Thinking Like A Successful Affiliate: Part 1 - WickedFire - Affiliate Marketing Forum

aim · 04-17-2008, 10:45 PM

Staying on track from my affiliate bitch posts, it's time to talk about real strategies to help guarantee success in this game.

The key differences that makes successful internet marketers stand out from the crowd are their ability to:

1. Think Creatively
2. Think Outside of the box
3. Have a Sustainable Business Plan

Enough bullshit, let's jump into it. In no particular order...

Landing Pages

The single best thing you can do when designing a landing page is to connect with your prospective customer on an emotional level. Human beings are emotional people, and emotions drive decisions. what I mean by this is: do not simply describe the product and give a price; Connect your customers with your product on an emotional level and let them know why they NEED your product.

Real World Example: If you are promoting a weight loss product... let's say it's say it's nurisystem via search. People already know what nutrisystem is, and now they're at your landing page, so tap into why they were looking into this product in the first place. Chances are that they're fat and looking for an easy way to lose weight - Remind them a few times that they're overweight, don't be insulting, but get the message across that they're fat, they need to lose weight, and your product will do that for them. They NEED your product.

The key here is that you're not over-describing the product. They already know what it is. They saw the commercial on tv, whatever the case is. Don't describe what they're getting - describe why they NEED what they're getting.

Ad Copy

The biggest mistake is probably the repetition of keywords in an effort to get more 'bold' and stand out against the competition. This is the wrong way to do it, and not an effective way to write an ad. I do recommend the keyword in the title of the ad (for both the 'bolding' effects as well as Quality Score concerns) but after that, you have 70 little characters to connect with your customer. Continuing to repeat keywords is ineffective because it will not stand out - those keywords are already ALL OVER the page, both in other ads and in the SERPS. You need to use those 70 characters to really connect with your customer.

What's the best way to connect with your customer? Tap into their emotion (see above) or offer something amazing or more than what they were looking for.

Real World Example: Let's say a customer was searching for New York Car Insurance. Here's an example of ad copy that fails:

New York Car Insurance
Get New York Car Insurance.
Free Car Insurance Quote!
NewYork.CarInsuranceSite.com

Sure - Technically there is nothing wrong with the ad, but it's uncreative and looks like the rest of the competition. Let's have a look at some more creative ad copy:

New York Insurance Quote
Don't waste another minute of
your time shopping for insurance.
InsuranceSecrets.com/NewYork

This ad will perform better because it's a lot more intriguing and will stick out amongst the rest of the stale ads on the page.

Let's do another one:

Nutrisys Weight Loss System
2 Weeks Of Free Meals and
Free Shipping, Order Today!
DietSite.com/BoringNutrisystemAd

Boring. Let's get creative.

Nutrisys Weight Loss System
You're Fat. Lose Weight.
Stop being a loser.
StopBeingFat.com/Nutrisystem

Some other great tips are available here: 31 Killer Writing AdWords Ads Tips - It's a great read and there is really some valuable information there, check it out or bookmark it for future reading. It talks about a really comprehensive study that looked at CTR for competing ads.

Traffic Generation (Alternatives to PPC)

One (free) way to generate a lot of traffic to your site is to participate in communities with topics and subject matter similar to what you are promoting. Become and active member of that community through active (not spam) forum participation and blogging. DO NOT put shitty affiliate links in your signature. Put a link to your blog in your signature posts. Stay active in the community, keep your blog updated, and you will build a following both from your promotion on forums as well as organic search engine traffic you'll receive. You can then use your blog to creatively promote your offer.

Real World Example: Let's say you're promoting credit report offers. Join a popular forum such as CreditBoards.com and begin participating/posting. Become one of the community - you are either a.) an expert in credit repair or b.) going to document your own personal credit-repair efforts. Document your process on your blog, 'Joe Sixpack's Road To Credit Repair Success' or something like that. People will naturally fall in line and become regulars, subscribe to your RSS feeds, your newsletter, etc. How you market to them at this point is up to you - you could do simple banner or text ads, write about a 'service' that helped you and put your affiliate link there, etc.

Next Steps

It is NOT easy to make money online. It is NOT as simple as bidding on keywords and setting up a generic landing page. My advice to step away from the computer, go for a walk, think about the offers you're promoting or you want to promote, and really think outside of the box. My best ideas come to me while I'm in 'offline' mode - driving, playing with my kid, etc.

The strategies above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are always ways to outsmart and get one-up on the competition. The next big post will focus on building a sustainable business. Until then stay tuned...

bjgolf · 04-17-2008, 10:49 PM

nice last few posts! so why do you hate blogging?

aim · 04-17-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjgolf

nice last few posts! so why do you hate blogging?

A blog just doesn't really fit into the picture long-term for my business. Figured the posts would do more good here.

nickycakes · 04-17-2008, 11:30 PM

The ad writing tips are good. A great way to really boost your ctr is to look at the competition and make your ad different. If they're all trying to appeal to your desire to save money, like everyone telling you how much of a discount you get or whatever, then you appeal to them on an emotional level, and vice versa. If they all say "save 30%" or "5.99 free trial" you say "feel awesome" etc

nickycakes · 04-17-2008, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aim

A blog just doesn't really fit into the picture long-term for my business. Figured the posts would do more good here.

you're welcome to guest post on nickycakes.com anytime man

CorrectAD · 04-17-2008, 11:34 PM

really good post +rep

Rascagua · 04-17-2008, 11:41 PM

amazing post, packed with info, thanks aim... along with what Nicky Cakes said, yeah, anytime you want to post on my blog, feel free, you know what your doing

AMSteve · 04-17-2008, 11:58 PM

Excellent stuff, thanks for the read. You have made me decide that I need a new approach to my affiliate marketing strategy.

KSRothwell · 04-18-2008, 04:17 AM

I'm currently in a business class for folks interested in starting a small business. We are writing our business plans while learning about successful business techniques. It's been very fucking helpful in the pursuit of starting my business.

One fella that comes in and teaches has an MBA and has been a very successful business consultant for 20 years. One thing he says over and over and over is connect with your customers on an emotional level. He tells this story of how he was looking through a phonebook to find a funeral home, all of them that advertised in the phonebook had huge quarter and half page ads with a laundry list of services they provided, costs of services and names of people to contact and so on. The one he called though, was a little 2 inch by 3 inch ad that simply said, "In this time of bereavement, we understand you want the best for your loved one."

Apparently that little ad brought in 75% of their customers, and they were doing very good business.

Connecting emotionally with your customers is really, really key.

MyOwnDemon · 04-18-2008, 04:24 AM

Nice post, aim! +rep I'm looking forward to more.

Armakuni · 04-18-2008, 04:51 AM

Good advice. + rep.

kingfish · 04-18-2008, 05:32 AM

Great stuff as always aim thanks

emp · 04-18-2008, 09:15 AM

Definitely +rep.

Please keep up the series.

::emp::

Swifty · 04-18-2008, 09:21 AM

May not have agreed w/ everything that led up to this point, but this post is +rep material. Good stuff.

hunmik · 04-18-2008, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aim

My best ideas come to me while I'm in 'offline' mode - driving, playing with my kid, etc.

This is why I can't quit my 9-5 job. I come up with my best ideas on endless boring meetings.

Great post! Rep added!

DruSam · 04-18-2008, 12:46 PM

major props, keep writing! +rep

ImagesAndWords · 04-18-2008, 01:28 PM

Keep it up, aim.

+rep

aim · 04-19-2008, 12:47 AM

Thanks guys, I'm refining the next post, hopefully will be up by tomorrow.

Red_Virus · 04-19-2008, 03:08 AM

Awesome post AIM, I am looking forward to your next post.

rep+

JoeHa · 04-19-2008, 09:47 AM

Nice post. +rep

barman · 04-19-2008, 06:09 PM

What the fuck are you doin? Cookie stuffin?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeruston

Great post, very informative!http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53...0001&customid=

04-17-2008, 10:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
aim Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 1,115 iTrader: (1)	Thinking Like A Successful Affiliate: Part 1 Staying on track from my affiliate bitch posts, it's time to talk about real strategies to help guarantee success in this game. The key differences that makes successful internet marketers stand out from the crowd are their ability to: 1. Think Creatively 2. Think Outside of the box 3. Have a Sustainable Business Plan Enough bullshit, let's jump into it. In no particular order... Landing Pages The single best thing you can do when designing a landing page is to connect with your prospective customer on an emotional level. Human beings are emotional people, and emotions drive decisions. what I mean by this is: do not simply describe the product and give a price; Connect your customers with your product on an emotional level and let them know why they NEED your product. Real World Example: If you are promoting a weight loss product... let's say it's say it's nurisystem via search. People already know what nutrisystem is, and now they're at your landing page, so tap into why they were looking into this product in the first place. Chances are that they're fat and looking for an easy way to lose weight - Remind them a few times that they're overweight, don't be insulting, but get the message across that they're fat, they need to lose weight, and your product will do that for them. They NEED your product. The key here is that you're not over-describing the product. They already know what it is. They saw the commercial on tv, whatever the case is. Don't describe what they're getting - describe why they NEED what they're getting. Ad Copy The biggest mistake is probably the repetition of keywords in an effort to get more 'bold' and stand out against the competition. This is the wrong way to do it, and not an effective way to write an ad. I do recommend the keyword in the title of the ad (for both the 'bolding' effects as well as Quality Score concerns) but after that, you have 70 little characters to connect with your customer. Continuing to repeat keywords is ineffective because it will not stand out - those keywords are already ALL OVER the page, both in other ads and in the SERPS. You need to use those 70 characters to really connect with your customer. What's the best way to connect with your customer? Tap into their emotion (see above) or offer something amazing or more than what they were looking for. Real World Example: Let's say a customer was searching for New York Car Insurance. Here's an example of ad copy that fails: New York Car Insurance Get New York Car Insurance. Free Car Insurance Quote! NewYork.CarInsuranceSite.com Sure - Technically there is nothing wrong with the ad, but it's uncreative and looks like the rest of the competition. Let's have a look at some more creative ad copy: New York Insurance Quote Don't waste another minute of your time shopping for insurance. InsuranceSecrets.com/NewYork This ad will perform better because it's a lot more intriguing and will stick out amongst the rest of the stale ads on the page. Let's do another one: Nutrisys Weight Loss System 2 Weeks Of Free Meals and Free Shipping, Order Today! DietSite.com/BoringNutrisystemAd Boring. Let's get creative. Nutrisys Weight Loss System You're Fat. Lose Weight. Stop being a loser. StopBeingFat.com/Nutrisystem Some other great tips are available here: 31 Killer Writing AdWords Ads Tips - It's a great read and there is really some valuable information there, check it out or bookmark it for future reading. It talks about a really comprehensive study that looked at CTR for competing ads. Traffic Generation (Alternatives to PPC) One (free) way to generate a lot of traffic to your site is to participate in communities with topics and subject matter similar to what you are promoting. Become and active member of that community through active (not spam) forum participation and blogging. DO NOT put shitty affiliate links in your signature. Put a link to your blog in your signature posts. Stay active in the community, keep your blog updated, and you will build a following both from your promotion on forums as well as organic search engine traffic you'll receive. You can then use your blog to creatively promote your offer. Real World Example: Let's say you're promoting credit report offers. Join a popular forum such as CreditBoards.com and begin participating/posting. Become one of the community - you are either a.) an expert in credit repair or b.) going to document your own personal credit-repair efforts. Document your process on your blog, 'Joe Sixpack's Road To Credit Repair Success' or something like that. People will naturally fall in line and become regulars, subscribe to your RSS feeds, your newsletter, etc. How you market to them at this point is up to you - you could do simple banner or text ads, write about a 'service' that helped you and put your affiliate link there, etc. Next Steps It is NOT easy to make money online. It is NOT as simple as bidding on keywords and setting up a generic landing page. My advice to step away from the computer, go for a walk, think about the offers you're promoting or you want to promote, and really think outside of the box. My best ideas come to me while I'm in 'offline' mode - driving, playing with my kid, etc. The strategies above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are always ways to outsmart and get one-up on the competition. The next big post will focus on building a sustainable business. Until then stay tuned...

04-17-2008, 11:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
nickycakes Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Beantown, MA Posts: 1,366 iTrader: (1)	The ad writing tips are good. A great way to really boost your ctr is to look at the competition and make your ad different. If they're all trying to appeal to your desire to save money, like everyone telling you how much of a discount you get or whatever, then you appeal to them on an emotional level, and vice versa. If they all say "save 30%" or "5.99 free trial" you say "feel awesome" etc __________________ Nickycakes.com: Reformed Blackhat Nickycakes' Newbie Guide #cakes irc.freenode.net

04-17-2008, 11:34 PM	#6 (permalink)
CorrectAD Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 537 iTrader: (3)	really good post +rep __________________ <<<< Hey look! Smaxor started a network.

04-17-2008, 11:41 PM	#7 (permalink)
Rascagua Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 204 iTrader: (0)	amazing post, packed with info, thanks aim... along with what Nicky Cakes said, yeah, anytime you want to post on my blog, feel free, you know what your doing __________________ WebDevKing's Most Recent Posts: Image Exploits and How You Can Benefit. Free Script Saturday: Content Transformer Script Spamming Guestbooks Gives You Ranks

04-18-2008, 04:17 AM	#9 (permalink)
KSRothwell The Adonis Thaumaturge Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Chattanooga, TN Posts: 579 iTrader: (2)	I'm currently in a business class for folks interested in starting a small business. We are writing our business plans while learning about successful business techniques. It's been very fucking helpful in the pursuit of starting my business. One fella that comes in and teaches has an MBA and has been a very successful business consultant for 20 years. One thing he says over and over and over is connect with your customers on an emotional level. He tells this story of how he was looking through a phonebook to find a funeral home, all of them that advertised in the phonebook had huge quarter and half page ads with a laundry list of services they provided, costs of services and names of people to contact and so on. The one he called though, was a little 2 inch by 3 inch ad that simply said, "In this time of bereavement, we understand you want the best for your loved one." Apparently that little ad brought in 75% of their customers, and they were doing very good business. Connecting emotionally with your customers is really, really key. __________________ The dot of an i is called a tittle.

04-17-2008, 10:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
bjgolf I love blowjobs. Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Ohio Posts: 91 iTrader: (1)	nice last few posts! so why do you hate blogging?

04-17-2008, 11:58 PM	#8 (permalink)
AMSteve Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 16 iTrader: (0)	Excellent stuff, thanks for the read. You have made me decide that I need a new approach to my affiliate marketing strategy.

04-18-2008, 04:24 AM	#10 (permalink)
MyOwnDemon Face Rocker Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,945 iTrader: (53)	Nice post, aim! +rep I'm looking forward to more. __________________ I design custom landing pages - $65 each. 900+ LPs designed for WickedFire members. PM me for more details... or check this thread.

04-18-2008, 04:51 AM	#11 (permalink)
Armakuni The Last Ninja Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 52 iTrader: (0)	Good advice. + rep.

04-18-2008, 05:32 AM	#12 (permalink)
kingfish Champion of Awesome Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 616 iTrader: (0)	Great stuff as always aim thanks __________________ Want to know where the money is? \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

04-18-2008, 09:15 AM	#13 (permalink)
emp Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,494 iTrader: (6)	Definitely +rep. Please keep up the series. ::emp:: __________________ My blog -Blind Ape Seo ¦ My WickedFire articles TopContentData.com Get Free and Premium Content Databases for your Empire!

04-18-2008, 09:21 AM	#14 (permalink)
Swifty Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 284 iTrader: (4)	May not have agreed w/ everything that led up to this point, but this post is +rep material. Good stuff.

04-18-2008, 12:46 PM	#16 (permalink)
DruSam Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 2,744 iTrader: (0)	major props, keep writing! +rep __________________ Create Gmail accounts quickly with The Mailbot. Enable forwarding and POP automatically. Proxy support.

04-18-2008, 01:28 PM	#17 (permalink)
ImagesAndWords Gonna be riotch, biotch.. Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Nørwåy Posts: 1,205 iTrader: (0)	Keep it up, aim. +rep __________________

04-19-2008, 12:47 AM	#18 (permalink)
aim Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 1,115 iTrader: (1)	Thanks guys, I'm refining the next post, hopefully will be up by tomorrow.

04-19-2008, 03:08 AM	#19 (permalink)
Red_Virus SEO Services Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 915 iTrader: (161)	Awesome post AIM, I am looking forward to your next post. rep+ __________________ Build some quality backlinks with my 100 Dofollow Social Bookmarking Service over 300+ reviews posted (try it out today) $25 only