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Affiliate Income Booster Techniques
By: Chris Small
The biggest source of my online income continues to be from
participating in and promoting Affiliate programs. They provide
a steady flow of checks to the mail box. Some of these checks
are for just a few dollars, and some of them are for several
hundred dollars. But all of them are a direct result of the principles
that we will be discussing in this report.
The simplicity of representing a ready made marketing concept
is truly enjoyable. All the hard work has been done in advance
by the company. Your job is simply to market the product or
service.
Please note that while this article is not intended to offend
anyone, it is going to be direct and to the point. The candy
coating has been removed.
It always amazes me when I look at the stats of People who join
Affiliate Programs. Over 90% of them do absolutely nothing. They
don't even so much as click onto their own affiliate page. Some
of this may be due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of the
process. Some have the impression that simply signing up will
make them a success. But, the biggest reason, in my opinion, is
that they just lose interest. They only have as much interest as
it takes to get signed up and hope that the company or their
upline will make them rich. They decide to "give it a try" and
see what happens.
Basically, what it boils down to is that the new affiliate marketer
must believe in the program AND IN THEMSELVES enough to
take some serious action. Now if you are the type of person
who is very intent on building a big affiliate income, keep
reading. If you are only casually interested in Affiliate success,
this article is not for you.
Promote Products and Services that YOU Believe In
First of all you must find a program that gets you excited.
Yes, even with the anonymity that the Internet offers, your
enthusiasm will be reflected loudly in your written words.
Remember this; most people will make their purchase
because of a testimonial or personal recommendation.
Simply pasting pre written company materials is not going to
yield the number of sign ups and sales that you want. You are
going to have to communicate directly to the heart of your
prospects. In order to do this effectively, you must exude
enthusiasm and confidence.
Use Personal Endorsements
Personal endorsements and testimonials are going to provide far
more credibility than banner ads and pretty pictures ever will.
You must have them. Write your own. Ask your customers for
feedback. Ask your upline for their testimonial. Ask your
downline. Get as many legitimate words of praise for the program
that you are promoting as possible.
Have you ever seen the ads that read; "I lost xx pounds - ask me
how"? They are everywhere; in newspapers, on buttons that people
wear, laundromat bulletin boards, bumper stickers, etc.. As
distasteful as they may be, they are a testament to the power of
personal testimonials.
Utilize the Full Value of Ezines
The most effective way to reach your prospects is through ezines.
I won't go into all the reasons why you should have your own,
there are already many fine articles on that subject. Let's just
say that if you don't publish your own ezine, then you will have to pay
someone else who does to present your marketing message. Even
if you do have your own ezine it is very wise to buy or barter
advertising space in other Internet newsletters to increase your
exposure.
There are several ways present your message in ezines. The most
common, but least effective, is through the use of classified ads.
They do work, and are cheap to buy, but you will see far better
results with a higher profile ad. Placing your message at or near
the top of the publication gives it a much better chance of being
seen. These "Sponsor Ads" or "Featured Ads" not only stand out
from the rest of the ads, but they carry more credibility too.
Also, many publishers will allow you to include more copy in the
higher paying ads.
In your own ezine you can take your liberties and write full
articles that discuss the merits of your affiliate program. This
can be a very effective method, but you need to remember to write
it with the readers interests in mind. Nothing turns people off
faster than blatant self serving commercials. Always use the
WIIFM principle. The reader needs to know, "What's In It For Me".
The Best Method
The absolute best way that I have found to promote any product
or service on the Internet is by sending out special news
releases or time sensitive updates to a targeted list of opt-in ezine
subscribers. These solo mailings are separate from the regular
ezine. They focus only on one program, or aspect of it. The
results are astounding. Usually within a few hours you will see
90% of the action. If the copy is written well you can see a very
high response rate.
Use Your Stats
One last method that helps me to focus my promotions effectively
is simply to study the site logs and stats pages. Many Affiliate
companies will provide you with a program stats page. Most of
them are only about hits, sign ups and income. This is good
information to know, but it doesn't let you know which ads are
working the best. That's why I like to create redirect pages on
my site that are trackable in my site server logs.
Here's how it works. You create an ad for XYZ affiliate and
place it in an ezine (or on a web page). Instead of putting
in a link to your affiliate page address, you would create a
page on your site that automatically sends the visitor to the
affiliate page. Each ad that you use would lead to a separate
redirect page. There are two main benefits to this. 1) The link
address is going to look more professional and probably
shorter. eg: www.yourdomain.com/xyz3.htm. 2)You will be able to
see in your server logs which ads are drawing the most hits. For
more information about the mechanics of this, read one of my
previous articles "Little known Secrets of HTML" at
http://worlddealcenter.com/reports/HTMLsecrets.htm
Be Wise
One caveat. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of
Affiliate programs floating around on the Internet for all kinds
of products and services. Some of them are dogs. They just won't
work, regardless of how well you promote them. Be wise in
selecting the one(s) that you are going to invest your time and
money into.
When you find a good one, practice the above methods, along with
your own creativity and enthusiasm, and you too will experience
the joy of opening envelopes with large checks in them. I look
forward to reading YOUR success story.
About the Author
Chris Small is a cyber entrepreneur and host of several
successful websites. If you would like to read more articles
like this by Chris go to www.worlddealcenter.com/reports
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