5 steps to winning the affiliate game
By Terry Telford
Posted Tuesday, November 16, 2004
When you join an affiliate program, you join thousands of other affiliates who are marketing the same product. So how do you ensure that customers buy from you instead of one of the other thousand affiliates? You do it like this.
1. Buy the product or service you want to sell. That's right, buy it and use it. Become accustomed to all the features and benefits associated with the product. How does it make you feel? This is what you will be selling to YOUR customers.
Here's an example. I bought an email program that can send out mail to all my lists. It has all the bells and whistles that you can imagine, and I just love it. I became an affiliate of the program and sell it more than any other mail program I offer.
Why? Because in addition to having it on my website, I also recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quality mail program. If I didn't use it, how could I recommend it? Ethically.
2. Design your own web page. It's no secret, there are some pretty bad sales pages out there. Some of the most amazing products on the net have some of the most customer unfriendly sales pages. But this doesn't mean you can't sell the products.
Design your own webpage and sell the customer on the product first. Give them your own testimonial and the testimonial of other customers who have bought the product. Tell them why you bought it, how you use it, and what results it gives you. Remember, buy it and use it.
3. Offer YOUR customers a bonus. That's right, these are YOUR customers too. They are buying a product based on information that you have given them or referred them to. So give YOUR customers a bonus.
Offer them a bonus that they don't get from other affiliates or from the company selling the product. Make the bonus something unique to your site. Give away an exclusive eBook, an electronic coupon for another product, or a FREE entry into a bonus draw. Give anything that has a value and will put you ahead of other affiliates.
4. Follow up with your prospects and customers. Statistics show that it takes between 5 and 7 contacts before a prospect becomes a customer. Ask your website visitors to sign up for your ezine, fill out a survey, or register for a freebie. Once you've captured their name and address, you can contact them with different sales material promoting your affiliate product.
5.b Write your own promotional material. Using your own fresh ads and website copy puts you ahead of other affiliates.
The majority of affiliates use pre-written ads, supplied by the company. Have you looked in the classified section of any of the major eZines or classified sites? You see the same ads again and again with a different URL. Stand out by being different.
Affiliate marketing can be very profitable, if you know how to stay ahead of the crowd. Dare to be different, give it a shot and surprise yourself with your results.
Good luck with all your marketing and God Bless.
About the Author
Terry Telford is a happeneurs Platinum member. He lives, eats and breaths, the happeneurs system. Develop your own luxurious lifestyle by following the happeneurs 28 day marketing plan. It's free for every happeneurs member. Develop multiple income streams with the happeneurs high tech, high demand, next generation business system. Take a peek today. (http://17847.happeneurs.net)
