The number one strategy to increase your affiliate sales is preselling.

Before we start, let’s talk about what preselling actually is. Well, it is an art. And it’s also a science. It’s a process of taking your reader and getting them ready to buy. Then when they’re ready, refer them to the product website so they can buy it. When done correctly, your reader will not even notice.

In a nutshell, you provide value. And then refer them to the product website. In a second we’ll talk about how to do actually it. Before we get into that, you should understand what’s in it for you. Just a few of the reasons you want to presell.

• It helps your reader trust you – Once you have your readers’ trust, they will click your links more readily. And the more clicks you get the more sales you’ll make.
• It disarms your reader – Nobody likes to be sold something. By not doing that to them, your reader is less defensive. And in turn they read to understand what you’re saying. So your message gets across.
• It creates buying readiness – Your readers are now receiving your message. And in turn, they’re open to other messages, as well. This includes the sales website you send them to! Sending them to the sales page in this state makes them more receptive to the actual pitch.
• Your commissions go up – They arrive at the product website prepped to buy. With the guard down and trusting your recommendation. This dramatically boosts your sales rate!
• It boosts customer loyalty – Your referral now feels like they decided to buy. Instead of being manipulated into buying. So they are happier with their purchase.
• Your profits go up – A satisfied customer doesn’t ask for a refund. Less refunds means more affiliate money stays in your pocket.

Obviously, it’s important to presell. You earn more commissions. And increase your customer satisfaction. It’s a win-win-win!

OK, so how do you do it?

Now you know whey preselling is critical. And hopefully you’re convinced you need to start doing it. So, it’s time to break down how it works. As I mentioned earlier, it’s both an art and a science.

Mastering the art

Effective preselling requires gaining your readers trust in order for them to let down their guard. And the only method of doing this is to give exceptional value to your readers. Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more – that’s the art of it. The idea is that they want more and the sales page you send them to gives them more. Plus they’re not guarded, so they’re more open and likely to purchase the product.

The science component

You also have to include some very specific things.

The first is how you present the information. You have to have your end in mind. In the end, you want to sell a specific product. You use the information to do this in one of two ways. One way is to give them enough info to whet the appetite, but not enough to satisfy it. The other method is to explain all the details and expose how difficult it is to do what you’re explaining. Whichever method, you send them to a product website that solves the problem you just created.

Next, you have to use “convert linking” methods. Instead you link directly to the product sales page. When you do this, you’re click-throughs go way up. But, without your affiliate link, how do you get credit? There’s a trick to make this work… You use an image tag to cookie your reader before they leave your site.

You also want to link to the sales page from inside your article’s content. It’s habitual to click on words and phrases that are hyperlinked. Plus, if you link on relevant words, it only makes sense to click on there.

Putting all of this together creates a powerful affiliate marketing formula for success.

Now for the bad news…

Doing all of this right is really hard! Let’s talk about everything required to put this plan into action: Great content. The entire process depends on your being able to provide useful information to your readers. To do that you have to have enough information to be valuable and be able to present it in a useful way. Strategic writing. First, you have to give good information. But, you also need to know how to present the information in a way that give value to the reader. And still leave them wanting more. Or provide so much information that they see how hard it will be to implement.

Choosing your products. After that you have to figure out which products you want to promote. Even if you get the article written. Your efforts are completely wasted if you don’t pick a winning product.

Technical skills. One of the keys to this system is using “covert cookies” for the tracking. This is actually pretty simple – just embed a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image and set your affiliate link as the “source” of the image. (But if you do it wrong, you won’t get paid for the traffic you send.)

Wrapping it up:

Now you’re armed with the information needed to effectively presell. Using these techniques will increase your affiliate sales by 500% or more! It’s absolutely critical to do this every time – and to do it correctly. Take action now. Put in the effort to reap the greater rewards.

How, then do you get traffic to your site?

Here’s a short list of great, free traffic generating methods:

• Web 2.0 Methods
• Article Marketing
• Video Marketing

Let’s talk about each of these.

Web 2.0

By web 2.0 we mean any site where the users actually create the content. The exciting thing about Web 2.0 sites is that you get to add your own content and it becomes part of these sites. And because of the highly interactive and popular nature of these sites, Google and other search engines “index” their content regularly. The benefit of this to you is that your content is now considered as part of these sites. And any links in your content that point to your own sites count as a strong “vote” in favor of your sites – lending you credibility in the search engines. That’s the real benefit of adding content to this sites – search engine ranking means ongoing free traffic. Getting free web 2.0 traffic is a big topic that we’ll discuss more later. This is good overview of the reason to get into it, though.

Article Marketing

The next thing we want to talk about is article marketing. Article directories fall under the category of web 2.0 sites. Just like web 2.0 sites, article websites allow you to upload your own content – as articles. Just as with the other web 2.0 sites, having your content included gives you immediate traffic and search engine ranking. And in addition to this, other users can take your article and place it on their own website. And in return for getting to use your content, these other users include links back to your website that gives you further search engine ranking and more free traffic. In order to get the most free traffic make sure you:

• Figure out what keywords you want to go after
• Write your article for the keywords you’ve chosen
• Use anchor text links in the article and the “resource box”

Video

Our discussion would not be complete without talking about video. Here to we’re really looking at a web 2.0 sub-category. And it carries all the same benefits of article marketing. The extra top secret benefit of video marketing is that it’s much easier to rank for competitive keywords than in any other medium.

Here’s how to get free traffic using video…

• Get a YouTube account
• Make your profile uncluttered by turning off all the modules
• Use the tags in your profile to enter the keywords you want to rank for
• Include a link to your main site in your profile
• Add at least one video to your profile
• In the title, the description and the tags for each video, include your main keywords

In closing…

If you take action on the items listed here you’ll have free traffic in no time.

Number 1 – Discover Niches with Fanatics

The number 1 thing you have to do is find fanatics if you want a profitable membership website. Fanatic is defined as someone with an irrational enthusiasm. These are the people you’re looking for because they are so enthusiastic they’re willing to spend money on their topic of fanaticism. Here’s how to find fanatics:

• Here’s something you may not have considered – magazines! We’re so internet-based these days, it’s easy to forget about them. In today’s economy, running a magazine is tougher than ever – some of the best ones are going out of business. So if it’s on the shelves, it’s making money, which means there is a big market interested in this topic. If they can make money in a print version, you can probably make money with a membership website.
• Pay attention throughout the day in your regular activities. See what people are talking about on the radio, TV, at parties, in public, etc. If people are talking about something, they probably want to know more about it. Which means you can start a membership business providing information on it.
• Again, looking in the physical world for clues you can tell there are lots of people interested in something if there are clubs and organizations around the topic. Conventions are expensive to hold and attend, so if one if going on that’s another strong indication of a good niche to go into with your membership website.
• And of course there are all the things you have an interest in, too! If you’re interested in something, it’s highly likely others are, too. And, as an added bonus, it’s much more fun to build a business around things you’re interested in.
• Another fantastic way to discover what people are interest in is Google Trends. This service shows you the current most popular search terms. The reason people are searching Google for info on these topics is because they are interested. And the fact that it’s made it into Google Trends tells you LOTS of people are interested. These are the niches you want to be in – lots of people actively searching means lots of opportunity.

Second – Analyze the “commerciality”

After selecting a possible niche to build your membership site around, the next step is to find out if it’s a profitable niche to be in. One way to figure this out is to see if other are making money in it.

OK, how do we figure that out?

• Are there blogs or forums in this niche? Take the name of your niche and search for “niche name blog” & “niche name forum” in Google to see if there is an active group of people talking about and interested in the niche. This means there is a large group of people already assembled for you to market to.
• Check Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping to find out if others are making and selling products in your niche. It’s a good sign if there are because it tells you people are making money here.
• Watch Google Adwords for a period of time and look for ads the run again and again. Adwords ads are expensive, so people only run them repeatedly if they are profitable. And to be profitable, they have to be selling products and making money.

Step 3 – Determine ease of entry

After figuring out a good niche and determining that other people are making money in it, the last thing to do is decide if you will be able to enter the market. Here’s how to make this determination:

• Figure out what kinds of products people are interested in. If it’s mostly physical products, coaching and live seminars, then it will be harder to break into this niche. Membership websites based on information are the easiest to start and maintain.
• The last thing you want is a marketing filled with tons of competitors. A few means it’s a profitable niche, but too many means you won’t be able to take a piece of it.
• Compare the size of the market versus the number of competitors. Some competition is a good sign – just make sure the market is big enough for you to join in.
• How quickly do people in this market make buying decisions and are the ready to buy? Every market is different. Sometimes people are looking for information and are ready to pay for it right now. And sometimes it takes weeks, months or even years for them to make the decision to purchase.

Summing it all up

So far, we’ve talked about exactly what it takes to pick a great niche: One with a hungry crowd of fanatics, who are ready to spend money on information about their topic. And you’ve determined your barrier to entry is small enough to give it a go. Now that you’ve prepared properly, you’re success is 99% guaranteed. How to actually run your membership website is the only thing left to talk about…

Traffic is useless . . . unless…

Keyword research is really the first step in getting traffic to your website. Why? Because you have to target these keywords if you are to have any hope of actually generating traffic for them. Which means you need to put some thought into the keywords you’re targeting.

A couple things to keep in mind when doing keyword research:

• Will you be able to rank for these keywords? Take a look at the “strength” of others websites (and how many) are already targeting these keywords.
• Are these “buying” keywords? Certain keywords are good for generating a lot of visitors who don’t buy anything. This is not what you’re looking for.
• What about affiliates? Nothing brings more buyers like an army of affiliates. So, it’s important to also target affiliates in the keywords you go after.

Of course, this all takes time if you plan to do it yourself. And hiring an expert is very expensive. And that’s why most people skip this step! What I recommend is using website traffic software to save the time of doing it yourself and the money of hiring someone else. Using tools like this speed up the process and improve your results, too!

OK, now we can talk about traffic…

Only after doing your keyword research correctly can you start targeting these keywords to get you traffic.

Here’s a short list of sneaky traffic techniques:

• Something you may not have ever considered is Surveys
• “Help” Websites
• Video

Surveys

Here’s the thing – people love surveys. It’s human nature. And if you make it interesting, other people will post your survey on their website. And when they put your survey on their site, they will include a link back to your website. This allows you to get free website traffic from other people’s sites! Most people think surveys are just for collecting data, but in this case you don’t even care about the answers. Just make the question interesting enough that people will want to share it with their own visitors.

“Traffic Traps”

Maybe you’ve seen these help sites where people post questions and other people answer them. However, you’re interest in these sites is not to ask and answer questions. The other thing they can be used for is to get traffic to your site, leads for your business and sales! Now, you can do this all by hand – visit a classified ads or answers site and one by one copy and paste contact info. So, if you’re smart, you’ll use website traffic software to do it all for you. Then you just get a daily batch of fresh leads delivered to your inbox.

Video Sharing Sites

Video is huge and sites like YouTube and Vimeo are extremely popular. In fact, YouTube has over 2 billion videos watched per day! If you’re not taking advantage of this rich source of website traffic, then you are really missing out.

And don’t worry if you don’t have any idea of how to make a video. You can even take a webpage or article that you’ve written. And use free screen capture software to record yourself reading it. And like anything else, there is software available that will turn articles into videos for you automatically.

Summary

It’s not that hard to get traffic to your websites. Use your noodle and come up with things other people aren’t doing. Plus, there’s lots of great software out there to help you.

Don’t waste any more time:

• Step 1 is researching your keywords
• Set up some viral surveys
• Take advantage of the “help” sites
• And don’t forget about video

Affiliate marketing is by far the fastest way to get started earning a living online. This is when you refer traffic to someone else’s product sales page, they make the sale and deliver the product, and you keep 50% or more of the sales

These are a some of the benefits

1. You can start almost instantly with no up-front costs and no need to create a product, craft a sales letter, develop the website, create marketing materials, or do support, billing and maintenance.
2. You have basically zero investment of your time because they handle the billing, support, maintenance, etc.
3. Your efforts are risk-free, because the product owner has already done all the research , development and testing. So if you send visitors you will get paid.

There’s no denying that these benefits make affiliate marketing the best thing going!

The downside is…

After all your hard work of generating traffic to the sales page, you will never see any of those visitors again. Less than 10% of the visitors your send will actually buy the product. The 10% or less that make a purchase now belong to the product owner. She can sell them additional products, but you can never sell to them again.

What’s the solution?

What you need to do is capture the contact info of your visitors before sending them to the product website. By getting their contact info, you can follow up increase your odds of making the sale by sending them back to the product owner’s website multiple times. And if you’re really on top of your game, you’ll then send to a content mini-site in between.

Here’s what these affiliate marketing strategies will do for you:

1. Owning a list of potential buyers gives you the ability to market additional products at the push of a button.
2. You’ll be warming them up by providing valuable information and then casually linking to the product sales page in the context of this information.

Here’s what you’ll need to create affiliate tools like this:

1. A lead capture page, preferably with video
2. One or more content-rich “warm up” pages
3. An email series with at least 5 high-quality content emails

Instead of sending visitors directly to the product sales page, you’ll send them to your lead capture page first. Your squeeze page adds your visitors to you autoresponder. This is how you start building your list, and at the same time begin sending them useful information. After subscribing them to your email list, it redirects them to your content mini-site.

The content pages provide valuable information for your visitors and make them more receptive to the sales message that you’ll link to from inside the content. And at the same time, the email series begins following up with them to get them back to the sales page, in case they don’t buy on the first visit.

All of this together increases your chances of making the sale by up to 500% so it’s well worth the effort of setting it up. After setting it up, you simply send visitors to your squeeze page instead of the sales page. And the rest runs on auto-pilot.

If you don’t have the time or expertise to set it all up yourself, you can use something like Affiliate Silver Bullet. With a service like that, you don’t have to do anything. They make the video, build the squeeze page, write the email series, develop the content mini-site, etc. And then just give you a finished package. The major benefit of using a service like this is that you can get started right away, and for a whole lot less than it would cost to do it all yourself. The downside is that other people will be using the same affiliate tools as you. But the internet is pretty big, so this isn’t much of a concern.

Another way to accomplish this is to hire “outsourcers” through a website like Elance to build and put your system together for you. The important thing is that you start using affiliate tools like the ones described here right now! Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and money.

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