intangible we often forget that there are other people, just like you or I, who are aiming for the same positions within the search engines. Chad may not have changed his marketing methods at all, but that doesn’t mean that his competitors haven’t. In the major niches (such as Forex or Health), competition is fierce and not something to be taken lightly. Make no mistake- if you show one sign of weakness your competitors will jump at the opportunity to succeed you.
3. Have a back up plan - It sounds as if Chad had all of his eggs in one basket. This is the wrong thing to do. SEO is probably the most lucrative way to generate an income on the internet, but there are other ways to market that will continue to build traffic and generate an income.Never underestimate the value associated with PPC or e-mail marketing, and never forget that your visitors will continue to come back if your website offers some kind of value. Word of mouth and viral marketing are two of the most effective marketing strategies that you can employ, as once you have it working for you it’s completely free.

Now, I am not a SEO specialist by any means. I have a few websites that I am working to SEO, and though my rankings are steadily increasing, that hardly qualifies me as an expert. However, if I were Chad, I would do the following:

• Write 50-75 unique articles - These articles would be distributed online to hundreds of directories, generating valuable back links and supplemental traffic.
• Link to and be linked by other websites - I would find blogs or community websites that are related to my niche and try to obtain back links from them. This will also increase traffic but, more importantly, increase page rank/SEO as well.
• Ensure that the website itself is optimized - Chances are good that the website is already SEO optimized, though it never hurts to check again.
• Start creating an opt-in list - Regardless of the type of website, it never hurts to have an e-mail list. After all, if they’ve opted in to receive your e-mails, you’ve got a highly targeted visitor base to market towards.

Nothing crazy or blackhat here, as Whitehat SEO will always work out for the best in the long run.

Good luck Chad, and be sure to let me know how things work out!

For some SEO help, check out my search engine optimization category.