International affiliate offer challenges

More and more people are experimenting with international affiliate offers every day. While its possible to focus only on US based traffic and offers and make a great living, a compelling case can be made for trying other countries.

Why run International?

Let’s look at Europe for example.

• With an estimated population of 830 million, that’s about 2.5x the size of the US.
• Internet penetration is growing at an extremely rapid pace.
• Paid traffic is generally cheaper than US traffic
• Conversion rates on average are higher.

So lets see, more eyeballs to reach with cheaper traffic that converts better.  Sounds like the biggest no brainer ever right?   Well, like everything in affiliate marketing, it’s not as easy as it sounds.  But it is something I recommend that everyone should test.

Some of the challenges:

Lets stick with the Europe example.

1.  That population is fragmented.  There isn’t just one big block of 830 million people you can target.  Its obviously spread over a large amount of countries, populations, and demographic groups.  All have their own unique characteristics that need to be addressed.

2.  Cultural differences between countries are huge and could sink a campaign.  You might think that you can just modify a successful campaign in the UK and run it in France, but you have to consider cultural differences that you might not be aware of as an outsider.  Lets say that successful UK offer was for mortgages and you tried to implement it in France.  On average people in France don’t get mortgages so much, while people in the UK do.  If you didn’t know about that difference you could beat your head against the wall forever and not get it to work in France.

Another example of a cultural difference is with email.  Its generally thought that email is much more tolerated in Europe vs the US.  Open rates and clicks on emails are often higher, so a campaign that was dead using that method in the US might work great in the UK.   All due to a cultural difference.  This is why you need to research international offers more and get local help to review your campaign for any red flags.

3.  Language barriers. Getting the language of you ad copy, landing page, and keywords correct is a huge consideration.  A lot of times free online translator tools will give a bad translation of what you want to say.  You know when you read something translated to your language and it just feels wrong, even though the meaning is right?  The only way to really get the language correct is to work with an actual person who is a native speaker.   Even if you just outsource them to proofread and correct your online translations, its worth the effort.

4. Finding offers and networks is harder.  Some of the big US based affiliate networks have limited international reach.  Its a good idea to find affiliate networks in the country you are going to be promoting offers.  They can make you jump through hoops to join and get everything setup like payments and tax issues.  But there out plenty out there.

The bottom line with international offers is that while they can be profitable, one size does not fit all.  You can’t simply take a offer that is running great in the US, translate everything, and run it in Germany.  You really need to do your research to set everything up right, and continue to test everything.  Don’t forget to get local help!