[Admin]

One of the things I hear quite often from people starting out in Internet Marketing is that they aren't making a good income when doing affiliate marketing. It isn't because they aren't trying hard to sell affiliate products, rather it is because most people don't know how to do it effectively. Here's a way to do it effectively that will help you boost your conversion rates.

When you sell other people's products, check the sales page over to see if you can make it better. A lot of times, the sales pages people use for their clickbank stuff isn't always the copy they launched with, so it can use some tweaking. If you think it can be rewritten for better conversions, then by all means rewrite the copy, and use your own to sell with.

Once you've figured out the copy, move on to selling. Figure out how you are going to market each product, and you can do that by various means. Two ways I use are articles and PPC because they seem to bring in the most targeted traffic, and that's what you want. You do not want any traffic, you want to reach a targeted market!

Then when you have your strategy laid out, think of a bonus that you can use as an incentive to boost your conversion rate. Ihave a ton of master resale right and private resale right products on my hard drive. I usually look through my files to see if there is a software, report, or ebook that is related to the affiliate product I'm trying to sell, and use it. If I don't have something I can use there, I either write a report or outsource one that relates to what I'm selling that will enhance the buyers experience with the main product. This way people belive they are getting more for their money.

Now I'm not talking about any old junk, it should be of good quality, otherwise people will see right through the offer.

Btw, there are some moments where I offer more than one bonus too, like if I have a service or forum that matches what I'm selling. I will sometimes add an invitation to one of them and posibly a short coaching session on how to use the product effectively.

You guys would be surprised at how effectively this way of marketing works. It makes the difference between getting no sales for months on end, or getting a sale every hour!

[Admin]

If you want to build a list, and sell affiliate products that way, the above still applies. Just set up a squeeze page, write a report or have one written about a specific technique, strategy or some tips that will give other new Internet Marketers a nice advantage, and offer it as a free gift for subscribing to your newsletter.

You have to get an autoresponder for this one, but once you get a list of about 100 people or so, it will pay for itself. I personally use Aweber. They are one of the best ones out, and have the best deliverability rate that I know of. A start up account runs about $20 - $25 for like 5,000 - 10,000 (not sure which because they changed since I signed up with them) subscribers.

Once you get the autoresponder account you can make up 6 - 10 issues of your newsletter. They are very simple to write. If I had to equate it with something, I'd say writing a newsletter issue is like writing a letter. It's that simple, and the best part about it is that they don't have to be real lengthy either.

Start out with issue #0 - a welcome message telling subscribers thank you for signing up to our newsletter, and so forth. You can do the first one as part of the series, or use the ones Aweber supplies. Then, start on your first real issue #1 - Let them know who you are as an individual, and what you have to offer them, and send it right after your welcome message. I usually am very down to earth, then I move onto a specific tip or strategy I learned that was useful to building my business. And I relate it to my beginning days so they can identify with me. Not a long drabby story because they will get turned off, but make it personable enough where they want to learn more about you, and the subject. I always let them know what will be in the next issue too, this way they anticipate it.

At this point, it is more or less about putting one foot in front of the other. Issue #2 can be about the next tip or strategy, or something that you've discovered lately. Then write the thrid, forth and fifth, etc ... issues.

The main thing to remember is that you want to build a steady relationship with your subscribers. If you can get them to trust you, you can then offer them more solutions. This is when you can offer them products.

Once you get that series written up, then decide on how frequent you want to mail the issues. Some people send emails daily (which I don't recomend), weekly ( which I usually do), and then whenever to mix things up. That choice is yours. When you finally make that decision, load that series up in the autoresponder, and make sure to set the dates or how many days in between each newsletter.

After this step, you have to set up a download page to delivery that report to the new subscribers. You can do this by simply using your hosting account if you have one. Just use your FTP client or cpanel to upload the PDF (standart digital document of the report) into a folder in your root directory. Name the folder something you will remember. Just remember to zip the document up with a zip program before you upload it into the folder in your root. I use winzip for most zipping because most people use it as the standard. This way most people will be able to open it without a hitch so you don't get many complaints.

Okay, now you have the newsletter ready for subscribers, and your download page set up. Your next task is to use that squeeze page I mentioned at the beginning, and find a way to run traffic to that page. You can do this in a number of ways. Her are just a couple that I've been known to do when I started out:

1) Go register at a couple of forums that relate to your subject, then post a link to your sign up page ion your sig file. Make sure you write a short advert so that it states "Free Whatever kind of report you are offering, along with the link. This way you can entice people to at least look at your offer. Start posting comments on threads, and if you feel you can start your own threads with some helpful info, that'll be even better. What you want to do is build your reputation in each forum so members get to know you.

2) Artcle marketing - write a couple of well written articles, and put the squeeze page URL, along with an short advert into your Biop or author's box at the bottom. This strategy works wonders too.

3) You can go sign up at a couple of places like traffic swarm where they show ads, and people have to click them to earn credits. I used to use TS because I could earn enough credits to get my sites shown without having to pay anything for the service. If people like what you have, they'll sign up. You usually get a lot of new people subscribing this way too.


Every time someone subscribes to your newsletter, they'll start receiving thoose issues you wrote up earlier. By the fifth or sixth week (issue, not including the welcome issue), I usually start hunting around for some affiliate products that go along with that issue's subject matter, and add my affiliate link into that issue.

I also start writing more newsletters for the weeks to come. Then it's a matter of wash, rinse, and repeat.

There are other more advanced ways to get subscribers to your list too. Giveaways are good for that, and offering one of your products for free, but if you are just starting out, and have no products of your own, this is a very good way to get started.

[shanec]

Thanks for sharing this information Mary. I am in the process of building a list and after reading your post, I think I need to change a few things

As you said, its all about building a good relationship with potential customers first. I always feel more comfortable buying from someone I know, or who has been recommended by someone I know, so its bound to be the same for someone buying from me.