Making money as an affiliate isn’t all about marketing. It’s also about choosing
profitable products. Here’s how…
Tip #1: Choose products with proven track records. If you’re choosing products
on Clickbank.com, then choose those at the top of their categories (i.e., the best-sellers) and those with high gravity numbers (between about 75 and 150). In
addition, ask the vendor about his conversion and refund rates.
Tip #2: Do NOT choose products based on price alone. Big price plus big
commission percentages equals big profits, right?
NOT always.
Sometimes you can use low-price products to bring new customers into your sales
funnel. So throw a few $5 to $50 products into the mix – you might be surprised at
the stunning conversion rate and the new customers!
Tip #3: Select evergreen products. If you’re sending out live broadcasts to your
list, you can sell any kind of affiliate product you want. But if you’re selling using long-term strategies like blogging and article marketing, then consider choosing
“evergreen” products.
These are products that were relevant last year, this year, and well into the
foreseeable future. And that means you can make money on these products years
after you submitted that article to the article directories.
Example: An book that teaches marketers how to write good sales
letters are evergreen since these basic copywriting “rules” have
been in place for as long as humans have advertised. On the other
hand, a book about how to optimize web pages for Google is NOT
evergreen, since search engine algorithms change frequently.
4. Look for sales page leaks. Sometimes vendors think about their own profits and
forget that their strategy hurts their affiliates. For example, a Home - ClickBank vendor
who puts 2Checkout: Online Payment Processing | Modern Commerce. Simplified. payment buttons or encouraging customers to call in their
orders is stealing commissions from affiliates.
You can avoid this simply by looking over the sales page (and sales process) before
becoming an affiliate. Here are the most common sales page leaks:
Different payment options that don’t give the affiliate credit.
Upsell options that, when chosen, override the affiliate’s cookie
(and the affiliate loses the commission).
Google AdSense ads on the sales page.
Links to other products on the sales page.
Prospects get put onto a mailing list that redirects them to a
a sales page that doesn’t give the affiliate credit.
Tip #5: Watch out for shady vendors. Usually, the sales page leaks mentioned in
the last tip are mistakes made by honest vendors. When you point out the mistake,
they’ll quickly correct it.
However, there are some dishonest vendors who purposely use alternative payment
commissions, faulty tracking software, and other tricks to rob you of your commission.
Indeed, some vendors even do things like falsify refunds so your affiliate account
doesn’t show that you’re owed any money.
To protect yourself against these sorts of vendors, always deal with known, reputable
people in your niche. And if you consider working with someone new, then search for
his name, email addresses, websites, and product names in Google to ensure he has a
long, good history online. If you see a pattern of customer OR affiliate complaints,
then move on and find another vendor.
Tip #6: Use reputable affiliate tracking systems. Sometimes vendors install their
own affiliate tracking scripts on their site.
If you’re 100% confident that the vendor is honest – and if others who’ve used the
script report good results – then you may consider joining these affiliate programs.
Otherwise, stick with reputable affiliate programs where you know your sales will get
tracked and you’ll get paid, such as Amazon.com and Clickbank.com
Tip #7: Look for products with high commissions. Commission rates vary
depending on what you’re selling.
Example: Selling physical products (like computers) may put as
little as a 5% commission rate into your pocket. But if you’re
selling digital products, then you can usually expect at least a
40% commission rate, with 50% being the average. However, sometimes
you’ll even approach 100% commission rates on downloadable
products.
If you find a digital product offering 25% commissions – and the product doesn’t
require personal service on behalf of the vendor (such as software installations or
personal coaching) – then skip it. You can probably find similar products that pay at
least a 50% commission.
Tip #8: Look for a hungry niche FIRST… and then look for a product to
promote. Some beginning affiliate marketers stumble on a product and are taken in
by the promises of a high commission rate and potential big profits. But when they
actually put the product on the market, they find that there’s very little demand for a
“how-to” instructional video for pygmy goat farmers.
Instead, what you need to do is find a hungry niche first, find out what they’re
ALREADY buying, and then selling something similar. If you’re selling information
products, the easiest way to do this is to go to Home - ClickBank and seek out the best
sellers (those at the top of their categories that have a high gravity).
Tip #9: Promote only those products that you’d use yourself. Or, if you’re not a part of the niche market, then only promote those products that you’d recommend to your mother or your best friend.
Point is, don’t let the excitement of big commissions and a high conversion rate cloud your vision. Your primary objective is to help your customers. If you’re selling
products that fill your pockets with money but don’t solve your customers’ problems, you’re sacrificing long-term profits for short-term gains.
As such, put your primary focus on helping your customers by recommending good products. Doing so will earn their trust, which means they’ll be more likely to buy
from you in the future. It’s a win-win situation.
Tip #10: Join the JV and pre-launch lists in your niche. If you’re a known
“super affiliate” in your niche, then vendors who’re about to launch new products will send you these products for free in hopes that you’ll promote them. And because you’ll be one of the first affiliates to promote these products, you can generally make a lot of money on launch day.
But what happens if you’re not a super affiliate? How do you get notified about product launches? Simple:
Join joint venture (JV) notification lists in your niche.
Example: If you’re selling online marketing products, then join www.jvnotifypro.com. If you’re not in that niche, then search in Google for your broad niche keywords alongside search terms like “JV opportunities,” “affiliate opportunities” and “pre-launch.”
- Subscribe to all the big marketers’ newsletters in your niche. If there aren’t any JV notification sites or lists in your niche, then subscribe to the newsletters of all the big marketers. Generally, the biggest marketers will have advanced notification of product launches, and/or they’ll pre-notify their prospects about their own product launches. You can then write to the product owners to ask if you can join the pre-launch affiliate program.
Extra Tip: If there isn’t a JV notification list in your niche, you can consider starting one!
Read all the 101 affiliate marketing tips here>
