Affiliate Marketing - 21 Simple Tips

Affiliate marketing is one of the primary methods that online business owners employ to generate income. There are other options as well but most beginners use this strategy because they are able to focus on marketing other people’s products. They do not have to be concerned with creating their own products as they are just getting started with their online business. Although these are general marketing tips they can be useful as you get started in your affiliate marketing opportunities.

21 affiliate marketing tips:

Keep the needs of your customers first, not your needs. “Make your customer the keyword of your story”- Ann Handley, Marketing Profs, Chief Content Officer. This applies to any business including any affiliate marketing efforts you’re conducting online.
Respect your customers. As mentioned previously putting customers needs first is a true sign of respect for them. David Ogilvy once said, your customer is not a moron, she is like your wife. Don’t think that a few superlatives and sweet adjectives will persuade her to buy your products. That’s insulting her intelligence. She wants all the information disclosed to her.
Be élite. Make it a privilege to purchase from you. That way you will join the ranks of your customers.
It’s true that long copy outsells short copy because it tells more. However, it doesn’t matter the length of your copy. your prospects will only read it to the end if it’s relevant and interesting. Quality content is key to successful affiliate marketing.
Stay in touch with your customers. All the time. A lot. Every day. You need to be on your customers’ mind so that they can buy your next product and your next. A business that communicates most wins all the time.
Allow your customers to test drive your product. If you sell software, give them a 7-day or 10-day trial period before they buy it. If you are selling a digital product, let them see the table of content and maybe 10% of the content in it- whether it is video, audio, or a written ebook. Ensure your table of content has great headlines and make your first 10 percent of the content totally engaging and captivating.
Educate and inform as you sell. You have seen advertorials looking like editorials. If done creatively, they can inform as much as they sell. If you explain your details well in your sales copy, your readers will see your product as a solution and consequently think about buying it.
Let your posts address one person, and not the crowd. Your posts should be individualized as much as possible. It is part of telling your story and having people relate to it.
Be emotional in your affiliate marketing. Facts, logic, and stats will never sell as much as emotion sells, therefore, use it all the time. Tell a story and one that relates on an emotional level.
Persist in your goal. Whether it is a referral, a sale, or a tweet, keep asking until you get it.
Have unique stock images. You’ve seen the typical images of people in suits, sitting at an oval conference table, holding a meeting, staring at a computer monitor, on the phone, etc.- the usual stock images that everyone seems to use. Studies show that these stereotypical images can hurt your conversions. If possible use creative resources to produce captivating images, ones that ‘tell’ the story.
Graphic artists and bloggers match their images with their words. Failure to do this will divert the attention of your reader as they will be left wondering how the image relates to the copy instead of reading and interpreting the message.
Showcase. Let your words paint a vivid picture of your product in your readers’ minds. For instance, when you use XYZ product, you wake up feeling energetic, vibrant, younger and feeling positive to handle your daily activities.
Give incentives for any action you want your readers to take. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a simple task such as joining a list or a complex task like buying a product, give an incentive for people who will execute the tasks. Incentive or loyalty rewards have become a major part of affiliate marketing.
Treat your customers and prospects as your good friends. In time many will truly become your good friends. Take time to build a relationship with your customers. It will provide a benefit in the long run.
Give your prospects choices. Don’t settle for the usual “yes” I will buy or “no” I won’t buy. Offer your product in different formats, colors, sizes, etc. This way, there will be something for everyone as they can get to choose between blue and red or small and large. By giving them these choices, you will take their minds off whether or not to buy.
There is nothing new. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Why try to invent new ways of doing things when someone else has already shown you a proven method that works? Why not follow the same. Before you do something new, ensure to master the current one. Find someone who is good at it and has a model that works. Once you master it, refine it further to suit your needs.
Tell why. If you are offering a freebie to your list, tell them why you are doing so. If you are offering a bonus or stipulating a deadline, tell your reasons. If you don’t offer a reason, your prospect will hesitate to take your offer as they will have many unanswered questions in mind. You can have something like “I’m limiting my coaching to just 20 people because I want to give them all the attention they need to ensure everyone succeeds.”
Give reasons for your claims. If you tell your readers your toothpaste whitens better than others, tell them why. Ten years of clinical research culminated in a breakthrough discovery of a nutrient that enables your teeth to retain their shiny appearance.
Test, test, test and test again. If you held a successful campaign that yielded $50,000, but you did a little testing, then you lost as much as you earned. If you had tested, you could have earned double that.
Read your copy out loud. Whether it is a blog post, sales letter, article, or email, read it out loud. You will discover what needs fixing and what works.