It has been proven that content sites can be profitable on the Internet. It doesn't take an expert to understand why. Content sites receive 90% of all Web traffic. With this much traffic, content sites can generate a significant amount of revenue. Contextual merchandising provides content sites with an additional revenue opportunity. Web site owners can earn commissions by selling products.

The idea behind contextual merchandising is impulse buying. If someone is interested in a topic, there is a good chance this person would be interested in purchasing a product related to that topic. Rolling Stone.com is a perfect example. On the same page as their review of Radiohead's new album, they have a direct buying opportunity from Best Buy. On the Radiohead Artist Profile, they have a list of related links. This is an excellent example of contextual merchandising, because they're recommending something the visitor might like based on his or her tastes.

So now that we know what it is, how can it be implemented? A wave of companies have been created recently specializing in contextual merchandising. Some companies, such as Vcommerce and Nexchange, offer full service merchandising as well as co-branding for buying opportunities. Solutions such as these are great for large traffic, high maintenance sites.

How can the smaller sites get in? Product placement can be implemented easily by educated webmasters with creative use of affiliate programs. There are several programs available that allow direct linking to products, such as Amazon.com, Outpost, and more. When new content is produced, the webmaster just has to find a related product, and create the link. There are many programs that allow easy link creation. For example, Linkshare's Outpost program allows someone to create a link based on SKU number.

Since contextual merchandising has proven to be successful, many established Affiliate Marketing leaders, such as Amazon.com and Commission Junction, offer this as a part of their service. In a move that caused quite a bit of controversy, Amazon went as far as patenting their One-click 'technology'. Commission Junction launched their EnContext program earlier this year, hoping to capitalize on this profitable trend.

The key to contextual merchandising is experimentation. Seldom will the first attempt achieve the desired results. It's best to put the link up and analyse how well it performs. From there, you can modify future placement until you find something that works to your satisfaction. From there, you should have a steady supplement to your site's income.