After looking
at many affiliate programs, sites and products I would like to pinpoint some of
the major mistakes that affiliates make
when promoting other people’s products.
If the stats
are true we can estimate that possibly a max of 5% are making the majority of
the profits to be had from this method of internet business. We know that it is
very popular and a lot of money is paid
out to affiliates each day. So why do the majority either make
nothing or very little as affiliates?
Many who are
new to internet marketing and want to possibly start a home business are told
that one of the easiest methods is to become an affiliate by promoting other
people’s products. This is seemingly the easiest,
fastest and least costly way of starting out and getting your
feet wet! They then start to read the hyped sales letters and vast riches that
some of the super affiliates have made and want a piece of the action. By this
time they are in a dangerous mindset of believing that not only is it easy and
fast to start promoting but also there is little to stop them joining the
bandwagon and making truckloads of cash with the minimum effort.
From this
process of promotion and belief based on what the big boys have achieved, the
newbie feels that if they get their links and ads up and running the sales will
follow on auto pilot! Many expect the visitor to click on a banner or a link
and BUY giving them instant commissions for the minimum effort. Stuff a page or
site with the maximum number of products and links and you cannot fail!! Having
understood this process and how so many buy into a false impression that has
been created, we can move on to looking at the resultant mistakes that are made
by so many affiliates and understand why so few have a good share in the fortunes
that can be made as an affiliate marketer.
You
need a professional, clear and well-designed website.
Many are told
they do not need a website. If you are serious and want a unique landing page
and design giving you the chance of using SEO for organic listings and a way of building your own
list, then there is no substitute for having your own site.
The first big
mistake many affiliates make is building an amateurish or ugly website. There
are design principles that you must follow when you build your website to
achieve success in affiliate marketing. There really is no excuse as there are
many plug in sites, templates and plenty of tools to
help you create a professional looking site.
When a visitor
arrives at your site, you have only seconds to create interest and build
credibility and rapport. First impressions are crucial and
will determine of your visitor stays longer and opts in or buys
something! Your banner must be clear, visually appealing, simple and to the
point. The name of your website and what you say in your banner must tell the
visitor exactly what your website is about.
Keep your site
simple, easy to read, clean and uncluttered. That means having margins, easy to
read fonts, and easy on the eye colors. White
backgrounds with black type are best. Eliminate all the gaudy colors, multi-graphics, and blinking lights. Use blue for
live links, red for the most important text or yellow highlights or simply
bold. Be consistent and use the same font and text size except for headings or
titles.
You should be
trying to create credibility, reliability, and consistency with your visitor.
Other ways to create credibility and rapport is to put a photo of yourself near
the top of your page. Be sure to display your email address and contact details
prominently.
Just below your
banner should be your headline in large type as this is the most important part
of your webpage. It must be interesting and bold and draw the visitor into your
site. Your headline should address the needs of your visitor or provide a
solution to your visitor’s problem and they should feel that the site caters to
their initial interests and reasons for arriving there in the first place.
Finally, do not
overwhelm your customer with choices. Design your navigation clearly and place
it in the same location on each page. There should not be too many links to
choose from. You do not want to confuse your potential customer as a confused
mind simply won’t make a purchase. A confused visitor will be likely to exit
your website in search of an easier and clearer solution to their need or
problem.
Importance
of getting subscribers and building a LIST
It is
surprising how many affiliates fail to capture their visitor’s name and email
address by either not even having an OPT IN/subscribe box or putting it in the
wrong place. When you consider the importance of PRE SELLING and preparing the
visitor for the sales page and eventual purchase, it is vital to capture the
visitor’s contact details before they navigate away! A very small per cent of
visitors will BUY directly from a sales page as most visit 6-7 times before
buying. Also stats tell us that warming them up with a pre sales or squeeze
page means conversion rates will be much higher once they are taken to the
sales page!It’s amazing how many websites just try to
sell products in the belief that visitors will magically click on a buy button
as first time visitors!
Getting
visitors to your site takes time and money, and often only 1 – 2% will buy your
product. This is why it is vital to have the maximum chance of getting the
emails of the majority of visitors by having a well positioned opt in/subscribe box. Get their name and email address. Then
continue to market to them through your auto-responder emails system. Many will
end up buying as a result of this process and once they get to know and trust
you, they will buy from you again and again. Your customer list is the most
important asset in your business. You will make more money on the back end than
you will on the front end of your affiliate marketing business. One good
practice is to put an opt-in form on every page of your website.
As
more and more marketers realize the importance of building a list and capturing
the details of those first time visitors, we see ever-increasing enticements
for visitors to leave their details. It used to be a Newsletter with tips and
advice would be sufficient but now you also need an array of free gifts usually
in the form of an ebook(s). If you can relate the
free gift to the content of your site or product all the
better.
David
Fowler
Ebooks
that can make a difference to your life!