Dear fellow blogger with affiliate links on recipe sites.

I am not an affiliate link expert, nor a marketing expert, in the traditional sense of the word. However, I’m pretty good at online searches, and ordering online. I also search for recipes all the time. And this is one reason, so many blogs with affiliate links are recipe based or have a large recipe database.

As your friend and consumer, I wanted to share this for consideration. I may be completely different than everyone else, so take this with a grain of salt.

There are a couple of things that will make me backspace and go to the next search result.

1. If I get on a recipe page, and I have to scroll past a journal, more than a couple swipes, I look for another recipe. As an experienced cook, I just want to get to the recipe. Stories and tips are great, if it’s something brand new, but I like that after the recipe.

2. If more than 1 pop-up ad interrupts my viewing of the recipe, I go back to my search results.

3. If instead of saying, “Use a 9” standard pie pan,” you say, “use a large pie pan” and make me look for what large means to you, and it’s a link to an Amazon affiliate store, instead of just to the pie pan, I move on. That happened today. A recipe for crustless rhubarb pie looked really good. Recipe said, use large pie pan. Large pie pan is pretty subjective, so I looked back in the journal before the recipe and finally found an affiliate link to an Amazon store, and I scrolled through all this kitchen stuff, and never did find the specific pie pan, because I gave up and found a new recipe.

   So, there are a couple of things that will keep me on your site longer, to check out the recipe.

   1. So, you want to tell the story around a specific recipe. Put a link at the top that lets me jump right to the recipe. I’m not against stories. I love telling stories, but as I mentioned before, when I search for a recipe, I’m not searching for a story. I usually want to find it, and start cooking. Then, if I’m curious, I might go back and read the story.

   2. Make the recipe printable, if you are in the recipe business. If you are a blogger who occasionally shares a recipe you just made, then this probably doesn’t apply.

   3. Make sure you include pan sizes. Large pie pan, might cut it. But, I have 4 sizes of pie pans. Should I use the largest one or the kind of large one? Deep dish or shallow?

      
      Now, I can’t figure out how to stop continuing the indentation! Anyone want to help me with that?
      I hope this helps a little bit. Again, I’m not an expert on this topic. But, most recipes are not unique. Even if you think you were the first one to figure it out, your grandma’s best friend across the street probably did it before there was internet, figuratively speaking. And, if you annoy your viewer who found your site for a recipe, and they happen to be like me, they will search elsewhere.

      Your friend,

      Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter