Eight Bite-Sized Tips to Break Out of Affiliate Limbo
by Kori Puckett
It may be popular but it's not easy. Affiliate programs
are the most popular way to make money on the Internet. But
making a living online from them is hard enough with
different people telling you different things. However,
there are some techniques you can follow to ensure your
success. These 8 steps will increase your affiliate sales
and, more importantly, your name recognition which will
mean more affiliate sales to come.
*Have a list? Send a mailing to it. If you do have a list,
no matter how small or large it is, you should always start
there. They are your subscribers and they deserve to be the
first to hear anything new you have to say. Plus, if you've
established a warm relationship with them and your
product/service is targeted towards them, you just might
see some sales. (Isn't that what we all want? ;-)
*Don't have a list? Well hurry up, find one, and do some
advertising. If you don't have a list, find someone else's
and advertise in theirs. If you're just starting with your
advertising, then start small then build your way up to the
top sponsor and solo ads. You don't want to blow away too
much money on an untested ad.
*Offer a free report to spread around like wildfire.
Otherwise known as viral marketing. Of course you can't
just offer any old free report. It actually has to be a
good one. And preferably one that you created or had
created for you, because if you do it in e-book format,
then some places won't accept it unless you are the author.
You can put affiliate links in it or just point people back
to your website where you have your affiliate products on
display.
*Be different than the competition by offering something
extra. The best of the best affiliates offer something
different from the average affiliate. That's why they are
the best of the best and the average are just average. ;)
They give bonuses (preferably unique ones) to people who
buy a product through their link instead of their
competition's. And they build up a loyal mailing list that
way, too.
*Write your own articles with affiliate link in resource
box. In addition to the previous tip, you could put your
affiliate link in the resource box of your article and let
them know about the bonuses they'd get by ordering from
you. For example, if you were an affiliate for an instant
sales letter software program, your article could be about
sales letters and you would include your sales letter
software affiliate link and bonuses in the resource box.
*Use pay-per-click search engines. The trick is to choose
targeted words that don't cost you a dollar (or even five
dollars) per click. You can go to
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
and see how often popular, targeted words for your niche
were searched for during the last month. Then you can go to
Overture.com, enter a few keywords, click on the
Advertiser's Max Bid link at the top right and see how much
the top advertisers are paying for those terms. Then chose
your keywords by balancing how much you're willing to pay
per visitor and how much the term was searched for in the
past 30 days.
(Little hint: You may want to include the price of the
product in the description to keep any freebie seekers
away. This is costing you money, so you only want those who
are serious about buying clicking on that link).
*Do some offline advertising for free publicity. You could
do press releases, radio or television interviews,
classifieds in newspapers or magazines, posting fliers in
your local market, etc. Your imagination is your only limit
(besides the law, in some cases, so check ;). Not many
people think about going offline when they have an online
business, and still less actually do it (guilty as charged,
at least for the time being :-). You can be different and
bring in a fresh audience that hasn't been jaded by the
Internet.
*Offer a free e-course with affiliate link(s) added
throughout. This will get people to: 1) visit your site if
you're leading them to a subscribe form and/or 2) allow you
to follow-up with them several times. You'll have a better
chance of making the sale and you'll get some traffic. Same
rule applies as the free report/e-book--it has to be a
quality e-course, meaning valuable information that people
can actually use/learn from. Otherwise, your reputation
goes downhill and so will your ability to sell anything.
And there you have it. Eight tips you can start using
today to increase your affiliate sales and commission. Of
course you don't have to do all 8 of them, but using any
one of them will get you out of your affiliate limbo
nightmare.
-----------------------------------------------------
Kori Puckett, a successful affiliate marketer in the non-
internet marketing niche, has successfully used these
strategies to make more money online. For more ideas on how
you too can make more money as an affiliate, even if you
have no large mailing list or high traffic web site, then
visit http://www.webpay-success.com/sas.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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