10 Top Tips For Affiliate Promotions
Today’s post is all about YOU, earning more money as an AFFILIATE, promoting other peoples products.
Now I appreciate some of you will be thinking — I don’t have much of a list or much of a following – so how can I go about promoting a product launch.
Well of course in theory the bigger the list you have, the more sales you will get – but let me make another point. Some of the most successful affiliates for the launch of PopUp Domination actually had relatively small lists, but what they had that more than made up for it was, a very responsive list.
So you might ask how do you build a responsive list? There are a number of factors that matter – but the two I would highlight are:
1) Your reputation with the subscribers on your list. If you are someone who consistently offers your subscribers great value in the way of information and strategies, then they are more likely to read your emails and more importantly, take action based on your recommendation in those emails.
I have said it before, but I will say it again – only ever promote products you believe in and would buy yourself. The quickest way to lose that good reputation is to constantly be peddling and hyping STUFF – just because you might make a few commissions.
2) The second factor is of course your niche. I have a pretty responsive list but if I was to start promoting a course on Pay Per Click marketing, I can bet the response would not be so good. You see most of the people on my list are not using PPC – but rather are bloggers.
People (myself included) have often said the Money is in the List — well that is true, but the real fact is, that the money is in the responsiveness of the list!
OK, let’s get started:
10 Top Tips For Promoting Product Launches as an Affiliate
1. Review The Product
Reviews have been one of the most powerful things I do for launches, for a lot of reasons, including:
- Proof I have the product and I’m not just promoting to make money.
- Proof it works.
- Long team sales from new readers coming to my site.
- SEO Rankings. Tip: Name your post something people will search in Google to find it.
You want to of course do a write up on the product and include screen shots and a video would be a great addition.
One great example of a review was by David Risley for my launch. He was able to sell over 100 copies of my plugin by writing a post, adding images and a video then emailing it to his list.
ANOTHER TIP: Not sure when product launches are happening? Visit your competition and the gurus in your industry and sign up to their list. If there is a product being launched, they will be promoting!
Then you can go about getting involved, usually you can find the affiliate page is linked to in the footer of the sales page. If not, Google the name of the product + affiliate.
2. Email Pre-launch
For a long time I was against emailing pre-launches because I thought I would lose a whole load of my list to someone else. However this isn’t the case, your readers will not unsubscribe just because they opt-ed into someone elses list. In fact, they probably already are on dozens of other lists already. As long as you provide value, your subscribers will stay with you!
Emailing pre-launch is great because it builds momentum and interest.
The problem with emailing a direct sales page is that people have no idea why they need to look at the product in the first place. It’s a lot easier to tempt them in with a free video or download from the pre-launch so that they can learn about the product and why they so desperately need it.
It’s also a good opportunity to build trust and the fact is, most of the time, your readers don’t realize you are promoting a squeeze page because you’re making money from it.
3. Follow Up
Often you have 3 or even more opportunity to email, blog, Facebook, Tweet etc… a launch:
- Launch Day
- 24 Hours Till Close/Price Increase
- Reopen for 24 hours/Webinar
I have even promoted a launch where they suggested you emailed as much as 12 times!
We all know email is the most important thing you could be using right now, that’s why all the big marketers do so much to build a list.
It’s simple, you build a list and then at any given time you can email your subscribers a product launch and cash in. For me it literally is the closest thing to printing money. I have friends who travel the world and live off just emailing promotions to their list. A lot of people don’t mind being send promotions, heck if I minded, I wouldn’t be on half the lists I’m on. If you want more information on list building, check this post out!
4. Interview The Creator
Typically product owners will be mega busy coming up to their launch, however this is pure gold as well.
I often interview people before they launch their products. This way, when they launch and all the thousands of people are research in Google about the product and who created it, they see my website. Then once they check out the interview, they end up buying through my affiliate link.
5. Split Test Emails
I have many different lists, something I recommend everyone does.
What I do is email one of my lists (for example my Retireat21 subscribers) a new promotion / product launch. When I do this I use two different Subject Lines in the email I’m sending out and then whichever SUBJECT LINE gets the best open rate – I roll out and use on the rest of my lists.
I mean if your email doesn’t get opened – you may as well not have sent it!.
This is a very simple split test (there are a lot more complicated split tests you can do another day) and I have been blown away with how beneficial it has been to me. I used to just use one subject line — sometimes I nailed it and got lots of OPEN’s but other times I did not.
At least with this simple split test, I’m assuring myself a lot more opens with the majority of my list by testing on part of the list first.
The other advantage of emailing a smaller list first, is that you can discover if the OFFER is converting. If I get bad results with my initial mailing using two different subject lines, I may well not roll out across all my lists.
6. Promote The Right Product
There is no point me promoting a Pay Per Click product to my readers and buyers because I have never talked about PPC and more of my subscribers are probably not interested in it.
You want to promote something with broad appeal to the subscribers on your list.
Let’s take for example, PopUp Domination – this is software that could be used on just about every website because it will make the website owner more money. That means that just about everyone in the internet marketing industry can promote it. Bloggers, Social Media People, PPC guys, Product Creators — all of them need a product like PopUp Domination.
The advantage to me of course is, that I have a very wide range of people who I can approach as potential affiliates – even though in many instances it would not make sense for me to promote their product in return because my subscribers are not interested in their specific niche.
That is what I mean by BROAD. Of course there are lots of people who will say to go NICHE and sub-niche. That works as well – I am just pointing out that with PopUp Domination we deliberately went BROAD.
7. Offer a BONUS!
This is one of the most important things you can do when promoting someones product – ADD A BONUS for all the buyers who buy via your affiliate link.
A lot of people follow most people in the industry, so by you offering a free consult, review, product, download etc.. you will stand out and they will choose to buy via your affiliate link, over someone elses.
Recently when promoting a product launch by Gideon Shalwick, I put together a special bonus offer for people who bought via my link. This proved to work quite well because several people commented that they bought via my link because of my bonus offer.
James Schramko mentioned how he built a business around offering a bonus for each product he promoted in an interview with Yaro Starak, click here to see it!
8. Use It In a Tutorial
Depending on what you are promoting, you can sometimes use it in a tutorial, for example, Aweber. I can teach people how to make money with email marketing and promote Aweber as my choice of email software.
I have found this to work very well!
9. Use All Of Your Resources
There are so many ways to get the message out, some people simply over look them, you can:
- Blog about the product
- Tweet/Facebook about it
- Build a review site (someone did this to PopUp Domination and they were one of our top affiliates)
- Email your mailing list
- Buy advertising
10. Think Outside Of The Box – Just Ask!
Sometimes, the best thing you can do, is contact the product creator and ask them what they can do to improve the deal for your readers.
Here are a few of the things they can offer you:
- $1 Trial Offers
- Special Landing Pages
- Webinars (these convert like crazy, just ask Lewis Howes)
- Discounted Price
- Special Bundles
- Coupon Codes
At the end of the day, product creators rely on affiliates to make their launches a success, so they will at least listen to what you have to say.
Read more: ‘Making Money with Email Marketing and an Autoresponder Series’
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Mike, man,, awesome post.,. will be using this on my next product release.
Hi
This is awesome post.Building reputation and emailing list is must on which currently I am working.I am moving with perfect steps lets see what happens in future
Thanks For Sharing Awesome 10 tips
-Abhishek
Brilliant tips there, and I agree that no.7 is very powerful. James Schramko is my IM mentor and his interviews are great.
My list is very b2b and not in the IM niche, so ‘choosing the right product’ to promote is probably by far the most important factor for me.
great post as always, will definitely be promoting the re-launch of popupdom.
Yes, product creators rely on the affiliates to make it a success so they will do anything to support the affiliates get the most sales.
The people who have the most trust with their list tend to do the best on launches because their list is that more responsive.
The size of your list doesnt matter at all, its the relationship you have with your list which = how responsive they are. And therefore they are much more likely to act on whatever recommendation you give them
Michael,
Thanks for the information; good stuff as usual.
Aaron,
How could the size of your list not matter? I’m confused.
Kerwin,
Yeah list size matters but it matters more how responsive, i.e, how active a number of buyers on your list you have.
Lets say someone has a list of 10, 000 people but when they promote an offer only 1000 people act on it and buy that’s only 10% of your list, so you’re only making 10% of the total revenue that you possible could.
Now lets say someone has a list of a 1000 people, they promotes the same offer, but they’ve engaged and built the trust of their list, so its much more responsive. Now 450 people buy the offer they’ve promoted, now that’s a 45% R.O.I
So forget how big your list is and work on creating a list that actually converts, a list of people willing to buy, because what’s a business without customers?
Muito bom….
Thanks Mike, I’m new to your site and list and just wanted to let you know that the information I’m getting from you is top notch. I’ve been burned buy so many promises so far that I’m just not sure who to trust yet. Hopefully, that will change soon.
Very good tips Michael. Hope “PopUp Domination” has huge success on it’s relaunch cause I’m ready for it!
– Marc
As Mike stated in his newsletter number 7 is very powerful.
~~Juan~~
Hi Mike,
Perfect analysis on how to run an affiliate campaign from beginning to end. No stones left unturned here mate, awesome post!
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Awesome advice Michael.
I have to agree the webinars work crazy.
They convert well, produce well, and bring in tons of the right customer.
We use them all of the time on our site http://BuildingaBrandOnline.com
in order to market our group coaching program, and even promoting the webinar via our blog has helped our SEO ranks.
Thanks for sharing.
I don’t know how, but every time I read something on your site, I come up with new ideas… Great advice, Michael!
Hey nice information. I like that you had turn your email course into a ebook. good going.
Thanks!
Thanks for this informative tips, I’m really excited about “2.0” and was wondering… is there any new surprise in “2.0” that will make opt-in conversion even better….
I may sound like a “broken record” but Im truly looking forward to your emails in my mailbox. Great tips, reviews, eye-openers and most of all there is this pervasive feeling you are doing it to help “mortals” (as opposed to already successful gurus) succeed online.
Thank you Michael
Hi mike,
I really like this post.Great work dude keep it up?
I usually just write reviews of the product, and it works, but I don’t earn a lot of money this way. Your list looks awesome, but on the other hand, it also looks like a lot of work. So, my question is this. Should you always just focus on one affiliate product at a time, like one a month or so? This way it would be a lot easier to do everything right and have one massive campaign other than many small campaigns?
Really great post Michael,
You really listed a lot of great tips in this post.
I have not been split testing before and I will begin to do that now and see how it improves my conversion.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
Thanks for these valuable tips. I will be applying them with products that I will be launching.
I love this post. Especially the part about not recommending products that you wont use
Great stuff micheal
You are a very knowledgable young man, and you come over as very straight with no fluff , you have enlightened myself greatly
Keep it up and good luck for your future
Henry
Well done Michael another great post full of information
thanks for the tips
Thanks Mike. After reading your post i am thinking about looking for new product launches and creating mini websites about the products that are launched.
Outstanding post! I find that tutorials are really, really good for conversions.
Great list Michael.
To me, testing, asking questions and using tutorials is of great importance. I will bookmark this page and re-read it towards the launch of my products. For now, i’m still doing services
Great Tips Micheal,
These are maybe the best groups of tips I have seen online for some time now. But it does help if you do have an big list so you can push it out fast.
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
your article is so helpful. especially to those affiliated with big companies. continue raising your ideas for everyone to see.
Hi Mike,
Great tips with your article, thanks for all of your great help. With product launches for affiliates.
Thanks,
Michael
I haven’t started doing any product launches, yet. However, I will make sure I come back and read this one more time when I start. Thanks for the amazing post!
Thanks for the post Michael, I’m in the process of creating a product launch and your post has given me some fresh ideas. I’ve been sitting here with a sheet of A4 brainstorming.
Brainstorming is good, but it’s always good t read some one else’s point of view it sort of puts your thoughts into perspective.
Hello Mike and everyone else.
I’m very new to affiliate marketing and professional blogging, so I had a question about PPC ads as they’re referenced in this post, since I always thought that Google ads, while being a bit unattractive, could be used very profitably on a blog site.
Can you, or anyone else reading this please elaborate on when Mike says “…I have never talked about PPC and most probably don’t have a clue about it and if they do, they probably don’t want to do it, hence why they are on my site learning about blogging.”
It seems like you see PPC ads as doing more harm than good – correct?
If so, then how else does one monetize a blog when they’re just getting started out with no list to speak of?
Otherwise, thanks for the great post!
Doron
Hello Doron,
It’s simple really, depending on your industry, Google Ads don’t pay very well:
Say I send 20 clicks to an affiliate product I’m promoting, I will probably make around $30 – $40.
If I got 20 clicks on Google Adsense, I could make just $5 – $10 and it could be a lot less depending on what the site is about.
Thanks,
Michael
Hey Michael,
Is there usually a given percentage of people that “buy” a product from an affiliate promotion. For example, if I have 100 people clicking to a product, what is a ‘normal’ turn-around ratio.
Hello Mandeep,
It’s hard to say for a couple reasons:
– Depends on traffic you send, how targetted they are to the product.
– The landing page itself doesn’t convert.
I promote somethings that convert at $2 a click and some at 30cent… Perhaps aim for earnings per click which you can track in Clickbank. I love anything that earns me more than $1 a click.
Thanks,
Michael
Ahh, OK, thanks so much for that Michael. I do understand that it takes a lot of traffic to make money with the Google ads. I will probably end up experimenting with a few different methods, but clearly affiliate ads seem to be the most lucrative way to go when one is just starting out.
Keep up the great work and keep giving tips they are really helpful. Indeed, creating traffic with affiliate ads is the most profitable and rewarding way. Thank you for sharing such a wonder information.
Thanks for the tips Michael. I think reviewing the product in the best way that it will sell itself is an art indeed
Great tips as always Mike. Well done. I’m taking notes!! Cheers Neal
niche blog post, i have many benefit from your post. Many many thanks
Awesome tips! And people wonder exactly how super affiliates pull in the big bucks. There’s a lot of work that goes in behind the scenes to make major money. Definitely brewed up a few ideas though. Thanks for the motivation Mike!
Hey Mike,
Very detailed overview of how to profit as an affiliate from product launches.
And these have now started happening in niches other than “internet marketing” as well…