In the face of online publishers,
such as Shiny Media, closing their doors, UK Web Media has launched a new site (
http://recombu.com) -- moving the traditional affiliate model into the realms of online publishing. Recombu has already been featured in
TechCrunch with the above situation mentioned and I'm sure other online publishers will also be taking notice.
UK Web Media has brought on board ex-CNET UK mobile phones' editor Andrew Lim to provide independent
mobile phone news and
reviews for Recombu. Each section of the site is aimed at making it simple for users to get the information they need and then act on it.
I haven't had a proper dig though the site yet (a bit busy with ShareMyPlaylists.com taking off at the minute) but it looks great and it’s good to see affiliates evolving with the industry and trying new things. With a quick overview of the site it is easy to see that Recombu is led with a lot of content (mainly in the news and reviews sections), with a range of extra's like user reviews and discussion's. However the main revenue driver looks to be the price comparison unit's that are attached to each handset and I'm sure Jamie will be hoping that these drive enough volume off the back of the content to justify this move.
I have commented many times on picking a niche about something you are interested in to make the affiliate model work, and I think that is what UK Web Media have done by bringing Andrew on board. If you haven't got anyone passionate about a subject in your company (about your chosen subject) - why not bring them in? Too many big affiliates have got stuck in their ways and not moved with the online channel they represent and it is always nice to see people that are pushing the boundaries of the traditional affiliate marketing model.
Hot on the heels of
News Corp's recent statement, that they are moving to a pay as you view model for their content. Is it the right time for affiliates (who are used to monetising content via a CPA model) to step into the breach, and start providing quality content for free where traditional publishers can't?
What I'm listening to right now: Friendly Fires - "Paris (Aeroplane Mix)
about me
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other stuff. I have no idea why I'm blue on this photo though but I like it!
The website really looks good. It will be really a different approach to affiliate marketing. Lots of content and deals will attract the visitors.
The site looks really good, very professional. Just not sure of it’s viability at this stage though but definitely one to watch.
The website looks good. But, its nothing that hasn’t been done before. Mobile phone review sites have been around for a while now. I like the design though, and I wish them well
The standard of content and how this site has been put together in my opinion is exceptional. As a consumer I think this site is great and have already used it a few times to research. Interesting question raised at the end of your blog regarding affiliates providing quality content. I think there are two types of affiliate site. The first gets the customer in and off the site asap, to convert at the merchant site. The second type seeks to keep users on the site, bring them back and tell other people about it. It’s a longer turnaround with regard to conversion but in the long term could be extremely effective. It will be interesting to see where this takes the affiliate model with regard to CPA.
It looks a great site, nice classic design and the product pages are excellent. The brand is surprisingly good too which seems a shame that they’ve restricted it to mobile phones. After all, you could “recombu” anything. Even the logo looks like you could put something different in place of “mobile phones” such as TVs or other gadgets that also benefit from lengthier reviews.
Nice work though, best of luck to the team.
It looks great, UKWM team. The traffic must be starting to ramp already. I noticed that you’re already 6th in the SERPS for “compare mobile phones”. Andrew’s a great addition to your team too. I’ve had his tweets and other content popping up on feeds already. So, UKWM have successfully turned their hand to SEO. Who’d have thought it?
One to watch for all of us I’d say, especially when they launch new verticals and new countries!
UKWM are still doing some paid marketing for this – there are some adverts on Facebook for recombu, so it’s not exclusively SEO. It’s a good start though!
I like the site, very professional design and layout.
From
David
An excellent site as you would expect from UKWM.
I think the article makes a cracking point about getting someone on board that is passionate about their topic. Having a business\site idea and even the skills to build it is one thing, but it is find those full immersed in the topic to provide the right content that is often most difficult.
The Recombu site is nice enough, but when people like here or Techcrunch attempt to make out that is something new it comes accross as one of two things:
1 – you either haven’t a clue.
2 – how much they paid you to talk it up and give keyword laden links?