Affiliate Network – Set Your Visitors Up For The Sale
When it comes to affiliate marketing, one of the key components to making it work is the affiliate network. The affiliate network is a website where affiliates find advertiser products to promote, and earn a commission upon each sale. As you may or may not have noticed, the Internet is filled with affiliate created websites designed with the purpose of selling products of advertisers. The problem with most of these websites, is that they focus on the sale, and ignore the pre-sale. In the article, you are not only going to learn why the job of the affiliate is pre-selling its visitors, but also how to pre-sell your visitors.
What I want you to understand and take with you first and foremost, is that it is not the job of the affiliate to try and directly convert a sale with the content of their website. In fact, I strongly advise against doing so. The reason being that consumers are astute. As such, they can recognize a sales pitch a mile away. As soon as they hear a sales pitch coming their way, they keep reminding themselves not to be taken in by all of the bells and whistles. In other words, they become defensive. Thus, any affiliate who makes sales the primary focus of their website will have difficulties getting their visitors to click through to the advertiser’s website.
Therefore, you need to ask yourself what a visitor is most likely looking for when they arrive at your website. You can determine the answer by looking at the nature of the Internet. The Internet is essentially a massive, living encyclopedia. Thus, when someone goes onto the Internet, they are most likely looking for information which will aid them with a want or need.
Hence, if you were someone simply looking for information, would you appreciate being bombarded with a sales pitch? Of course not. Therefore, rather than present the items that you want to sell to your visitors, you must present them with the information that have been seeking. Doing so will not only gain the attention of your visitor, it will also gain their trust. When someone sees that you know what you are talking about, and are answering their questions by bestowing your great knowledge upon them, they will trust your recommendations. Of course, your recommendations are the products which you are selling. Therefore, with knowledge in hand, your visitors are highly likely to click through to the advertiser’s website, through your affiliate link.
This is the beauty of the pre-sell. It is this pre-selling which puts your visitor in a positive frame of mind, leading to a sale. If you turn your visitor off in the beginning with an obvious sales pitch, it is almost impossible to overcome that, and you have lost a potential customer.
There are two important things to remember to effectively pre-sell your visitors:
1. Your website must cover the subject matter of the advertiser products or services which you promote.
For instance, if you are promoting a myriad of gaming download advertiser products, your website must center on game consoles, accessory reviews, and anything else associated with gaming such as news, cheat codes, walkthroughs, strategy guides, etc. It is really up to you at this point. You just have to ensure that you cover topics which are in demand with your niche market.
2. See things through the eyes of the visitor.
Here is where you are going to have to be honest with yourself. If necessary, get an impartial opinion from an outside party. Do not tell them that it is your website. Here is where you are trying to determine the usability of your website. Whether it is difficult to navigate. Making sure that all of the links go to a live section of the site. Determining if the website targets the appropriate market. Ensuring that the user will receive useful and suitable content. If you find that your website passes all tests, then it is ready to recommend advertisers its visitors. Keep in mind that after providing the visitor with the information which they were seeking, they will trust your recommendation.
Hopefully you can see why this method works so well. Essentially, it comes down to the two step process. The first step is where you, the affiliate, are of the utmost importance. Your website is the one which gives the visitor the information which they have been searching for on the Internet. Having received this information from you proves to the visitor that you are well versed on the subject matter. This garners trust in the visitor. As a trusted resource, the visitor is receptive to your product or service recommendation, and will visit the website which you recommend. Of course, the website which you recommend is one for which you are an affiliate. Since the visitor’s mental state is one which is not that of a guarded buyer, they are receptive to the advertiser’s sales pitch.
You must always realize and recognize that the job of your website is not to sell, it is to provide information. As we have discussed, such measures are known as the pre-sell. The advertiser’s role in the affiliate network is to construct their website to close the sale.
Becoming a member of an Affiliate Network is a great start. The next step is to pre-sell your Affiliate Programs to generate interest from buyers. Visit us at SOSComplete.com.
