The No Mailing List Solution To Affiliate Profits
By Shahnaz Rauf
Posted Wednesday, August 18, 2004
There are lots of excellent affiliate programs out there and even lots more affiliates. But the average guy hardly holds more than 3 sales to his name.
All those top ranking marketing courses and ebooks advise you to have your own mailing list- `hot leads` as they call them. But to be able to develop one responsive list you need to be a `mini guru` yourself. It takes lots of dedication, time and 'appetite' to be able to build such a list.
Frankly, the average Joe hopped on the internet in the first place to be able to grab some of the gold floating around cyberspace and earn some extra `grub` anonymously...
Yes using the anonymity of a faceless email and without all the hassles of an ordinary business... building a `mailing list` is simply a non-attainable goal.
Other Stumbling blocks are:
- Loss of affiliate revenue due to affiliate link theft.
- Non acceptance of affiliate links by search engines.
- Loss of advertising revenue - Even though the program claims for eg. `sales copy is so good every 6th person is signing up or buying` - the
affiliate orders guaranteed hits using traffic exchanges only to be disappointed or feel a temporary elation with a few sales...
All that advertising simply helps to create a `buzz` about the program with no positive impact to the affiliate...
Rarely if ever does anyone buy on a first visit to the site and by the time they have been `buzzed into hypnotic action` to buy, it's definitely not from the first, second or even third sites they visited. Also they usually buy from someone who has an `up-sell` offer, someone to whose mailing list they already belong or someone they have come to trust.
All is not lost however, you can master the affiliate game yet... Without a mailing list.
So lets get started:
1. Prepare an independent web page for each affiliate program with
- A magnetically irresistible title;
- followed by a bulleted list of benefits using 'grab them by the gut' writing.
- A link to the programs testimonial page.
- Provide third party validation with a link to any other website such as epinions.com or scam reporter or BBB etc that has some positive comments listed about the program.
- If the program has a Newsletter or forum to discuss expansion plans etc provide a link to it.
- Write about your own success you have had with this program and add a link to some form of proof such as photos of payment checks received.
- State your own 'up-sell' offer clearly and make it time sensitive... (if you order through my link by midnight you also get the following ebooks, advertising, software etc).
- Make an offer of 'guaranteed' assistance - one on one interaction through email or phone.
- State your full contact information clearly.
2. Compile the above page in an ebook format. You can use any number of low cost ebook compilers available out there.
3. Create another web page with an irresistible headline, a bulleted list of benefits and a free download link to your ebook.
4. Advertise the web page created in step 3 on all the free traffic exchanges. You may order real cheap guaranteed visitors to this page
(Just confirm with your web-host that your website can handle the deluge of guaranteed visitors).
Also make sure to monitor the number of times your ebook is downloaded and which traffic service gives you the maximum downloads - you may use any of the link tracking services out there.
Does this technique work... believe me it does.
Just pay special attention to steps 3 and 4. Your copy in step 3 should make the kill, and in step 4 create the loudest 'buzz' you possibly can... even the most die hard web surfers will not be able to resist the temptation to download your free ebook and find out what it is all about - then the rest depends on your 'upsell' offer and sales letter in step 1.
Can you do this... you don't need a mailing list! Yeah just drop the right bait and create a `feeding frenzy` among the information hungry fishes on the internet.
About the Author
Shahnaz Rauf is The Editor of The Monster Twister- a Newsletter helping ordinary web owners achieve extraordinary heights without losing their shirts. To Subscribe mailto:themonstertwister-subscribe@snzeport.com Or visit her website at (http://www.snzeport.com)
