Many affiliates fail in affiliate
marketing because they limit their marketing strategies
to placing referral links in their websites, distributing
links to business sites through multiple emails or posting
their links to other web pages. Doing any of these alone
would not guarantee sales and thus, your commission.
You have to exert effort to promote your affiliate products
and make yourself ahead of the thousands of other affiliate
marketers who are selling the same products in the Internet.
There is actually no perfect sure-win get-rich-quick
scheme or formula in affiliate marketing; but using
tried and tested ways to promote your affiliate products
can be of great help. The following are eight promotional
techniques used and proven to be effective by experienced
affiliate marketers.
First, provide visitors of your website enough information
about the product. Aside from your website design, the
content of your web page counts a lot in capturing the
interest of the guest. Your web pages must contain factual
and objective articles on the product, such as product
reviews. In the informative articles, state the products’
special features, benefits and advantages over other
brands of its kind. Take note, you are not selling but
informing.
You are trying to establish the value and desirability
of the product and thus, convince the visitor that the
product matches his needs and wants. He will then follow
the link and complete his purchase. Spice up the content
of your web pages with statements like “And not only
that, there’s more..” that does not only create suspense
but likewise hold the interest of the reader to know
more of the product. There’s no perfect product, of
course, so you can also reveal some of its negative
attributes but don’t let them overshadow the good ones.
Second is through the use of testimonials and endorsements
from respected or relevant individuals who are using
the product. This sounds like a familiar marketing strategy
but this still works. These testimonials validate the
information you are presenting about the product; this
way, you build confidence and trust of the client.
In addition, you exude an impression that you are an
expert in the field since you are able to prove that
the product and services you are offering really works
as assured. Remember that your prospects are also conducting
researches on their own so make sure you can back up
every claim with facts and figures.
Next promotional strategy is through marketing banners.
Make these banners attractive enough for visitors to
click them. However, don’t overuse banners as they can
make your site messy, too. Webmasters say users generally
do not have negative remarks about banners. In fact,
they appreciate that they can shop through the site
they frequently visit.
Others, however, find crowded banner ads annoying, so
limit your use of banner ads. The fourth is offering
newsletters, which guests of your site can opt-in to.
In the newsletter, you can place informative articles,
advertisements, affiliate program links, news and features.
In this way, you can regularly inform them of the hottest
products available or you can get their interest to
check your site every now and then.
You can add to your site a forced opt-in page, the fifth
most effective marketing strategy. Here you may put
an emphatic headline, a problem, an offer, which is
a solution to that problem and an autoresponder opt-in
box. As the visitor signs up, he is directed to the
business site, while you increase your highly targeted
mailing list.
Remember that signing up signifies his interest, so
it’s not a waste of time sending emails to that possible
buyer. Statistics show that most sales are generated
from second and third mailings, so follow up. Using
the same mailing list, you can also promote affiliate
products through “thank you” emails.
If emailing doesn’t work well for you, then try the
sixth way to effectively promote your affiliate products,
using advertising services like Google AdWords. The
Google AdWords helps you meet your marketing goals in
a fast, effective and easy manner. Through this, your
own ads are connected to a large number of users who
are exactly in need of your products and services.
After you have created your ads, you can see them on
Google right away and many buyers online likewise can.
You get quick response to your ads and you get to advertise
with Internet users who are actually interested in buying.
You can also define or choose your target market area,
allowing you to get the best possible results.
Although you are not involved in the actual selling
process, you are responsible for referring a customer
to the merchandisers’ business website and convincing
him to buy so you are sure of your commission.
The seventh most effective way of promoting the product
and compelling a visitor of your website to go to the
merchants’ site and buy is to tell something about the
price. Higher-priced items give you the most commissions
but they are hard to market since customers always have
the propensity to go for the lowest priced.
But you can work on this by breaking down the total
cost and putting it in words to make it appear cheaper.
Instead of stating the lump sum, state how much he has
to pay in affordable installments or how much dollars
or cents he has to spend everyday.
Lastly, you may want to be extra generous to your prospects
by giving them bonuses. Add-ons and freebies are always
inviting, especially when they match the interests of
the buyer. It doesn’t have to be expensive; you can
even just customize it, say a CD with freewares and
tips and list on the best online resources on interesting
topics. Make it unique so your prospects can’t easily
price it and compare it to the offers of your competitors.
Be creative and know what your buyers want. For sure,
you’ll get what you want, too.
About The Author: Jason Gazaway - This 22 year old, 'regular' college
kid was able to quit his 7-4 'job' because of his affiliate
marketing business. He now wants to help others and
show you how he did it!
|