IT IS NOT TOO EARLY

To get your site ready for the holidays, that is. Many web sites see traffic double through the holiday season. Millions of worldwide shoppers skip the mall and shop online for the convenience. I know that, at least for myself, given a choice between driving snowy and icy roads, look for a parking spot, battling crowds and standing on line or staying at home with my hot coffee and doing my shopping online, Id certainly choose the later.

So what can you do to get your affiliate marketing site ready for those holiday shoppers?

While you should try to have your site ready to go by ?Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving), dont panic if its not. Most online shopping is spread out between that day and December 15th.

Cut off shipping dates should be clearly displayed on your site and on the sites of the products you are linking to. And this should include both domestic and international cut off dates. Nobody wants an unhappy customer on Christmas morning.

Remember that major online stores like Amazon sell a lot more than books and CDs. A very popular item is a gift card and turnaround time on gift cards can be very fast. This makes them a practical gift as Christmas day approaches.

Concentrate on the narrower, specialty niches. There will be less competition and, very often, these specialty niches have higher end products. That means more business and more money.

Remember that the holiday season only comes once a year. Get your affiliate marketing site ready to take advantage of it.