Like any other type of marketing, affiliate marketing success relies heavily on getting people to buy – and those people will have to want what you offer before they’ll lay down the cash.
First, let’s define affiliate marketing – it’s just marketing someone else’s product or service for a cut of the price. So then, you will want to find products that people are actively looking for. How do you do that? You could see what people are searching for on Google or EBay.
Another easier way for a beginner is to go to Clickbank’s marketplace, and look for products that have a high popularity rating. Clickbank is a good place to start, because it’s easy to work with, it deals only with digital products (no physical ones), and you can make up to 75% commissions on your sales.
Choose a category, and see what products come up. The gravity rating indicates the product’s popularity. Select one that you think has appeal, and investigate it further – look at the %ref’d (percentage of sales by affiliates), the %/sale (how much you’ll get of the total sales$). A high % of affiliate sales indicates it’s selling well for affiliates, and you’ll want to choose products that give you a high% of sale price.
Now, have a look at the pitch page. You’ll want to see a good sales page that converts into real sales. Good sales pages have these qualities:
- Attention Getting Headline: This will tell the biggest benefit, along with a post-head that clarifies the main headline.
- Introduction: A few sentences that grab attention in an emotional way – how will they feel when using this product.
- Credibility Builder: Should include testimonials, specific numbers, your expertise, and favorable reviews.
- Benefits: Use bullets, in order of importance or priority. Have lots, as everyone has a different ‘hot button’.
- Features: Exact details of the product – what the buyer gets.
- Bonus: Something valuable in addition to the main product. Maybe just a free sample, but give it a value.
- Order Link: Make this absurdly clear – step-by-step directions, purchasing options, etc. A clear order link ‘above the fold’ as well as one lower on the page is a good idea.
- Conclusion: Repeat and summarize the important parts. Re-request the order.
In addition, the page must be fast loading, uncluttered and visually appealing.
Next, check out their affiliate page to see what affiliate advertising tools they offer – do they have banners, images, keywords, articles, etc. that you can use? What will you get as a sales page?
Doing this research should get you familiar with how affiliate sales are set up. Are you ready to go make some money? My next post will go into an action plan for getting your product to market.
