I wasn’t at all surprised to hear the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) announcer mention that some dating sites have reported up to 70% increases in paid memberships since the economic turmoil began in earnest a few months ago. Match.com (CJ and Linkshare) announced that November was its strongest in more than seven years and December saw a 22% increase over the same month a year prior.

The desire to pair up is basic human nature, so matchmaking will always be in vogue, no matter what the economy. But in tough times, building new relationships can become a necessity in order to cope either financially or emotionally.

“One of the hardest emotional feelings is being in the midst of bad news by yourself,” said Dr. Pepper Schwartz, chief relationship expert for leading dating site Perfectmatch.com (a Commission Junction merchant). “We are all generally better as a team and appreciate someone who shares our values, goals and lifestyle, and that’s why we’ve seen increased traffic to top dating sites in the current economic climate.”

As to finding true love, a bad economy is actually GOOD for the dating set. Couples who can’t afford to spend money on entertainment will actually talk more during their dates and thus build better, more intimate relationships. Talking intimately to build relationships – what a concept – and a great selling point too!

Dating Service Memberships are an Easy Sell

It’s easy to convince the lovelorn that a dollar a day (and sometimes even less) to join a proper matchmaking site like Eharmony or Chemistry.com is a better investment in their future than wasting time trying find a needle in a haystack on a free dating site.

You don’t need to start a completely new site dedicated just to dating to take advantage of dating affiliate programs — you can simple dovetail dating into your existing site. For example, a site for parents or moms would be remiss not to promote a site like Single Parents Mingle and a Mexican cooking site could entice their audience to find Latin lovers at Amigos.com. Use your imagination.

Get Those Dating Promos Out NOW

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this is definitely the time to ramp up your dating promotions as most merchants are offering customer discounts and affiliate incentives.

For example, Yahoo! Personals (Commission Junction) has it’s February Bonus program, in which they’ll double your commission if you generate 5 or more subscriptions in February. Just note that you’ll have to contact them via email to qualify for and receive your prize.

Take advantage of the season by making gift products such as flowers, chocolates, jewelry and lingerie available to your audience as well — and be sure to focus on how the products you list will save your visitors money either through time-limited discounts or free-shipping.

• Amazon is offering an extra 30% off at check on Select Jewelry from the Amazon.com Collection until Feb. 14, 2009.
• American Greetings (Commission Junction) is letting folks send Free eCards to their loved ones.

In a December 3rd press release, Comscore resported that Cyber Monday saw $846 million in online spending. Although spending over the holiday season to date ($12.03 billion) is down by 2% from last year, Cyber Monday’s online sales were up by a whopping 15% over 2007 sales. Take a look at the following screenshot where you’ll note that the preceding weekend also saw a jump in online sales by 19% over last year.

With online sales up marginally on Black Friday and significantly on Cyber Monday, analysts are still predicting a decline in the months to come. Considering that the job loss stats out today report 533,000 more jobs in the U.S. were lost in November – the biggest decline since 1974 – the outlook could look pretty grim.

HOWEVER, that depends entirely on what you are selling. For example, this is probably not the best time to start a new jewelry site. Want to know what you should sell? Read 8 Recession-Proof Product & Service Ideas for Affiliates… and stay tuned for more great recession-proof niches and product ideas. Let’s prove the analysts wrong!

You CAN thrive as an affiliate during tough economic times…

With the U.S. dollar sinking to new lows, oil and gold attaining new heights, and both food and gasoline prices rising quickly: corporate CEO’s, the media and government officials finally acknowledged what millions have seen coming for years – the U.S. economy is in BIG trouble – and the future looks bleak.

During uncertain financial times, people without jobs don’t spend money, while those who do have jobs tend to cut back on discretionary spending, postpone larger purchases or shorten their holiday buying lists – which doesn’t sound like a happy prospect for those of us who want to sell to them.

However, there are many ways to survive and even thrive during a recession and diversification is typically the first key to continued prosperity. Fortunately for most affiliate marketers, making the leap from promoting luxury items to ‘recession-proof’ products that consumers use regardless of their economic status or level of income is fairly simple. We can add new products to our current mix or start pumping out content on a new domain, join some affiliate programs, ramp up the marketing and be in a new business in relatively short order.

So, if your commissions from the sale of cars, diamonds and fur coats have been falling off of late, here are a number of recession-proof product and service suggestions for your consideration.

1. Job Search

   Although the employment market is perpetual, during a tough economy, mergers, acquisitions and layoffs all inevitably lead to more job seekers. Point your visitors to career websites such as Monster.com where they’ll find millions of job postings along with general career advice and help to prepare for interviews. Monster.com pays a buck for each new resume posted and 50 cents for each new My Monster account created.

2. Resume Preparation Services

   As many of your job-seeking visitors will find it difficult to get an interview because they don’t have experience or their resume is out-of-date, you should also tell them how they will benefit by using a service to beef up their resume. Some services, such as Employment911.com, have market-specific offerings such as military transition resumes, a niche which CEO Frederic Thom reports was marked by a sudden increase in February. Employment911.com pays commissions of 12.5% to 25% and their resume writing package prices top out at $357.90 for executive level positions. ResumeEdge.com, which pays 12% and powers the resume writing services of The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! HotJobs, and The U.S. Air Force is another option to consider.

3. Education

   When, after all the stops have been pulled and the job search still fails to pan out, many people choose to stay in school or return to school to beef up their education and subsequent chances for finding a job. Companies with affiliate programs in the education field include those that help with college and university placements as well as scholarship search, which provides direct assistance to students with college education funding. Online training to improve basic computer skills or those which are geared toward technical certifications like Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and Novell as is offered through TechnieCert.com (ShareaSale) are becoming increasingly popular. You might also consider promoting language-learning programs such as Rosetta Stone (available through CJ) for those of your visitors who decide to flee the country in search of brighter economic prospects.

4. Business Opportunities

   While there is never any shortage of those seeking business opportunities, an increasing unemployment rate makes this market even more potentially lucrative, especially for those who have had business success and can teach others how business is done. In addition to selling instructional information products in the form of ebooks, podcasts, webinars and conferences to new entrepeneurs; affiliates can make bank promoting productivity and marketing tools as well as office supplies. Almost every business needs business cards and PsPrint, a CJ merchant that pays 15% commissions, has a staggering 3-month EPC of $521.15. When they eventually need to incorporate, you can promote American Incorporators $299.00 incorporation packages for a tidy 34% commission.

5. Tax Preparation and Filing Services

   Economic slowdown or not, the tax man cometh every year and helping your visitors find additional spending money through deductions can be very lucrative. With over 138 million taxpayers set to file their taxes online this year, industry experts expect 2008 to be the most popular year for filing federal income tax online… until the 2009 tax season. Several IRS authorized merchants can be found at Commission Junction, including TurboTax, H&R Block and QuickTax, the latter of which pays a 30% commission on all their products, including a premium tax preparation service which costs $69.95.

6. Health Care

   In the absence of legislated universal health care, people who have just lost their employer-sponsored health plans will need to buy health insurance while they have no pre-existing conditions and are still eligible. When you partner with eHealthInsurance.com, which has relationships established with over 160 health insurance carriers, you’ll earn $40.00 for each health insurance application submitted for an individual or family. Assurant Health pays up to $78.00 per lead and both Commission Junction merchants have 120-day cookies.

7. Budgeting and Debt Reduction

   Helping folks reduce or consolidate their debt load and save money is always appreciated and the subject matter is relevant to almost any niche in which you are currently working. Partner with merchants that offer secured credit cards, debt consolidation services and help with foreclosures; and consider converting your weekly newsletter to a daily ‘Money-Saving Tips’ or ‘Coupons and Deals’ broadcast to gain additional traffic and branding for your site. Consider promoting Leo Quinn’s “How to Own Your Paycheck Again“.

8. Entertainment and Vices

   While the wise eliminate frivolous expenses during tough times, those less disciplined tend to seek more escape from reality through various forms of entertainment. So, if you were ever inclined to go the porn route, now might be the time. If that holds no appeal for you, try adding sports, concert, and theatre tickets to your mix. NetFlix (Linkshare) pays $9.00 per subscriber for each new customer who signs up for a FREE Trial. TicketsNow pays 7% commissions.

While the suggested items above don’t represent an exhaustive list of recession-proof products and services, it should get you thinking about options that will at least keep your affiliate business profitable during the recession.

In summary, ignore the purveyors of doom and gloom. There are always ways to thrive during the hard times, if you are perceptive and swift. Choose to see opportunity and profit where others see only potential for loss and failure and use the recession as a compelling reason to diversify and grow your affiliate business.

This article is an updated version of one written for my “Affiliate’s Corner” column in Revenue Magazine.