Affiliate Marketing - Make Big Bucks Through Your Internet Home Business
by Ian Canaway
Affiliate marketing has become a booming industry thanks to the increasing popularity of the internet. Marketing is defined as the getting and keeping of customers. You must have customers to sell your service or product.
In order to increase your profits, you must turn your customers into repeat customers. Affiliate programs are an excellent way to increase traffic to your web site and increase your profits.
The benefits of affiliate marketing include the potential of automating the advertising process and immediate payments from customers, including the revenue shared between affiliates. Affiliate marketing has made it possible for millions of people to successfully operate their own home business.
Affiliate marketing gives you an effective and powerful network. You can effectively drive paying customers to your web site with a network of affiliate sites that have a direct incentive in helping you sell your product or service.
Internet home business owners are making millions each year due to the increasing popularity of affiliate marketing programs. Partners in affiliate programs not only have the incentive to drive traffic to your web site, but also have good reason to sign on new affiliate partners.
Affiliate programs give you risk-free advertising and you pay only a percentage of your total sales after you receive the money.
Compared to traditional advertising methods, affiliate programs are highly effective and cost efficient. A smart marketing strategy and effective sales techniques earn affiliate marketers large sums of money with little effort.
Every time a customer sees your banner on a partner's web site, you advertise your service or product. Each time you make a sale to a customer who clicked on your banner, your affiliate partner also makes money.
When your affiliate partners get paid through the use of your banner, they have a great incentive to keep your banner on their web site. You can operate a highly successful internet home business with the help of a large network of affiliate partners.
The benefits of affiliate marketing not only include inexpensive advertising, but increased profits for all involved.
No matter what product or service you sell, developing a support system is critical to the success of your internet home business. Starting an affiliate program is one of the perfect vehicles to attract customers to your web site. There is virtually no risk involved in affiliate marketing. No upfront costs and little effort make running an affiliate program very attractive.
The benefits of operating an internet home business include enormous profit potential, easy access to highly successful affiliate programs, and an effective means of advertising your service or product. Through the use of the internet, home business owners can now advertise cheaply and efficiently.
Affiliate programs are one the best ways to draw traffic to your web site. Offering a quality product and excellent customer service will keep customers returning to your web site again and again.
As an affiliate you should know that there are numerous successful affiliate programs out there. So when you are looking to join an affiliate program; choosing the ones you wish to be affiliated with is a simple process.
Make sure to read testimonials from current partners and do a little research on any program you are considering. Wise choices and effective advertising can make your internet home business more successful than you ever imagined.
About The Author:
Ian Canaway will help you launch your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now...guaranteed! Visit: http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com
10 Ways to Sell Expensive Affiliate Products and Make Huge Commissions
by Anik Singal
One of the quickest ways to boost your affiliate income is to offer high ticket products. Commissions as low as 5% can still pay off handsomely, provided the item carries a big enough price tag. Plus some pay-per-lead programs offer hefty bounties of $50 and up for qualified leads.
So why don't more affiliates build sites around high-ticket products? Because the higher the price, the more likely your visitors will experience sticker shock. It's only natural. People's internal resistance kicks in because they're always a little uneasy when it's time to shell out big bucks online. This is true no matter how badly they want what you're selling.
But if there's one thing super-affiliates know how to do, it's overcome buyer resistance. So here are 10 never-fail techniques I've been teaching my clients and students. Apply each one to your affiliate business, and you'll soon see skyrocketing conversion rates on higher-priced products and lucrative upsells.
#1 - Turn your pocket calculator into a salesman.
Numbers can almost always support of your selling proposition, so put those numbers to work! Ask yourself how many ways can you MONETIZE the benefit of your product or service. Then put those numbers on the table.
For example, if you're selling a $1499 teleclass that teaches people options trading, calculate the LOWEST possible profit they will make from your system in one year's time. Say that even if they got the most mediocre results, they'd still make an average of $300 per day.
That means in a 5 day work week they'd make an average of $1500. In a 4-week month they'd make $6000. In a 50-week year they'd make $75,000. Now ask them to compare that to their current salary or hourly wage. Don't hype it up, just let the numbers speak for themselves.
#2 Break the cost into easily digested chunks.
Ask yourself, what sounds better: $29.95 a month or $359 a year? Even if the prospect has to pay the entire sum up front, show them how that big price tag isn't so big after all.
A variation of this is comparing the price of your item with some commonplace or routine expense: For less than the price of your monthly double-lattes, you could be learning the secrets of billion-dollar investment managers...
#3 Word the price to make it seem tiny!
A $197 annual subscription sounds like a lot of money. But gaining access to business-critical information for just 54 cents a day sounds like, well... peanuts!
#4 State the value of each component, then add em up for dramatic effect.
This works best for information products, but if you're creative, you can use it with almost anything, especially consulting services.
If your investment course sells for $599, make a list of everything your buyers get: digital reports, videos, workbook, telephone hotline, private site access, software, etc. Put a price tag on each - make it realistic, please then show how they add up to much more than $599.
Or let's say you're offering to install, configure, and customize an off-the-shelf software package for a total price of $699. Simply show how many hours you spend on each element, multiply by a realistic but high-end hourly rate... and show how buyers are getting $2500 worth of services for only $699!
#5 Bundle in bonuses or add-ons that your prospects can't easily price.
This takes some extra work, but I really love it because so few affiliates are doing it.
Let's say you're an affiliate for high-ticket digital SLR cameras. Tell your buyers that when they purchase any camera over $599 from you, and they send you a copy of their receipt, they'll get a bonus CD-ROM packed with digital photography tips, imaging freeware and shareware, and your handpicked online resources for supplies, accessories, and photo printing.
Sure, you'll need to contact freeware and shareware authors to get their permission to include their software on your disk. (Guess what? Almost none will refuse you're promoting them via direct mail for free!) And yes, you'll have to write up some tips and find photo resources.
But you can pack this CD with affiliate links. And you'll be saving your prospects a boat load of time. Your buyers can't compare it to anybody else's bonus CD, since nobody's offering one quite like yours. You can put any realistic value on it, promote it heavily, and get endless viral marketing value out of it.
And best of all, it's a way to get buyers to VOLUNTARILY give you both their email and snail mail addresses! Nice.
#6 - Show a huge return compared to the purchase price.
Spell out, in dollars and cents, how the cost of your product or service is a drop in the bucket compared to the returns it generates.
Let's say your $799 workplace safety review course helps businesses pass inspections. Then calculate the exact cost of failing an inspection. List fines, penalties, cost of business shutdowns, etc. These will literally add up to five figures, a huge expense compared to the price of your course.
#7 Make your prospects relieved that you're charging so little!
This one's so easy, I'm amazed more affiliates don't do it. Show higher prices for other products... then tell them your price, which of course is much, much less!
Are you selling an investment course? First talk about $1 million private investment accounts... and the huge commissions investment managers charge. By the time you tell them about your $599 course, your prospect will breathe a sigh of relief!
Sure, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. That's the whole point. You're showing your prospect why your $599 course is the least expensive choice for them... and maybe the only affordable one.
#8 - Preempt price objections.
Most sales pages for expensive products and services play on emotions and benefits. They build desire and perceived value over several thousand words and literally sell the person BEFORE price is even mentioned.
But sometimes you can do the opposite - and reap big rewards by pre-qualifying visitors. That's right, tell people the price up front. Then play on the drama and exclusivity of a big number to weed out the tire kickers!
Here's an example: This course is for serious investors only. It costs $1299. If you're scared by that price, or if you're unwilling to invest in your ability to create wealth, then our course is not for you.
Sure, this approach is based on snob appeal. But it's also very powerful reverse psychology: the more you tell a prospect they don't qualify, the more some people will insist that they DO!
If you don't believe this approach works, some of the greatest direct response copy of all time has taken it all the way to the bank. One fund-raising letter that generated millions for a bird-watching expedition stated: It will cost you $10,000 and about 26 days of your time. Frankly, you will endure some discomfort, and may even face some danger.
#9 Use a false close to create suspense.
It's a classic... and it still works. Establish the value and desirability of your product without a doubt, but delay gratification for a few more paragraphs while piling on even more benefits.
The most common false close is the old But wait, there's more... tactic. Even though your case is made, you don't stop and mention one or two more irresistible benefits.
This is also a great place to meet possible last-minute objections by pulling out the Warning! Don't buy any investment course unless it meets these 8 criteria. If your prospects have gotten this far, they WANT the product. So give them 8 or 10 or 20 more ways to justify that big expenditure!
#10 Sound like the leading expert in your field.
Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust. If your visitors believe that you're an unchallenged expert in your niche, they're much more likely to make that big-ticket purchase.
How do you establish this aura of expertise. Offer UNIQUE solutions they can't get elsewhere. Show PROOF that your product or service works as promised. Display prominent TESTIMONIALS and ENDORSEMENTS from respected authorities in related fields.
And avoid hype at all costs. It's far better to sound low key -- but confident - than to scream for attention.
And remember, prospects aren't stupid. If you back up your claims with hard facts and data, they'll gladly plunk down hundreds to thousands for your affiliate promotions. But if you don't, they're smart enough to look to your competitors!
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This article is written by Anik Singal, founder of AffiliateClassroom.com. Anik Singal has developed his own affiliate system that helped him earn well over $10,000 in just 60 days. Now, he's looking for a few students to train one step at a time.
Sign up for a FREE course and find out more: http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com
A full-time netrepreneur, Sabin Simard, uses Site Build It! to drive highly targeted traffic to his network of affiliate websites.
#1: First, please tell us more about yourself...
My name is Sabin Simard, I'm a 42 years old netrepreneur from Alma, Qc, Canada. I worked for 9 years as a translator in Ottawa and then changed to a Pedagogical Counsellor for 12 years. For the past 2.5 years I've been developing my own business on the Internet and live solely on that business. I am a member of various affiliate programs, including the 5 Pillar Affiliate Program from SiteSell.
#2: Did you ever build a website before SBI!?
Yes. I built several websites (hundreds actually), many of them hosted on various free sites, which had fairly good results, I must say. But as the time went on and affiliates were getting more skilled and in larger numbers I had to gradually change my approach, so I bought a few domain names and started building my sites with my own domains.
I always studied really hard in order to keep up with all the changes in the search engines. Then, one day I came across SiteSell and bought SBI! almost right away. Within a month that site was on Google and right near the top. I never got such a good result with any other previous websites, even though they were regularly spidered.
SBI! gives me the freedom to build more pages, research more topics while it does all the work of promoting for me. Plus, it saves me money. Before, I would spend $1,500 on different promotional software like SubmitWolf, Classify98 Wizard and a bunch of others that did not give me half the results I get with SBI!.
#3: Now, let's talk about your SBI! website...
My SBI! website is Novasa Affiliates Development of affiliate programs & e-marketing. It offers affiliates and entrepreneurs alike free training, tips, affiliate programs and publication to help them in their e-marketing efforts. Most importantly, the website guides them in starting up their own affiliate business. I decided to start this website to gather all of my experience with the best affiliate programs and, of course, to promote SiteSell's products.
First, I thought the site would be very limited in traffic since it was not intended to be very broad and, frankly, I had doubts about SBI! and did not build a very nice site at the beginning, because the main reason I bought it is to get the SBI! Manager. But the results came so fast that I had to change my original expectations. Right now I'm enjoying between 900 and 1,200 unique visitors per month and I'm only starting...
To put these numbers in perspective for you, my other website, 123-Credit-Services.com, brought $2,500 a month with only 600 unique visitors.
I plan to be adding more sites with SBI! in the future, although I have used the SBI! Manager to develop concepts for several of my other websites, which I have not yet transferred into an SBI! site:
All these sites get great traffic, but I need to promote them all the time. What I will be able to, once the upcoming add-on will make SBI! fully compatible with other HTML editors in early 2003, is to transfer all my sites to SBI! and let SBI! take care of all the advertising, analyzing, submitting and maintaining for me, almost automatically.
#4: How much time and money did it take?
It cost me about $1,500 worth of software and then I spent thousands on ads and a multitudes of things to get my sites seen.
Each site is different but it takes hundreds of hours to build a site from the research to the actual deployment online.
But using the SBI! Manager saved me tens of hours of researching.
#5: Are you happy with the results?
I presently get between 900 and 1,200 unique visitors per month to Novasa Affiliates and the numbers are climbing every week.
As I'm adding new web pages, the website becomes more focused and the number of visitors increases. I presently have 14 number 1 rankings in the major search engines like Google, Altavista and Hotbot, and 29 first page ranking. All these pages are ranked with highly researched and profitable keywords as analyzed with the SBI! Manager and turn out really good profitability.
I noticed the first results within the first 30 days of my site being built. At that time it had only 4 pages.
Each month I have a new page or two come up on the major search engines. When that happens, I either modify a few things to get a better ranking next time, or simply leave the pages as they are if I'm satisfied with the results. SBI! analyzes each page and feeds me back hints on how to achieve better ranking. I know of no better, easier and cheaper way to get this done. SBI! is wonderful.
By adding more pages to Novasa Affiliates, which is my main site, I improve not only its results but also the results of my other sites, since I build them in a similar fashion.
#6: Would you recommend SBI! to others?
Yes. I would strongly recommend SBI! to anyone beginners or experts. I recently won two bids against very highly recommended and well-positioned companies in web development by showing my customers the results I am getting with Novasa Affiliates and SBI! in the search engines.
Not only my clients were impressed but the two competing companies were completely stunned when they realized that their flashy, luminescent sites were not accepted. I started to consider the idea of approaching these type of companies and teach them how to build web sites that attract visitors, rather than more static from the screens...
I wholeheartedly recommend SiteSell and SBI! to everyone who wants results... it is a winning combination. As explained on my site, if your name is Nike, Adidas or Coca Cola you do not have to worry about being found on the net, but when your name is "nobody's homepage", you need SBI!
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