Commissions are the (only) source of monetization for ScentAdvice, so I’m trying to make the site & app a practical stepping stone. While I’m happy with the current trajectory, I also know that there are still many of you that buy fragrances after learning about them via ScentAdvice, or just structurally buy fragrance, beauty & skincare products, at stores that I could be making a commission off. At no extra cost or hassle to you.
In this update I take you through some of the recent changes & upcoming plans to maintain and grow a healthy return.
WHAT’S HERE NOW?
• Shop is the overview. A list of stores & brands. The tiles above the list highlight sales, brands & stores.
• Sales shows more temporary sales & deals.
• Best Deals of the Week is frequently updated.
• Launched highlights now-available releases that weren’t available at the time I posted them as news.
• Beauty Section is sporadically supplemented.
• New releases (when available at the time of posting) have a ‘BUY IT HERE’ banner. Other fragrances often have a ‘SHOP THIS BRAND’ banner.
LOCATION-BASED
The tiles that highlight the sales, stores & brands, are based on your location. The main banner at the top of each page may also be different. Most importantly: Which stores the links redirect you to, depends on your location.
Currently, this is mostly split up into 3 regions, based on my biggest audiences: United States/Canada, United Kingdom, EU/the rest. For bigger brands, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands & other EU countries may also be specified.
The stores linked are a mix of retailers & discounters, depending on availability & commissions. For some of the biggest brands, I’ve included two options. Stores that I linked to most: Harrods (worldwide shipping, new releases), Selfridges (one link for multiple regions), Sephora, FragranceX (default for worldwide shipping), BeautyTheShop (UK/EU availability), JomaShop (default discounter for US/CA), Notino (discounter for UK/EU), 50-ML (niche brands), Douglas/ParfumDreams/Nocibe (Netherlands/Germany/France/Italy), Niche-Beauty (worldwide shipping).
CHANGES
• This weekend I spent over 16 hours revising the current fragrance brands list on the Shop page. Before, many smaller brands would link to 1 source (often US only), this I’ve minimized. I’ve removed links that only direct to an Amazon search. A lot of the links would redirect to a homepage of a store; now in almost all cases, it will go directly to the specific brand. I also added brands and changed the look of the tiles.
• Occasionally, homepage posts will link directly to a store, instead of my own database post. When there’s a new, popular release that is already available for purchase at a well-known store, I may direct you there. This will only be for a few days maximum*, while its highlighted on the homepage; after that it will become a regular ScentAdvice post. This will be a sporadic thing that I’ll experiment with, for ‘hype-worthy’ releases & store exclusives (I did it for Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder Extrait at Selfridges & Fragrance du Bois Sirene Privee at Harrods) or brands that my audience is likely to buy (Snif, Phlur, Boy Smells).
*I’ve been doing this permanently for a handful of brands, as I don’t see much value in having those databases complete (Dua, Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret).
IN PROGRESS
• As mentioned, before, many links directed you to a homepage. This means that in the SHOP THIS BRAND banners, a lot of the same links are used (there are 7500 ‘default’ links to Harrods/JomaShop/FragranceX). In the coming weeks, I will be replacing those to match the updated, more relevant links.
• Adding more relevant niche brands to the shopping list that don’t result in commissions: Currently, most of the links are commissionable, but for you as a user, this is limiting. It excludes many (niche) brands or it redirects to impractical stores for many countries. I will create more of a balance in this over time. This includes for example linking to a brand’s own website or local stores, with a commissionable link only in 1 region, or none at all. This is a substantial and important change, and when the full ‘commissionable’ foundation has been laid, I will dedicate most of my time to build on that. Include all brands that I find relevant and let the commissions come in via the bigger stores and brands.
• I will make the location-based links of the biggest brands, banners & tiles specific to more regions. Based on my next biggest target audiences, presumably: Brazil, Australia, Gulf countries, more EU countries & Hong Kong for example.
• The Best Deals Of The Week page is currently a mix, including US-only & UK-only deals. I’m considering to make this location-based as well, so those regions only see deals that can ship there.
• Revising the Beauty & Skincare brands list. The Beauty Section will likely remain something that I update only sporadically. It’s there, but I don’t have the time or inclination to stay up to date with beauty products (there are better sources for that, like Makup.On.Your.Radar.2 & Trendmood1).
• A long term plan would be to replace/aid the Launched page idea (& part of the regular site Updates) with a newsletter or other form of broadcast, so you can sign up to get a weekly/monthly update that highlights new releases, including links to those that have become available. As of now, the Launched paged is updated inconsistently and I’m unsure if it’s adding much value (both for you and me).