Content. It is the Big Dog of affiliate marketing. Before we even start with this topic, I want to share with you a couple examples of some really different content that engages, intrigues, holds people and brings them back. I am experimenting with it because I do like really different ideas. First is

1worldwidewa.com/living-room-affiliate The other is

coffeeadvice2.com/delonghi-takes-elm-street

Sometimes I want to get the sales point across, but I just want to be different in doing so. Yah. Creative and different. Nothing wrong with that. If you read 100 posts, I have no doubt that 85 of them will be average and 'normal' in content. And that's okay. It's just not me. I have always, since my teens, been a bit of a fan of the outrageous and intriguing. In my music and everywhere else.

The following 'musical' example of creativity is just a song. It is not being sold or marketed in any way whatsoever anywhere. If I were conservative, I would have left it out of the mix. But I want you to consider being more original and creative in your content. And my only tools to do this are music and writing. The song has both.

www.reverbnation.com/thedifferenz/song/19981428-canopy

The Canopy made Arizona Breoadjam's top ten songs in February 2015...

The point being that a bit of creativity and intrigue and outrageousness never hurt a post or page. One of our compadres has a tattoo site that is one of the best I've seen. It is outrageous and intriguing. One of our brothers has a Pittsburgh Steelers website. It is outrageous and intriguing. Both of them are headed for HUGE popularity because they are memorable and people will return!

Memorable? Oooh...there is a good word. Why not strive to put something in front of your readers that is so memorable that it sticks in their mind, keeps them on the site and makes them want to return? When your 'bounce' rate goes from 50% down to 19.5%, what does that tell you? You are doing something memorable. Memorable is a good thing!

I have done a lot of reading of website content. And frankly, when peoples' primary goal is to sell something, the content reflects that. To me, that's a bit upside down or backword. The way to create content is to clear your mind of all things EXCEPT that which will ENGAGE your readers. What is it that will keep them on board and bring them back for more? People are window shopping at the lower levels, and researching at the higher levels, constantly searching for that deal. They, too, are reading a lot of content to get where they're going.

And you have to be the oasis in the middle of that desert. About a month ago, I came across a website talking about content that can explain what you should be shooting for in terms of your writing. There are ten points:

Engaging

Informative

Entertaining

Unique

Personal

Amusing

Educational

Authoritative

Persuasive

Original

And consider this. Even in our training about how to engage in Facebook, there is the mention of controversy. So add controversy to the mix?

And then, of course, there is the standard of 'Don't just tell. Show as well'! Consider a video once in a while.

An extra tool for this is to link to other pages on your site. If you are constantly linking to or from the outside, it may make Google wonder if YOU don't think your content is good enough to link to.

So, content is really important. But my mindset is to be highly creative. Do some different things. Tell a story. Share a "conversation". Or make one up. Have the dialogue be in actual quotation marks (above). If your niche is dresses, have the conversation be between two girls (women) on the phone talking about where, online, they have seen the totally cutest dresses! Plug in your site. If your niche is backpacks, have the conversation be about a backpacking trip, or maybe an account of the actual trip itself, etc.

Or a story that is actually taking place. The DeLonghi story up above, for example, with the Smiths and Wozniaks. Put creativity on your daily schedule so that you can see it every day and think about it every moment. You are doing this, so you are already being creative.

My TV is blabbing away in the corner of the room. Working on my website, I have ignored the TV up until now. But there is a 60 Minutes report on there about a little impoverished town in Paraguay perched on a huge garbage dump. One creative man came up with the idea (for a school music program, I think) of making musical instruments (orchestral) out of refuse. This is incredible! I am seeing violins and violas out of various size soup cans, clarinets out of industrial piping, strings out of I-don't-know-what. This man outfitted an entire school orchestra with instruments made from garbage! Awesome!!

Creativity always gets noticed.