After a long delay in getting it going, the Slimming.com project is coming along nicely.  With such a powerful yet generic domain name we were faced with the enviable challenge of having a number of different directions within the slimming market where we could bring the site.

After a great deal of discussion and debate, the path we have chosen will be as follows.

The domain is aged eleven years and has a very strong pagerank. The problem is that it hasn’t been active for a number of years.  So first and foremost we wanted to get something live and indexed by the search engines.  That will happen this week when we launch Slimming.com Pre-Launch.

Essentially, the pre-launch site will just be a product review site with a few informational articles in the Knowledgebase.  We will get the site up and generate some links to it so that it gets back on the radar of the major search engines.

Then on August 17th we will launch Slimming.com Stage One.  This will consist of an expanded Knowledgebase, some online weight management tools and an e-commerce store through which people can purchase various weight loss products and slimming pills, including many national and very recognizable brands.

We are excited about this project because it offers affiliates a great opportunity to promote something different and potentially quite profitable.  Because Slimming.com is a store offering many products rather than just one, we feel that the average order value will be much higher than other promotional options.

Having said that, we also recognize that the conversion rate of visitors to purchases will inevitably be slightly lower.  However, we will consistently test the site to ensure that we are incrementally yet constantly improving the conversion rate.

Finally, we will be providing our affiliate partners with a number of marketing tools to help them promote our site.  These will take the form of traditional banners and images but will also include a pre-launch email sequence and compelling articles to generate interest as August 17th approaches.

If you are interested in promoting Slimming.com as an affiliate you are invited to visit the affiliate marketing network at MoreNiche.com and watch their Merchant Offers as we get closer to launch date.  If you’re an affiliate you will be pleasantly surprised with what we’ll have to offer.