Making a Mint with Jewelry Affiliate Programs
If there is any online industry in which trust is absolutely crucial to the process, the jewelry industry takes the cake. Here you have a buyer who in all likelihood is about to make the biggest decision of his life in getting married, and now he has to make one of the biggest purchases of his life as well, at least in terms of dollars per weight of product. Diamonds are among the most value-dense objects on Earth, and now he’s about to go to a website of people he doesn’t know and purchase something he hasn’t actually seen that’s so tiny, yet worth several of his paychecks.
So how do you get him to:
A) find your link,
B) click it,
C) buy the ring?
Finding the Right Jewelry Affiliate Program
Luckily, optimizing the store itself isn’t your job. But you do have to pick a store to promote that is honest, has a reputation, ease of use and most importantly, stores real copies of its diamond certificates available for online viewing. No one is going to buy an engagement ring without a certificate they can see.
The program itself should of course pay well.
You’ll usually see anywhere from 5-9% on jewelry, but what’s critical is that they pay commission for loose diamonds as well. Most programs do not, so make sure you know what they’re paying on loose stones before you start driving traffic. Zoara’s jewelry affiliate program, for example, starts at 3% commission for loose stones.
- The program should have at least a 60-day cookie, if not a permanent cookie.
The time between the initial search and the final purchase can take months.
- The program should allow for a direct link campaign so you won’t have tracking codes appearing at the end of your URL’s which look suspicious. It should be private, in house. When dealing with jewelry, you don’t want even 1 or 2% of your commission going to a network when you’re only getting 5-9% to begin with.
In review, a good jewelry affiliate program should provide the affiliate:
- Commission on loose stones
- Permanent cookies
- The option for a direct link campaign
- In house tracking software
Build Your Marketing Plan – Get into the Mind of a Jewelry Shopper
Once you find your jewelry affiliate program, get into the mind of an online jewelry shopper. What does he do? How does he behave? He’ll most likely begin by checking out the most visible stores. He’ll Google “engagement rings†as his first move just to get a feel for what’s out there. But on that first day, it’s almost guaranteed he won’t buy. Conclusion: Unlike the stores themselves, you don’t have to target primary terms like “engagement ringsâ€. Don’t waste your marketing energy on climbing a mountain that need not be scaled.
When he’s finished with his initial search, he’ll go a little deeper. He’ll want to learn about diamonds, diamond quality, diamond prices, and information about gold, settings, platinum and the like. Learn about these things and target the best educational search terms. The educational pre-purchase phase is where you can catch him and stick a cookie in his browser.
In review:
- Ignore SEO on primary terms such as “wedding rings†and “engagement rings.†Those are for the stores themselves.
- Learn everything you can about the jewelry you’re promoting.
- Concentrate on secondary terms surrounding what you learn
Generate Trust with Your Audience
Once visible, your job as a webmaster if you want to make real serious sales is to make your audience trust you. Talk to them. Try your best to have a personal relationship with your traffic by reaching out to them. Then you can either refer them directly to a product in their range for what they need, or build your own store affiliate store with a datafeed and refer them to that.
If you’ve learned about the product, done the SEO, and built trust with your audience, you can make more than just a good living. There’s nothing more satisfying in affiliate marketing than making a big sale…except making a big sale that will be with a couple for the rest of their lives.
This post was written by the marketing manager of Zoara.com. Their jewelry affiliate program pays 8% first tier on jewelry and preset rings (9% on direct link campaigns), and 2% second tier on an average $2000 sale. Commission for loose stones starts at 3%.
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Looks interesting, i've seen some jewelry affiliate programs in CJ/Linkshare, big names out there, but i never try to promote this kind of products… 60 days cookie, maybe Ebay does, lol. Let's give Zoara a shot
My recent post Which Part of Web Business You Are Ignoring
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this,would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
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Don't people want to SEE a 10k purchase before they buy it? And rather buy it in stores then pay upfront online?
I agree with Marty on people wanting to buy a 10k purchase but also take time to look at it.As Zac said the ring you are choosing has to be appropriate for you and you have to love it.
Thanks for sharing Zac,
Bradley Nordstrom
My recent post Dream Sponsors Inc
Thanks for sharing this Article Zac,
I have not thought about promoting Jewelry as an affiliate or any other big ticket items, however thinking about it the amount of time and effort you put into promoting little ticket items are the same. it makes sense to promote the bigger tickets and get paid more.
Thanks again Zac.
All the Best
Ian
Not to use this as a platform to plug my own network – but we are a week or two away from launching a jewelry affiliate program with truly international shipping. If anyone is interested, do let me know.
Thanks Zac – look forward to talking to you very soon.
Ricky
I never thought about promoting jewelry, but I think it's a great idea and I should try it out soon. I probably will create a Jewelry review site. I heard review sites get great sales and build trust with customers fast. So I will try that out and tell you how it goes. Do you use review sites as well Zac? Great post by the way. It is an inspiration to try new things.
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I make custom Jewelry and have been looking for new ways to expand my sales. This is a terrific idea that I never considered. Thank you very much
I just started an affiliate program over on my jewelry website, paying 10% commission. I have new inventory all the time, and lots of lower price points. This is a great way to make some money if you're diligent or a good web marketer. I just don't have time to do all the pieces of a business AND the marketing! I'd rather pay some commissions!
Your comment about trust for jewellery sales is dead right.
And your advice to abandon chasing primary search terms like "engagement rings" is also spot on.
Thanks for a concise (and wise) post.
I have several jewelry websites but I could not rank them very well for now. I have been usind diamond.com affiliate program on CJ but it didn't perform nicely. I have been looking for a new profitable affiliate. If I can not be successful, I will sell the websites this year certainly.
My recent post Marquise Cut Diamond Settings
I have been promoting Zoara from last 1 year but the thing is even if i am getting good traffic to the site i am unable to convert them into sales! So i am certainly going to sell my website too
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