Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful marketthat gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magicformula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is morecomplicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that havebeen proven over years of hard work and dedication.There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and iscontinuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today.With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able toincrease your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.What are these three tactics?1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you aremarketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money onweb hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and everyproduct and nothing more.Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have aninitial understanding on what the product can do to those who buysthem. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried theproduct.Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to usetheir names and photos on the site of the specific product you aremarketing.You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product andinclude them on the website as an additional page. Make the pagesattractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Eachheadline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contactyou. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learnwhat the page is about and will want to find out more.2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at thevery top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try tocreate autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who inputtheir personal information into your sign up box. According toresearch, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with aprospect.Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closedsale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. Byplacing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period,you will remind them of the product they thought they want later andwill find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directedtoward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound likea sales pitch.Focus on important points like how your product can make life andthings easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines inthe email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” becausethere are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents intothe junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those whosigned up for your free reports that they will be missing something bigif they do not avail of your products and services.3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, ifthe person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever inwhat you are offering, they will be among those who move on andnever come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and ereports.This way you can locate publications that is focusing on yourtarget customers and what you have put up might just grab theirinterest.Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600words in length.By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you cangenerate as manyas many targeted readers to your site in a day.Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy yourproduct or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10sales based on the average statistic.The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, ifyou think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan onyour part.Try to use these tips for several affiliate paychecks you will be receiving…
Please share thos article if you like it. Till the next time...stay blessed
Oke Timothy
Affiliate maketing blog
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Super Affiliate Marketing Tactics-The Final Part ( 14 )
Dear blog reader,
I have selflessly given you the basis of what makes a great affiliate marketer. This lessons are real and they really work for those that knows its value. Are you going to work at it and give it that drive? It is up to you. I want to hear your comments about the whole series from the beginning to the end! Before that, I bring you the concluding part.
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Super Affiliates Take ACTION!
By now, if you’ve read all of these great ways to increase your affiliate sales, you MAY have realized that what you set up… if you’ve implemented these tips… is a system that will work for any niche, any time!
THAT’S the key to having a stable income from affiliate marketing - many streams of income all growing and profiting! That way, if one niche suddenly dies… think buggy whips… your income doesn’t suffer very much since it’s easy to plug another niche into the system, go through the steps and start a replacement income stream.
The secret to this method is knowing when to let a niche just perk along on its own and when to work hard on it. If you leave a niche too early…before you have a good stable cash flow and before you have a list that’s growing on a reliable basis… it will allow that niche to wither away and die.
BUT…on the other hand, you can get caught up in a niche and spend lots of unproductive time in it… tweaking each step even though you see no results is a good example of this. Sure, tweak and test until you see more sales or sign-ups, but not to the point of wasting time that could be better spent developing another niche.
The ideal situation would be to have 20 good, stable, income-producing niches. That way, you can merely check your stats every day and decide to work HARD on one niche that day. At the end of a month, you’ve worked hard on all of your niches and have some time to develop a few more.
If you have a system set up and ready to plug new niches into, you’re far, far ahead of the affiliate marketing field and on your way to being a super-affiliate.
Affiliate marketing is not rocket science! You CAN do it, and do it well… if you have a system and a plan.
Now All You Have To Do Is Just Get To Work And Do It!
All the best for your online success,
Sincerely,
Oke Timothy
www.oketimothy.blogspot.com
I have selflessly given you the basis of what makes a great affiliate marketer. This lessons are real and they really work for those that knows its value. Are you going to work at it and give it that drive? It is up to you. I want to hear your comments about the whole series from the beginning to the end! Before that, I bring you the concluding part.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Super Affiliates Take ACTION!
By now, if you’ve read all of these great ways to increase your affiliate sales, you MAY have realized that what you set up… if you’ve implemented these tips… is a system that will work for any niche, any time!
THAT’S the key to having a stable income from affiliate marketing - many streams of income all growing and profiting! That way, if one niche suddenly dies… think buggy whips… your income doesn’t suffer very much since it’s easy to plug another niche into the system, go through the steps and start a replacement income stream.
The secret to this method is knowing when to let a niche just perk along on its own and when to work hard on it. If you leave a niche too early…before you have a good stable cash flow and before you have a list that’s growing on a reliable basis… it will allow that niche to wither away and die.
BUT…on the other hand, you can get caught up in a niche and spend lots of unproductive time in it… tweaking each step even though you see no results is a good example of this. Sure, tweak and test until you see more sales or sign-ups, but not to the point of wasting time that could be better spent developing another niche.
The ideal situation would be to have 20 good, stable, income-producing niches. That way, you can merely check your stats every day and decide to work HARD on one niche that day. At the end of a month, you’ve worked hard on all of your niches and have some time to develop a few more.
If you have a system set up and ready to plug new niches into, you’re far, far ahead of the affiliate marketing field and on your way to being a super-affiliate.
Affiliate marketing is not rocket science! You CAN do it, and do it well… if you have a system and a plan.
Now All You Have To Do Is Just Get To Work And Do It!
All the best for your online success,
Sincerely,
Oke Timothy
www.oketimothy.blogspot.com
Super Affiliate Marketing tactics-Part 13
Super affiliate marketers will do all of what I will be discussing in this blog post. This is a continuation of the Super affiliate marketing series. Enjoy!
Super Affiliates Add Appropriate Unique Bonuses
Add a bonus that only people who buy the product through your affiliate link get. I have seen many of the top sellers on the Internet use this method to great success.
So what exactly can you add?
Well, there is a world of products out there. Just one simple word of advice. Whatever you offer, make sure that it will be of interest to the person who clicks on your affiliate link. For example, give them free access to a teleseminar if you run them, give them a free email course, give them software, give them an eBook that complements what they will buy from your affiliate link… if you offer unique bonuses that compliment your product you will get people buying through your link just to get them.
If someone has purchased via your affiliate link, send him or her, a personal thank you plus send him or her an extra-unadvertised bonus. A key is to make the bonus items beneficial to both your client and you. For example, create an ebook that is compatible with their purchase made through your affiliate link, maybe a guide on how to make the most out of their purchase. Then brand the ebook with your URL and other contact information, and then include some good
ads and product images throughout for additional affiliate products to purchase - all with your affiliate links.
Keep in mind that it is much easier to sell someone after he or she has already made a purchase. So go for backend sales and referrals. Referrals can come from your customer’s distributing your ebook to their friends.
Other excellent bonuses to offer are audio recordings, videos, ecourses and reports. As with the ebook, make all topics focus on subjects that are compatible to the products and services you are selling. And brand each with your contact information and new ads that carry your affiliate links for more backend sales.
Here are a few tips on making the most of these bonuses:
1. With audio, you can include an affiliate link to a new product and a blurb about it under the audio link that your customer needs to click to run the file, plus in a bonus message with instructions about the free audio. Also mention the affiliate link and brief ad announcement about it in the audio recording itself, and in a follow up email message.
2. Your video could feature how to install and begin using the affiliate product the client just purchased in order to get this bonus, for example. Or host a video tour of its features. And similar to how you set up a new affiliate link and ad message in your audio announcements, do so here.
3. Set up an ecourse as a series of messages in an autoresponder. Your ecourse can focus on how to get the most out of their purchase plus introduce new affiliate products in sponsor ads, one in each message, for instance. And since some people prefer not to wait for an entire ecourse to arrive via autoresponders, especially with email filtering issues today, offer an option to download the entire ecourse in ebook form – complete with your URL, other contact info and affiliate promotions, of course.
4. Bonus reports can offer case studies or interviews of successful people who have purchased the affiliate product packaged with this. Plus they can pre-sell other compatible affiliate products, so insert your affiliate promotions and URL with other contact info here, too.
You can also invite your customers to share all of these bonuses with others so that you can gain valuable traffic, leads and more sales from the recipients of
these and their friends, too, as they pass them along down the line; viral marketing in action. When possible, allow those who have purchased from you an opportunity to co-brand the link (like with two-tiered affiliate programs) i.e. insert their own affiliate link within the viral product so that they can earn a percentage of sales generated from their own distribution. You’ll have a sales force all your own out there helping grow your business!
Just a word of warning for you… The entire package, your affiliate product and your bonuses – need to be compatible with each other. For example, if the main product tells the buyer exactly how to save money by following the steps in their new, “Do it Yourself Car Repair Guide,” potential buyers for this guide are unlikely to consider any additional items added to the package as “value added” items, if you, for example, include software that will allow them to see a visual representation of the solar system on their computer (If they have one!) and an extra eBook giving them ice cream recipes.
Now if you take that same “Do it Yourself Car Repair Guide” and packages it with a compatible ebook as a bonus, say one that taught readers exactly where to pick up spare parts for their cars at great prices, then they be much more likely to consider that a “value added” bonus. They would want to buy by clicking your affiliate link.
Super Affiliates think outside the box-Part 12
This is a followup to the series that I am writing on. I hope you will really enjoy this and make good use of it. Enjoy!
Super Affiliates Think Outside The Box
Let’s use an example here. Say the product you are promoting is all about weight loss. Maybe the original affiliate sales letter hasn’t concentrated enough on the health angle. Seize on this opportunity, focus on the health angle in your own sales letter and autoresponder messages, and you can increase your affiliate sales.
Or how about this example: Maybe they are concentrating on selling the weight loss product to mainly males and have not spotted the fact that the product is equally good for both males and females. So you jump on this idea and run with it in your promotions.
Here are many ways to create new ideas for your affiliate product promotions:
a. Check current trends and tie a recent theme in with your campaign. An example: MP3 players are popular with business people on the road, so you can promote how you can download your audio product and listen to it while driving back and forth to work.
b. Look into gender-related issues. Example: even if the product is for women, let men know they should buy it for their ladies for Mother’s Day, birthdays, to help make up after fights, for Christmas and other holidays, as a Thank You gift, etc. Give them reasons to buy!
c. Go through magazines and newspapers around your home and office for more ideas. Example: a local newspaper with these sections could spark the following ideas: Travel (how can vacationers and traveling business people benefit), Health (look into the health angle), Business (how can this benefit home-based business people), etc.
d. Brainstorm – sit quietly with pencil and paper and re-read your sales letter. What comes to mind? Jot any and all ideas down.
e. Comparisons – compare apples to oranges and let people know the bottom line: why they should buy.
f. Do the math – Add mathematical statistics to your sales copy. Show ROI (return on investment) in testimonials. Add up the savings. Add up the benefits versus costs.
Get help – head to the Small Business Administration at: http://www.sba.gov and S.C.O.R.E. at: http://www.score.org , an affiliate of theirs with retired business people who offer free email help.
Your bottom line is this:
Once you come up with a marketing angle along these sort of lines, targeting a new audience for the product, then you have just taken a major step towards increasing your affiliate sales.
Remember this it’s important… make sure you’re promoting the right product to the right people. With the right bonuses.
Super Affiliate Marketers use multiple Lists-Part 11
I worte a piece for you in my last post? Yeah! This is the continuation of the series I started. Enjoy!
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Super Affiliates Use Multiple Lists
With Internet email and SPAM laws evolving, it’s important to make sure your affiliate email marketing and list-building campaigns are up to par with online regulations. Concerning your autoresponder set up and email message series, you need to know that top autoresponder companies today strictly forbid the use of their service to be used in unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or SPAM campaigns. They have a standard Zero-Tolerance policy against SPAM, be it direct, third party or any affiliate or similar agent acting on the account holder’s behalf.
What does this mean to you? Basically this: your content that is discussed in each message of your autoresponder series must fit as closely as possible to what your list officially signed up for initially.
In other words, do offer your subscribers some great tips on gardening if the affiliate product you are promoting is a great lawn renovation product. However, do not turn around and offer your subscribers great cake making tips if the product that you originally promoted to them to get them to sign up via your form was a great lawn renovation product.
Multiple Lists
What you can do to that you are not limited to selling only one type of product, is set up more than one autoresponder. Then cross-promoted each list to the other, inviting your subscribers from one list to subscribe to the other list.
To cross-promote, your message must still focus on the original product the subscriber signed up for via your form. Then at the end of your message, or even in a different place within the main message like towards the top or in the middle, you may include a small advertisement or sponsorship blurb about your other autoresponder series. Simply jot down the main benefit of signing up for the other list and customize it for members on your current list. Then include a link or email address for your other autoresponder at the end of the ad. That is allowed.
Hot Tip
Add an affiliate email to your autoresponder to promote another product. It’s quick, easy, forever and it is totally hands free.
Here is an example:
** Sponsor**
Jumpstart Your Home-Based Business with
Government Grants. For your free report entitled,
“101 Ways to Get Uncle Sam to Pay YOU!”
Send a blank email to:
Keep in mind that it still will take many people at least seven times to read your ad before they decide to reply in a positive manner; i.e. sign up for your other list. So have patience and remember to sprinkle your ad in each message of the autoresponder series for maximum list-building potential. And note that not everyone will want to sign up for cross-promotions, and that’s fine, too.
Increasing Conversion Tip
Work HARD on your sales copy, to make more sales with the same traffic get better copy… in both your emails to your list and the sales page… if you can, rewrite the sales page and split test it. If you can’t write sales copy, consider having a pro tweak it for you.
How Super Affiliates use Autoresponders-Part 10
How super affiliates use autoresponder part 10: This post aims to continue the previous one that I earlier started. I will soon be rounding this series up but I hope you really love the series?
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Super Affiliates Use Autoreponders
To help with handling your email contacts plus regular distribution of your email message series, set up an autoresponder. You will need to set up one autoresponder specifically for each affiliate product that you want to promote and choose a good autoresponder company like www.Aweber.com with plenty of satisfied clients using their system.
Message Content Tips:
Your autoresponder messages are actually mini-sales letters. So if you have no experience in writing or revising sales copy, you may benefit by borrowing some books from your local library on the topic. Creating ad copy is also a form of specialty writing, and you can check out helpful books for improving in this area, too.
Once your messages are all loaded, create a form for your autoresponder by following the directions and any help tutorials offered by your autoresponder service. Add this form to your website so that you can invite people to sign up.
Since some people prefer to send an email in to subscribe to autoresponders instead of completing a sign up form, add this method to your website, too, to get the most subscribers you can and build a list. To locate the email address for your autoresponder series, just check with your set up instructions to determine what it is. Once you have it, add it along with simple instructions (to send in a blank email) on top of or below your form so that people can subscribe via email instead of completing the form.
To increase sign ups, and hence grow your list, there are several areas to focus on for improvements as time permits. You can improve your email messages, your ads, your website sales letter that invites people to sign up via your form and autoresponder email address, your web page appearance; color scheme, theme, header, background, graphics and speed (example: large graphic files could slow page from loading resulting in visitors passing you by).
Do you think people that have signed up to get a golfing newsletter that contains tips on how to putt better from you would like to read about trips to golfing resorts? Or how about golfing accessories? Of course, they would!
If you sit down and think about any niche, you can find other, complimentary niches that fit right in with it. If you are truly focused on giving your subscribers
good content that they’ll read, enjoy and, more importantly, use in their lives, then you’re doing them a disservice if you don’t at least tell them about other things that go along with their hobby/passion/interest.
You may also want to let everyone, on every list you have, know exactly what other newsletters you publish and maybe give them a neat little bonus for subscribing to any of them that they may be interested in. You’ll’ be surprised how many good subscribers you can pick up this way! They already know and trust you… if you’re doing things right… and are much more likely to buy the new niche products from you than people who have just joined your list.
Taking a survey of your subscribers is also a great technique to see what other topics they may be interested in. Grab hold of a PHP survey script and set up a quick little survey and send the link to it to all of your subscribers. Give them a good gift for completing the survey and you’ll be surprised at how many responses you get.
Those survey responses are pure gold! They’ll tell you exactly what other niches you can get into…and get this…these subscribers already know you, have come to trust you and very likely will buy from you! Now that’s a warmed up list!
Constantly be thinking about how you can best recycle your list and still give your subscribers good valuable content and a good product now and then! It’ll make your affiliate income skyrocket!
Complete guide on how to build a list of paying customers-Part 9
Super Affiliate Applies
When you first realize that 95-99% of the visitors to your website don’t buy anything, that realization can be a little disheartening. You’ve worked hard to get traffic to your site…and not just traffic, but targeted traffic that is interested in your products…and only 5-6 out of 100 buy anything! Here the best way to fix that immediately.
This is where you start to dangle the bait.
If you aren’t doing something to capture the name and email address of your visitors, you’re wasting the time and effort you put into getting them to your site in the first place.
The key to building a good, RESPONSIVE list is to treat the people who are part of it EXACTLY how you would like to be treated. Give them good solid information that is right on target for what they’re looking for. If they are golfers, give them great tips and tricks on how to be a better golfer… give them LOTS of information and then give them your review of a product that you actually think may help them golf better. Earn their trust…treat them right and they’ll come back to you again and again to purchase the things they need and want.
Building a list is vital when it comes to building a solid affiliate marketing business. Learn as much as you can about list building. Figure out how you’re going to incorporate list building into your business.
The old saying in marketing is, “The Money Is in the List”. Build a list the right way and you’ll be taking a HUGE step toward exploding your affiliate marketing income.
Super Affiliates Use Lists And Email To Profit
Every top internet marketers and super affiliate say that the “Money is in the list!” The good news is that most affiliate programs are ready-made for email success. So in order to succeed you need to build your list with a good series of emails and get started on a good list-building system.
More often than not, affiliate programs provide you with catchy emails that are pretty much guaranteed to increase sales. You can just simply copy and paste their messages into your own email and then send them out to your email contacts, substituting your own affiliate link for the original one first, of course. But we both know that is what most affiliates do, the average ones, super affiliates personalize their messages and totally rewrite the owners recommended email so that it doesn’t read anything like the original. Yes use the original as a base and build on it but don’t copy, paste and send.
Now since it is a proven fact that it may take up to seven contacts or more before an Interested Prospect turns into a Committed Buyer, you will want to send out enough follow up emails to help ensure your affiliate sales success. Each message should feature a benefit of the affiliate product you are trying to promote, and towards the end of each message, insert your affiliate link with a small ad, an invitation to buy now.
Write (Or Have Written) A Bait Piece
You may not be familiar with the term “bait piece”, but it’s an important way to REALLY increase your affiliate sales. Here’s what a bait piece is and what it can do for you.
Think of fishing. You dangle a piece of bait… a worm, a lure… in front of a big bass to entice him to take a bite. Inside that worm is a hook and when he bites it, he gets the hook too! In marketing, a bait piece is a high-perceived value item that is specifically targeted to the niche you are working in.
A bait piece is essential to building a list. You HAVE to have a list if you want to make money through affiliate marketing. When you figure that the HUGE
majority of your visitors don’t make a purchase through your affiliate link on their first visit…it just makes sense to have a way to get in contact with them again and again. A good bait piece allows you to do that.
If you’re selling a golfing product, it makes sense to offer an interview with a pro, a download of a great book on putting, a weekly course on how to putt straight…anything that your visitors would perceive as a valuable free gift. You give it to them in exchange for signing up to receive your weekly or monthly newsletter. THAT’S how you have multiple contacts with that visitor!
Search for good resources that you can give away but once again make sure yours is unique, no point in trying to build a list with something that is freely available in hundreds of different places. Write your own or have it written for you. Ask the product owner or affiliate manager if they have any content that you can give to your visitors in order to help sell the product…they usually have something that will help you.
A bait piece and a newsletter signup form is a powerful technique to get your affiliate income going on over-drive…make sure you understand it and start using it!
Important Tip
Suitability – Make sure your affiliate offer fits as close as possible to what your list officially signed up for, or you will notice your conversion will go down substantially, your unsubscribes will increase and you will get some nasty replies.
This is SO key…make sure you’re selling the right product to the right people.
If you don’t have an email list yet, or you have a small one or are looking to grow yours, this section is for you! Here are tips to grow your list.
Sig Files in Email and Forum Posts
You can add a signature (sig) file to every email you send out; to friends, colleagues, business contacts, people who request information or help from you, etc. Look through your email system to learn how to set up your sig file and get it set up ASAP!
Also when you post to forums on the Internet, you can generally include some type of sig file that can automatically attach to each post. Check with each forum to see specific requirements first and see how other people post using their sigs, then set yours up similarly.
Hint: Don’t jump on board and start spamming, posting comments like, “Get my ebook now!” Stay low key at first, read posts for awhile and get a feel for the forum. All forums have their own personalities. Then gradually post, making replies that can help others out who’ve started threads that ask for help. That’s the best way to communicate, starting out with forums.
For sig file ideas, text small ads to see how many subscriber you add to your list like:
Sincerely,
John Doe
Jumpstart Your Home-Based Business with
Government Grants. For your free report entitled,
“101 Ways to Get Uncle Sam to Pay YOU!”
Send a blank email to:
Notes:
- Do remember to check sig lengths and other sig rules for each forum!
- Experiment with your sig sales copy, trying out power words like MONEY, CASH, POWER, SUCCESS, FORTUNE, SEX etc.
- In addition people have a burning desire to learn things so DISCOVER, HOW TO, LEARN, REVEALED and SECRETS are also power words.
- For more help, turn to copywriting books and advertising, sales and marketing text from your local library. There are also hundreds on helpful articles online in article directories, too.
With sig files like this, all of the emails that you send out and all of your forum posts will become like an affiliate sales force for you. Charge ahead!
Affiliate programs offer a viable solution to competing against larger competitors and still make money. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them!
When you first realize that 95-99% of the visitors to your website don’t buy anything, that realization can be a little disheartening. You’ve worked hard to get traffic to your site…and not just traffic, but targeted traffic that is interested in your products…and only 5-6 out of 100 buy anything! Here the best way to fix that immediately.
This is where you start to dangle the bait.
If you aren’t doing something to capture the name and email address of your visitors, you’re wasting the time and effort you put into getting them to your site in the first place.
The key to building a good, RESPONSIVE list is to treat the people who are part of it EXACTLY how you would like to be treated. Give them good solid information that is right on target for what they’re looking for. If they are golfers, give them great tips and tricks on how to be a better golfer… give them LOTS of information and then give them your review of a product that you actually think may help them golf better. Earn their trust…treat them right and they’ll come back to you again and again to purchase the things they need and want.
Building a list is vital when it comes to building a solid affiliate marketing business. Learn as much as you can about list building. Figure out how you’re going to incorporate list building into your business.
The old saying in marketing is, “The Money Is in the List”. Build a list the right way and you’ll be taking a HUGE step toward exploding your affiliate marketing income.
Super Affiliates Use Lists And Email To Profit
Every top internet marketers and super affiliate say that the “Money is in the list!” The good news is that most affiliate programs are ready-made for email success. So in order to succeed you need to build your list with a good series of emails and get started on a good list-building system.
More often than not, affiliate programs provide you with catchy emails that are pretty much guaranteed to increase sales. You can just simply copy and paste their messages into your own email and then send them out to your email contacts, substituting your own affiliate link for the original one first, of course. But we both know that is what most affiliates do, the average ones, super affiliates personalize their messages and totally rewrite the owners recommended email so that it doesn’t read anything like the original. Yes use the original as a base and build on it but don’t copy, paste and send.
Now since it is a proven fact that it may take up to seven contacts or more before an Interested Prospect turns into a Committed Buyer, you will want to send out enough follow up emails to help ensure your affiliate sales success. Each message should feature a benefit of the affiliate product you are trying to promote, and towards the end of each message, insert your affiliate link with a small ad, an invitation to buy now.
Write (Or Have Written) A Bait Piece
You may not be familiar with the term “bait piece”, but it’s an important way to REALLY increase your affiliate sales. Here’s what a bait piece is and what it can do for you.
Think of fishing. You dangle a piece of bait… a worm, a lure… in front of a big bass to entice him to take a bite. Inside that worm is a hook and when he bites it, he gets the hook too! In marketing, a bait piece is a high-perceived value item that is specifically targeted to the niche you are working in.
A bait piece is essential to building a list. You HAVE to have a list if you want to make money through affiliate marketing. When you figure that the HUGE
majority of your visitors don’t make a purchase through your affiliate link on their first visit…it just makes sense to have a way to get in contact with them again and again. A good bait piece allows you to do that.
If you’re selling a golfing product, it makes sense to offer an interview with a pro, a download of a great book on putting, a weekly course on how to putt straight…anything that your visitors would perceive as a valuable free gift. You give it to them in exchange for signing up to receive your weekly or monthly newsletter. THAT’S how you have multiple contacts with that visitor!
Search for good resources that you can give away but once again make sure yours is unique, no point in trying to build a list with something that is freely available in hundreds of different places. Write your own or have it written for you. Ask the product owner or affiliate manager if they have any content that you can give to your visitors in order to help sell the product…they usually have something that will help you.
A bait piece and a newsletter signup form is a powerful technique to get your affiliate income going on over-drive…make sure you understand it and start using it!
Important Tip
Suitability – Make sure your affiliate offer fits as close as possible to what your list officially signed up for, or you will notice your conversion will go down substantially, your unsubscribes will increase and you will get some nasty replies.
This is SO key…make sure you’re selling the right product to the right people.
If you don’t have an email list yet, or you have a small one or are looking to grow yours, this section is for you! Here are tips to grow your list.
Sig Files in Email and Forum Posts
You can add a signature (sig) file to every email you send out; to friends, colleagues, business contacts, people who request information or help from you, etc. Look through your email system to learn how to set up your sig file and get it set up ASAP!
Also when you post to forums on the Internet, you can generally include some type of sig file that can automatically attach to each post. Check with each forum to see specific requirements first and see how other people post using their sigs, then set yours up similarly.
Hint: Don’t jump on board and start spamming, posting comments like, “Get my ebook now!” Stay low key at first, read posts for awhile and get a feel for the forum. All forums have their own personalities. Then gradually post, making replies that can help others out who’ve started threads that ask for help. That’s the best way to communicate, starting out with forums.
For sig file ideas, text small ads to see how many subscriber you add to your list like:
Sincerely,
John Doe
Jumpstart Your Home-Based Business with
Government Grants. For your free report entitled,
“101 Ways to Get Uncle Sam to Pay YOU!”
Send a blank email to:
Notes:
- Do remember to check sig lengths and other sig rules for each forum!
- Experiment with your sig sales copy, trying out power words like MONEY, CASH, POWER, SUCCESS, FORTUNE, SEX etc.
- In addition people have a burning desire to learn things so DISCOVER, HOW TO, LEARN, REVEALED and SECRETS are also power words.
- For more help, turn to copywriting books and advertising, sales and marketing text from your local library. There are also hundreds on helpful articles online in article directories, too.
With sig files like this, all of the emails that you send out and all of your forum posts will become like an affiliate sales force for you. Charge ahead!
Affiliate programs offer a viable solution to competing against larger competitors and still make money. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them!
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