David Cooper’s latest ‘Affiliate Avalanche’ newsletter article is titled “Why You Aren’t Making Affiliate Sales.” [Affiliate Avalanche Newsletter]


David Cooper’s latest ‘Affiliate Avalanche’ newsletter article:

Why You Aren’t Making Affiliate Sales

Okay, so you’ve put up a website, thrown up some banners or graphics, and added links to a ton of products. You’ve done a lot of grunt work and decided to kick back for the weekend. All weekend you are anticipating the avalanche of affiliate sales to start rolling in. A couple of days later you check your stats and you haven’t made any sales and become dejected. You start to think that this affiliate marketing stuff just doesn’t work and you decide to move on to something else or even quit altogether.

I am living proof that affiliate marketing, when done properly, most definitely works. Affiliate marketing is a fantastic opportunity for individuals that are willing to put in the time and the effort to do things the right way.

I would like to offer you a few helpful hints to avoid so many of the same affiliate marketing mistakes others have made and continue to make.

1. Banners don’t work! Okay, they might work a little, but in my experience they certainly don’t work as well as good old text links do. Granted, a lot depends on the niche you are involved in. You shouldn’t take my word for it either, or anyone else’s for that matter. You should learn from your own testing to determine what will work best for you. I have found that text links work best for me, plus I really have no desire to turn my website into banner ad central.

2. Mish Mash of Product Offerings. This is an absolute killer and you would be astonished at the number of would be affiliates who continue to do this. They have that Baskin Robbins 31 flavors mentality. You have to connect with your niche audience. You want your affiliate offerings to be related to the themed content offerings on your website.

If you have a website that revolves around dog training then you shouldn’t offer products that are related to gardening. It is often tempting to promote other products and services, but it is always more profitable to promote the products that your visitors are looking for.

3. A Swing and A Miss. Totally missing your target market. Too many affiliate marketers never do the leg work of knowing who their target market is. To succeed with affiliate marketing you want to build a theme based website that relates to the people you are trying to attract. Learning and understanding the needs of your target market is extremely important in having any type of affiliate marketing success. So….Who’s Your Target Market?

4. I call Bull%@#^. Avoid the BS. Avoid the Hype. Your prospective customers aren’t stupid. They will be able to smell the BS you are trying to deliver a mile away. If you offer product reviews on your website make sure those reviews are honest critiques. Use the products you review, or at the very least research the product thoroughly so that you can speak truthfully about the features of the product and the benefits they can expect to derive from it’s use.

Product reviews don’t have to be all sugar and spice and everything nice either. Tell your customers the things you don’t like about the product or service. After using the product, if you feel that it is lacking in certain areas, say so. Don’t sugarcoat it. Your customers will appreciate your honesty. Will you lose some sales? Maybe, but what you lose in sales you will more than make up for in the growing trust your visitors will place in you.

5. No Sales Trail. It always amazes me how many affiliate marketers don’t know where there visitors or sales are coming from. In order to understand if a program is worth your time and effort in promoting you need to track how well it is converting. Study and analyze where your visitors are coming from. Know which of your campaigns is creating sales. You can use different strategies in your promotional campaigns and you should track each one of them. Get rid of the campaigns that are not performing to your expectations and focus on improving those campaigns that are making you money.

Affiliate marketing is a great way for people to earn money on line. By avoiding some of the most common blunders many affiliates make you will be on your way to making more affiliate sales.

David Cooper

www.affiliateavalanche.com

Affiliate Avalanche Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank David Cooper for granting permission to reprint the latest ‘Affiliate Avalanche’ newsletter.

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