Friday, March 12, 2010
30-Day Affiliate Marketer’s Blueprint
If you're new to affiliate and online marketing, here is a quick daily plan to help you ramp up your efforts. I will assume you have already chosen your target market and that you're ready to roll!
Of course, it doesn't end there. Many of these activities you'll want to do over and over again. Keep track of your results and do more of the items that increase your traffic and boost your sales!
Day 1: Select and purchase a domain name. Take the time to find one that is catchy, descriptive and memorable. You can purchase a domain name at godaddy.com.
Day 2: Purchase web hosting and get started on your website. You can purchase webhosting from reliablewebs.com. Use your hosting provider's website builder or templates to set up a basic site quickly.
Day 3: Do some research to find good keyword phrases - These are the words people enter into search engines to find information and products. This information will help you understand what your target market is looking for, help you create relevant content and even advertise on search engines.
The best ones have low competition and high search volume. You can find keywords by entering a general keyword into Google.com's Adwords Keyword Tool, which can be found at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Day 4: Learn how to do URL redirects. Redirecting your links through your own domain has a number of benefits for an affiliate marketer:
- It provides for shorter URLs that won't break up in email.
- If the program you are promoting shuts down, you can easily replace it with another program.
- Allows you to keep your affiliate links organized and easy for you to remember when promoting on the fly.
- It can even increase click throughs over the strange looking and unfamiliar affiliate links.
You can redirect your link through your "cpanel" that comes with your web hosting.
Day 5: Write some articles that relate to the products or services you're promoting. Be sure to use the keywords you found on Day 2 where appropriate. These can be keywords directly related to the products, "how to" articles, top 10 lists, etc. Be creative and create content that people are readily looking for.
Day 6: Add some of the articles you wrote to your website. Give each one its own page, and adjust your site navigation so they're easy to find. Be sure to include relevant product recommendations (use your affiliate links!) within the articles.
Day 7: Submit some of the articles you wrote to free article directories. Don't forget to add an interesting bio and links to your site to the resource box. Try directories like ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and also look for topic-specific websites that reach your target market.
Day 8: Find a good autoresponder. This is a piece of software that automatically responds to emails or sends messages to those who have signed up to receive them. You can subscribe to an autoresponder service that is hosted by the provider, or you can get software to install on your own server. Hosted solutions are easiest for beginners. You can find some options at Aweber.com, FeedmailPro.com, and GetResponse.com.
Day 9: Set up your autoresponder and opt-in page. An opt-in page is simply a page that urges visitors to sign up for your list and includes a form that allows them to do so. Optimize this page with your targeted keywords, too.
Day 10: Bundle some of your articles into a free report. Use this report as an "incentive" for people who sign up for your mailing list. Give them the report as soon as they subscribe and don't forget to include relevant recommendations, and affiliate links.
Day 11: Write some autoresponder messages. You can pre-schedule messages to go out to your subscribers on scheduled days after they subscribe. Give them a combination of great content and relevant products you recommend (by using your affiliate link, of course).
Day 12: Find some websites that sell information products on similar topics to your special report. Offer to let them use your report as a bonus that they can add to their sales page and give to their customers.
Day 13: Create a lens (a web page that links to information on a specific topic) at Squidoo.com and link it to your site. This can help your search engine rankings, establish your expertise and drive extra traffic. You can create a lens in no time with their easy lens builder.
Day 14: Write a press release and send it to your local media and submit it online to prweb.com. A press release is newsworthy story about your website that can be published by various on and offline publications and also gives the media an opportunity to contact you about an interview.
Day 15: Join some social networking sites if you haven't already done so. Create an attractive and compelling profile page for each site, and include links to your website. Set up your profiles on facebook.com, myspace.com and any other relevant networks.
Day 16: Do some networking on those sites you joined yesterday. Visit other members' profiles, add some friends, and join and participate in some groups or forums. Don't use these sites just to promote your business, but to make connections with other likeminded business owners that you might share advice with, work on co-projects, etc.
Day 17: Add your affiliate links or links to your website to your email and forum signatures. Then everyone who reads your emails or posts will be exposed to those links. But in the case of forums, be sure to read the rules on signatures first.
Day 18: Set up a blog. You can easily start a blog for free. Check out websites such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. It's also pretty simple to set one up on your own website or a separate domain, and this will give you more control and credibility. Many web hosts offer automatic installation of popular free blogging platforms such as WordPress and Movable Type.
Day 19: Write and schedule some blog posts related to the products or services you're promoting. Blog posts can be informative, funny, entertaining or whatever you'd like to convey about your own personality. You can write as many as you like at one time, set the date and time you want each one published, and they will not be visible to visitors until then.
Day 20: Set up profiles on social news and media sites such as Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com. Rate some news stories, blog posts and web pages, and send friend requests to those whose submissions you like.
Day 21: Start using Twitter. Twitter.com offers a micro-blogging service that allows users to post short updates for those who choose to follow them to see. You can use it to connect, share knowledge, promote your website and blog posts.
Day 22: Find some popular blogs who might be interested in having some posts written. This is a great way to increase your exposure and boost your reputation as an expert in your field.
Day 23: On the reverse, find some bloggers who write about subjects related to yours and ask them if they would consider writing a guest post for your blog. This is a great way to promote and lend credibility to both your blog and the guest blogger's.
Day 24: Create an informative video presentation/review about the product or service you're promoting, and make sure to mention your website's URL. An affiliate for a cookware company, for example, could do a demonstration of how to use that cookware. You can create videos easily with a digital camera that captures video and Windows Movie Maker, which is included on Windows operating systems.
Day 25: Upload your video to sharing sites such as YouTube.com and Viddler.com. Include a link to your website in the video's description. Be sure to enable commenting and embedding, because this will help your video get more exposure.
Day 26: Get together with some of the friends you've met through networking and submit/vote for each others blog posts to social news and media sites you joined.
Day 27: Write a comprehensive review of one of the products you're promoting. Be thorough and honest. Post the review on your blog or website, optimize it for the product name and descriptive keywords, and chances are you'll get search traffic from consumers who are very interested in that product.
Day 28: Start a pay-per-click advertising campaign. This type of program allows you to bid on keywords related to your business in order to get visitors to your site or even directly to an affiliate program's site. You can set a budget that will not be exceeded, and you only pay for actual visits. The most popular pay-per-click provider is Google Adwords (Adwords.Google.com), but there are also several others to choose from.
Day 29: Promote your website offline. Run a classified ad in the local paper or a regional publication, distribute some fliers with your URL on them, sponsor a sports team or put a magnet on your car.
Day 30: Take a look at your website statistics and see how well your efforts are working. Pay attention to what websites your referrals are coming from and which pages they are viewing. Make sure that you have appropriate product recommendations on those pages.
Of course, it doesn't end there. Many of these activities you'll want to do over and over again. Keep track of your results and do more of the items that increase your traffic and boost your sales!
Appealing to Your Target Market as an Affiliate Marketer
Target Market (n): A segment of the population that is the focus of your marketing plan.
Understanding your target market is perhaps the single most important aspect of any online selling and the first thing you should define for your business. Even if you don't sell any of your own products, your target market is very important. It's what gives you a handle on what type of products to offer as an affiliate, what content to provide and how to attract the right crowd to your offers.
When determining your target market, there are two basic areas to explore: Demographics and psychographics.
Psychographics (psy·cho·graph·ics) can be harder to nail down than demographics, but are significantly more useful to understanding your target market. The more you understand your target market, the easier it will be to sell to them. Understand their point-of-view, the problems they have and what kinds of solutions they're looking for.
You can learn more about the psychographics of your customers by paying close attention to their behavior, asking them questions, reading their discussions (whether it's comments on your blogs, their own blogs, forums, etc.), observing other companies that sell to a similar market and continually making an effort to grow your understanding of your target audience.
What Motivates Your Target Market
To help you further understand what makes your target market tick, here are some important human motivators that have been identified by psychologists. They will help you in understanding what motivates your readers to take action:
You can use this information to craft your affiliate promotions. Always keep these motivators in mind when choosing a product to sell and when writing promotional text for your unique audience. The individual products you promote won't likely incorporate all these motivators, but maybe a few will.
Imagine Your Typical Reader Who Buys Products You Recommend
What are her wants and desires? What problems does she need solved? If you don't already know that, try surveying the readers that you already have. Ask them a few questions about themselves, why they buy certain products, what they like about them and what they don't like. In return, offer them a coupon or a free report or something, just to get that feedback. This information will be very valuable to you.
Think About the Products You Promote:
What is the single most important reason your target audience would want to buy these products? You need to be able to empathize with your target market, identify their problems and show how your product solves that problem. If you think too generally about your target market, the passion is lost in your promotions. If you lose your passion it's tough to get anyone excited about anything.
For example, if you promote an eBook about getting rid of acne and you simply talk about the embarrassment of acne, you might get some sales. But if you know that your target market for a specific promotion is teenagers, talking about being teased at school, worrying that they won't find a date, and having a case study of a teenager who overcame that - your promos will be much more powerful.
Define Your Target Market:
If you need a hand, here's a checklist of items to consider in defining your target market. They may or may not all be applicable:
Keep this information in mind the next time you write an article, blog post or product endorsement. It will do wonders for your results.
Understanding your target market is perhaps the single most important aspect of any online selling and the first thing you should define for your business. Even if you don't sell any of your own products, your target market is very important. It's what gives you a handle on what type of products to offer as an affiliate, what content to provide and how to attract the right crowd to your offers.
When determining your target market, there are two basic areas to explore: Demographics and psychographics.
- Demographics can include your target market's age, gender, geographic location, income bracket, and other statistical type of data.
- Psychographics are more vital to truly understanding your target market. Psychographics define your market's interests, lifestyles, opinions, values, and so on.
Psychographics (psy·cho·graph·ics) can be harder to nail down than demographics, but are significantly more useful to understanding your target market. The more you understand your target market, the easier it will be to sell to them. Understand their point-of-view, the problems they have and what kinds of solutions they're looking for.
You can learn more about the psychographics of your customers by paying close attention to their behavior, asking them questions, reading their discussions (whether it's comments on your blogs, their own blogs, forums, etc.), observing other companies that sell to a similar market and continually making an effort to grow your understanding of your target audience.
What Motivates Your Target Market
To help you further understand what makes your target market tick, here are some important human motivators that have been identified by psychologists. They will help you in understanding what motivates your readers to take action:
- Fear
- Exclusivity
- Guilt
- Greed
- Need for approval
- Convenience
- Pleasure
You can use this information to craft your affiliate promotions. Always keep these motivators in mind when choosing a product to sell and when writing promotional text for your unique audience. The individual products you promote won't likely incorporate all these motivators, but maybe a few will.
Imagine Your Typical Reader Who Buys Products You Recommend
What are her wants and desires? What problems does she need solved? If you don't already know that, try surveying the readers that you already have. Ask them a few questions about themselves, why they buy certain products, what they like about them and what they don't like. In return, offer them a coupon or a free report or something, just to get that feedback. This information will be very valuable to you.
Think About the Products You Promote:
What is the single most important reason your target audience would want to buy these products? You need to be able to empathize with your target market, identify their problems and show how your product solves that problem. If you think too generally about your target market, the passion is lost in your promotions. If you lose your passion it's tough to get anyone excited about anything.
For example, if you promote an eBook about getting rid of acne and you simply talk about the embarrassment of acne, you might get some sales. But if you know that your target market for a specific promotion is teenagers, talking about being teased at school, worrying that they won't find a date, and having a case study of a teenager who overcame that - your promos will be much more powerful.
Define Your Target Market:
If you need a hand, here's a checklist of items to consider in defining your target market. They may or may not all be applicable:
- Gender
- Age
- Geographic Location
- Income
- Marital Status
- Nationality
- Religion
- Education
- Occupation
- Number of Children
- Interests
- Opinions
- Values
- Hobbies and Activities
- Problems They Face
- How Often They Buy
- How Much They Spend
- Motivators for Buying
Keep this information in mind the next time you write an article, blog post or product endorsement. It will do wonders for your results.
How & Why to Redirect Your Affiliate Links
If you want to keep better track of your links, have more control over necessary changes to your links, and possibly even have more clicks on your affiliate links, you should be redirecting your affiliate links.
This means where your affiliate link may look like: http://affiliateID.hop.clickbank.net
You can change it to a link coming from your own website like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/link.html
There are a number of reasons to redirect your link and here are a few:
1. Many affiliate links are long and they can actually break into 2 lines if you're sending them in an email. Once they break up like that,
your readers won't be able to click through.
2. Sometimes affiliate programs change their links or even shut down. Our programs are going to be here for a long time, but always be safe with your affiliate links as a matter of practice and redirect them. That means if you ever need to make changes to your link, you can simply make the change from your redirected link, instead of trying to find where you placed all those links on your website and in your emails.
3. If a link is showing as coming from your website, your readers might be more likely to click on it than if they see a long strange affiliate link direct from the program. You can even name your file something creative or descriptive (ex. mydomain.com/must-have-toy.html) and your readers might be more likely to click through.
4. If you redirect your links the way I have describe in this article, you'll be able to log into your website statistics and track click throughs for your links. The affiliate program you are involved with may already provide some of these statistics, but you can track multiple links and get all your data from one place.
5. It makes it easy to remember your affiliate links for promotions on the fly. Whenever you want to recommend products, you're more apt to remember your link.
How to make your redirected link:
There are a variety of methods to redirect a link, but we're going to keep it simple and use what is called a javascript redirect.
1. Create a new blank page for your website. Name the page whatever you'd like (for example: yourlatestproduct.html).
2. Remove any HTML code and paste the following HTML codes instead:
3. Be sure to replace http://www.INSERTAFFILIATELINK.com with your full affiliate link.
4. Test your link to make sure everything is working. Simply type in the location of your new page into your web browser to ensure it is redirecting (example: type in yourdomain.com/link.html).
Now you have redirected your affiliate link!
This means where your affiliate link may look like: http://affiliateID.hop.clickbank.net
You can change it to a link coming from your own website like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/link.html
There are a number of reasons to redirect your link and here are a few:
1. Many affiliate links are long and they can actually break into 2 lines if you're sending them in an email. Once they break up like that,
your readers won't be able to click through.2. Sometimes affiliate programs change their links or even shut down. Our programs are going to be here for a long time, but always be safe with your affiliate links as a matter of practice and redirect them. That means if you ever need to make changes to your link, you can simply make the change from your redirected link, instead of trying to find where you placed all those links on your website and in your emails.
3. If a link is showing as coming from your website, your readers might be more likely to click on it than if they see a long strange affiliate link direct from the program. You can even name your file something creative or descriptive (ex. mydomain.com/must-have-toy.html) and your readers might be more likely to click through.
4. If you redirect your links the way I have describe in this article, you'll be able to log into your website statistics and track click throughs for your links. The affiliate program you are involved with may already provide some of these statistics, but you can track multiple links and get all your data from one place.
5. It makes it easy to remember your affiliate links for promotions on the fly. Whenever you want to recommend products, you're more apt to remember your link.
How to make your redirected link:
There are a variety of methods to redirect a link, but we're going to keep it simple and use what is called a javascript redirect.
1. Create a new blank page for your website. Name the page whatever you'd like (for example: yourlatestproduct.html).
2. Remove any HTML code and paste the following HTML codes instead:
3. Be sure to replace http://www.INSERTAFFILIATELINK.com with your full affiliate link.
4. Test your link to make sure everything is working. Simply type in the location of your new page into your web browser to ensure it is redirecting (example: type in yourdomain.com/link.html).
Now you have redirected your affiliate link!
Automating Your Affiliate Marketing Efforts with Autoresponders
Autoresponders are email management systems that allow you to pre-schedule emails that go out to your subscribers on a regular basis. This means that all your subscribers will eventually receive all the same promotional information, so you don't need to worry that someone may be missing out on anything.
As an affiliate, you want to make sure that you do the following with your autoresponders:
1. Load your autoresponder with the solo email promotion provided.
Make sure to include the first email and the follow-up a few days later. Go through the messages to inject your own personality and point of view, so it matches your audience.
2. Add a number of articles [make sure you add links], and spread them out over time in your autoresponder.
3. Offer your readers a special offer on certain products. Example: "You can contact us for a coupon code. Email us at [insert your email address] and we can set you up."
4. Post to you blog posts and then write up quick autoresponder messages linking to the posts.
5. Do not go totally automated, though. For short-term or seasonal promotions, send out broadcasts instead, so your readers don't miss out.
Other tips:
Spread your emails out over periods near the beginning of your series (maybe every three days or so) and then you can slow the schedule down until about once a week. This means a larger number of your subscribers will see your offers, as a number will unsubscribe over time. There's nothing you can do about this either, so relax…it's just the way marketing works. Most people will not stay on your list forever, so make the most of things while they are on your list.
Regularly review your autoresponders to ensure everything is up-to-date, and insert new information as needed.
As an affiliate, you want to make sure that you do the following with your autoresponders:
1. Load your autoresponder with the solo email promotion provided.
Make sure to include the first email and the follow-up a few days later. Go through the messages to inject your own personality and point of view, so it matches your audience.2. Add a number of articles [make sure you add links], and spread them out over time in your autoresponder.
3. Offer your readers a special offer on certain products. Example: "You can contact us for a coupon code. Email us at [insert your email address] and we can set you up."
4. Post to you blog posts and then write up quick autoresponder messages linking to the posts.
5. Do not go totally automated, though. For short-term or seasonal promotions, send out broadcasts instead, so your readers don't miss out.
Other tips:
Spread your emails out over periods near the beginning of your series (maybe every three days or so) and then you can slow the schedule down until about once a week. This means a larger number of your subscribers will see your offers, as a number will unsubscribe over time. There's nothing you can do about this either, so relax…it's just the way marketing works. Most people will not stay on your list forever, so make the most of things while they are on your list.
Regularly review your autoresponders to ensure everything is up-to-date, and insert new information as needed.
10 Tips for Increased Response to Your Email Marketing
Your opt-in mailing list is one of your most important assets to your online business. It's what allows you to keep in direct touch with your website visitors over and over again. But simply building a list is not enough. Here are 10 tips for getting more response and more sales from your email marketing efforts.
1. Build Targeted Lists: You can spend all
the money you want in trying to build a list, get leads and try every list-building service out there, but that often results in a large list of uninterested people. Having a large list of unresponsive people makes it hard to see what exactly your subscribers want. If they're targeted to your topic and already know they love your information, it will be much easier to develop a trusting relationship with your subscribers.
How to build targeted lists:
2. Keep Your Emails Simple: Your email writing efforts needn't be complicated. Keep your messages short, simple and focused on one thing at a time. This allows your readers to quickly absorb your message and decide whether or not to take action on your call to action. Think of it this way. People are busy and with few exceptions, experience email overload. Why load them up even more?
Besides the more you bombard them with information and links in an email, the less likely they are going to take the call-to-action you want them to.
3. Keep it Personal: Imagine yourself writing to one person and use language that you'd use if writing to just one person at a time. Don't address your readers as a group. For example, "I know many of you…" Address your subscriber as that one important individual they are. The language is far more powerful.
For example, if you write: "I know many of you are looking for a…"
As opposed to…
"I know you are looking for a…"
You may be sending out your email to thousands of people, but each of your subscribers is reading your message one by one. Address them that way.
4. Don't Mix Irrelevant Content with Promotions: If you want your subscriber to take action on something, don't distract them with other stuff.
Of course…
Being informative in your promotions is a good idea. If you're selling an affiliate product, an honest evaluation of that product and information on how it helps is a good thing. For example, if you're trying to sell a product that helps your readers lower their cholesterol, illustrating the benefits of a lower lever is absolutely relevant and important content.
However, you don't want to give a bunch of information on other topics when you actually want to sell something. Focus on selling instead.
5. Train Your List: If you want your
list to accept and take action on your promotions, teach them to become accustomed to promotions. You can let them know on the sign up page something like this:
"We will only use your email address to communicate with your regarding [x]-related topics and offers."
If you want, you can also remind them in your welcome email that you'll be sending them offers. You can tell them how you like to review products on your reader's behalf and alert them to any products that might be helpful or to stay away from.
Then, regularly send them offers so they expect them.
6. Research Everything: Your readers will appreciate your promotions, especially when you take the time to research and review everything thoroughly. In fact, your readers will come to expect you to do a lot of the hard work for them…but don't worry this work is profitable for you!
7. Be Honest: When you do your research, report it in an honest way and that will solidify your reputation with your readers even further.
When you investigate a product, avoid coming back and telling your reader's it's the greatest thing since sliced bread…because not everybody eats the same kind of bread.
Sure, you might think the product is really terrific, but break it down for your readers and identify:
Don't be afraid to share any potential negatives because that makes your promotion REAL. For example, you can tell them that the baby stroller you're recommending doesn't come with a drink holder, but the other features totally make up for it. Besides, an attachable drink holder can be purchased at very little extra cost.
8. Get to Know Your Subscribers: Of course you can't talk to each of them individually, but there is plenty you can do to get to know them. Here are some:
9. Use Effective Subject Lines: If your emails are top notch, your subscribers will be waiting for them, but this doesn't mean you can get away with dull subject lines.
"Newsletter #18, Volume 8, Issue 1"
...doesn't cut it.
The only job of a subject line is to get your reader to open the email...that's it, so I personally don't really recommend descriptive subject lines either.
For example, going back to a potty training guide promotion, I'd never use a subject line like:
"Potty Training Guide"
Sure, it does mean that you're more likely to have those readers ALREADY interested in a potty training guide open your email, but most of your reader won't know (yet) that they really want a potty training guide...in particular this guide you're recommending.
It is the body of your email whose job it is to convince your readers they need a guide...not your subject. Again, you only need your subject to get your reader to open the email.
In a case like this, use something like:
"This will help with the frustration..."
Now in this case, if your readers are parents of toddlers, they can very likely relate to frustration and the subject line is more likely to capture interest. Being a parent is a joy, but there are definitely frustrations with all kinds of things along the way.
So, they open the email and you talk about and relate to that frustration...and then they feel like someone understands them, and knows what they need. They're more likely to make the purchase.
10. Don't Forget Your Thank You Page:
Your "Thank You" page is a priceless piece of real estate, so use it!
I'm not sure what it is, but people seem to like to follow directions when they hit a thank you page. When someone hits your sign-up thank you page, don't waste that space. Make a recommendation for a Real Life product, right there!
1. Build Targeted Lists: You can spend all
the money you want in trying to build a list, get leads and try every list-building service out there, but that often results in a large list of uninterested people. Having a large list of unresponsive people makes it hard to see what exactly your subscribers want. If they're targeted to your topic and already know they love your information, it will be much easier to develop a trusting relationship with your subscribers.How to build targeted lists:
- Include opt-in forms on your content pages and other places where you provide valuable information to your potential customers. If people love your content, they're going to want more of it.
- Use your article bylines, YouTube videos, targeted advertising campaigns etc. to promote more of your free information (again, your list) instead of a product. Conversion to a product sale will be lower than getting them into an opt-in list and once you have them on your opt-in list, you can reach your prospects over and over again.
- Get your subscribers to tell their friends about you. Part of this will be accomplished naturally by creating stellar content that people will want to talk about. You might also want to create an incentive program to help encourage people to spread the word if they love what you have to say.
2. Keep Your Emails Simple: Your email writing efforts needn't be complicated. Keep your messages short, simple and focused on one thing at a time. This allows your readers to quickly absorb your message and decide whether or not to take action on your call to action. Think of it this way. People are busy and with few exceptions, experience email overload. Why load them up even more?
Besides the more you bombard them with information and links in an email, the less likely they are going to take the call-to-action you want them to.
3. Keep it Personal: Imagine yourself writing to one person and use language that you'd use if writing to just one person at a time. Don't address your readers as a group. For example, "I know many of you…" Address your subscriber as that one important individual they are. The language is far more powerful.
For example, if you write: "I know many of you are looking for a…"
As opposed to…
"I know you are looking for a…"
You may be sending out your email to thousands of people, but each of your subscribers is reading your message one by one. Address them that way.
4. Don't Mix Irrelevant Content with Promotions: If you want your subscriber to take action on something, don't distract them with other stuff.
Of course…
Being informative in your promotions is a good idea. If you're selling an affiliate product, an honest evaluation of that product and information on how it helps is a good thing. For example, if you're trying to sell a product that helps your readers lower their cholesterol, illustrating the benefits of a lower lever is absolutely relevant and important content.
However, you don't want to give a bunch of information on other topics when you actually want to sell something. Focus on selling instead.
5. Train Your List: If you want your
list to accept and take action on your promotions, teach them to become accustomed to promotions. You can let them know on the sign up page something like this:"We will only use your email address to communicate with your regarding [x]-related topics and offers."
If you want, you can also remind them in your welcome email that you'll be sending them offers. You can tell them how you like to review products on your reader's behalf and alert them to any products that might be helpful or to stay away from.
Then, regularly send them offers so they expect them.
6. Research Everything: Your readers will appreciate your promotions, especially when you take the time to research and review everything thoroughly. In fact, your readers will come to expect you to do a lot of the hard work for them…but don't worry this work is profitable for you!
7. Be Honest: When you do your research, report it in an honest way and that will solidify your reputation with your readers even further.
When you investigate a product, avoid coming back and telling your reader's it's the greatest thing since sliced bread…because not everybody eats the same kind of bread.
Sure, you might think the product is really terrific, but break it down for your readers and identify:
- Who the product is for (Example: beginner rose gardeners only).
- What problems you personally see the product solving.
- Any potential drawbacks of the product.
Don't be afraid to share any potential negatives because that makes your promotion REAL. For example, you can tell them that the baby stroller you're recommending doesn't come with a drink holder, but the other features totally make up for it. Besides, an attachable drink holder can be purchased at very little extra cost.
8. Get to Know Your Subscribers: Of course you can't talk to each of them individually, but there is plenty you can do to get to know them. Here are some:
- Pay attention to which links they click on in your emails (and track your links!). Whether they are clicking to read/view content, take a product recommendation or sign up for more information, pay attention.
- Take note of which types of products they are buying through your links. Note which products flop and which seem to get a lot of response.
- Invite them to submit feedback on your blog on a certain topic. The response you get can be incredibly valuable and give you insight into your readers.
- When your readers do comment on your blog, take the time to click through to their websites. See what they are talking about, what their problems are, what products they are buying. Do this on a regular basis and you'll come to understand your typical audience even further.
9. Use Effective Subject Lines: If your emails are top notch, your subscribers will be waiting for them, but this doesn't mean you can get away with dull subject lines.
"Newsletter #18, Volume 8, Issue 1"
...doesn't cut it.
The only job of a subject line is to get your reader to open the email...that's it, so I personally don't really recommend descriptive subject lines either.
For example, going back to a potty training guide promotion, I'd never use a subject line like:
"Potty Training Guide"
Sure, it does mean that you're more likely to have those readers ALREADY interested in a potty training guide open your email, but most of your reader won't know (yet) that they really want a potty training guide...in particular this guide you're recommending.
It is the body of your email whose job it is to convince your readers they need a guide...not your subject. Again, you only need your subject to get your reader to open the email.
In a case like this, use something like:
"This will help with the frustration..."
Now in this case, if your readers are parents of toddlers, they can very likely relate to frustration and the subject line is more likely to capture interest. Being a parent is a joy, but there are definitely frustrations with all kinds of things along the way.
So, they open the email and you talk about and relate to that frustration...and then they feel like someone understands them, and knows what they need. They're more likely to make the purchase.
10. Don't Forget Your Thank You Page:
Your "Thank You" page is a priceless piece of real estate, so use it!
I'm not sure what it is, but people seem to like to follow directions when they hit a thank you page. When someone hits your sign-up thank you page, don't waste that space. Make a recommendation for a Real Life product, right there!
... this is all I'm posting here folks.
Here's a sneak preview of what's inside:
If you'd like to send for a FREE eBook which includes these chapters, feel free to fill in your email address and click on "I want the eBook" button below:
How to make money on the internet... how to make money on internet... how to make money... how to make money fast... how to make money from home... how to make money online... how to make money quickly... make money on the internet... make money with Google.... it's all covered in the FREE eBook offered above, so be sure to send for your FREE copy TODAY!
Here's a sneak preview of what's inside:
If you'd like to send for a FREE eBook which includes these chapters, feel free to fill in your email address and click on "I want the eBook" button below:
How to make money on the internet... how to make money on internet... how to make money... how to make money fast... how to make money from home... how to make money online... how to make money quickly... make money on the internet... make money with Google.... it's all covered in the FREE eBook offered above, so be sure to send for your FREE copy TODAY!
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