There must be a reason why some affiliates succeed and some
fail, a reason why some affiliates profit moderately and some
affiliates profit substantially.
There must be a reason.
There is.
And that reason is this: "super" affiliates start, sustain and
strengthen relationships with subscribers.
It begins and ends with a list. Even a small one can be a
powerful, profitable mechanism if you follow these 7
guidelines...
1. CAPTURE THE
OPTIN FIRST.
Instead of sending traffic directly to your affiliate link,
send them to YOUR site where you offer some kind of list for
them to join. (Hint: Mini-course works best) Once you have
them on a list, they become an asset. If you send them directly
to an affiliate page and they don't buy, they're gone forever.
On your list, you can follow-up with them
indefinitely.
Note: You can even redirect them to your affiliate link AFTER
they join your list, effectively getting them where you wanted
them to go in the first place.
2. DIFFERENTIATE THE OFFER.
Instead of sending out the same, tired, lame advertisement that
every other affiliate in the world sends out, write your own.
Trust me when I say that many people find it OFFENSIVE when
they receive two dozens duplicate emails from two dozen list
owners all promoting the exact same thing in the exact same way.
And even if they don't find it offensive, it's not as effective
if you simply rinse and repeat what everyone else is doing.
Hint: Here's how you differentiate...
3. SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE.
Nothing - nothing - nothing speaks louder than RESULTS. If you
want to lose a few pounds, who do you turn to? Someone who is
still struggling with their own weight or someone you've seen
drop 35 pounds? Exactly.
The way you make your mailings / ads different is you speak
from your own personal experience. This product or service that
you are promoting as an affiliate, how has it been useful to you
personally? What results have you personally achieved? When you
used it, what happened?
Note: If you haven't personally used the product, then shame
on you for trying to make a quick buck from it hocking it to
others!
4. OFFER A COMPELLING INCENTIVE.
Another way to be different - and to dramatically increase your
chances of getting a sale as an affiliate - is to offer some
kind of compelling incentive if someone buys the offer through
YOUR referral link. Whether it's a special report or access to
an audio recording, personalized consultation or advertising, a
private training call or existing products and services, this
can be a highly effective method of converting fence-setters
into paying customers.
In order for it to work well, it must be UNIQUE (I.E. You're
the only one making the offer) and USEFUL (I.E. Something of
great perceived value to the reader).
Note: Don't have anything to offer? Don't worry! There are
many ways to easily obtain extra incentives: conduct an
interview, hire a ghostwriter to create articles / reports for
you, buy reprint rights to other products, assemble a bunch of
free articles and other resources into a private access site,
etc.
5. LOOK FOR RESIDUAL OPPORTUNITIES.
Rather than exhaust your efforts on purchases that give you a
one-time commission, why not make the most of your marketing by
looking firstly for offers that pay out ONGOING monthly
commissions for your referred sales?
There are many different residual income generating services
such as membership sites (ranging from PT Cruisers to weight
loss), stock photos and
clipart, hosting,
autoresponders,
databases (from hiking trails to sermon outlines) online
magazines and a variety of other subscription based
opportunities that reward you with monthly recurring commissions.
While you definitely want a mix of types of affiliate programs
to promote, your priority should be in identifying and promoting
those services and programs that will pay you month after month,
instead of only one time.
6. BUILD A SALES ARMY.
One of the biggest untapped sources of income in any list is
that of "turning subscribers into partners". In other words,
find those on your list who are interested in making money and
provide them with training and materials to promote affiliate
programs as well.
This has a two-fold advantage for YOU:
* First, if you find 2-tier affiliate programs, you can get
your subscribers to join the program through your referral.
Anytime they get a sale, you'll earn a commission as well. You
effectively get free commissions from their effort.
* Secondly, you can use their efforts to build your own assets.
For example: If you provide them with a 10-page report to give
away to promote their affiliate link, you can include a page in
the report promoting YOUR list! You effectively get free
subscribers from their effort.
7. MONETIZE FOR MULTIPLE STREAMS.
As your own list continues to grow, you certainly want to
diversify in your offerings. (Not to the point of bombarding
your list with offers every day of course!)
* Promote other affiliate programs.
* Create your own products.
(Even short $10 reports will earn profit!)
* Establish joint ventures.
* Co-author products.
* Cross promote.
* Conduct surveys.
There are MANY ways to make money from you list and keep your
list growing, growing, growing!
Remember, it all comes down to: starting, sustaining and
strengthening relationships with subscribers.
8.
Invest in your knowledge- Learn to Multiply
I learned all this and more from Jimmy Brown at
http://bit.ly/1TL5pf He teaches how to cash in on
commissions without a website,
and gives you the articles & newsletters to promote, so you
don’t have to do any work.
