Affiliate Questions

[TheKman]

I have recently developed a local community on-line restuarant guide. It only covers my county (about 200 restaurants), I have been able to trade for some advertising on a local radio station and the hits are starting to creep up. I have some affliate questions.

I have/am putting several affiliate type set-ups on the site. Do you think it would be more profitable to use targeted programs (candy, bbq store, wine shop) or to use some more general programs appealing to a broader market (books, music, high speed internet)?

This is my first try with affiliate programs. I already got a lot of information from the other posts in this forum.

[TheKman]

Sorry Folks, I posted in the wrong place. I am still learning my way around here.

[Jason]

NP Kman, I'm moving this thread to Affiliate and Ad Programs.

[Jason]

Getting to know your audience can be tough, although it would appear to have an immediate interest in food. Therefore, I would start focusing on the food related programs, however it'd probably be a good idea to sneak in a few of the more broad programs, to see how they perform. You should also poll your visitors to find out about some of their interests. Hopefully your site is interesting enough to bring them back for more than one visit ;)

[TheKman]

I hope it is interesting enough to bring them back. I have implemented several strategies to do so. I have a bi-weekly contest in which they can enter to win a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant. I also have coupons which they can print, as well as maps and menus. I am also trying to set up a user submitted review section.

With respect to the contest, how would I automate the databasing and drawing of the entries?

[jehraen]

You can use a 'survey-like' script to collect emails and then have it select the winner randomly. I'm sure there are a number of scripts around but here's an example.

http://www.mikeswebworks.uklinux.net/index.php

Hope it helps :)