How To Win The Affiliate Game

How To Win The Affiliate Game
By Michael Southon

Are you frustrated with your affiliate programs?

I used to be. Very frustrated! One day, in sheer desperation, I
wrote to one of my affiliate programs and suggested that the
market was now saturated with their product - it was no longer
possible to sell it.

The next day I received a very nice reply. "The Internet is
HUGE", they said. "We predict it will be five years before the
market is saturated with our product. And long before that, we
will have introduced our next product." They were right, of
course. The problem was not with the market (the Internet is
huge). Nor was the problem with their product. The problem was
in the way I was presenting it.

Since then, my affiliate sales have soared. Why? Because I
learnt a few secrets to winning the affiliate game. Here they
are:

1. Choose affiliate programs that relate very closely to the
theme of your website. Let me give you an example. Of the
three affiliate products I sell from my web site, the one that
does best by a long way is an eBook that shows people how to
generate free Ezine advertising. Why does it do so well?
Because my website is a directory of ezines and most of my
visitors are already interested in Ezine Advertising before
they even arrive at my website - I don`t have to persuade them
very much.

2. Buy the product yourself! Research across dozens of
affiliate programs shows that at least 70% of sales in any
affiliate program are made by the small percentage of
affiliates who actually buy the product they`re selling. It
makes sense doesn`t it (how can you recommend something you`ve
never used)?

3. Banners - they don`t work anymore, and some experts believe
banners will actually damage your affiliate sales.

4. Personal recommendation. The human factor is very important
on the Internet - people want to know that someone else has
bought the product and that it worked for them. But to write a
convincing personal recommendation, you`ll have to buy, read
and use the product you`re selling.

5. `Over-selling` - this is the most common mistake of
affiliates. Keep in mind that all you need to do to succeed
with affiliate programs is to get your potential customer to
click through to the affiliate website in an `open-to-buy`
mindset. If the affiliate program is good, the affiliate
website will make the sale. So don`t try to sell the product
from your website - just aim to get a click on your affiliate
link.

5. Standard Ads. When you join an affiliate program, you`ll
probably be given some standard ads to use. Don`t use them!
Why? Because your potential customer has probably seen those
exact same ads on dozens of websites and in dozens of Ezines.
And if that standard ad hasn`t led them to buy the product so
far, it probably won`t now. Something new and original is
required.

6. Back-end sales. Once you`re succeeding in one affiliate
program, join another program that offers a related product
and use the technique that marketers call `back-end` sales.
It`s a well known fact that people are much more likely to buy
from someone they have already bought from. So when someone
makes a purchase from your affiliate link, send them a nice
follow-up letter. At the end of the letter, tell them about
your other affiliate product and how it can help them.

Written by Gian Luigi Ruggeri © 2001 - All rights reserved
To find other tips, advices, as well as articles, tools and
resources to help your net marketing activity
MARKETERS ONLY, The Netmarketers Help Centre
http://NetmarketersHelpCentre.com (http://
NetmarketersHelpCentre.com)