AFFILIATE WEBSITE

Building A Profitable Affiliate WebsiteBuilding a profitable affiliate website requires the understanding of basic website and marketing principles (If you don’t know how to build a website that will be covered here). First of all you need to build a website that sells. It is vital to create a website that is focused on your niche product and not filled with endless amounts of information. This is just one tip to help you create a lucrative website.

Whether you are just stepping into the world of earning money on the Internet or a seasoned professional, you will want to read this section to ensure that you are maximizing your websites profit.

Following are six tasks you must complete correctly in order to craft a profitable affiliate website:

Task #1: What is your niche market?You need to identify your potential customers and clients. It is critical to find your niche and market it to its full extent. Focusing on your niche market will reel in more customers because you aren’t barraging them with extra information that they don’t need.

Shy away from websites that cover a wide range of topics. You want to establish yourself as a leader in a niche market that is under served online. You should find a suitable niche market that currently has less then one million websites on the Internet. This drop in competition will help you grab more of the customers that search for your keywords and phrases regarding your product or business. Plus, you have a better chance of a higher search engine ranking.

Task #2: Create a website of substance.A website is not merely a reserved parking spot on the Internet, but a means of communicating the services and products you have to offer. Potential customers are interested in your niche area and will also crave informational articles about your product or service. Therefore, you need to provide web article content.

It is comforting to a customer to see that you have invested time in supplying them “free” information through these articles. Plus, you will improve your free search engine ranking by incorporating niche keywords and phrases into your website content.

Where can you find articles to post on your website and how much do they cost? The good news is that you can find FREE articles on the Internet through a wide variety of sources. The vast supply of free articles will keep your website filled with pertinent information on a daily or weekly basis.

Following are a list of websites where you can access a plethora of free website articles:
Task #3: Seek out the cream of the crop affiliate programs.Affiliate programs can definitely build your bank account. That is, if you join the BEST affiliate programs. Don’t just join affiliate programs on a whim, though, join the ones that will make you money.

Confused about which affiliate programs to become part of? You’re in luck because here is a list of the affiliates you should join.

Top Affiliate Program Resources:

Following is a list of affiliate programs that you should join:

Clickbank – Clickbank focuses on digital items that can be downloaded.
LinkShare – This affiliate website is worthy as it is used by several highly profitable, recognizable companies. 
Commission Junction – This affiliate is the leader in selling products such as clothing and computers.

Second Choice Affiliate Programs:

While not the best of the best, these affiliate programs are still worth considering. They include:

ClickxChange – This affiliate program is comprised of several small advertisers.
WebSponsors – This affiliate runs a lot of email offers with “free” extras.
Performics – This affiliate provides quality brick & mortar based business opportunities.
ClixGalore – This affiliate offers a multi-leveled network that has a respectable amount of diversity.

Peruse these affiliate program resources to find affiliate programs to invest your time and energy into. You can speed up this process by checking the Earnings-per-Click” (EPC) for each program and select the program that has the highest EPC rating. Each affiliate program resource website might state their EPC with another term. Clickbank, for example, calls their EPC, “Gravity”.


Task #4: Offer Incentives for CustomersCustomers will flock to what they perceive as a great deal. A rebate off the regular price is a great way to do that. Many times popular products have earned name recognition. Customers often type the product’s name into search engines in order to find your affiliate product.

When they do find your affiliate website, you can hook them with a rebate. Let’s say that you earn a 60% commission on a popular Clickbank product. You could feasibly offer this product to customers at a 25% discount off of the regular price. A customer will jump at the chance to receive a discount.

Don’t give the discount immediately however. Offer a 25% rebate instead. Why? Offering the 25% discount up front will guarantee that you sell them the product for a lower price, but a rebate of 25% on the other hand is not often utilized. For one reason or another people do not often follow up on the rebate. Only about 15-20% of customers remember to send in the rebate. This is to your advantage.

As example, let’s say the product costs $100. Your commission is 60% so you will earn $60. You can offer a rebate of 25% that amounts to $25 off. Therefore, if the customer takes you up on the rebate offer then you will make $35. However, like I said, most customers do not follow through with the rebate so you earn $60 even though you initially hooked them with the 25% rebate.

How should you offer the rebate? Explain that if the customer orders directly from your website link that the rebate is valid. Request that they send in a receipt regarding their purchase. State that the rebate is valid 60 days after purchase. You'll want to make sure to wait until 60 days have passed to make sure they haven't already requested a refund from Clickbank. It is very easy to pay a rebate through Paypal or by old-fashioned check.

If you are risk taker you can increase the rebate amount. It is up to your level of risk aversion and experience.

It is true that anyone could purchase a Clickbank program through their own affiliate link and have massive savings up to 75%. But guess what? Most people don’t realize they can save money doing this. So point them to your affiliate link instead.

The major benefit of offering a rebate is that it distinguishes your affiliate from other competing affiliates. There maybe several other affiliates selling the same product, but you are selling the product at a discount price (with the rebate).

Task #5: Cash in on lead generation.Sales may be the number one thing on your mind as an affiliate. But don’t forget about generating leads. Why? Generating leads will put more money in your pocket, plain and simple.

How do you generate a lead? Leads can be generated by first offering free information for a product or service. Next you follow up with a contact information capture form that forces the customer to fill out lead forms in order to access the free information.

Let’s say, for example, that you wanted to create sales leads for a health product. You can attract customers with the option of viewing free information and research regarding the health product. However, before they can view the free information they must first fill out a no obligation form regarding the health product. This is known as a “forced lead”.

This lead from your affiliate page is a benefit for the health product company. You should be compensated for your lead. Many companies do not want to spend money on forced leads. However, you can work with them to explain that you are giving free related information. They may then approve your lead generation and compensate you for your effort.

Offering free information is beneficial to everyone. You will benefit from the lead generation fee. Your customer will benefit from learning more about the product or service for free. The company that owns the product or service will have a lead to follow up on for an actual sale of their product.

What companies have established pay-per-lead networks? Following are five companies to get you started:

Task #6: Build your affiliate website.Building a website has never been easier. There are many programs on the market that allow you to create a dynamic website quickly and relatively cheaply. Many website building programs are geared for the non-technical person meaning you don’t necessarily have to know how to program in HTML to create a robust website.

Check out these website building programs to help you create the website:

Site Sell.com – Let Site Sell.com do the work of building an affiliate website for you. They will customize it to your niche market. Programming experience is not required and this program is around $300.

Plug in Profits – Set up your affiliate website with tutorials and extensive customer support. Create a website that fits your niche market.

XsitePro – This is an awesome website building program. It has all the bells and whistles including creating and a website to sell your own products, affiliate products, or a website traffic tool. Another great benefit is that no programming experience is required. You can get this program for around $200 and it well worth it.

Perhaps you don’t have the time, energy or the know-how to build your website. Seeking out qualified website designers and programmers will ensure that your website is top notch.

You can outsource this task to a website programmer on Elance or a ScriptLance. Both of these sites allow you to create a project in which skilled professionals from around the globe will place bids for building your website. A major benefit of these resources is that you can benefit from their professional experience at an inexpensive price. It's not uncommon to have a complete website built for only 100 - 300 U.S. Dollars.

Seal of approval… Don’t forget that you want to convey that you have a legitimate business through your website. A great way to accomplish this is by applying for seals of approval companies like the Better Business Bureau. Your customer will feel much more confident about your business and services if you have been prescreened by the Better Business Bureau which will lead to more sales.

The Better Business Bureau is not the only resource to seek approval from. You can garner seals of approval and awards from the following websites:

Task #7: Creating a site that SELLS!I personally think the easiest way to get your first profitable website is to start with a “Review” website on Clickbank products. Build your website simply and quickly. Write reviews about other Clickbank products. The beauty of a review website is that you don’t have to worry about customer complaints. The product merchant is responsible for the effectiveness of the product, not you. You are merely providing a review.

Creating your website is at the heart of starting your online business and the next step is to write a slam dunk sales letter. Sales letters play a key role in your financial success. The sales letter must be gripping, interesting, and communicate the necessary information to your customer.

You’ve most likely read sales letters for products or services in the past. Some sales letters you came across were horrible, while others prompted you to buy right on the spot. So how do you write an effective sales letter?

A sales letter must include following components to convert a lead to a sale:

  • Display Optimism
  • Exhibit Neutrality
  • Demonstrate Expertise
  • Stress Immediacy
  • Scare Them a Bit
  • Reverse Psychology
Display Optimism:We live in a culture of the desire for quick results with little or no effort. This mentality hooks customers in by the thousands. Think of all the weight loss advertisements in which customers claim they tried “every” diet plan out there and found out that this specific program was the best for them. The keyword is “every” diet plan. Customers will stop at nothing to try any diet program or product on the market until they can fix their problem.

This is good news because they are willing to try your program, product, or service in their journey to success. Display optimism by communicating that there is still hope for their situation. Explain that your product is “the” product they have been looking for and it is a step above the rest. The customer wants to hear that all their problems will be solved by using your product.

By displaying optimism you are latching onto your customer’s emotional heart strings. They may feel depressed and desperate and your product could save them from their misery. This quick fix is what they are looking for.

In the diet program example many customers buy a diet program, stick to it for a short time and then fall off the bandwagon. They may determine that the program is too hard to stick to, not effective, or they are just plain sick of it. This applies to several different eBooks as well.

YOu can offer your money back guarantee because you will often find customers that buy an eBook thinking it will solve all their problems and they don’t even end up reading it after they purchase it. They are not likely to not require a refund if they skip reading the ebook altogether. It is a form of procrastination that is good for your bottom line.

Exhibit Neutrality:An effective sales letters promotes your product without pushing it down a customer’s throat. The customer doesn’t want to read only your review of the product because it’s your product and you will appear biased. They want a “second opinion” from a neutral source.

You can appear neutral by stating typical customer situations and how your product would help them. You can also offer different levels of product commitment so that the customer feels like they have a choice based on their own situation and are not automatically pointed to the most expensive product or service option.

By appearing neutral, your customer will feel like you are looking out for their best interests and rather than just your own financial gains. Appear as if you are giving them an unbiased opinion even when you are earning commission on the sale. Just include your affiliate link at the bottom of the review. You can cover your affiliate link using something called a "mouseover" so they don’t even know you're getting a commission.

Demonstrate Expertise:While appearing neutral is beneficial, you must demonstrate your expertise regarding your product or service. You don’t buy computer services from a worker at a fast food restaurant so why would your customers buy from you if they don’t know your level of expertise? They want to know that you are an authority on the subject and that they are investing their money with a reliable, intelligent business.

Communicate the amount of money you have earned in your area of expertise. If you had to choose between buying an eBook from an online marketer that earned $10,000 versus $1,000,000, which one would you choose? The $1,000,000 online marketer of course! So would a customer. This “authority” has demonstrated that they have achieved real financial success in the area they are writing about.

Stress Immediacy:If you have ever been a car salesman you know the importance of selling a car to a customer before they step off your lot to “think about it”. If the customer leaves the car lot then the chances of a sale decrease dramatically. This applies to your website as well.

It is important to stress immediacy of the situation so your customer will act quickly and follow through with a sale. Offer “special” promotions and discounts that encourage the customer to act quickly or they will miss out on the opportunity. Following are time sensitive promotions you can offer to entice customers:

  • Have a time limit for a promotion. For example, explain in your sales letter that the customer must act by Friday evening to receive 20% off the product price.
  • Explain that the promotion is offered only “while supplies last”. This will tempt them to order quickly before you run out.
  • List how many items are left in inventory. Show that there are 100 products left available through your website. Lower the number throughout the day to prompt customers to act quickly.
  • Display the number of sales. You can show the number of product sales on your website to promote the success of your product. Customers will see that other clients are purchasing your product in droves, so it must be a good product! Home shopping networks utilizing this method for just about every product they promote.
Scare Them a Bit:I don't mean scare them literally, just invoke some doubt and question into their minds. Your customers may not be aware of the implications of NOT using your product. You need to demonstrate to them that if they may suffer dire consequences if they don’t purchase your product. This may sound extreme, but it ingrains a sense of unease in your customer. Your customer will see that purchasing your product is the only way to solve their frightening situation.

How do you create this unease and necessity to buy your product in your customers’ mentality? You can write about frauds and scams that have occurred regarding your type of niche product or service. Be general and don’t point to any specific companies. You are acknowledging that there are less than honest companies out there, but you are not one of them. You are one of the few that is honest and provides a quality product.

For example, many Internet users have heard through the news that get rich quick programs are a scam. Highlight this to your customer and then point the specific steps that your company takes to provide an honest, legitimate, quality product or service.

Also explain that you spent time researching copious amounts of online businesses and resources before you picked the products that you are promoting. Communicate to your customers that you did the legwork for them. You tried the products and/or spoke with the creators of the products and maybe their customers as well. Your resources are based on reading, word of mouth, and personal experience. This will prompt the customer to feel that they can trust your expertise, research, and product quality review skills.

Reverse Psychology:Reverse psychology has been used for years, especially when it comes to children. Remember when you were a child and your parents told you to clean your room? You probably whined and said “no”. Your parents may have responded by saying, “Well, I guess you aren’t a “big” kid.” (Remember we all wanted to be considered a “big” kid when were still little?) Suddenly you found yourself cleaning your room to prove that you were in fact a “big” kid.

You can use this same reverse psychology on your customers. You can actually tell them NOT to purchase your product. A customer is usually taken aback by this information. Explain that you wouldn’t feel comfortable selling your product to them until after they have tried the products of your competition. Make sure to add in that you expect that after trying the products of your competition that they will be back to purchase your product because your product is just plain better!

This type of reverse psychology makes the customer believe that they have choices and aren’t being forced to buy your product. The customer will feel that you are looking out for their best interests rather than just focusing on a sale. This personalization will often lead to a sale. It is amazing!

Sample Sales Letter:You are in Danger of losing your Savings if you don’t Read this!
Find out about the frightening facts regarding most “Work from Home” Opportunities and which opportunities are legitimate.

July 10 2006 
From the desk of Mark Taylor,

The internet is filled with “Work from Home” opportunities. Your local newspaper is plastered with advertisements for home business opportunities. You turn on your radio to hear another testimonial of how a person who was in debt became a multimillionaire overnight.

The notion of working from home seeps into your mindset. You have resisted starting your own home business for a variety of reasons, but you can no longer resist the incentive of easy money, especially when your corporate boss has you working on another mindless report, you think “Hey! I HAVE to find happiness through a work from home business! Where do I sign up?”

The good news is that a home based business can be very lucrative. You can set your own hours which gives you the flexibility to spend time with your children. Plus, the profits are virtually limitless as long as you put forth the effort in a well informed manner. Jumping into a home based business can be the best life choice you have ever made.

Home based businesses come in a variety of forms from stock investing to Internet marketing. You could create an online home based business built around what you are passionate about. This is where you need to be careful – while you are passionate about your business you need to be level headed about the way you go about starting your business. Why? The sad truth is that 99% of the “Work from Home” opportunities you see on the on the internet, TV, newspaper, and hear on the radio are scams. Scams with a capital “S”!

We are ingrained to expect people to be honest and have our best interests at heart. This couldn’t be farther from the truth for most of these programs. The fraudulent businesses prey upon our emotions and drain our bank account. I know people that have lost their precious savings because of poor judgment. Don’t let this happen to you!

When I started a work from home business I decided that I was going to investigate several different programs and companies to root out the legitimate businesses (yes, there definitely are some legitimate businesses!) from the dishonest businesses. My findings shocked me, but I did find a solution. The solution has made me thousands of dollars in profits.

My investigation included being a “Work from Home” program gumshoe. I made contact with “Work from Home” businesses through their websites. I scoured the Internet to find as many “Work from Home” businesses as possible. I pretended that I was interested in becoming part of their program. This didn’t catch their attention right away so I tried a more extreme tactic. I explained that I was interested in actually buying their business entirely. Wow! Did that bring a reaction! Suddenly they were interested in talking to me and allowed me to review their website inside and out. (You could never get access like this just by joining their site.) This allowed me to investigate whether the opportunity was legitimate or just bogus fluff.

I was dismayed at the number of programs that had poor business models, old information, and broken links on their website, a pathetic help section, and no sign of customer support. If I had paid for this program I would have been devastated to find this lack of resources and definitely wouldn’t be able to rake in the big money like they claimed. Guess what percentage of the businesses I investigated was similar to this business? 99%! Yes, 99%.

The owners of these businesses didn’t care that their programs were lacking because they already had your money. They had taken advantage of you.

Not all “Work from Home” businesses are a scam. Remember that 1%? Well, I’ve done the investigative work for you to find the BEST home based business opportunities. These businesses are not only legitimate, but WILL be profitable for you. I found these websites by contacting many happy clients that will attest to the benefits of this program. These testimonials were not coerced, nor were the happy clients compensated for their time. They truly believe in the program they have chosen.

There are two “Work from Home” businesses I recommend which include:

  • LegitOnlineJobs
  • (Enter your Second Home based business Here)
You will be charged a minimal fee to get started in these programs, but it is well worth it. Plus, extensive support is available to get your business up and running. You need to act as soon as possible because I have heard from reliable sources that these two businesses are becoming popular. Other people have discovered the profitability of these companies and want a piece of the pie. Therefore, you need to act quickly to secure your spot because the open spaces are limited.

I hope that I have helped set you on the right course to a profitable home based business. I did all the detective work for you so you don’t have to waste time and your hard earned cash dealing with dishonest programs. Take advantage of the two programs I have mentioned and start your Successful Home Business Today!

Wishing you a profitable year!

Signed,

Mark Taylor
Business Detective

Here are the two links you need for the recommended programs (remember to embed your affiliate code in the links).
www.legitonlinejobs.com 
www.your-second-affiliate-link.com

Analyzing this sales letter…
  • Display Optimism – Explained that there are profitable legitimate businesses out there. (The 1%.)
  • Exhibit Neutrality – Explained that the investigation included testimonials from happy clients who were not coerced nor compensated for their positive testimonials.
  • Demonstrate Expertise – Explained that the solution has yielded him thousands of dollars in profits.
  • Stress Immediacy – Explained that you have to act now because space is limited in these programs.
  • Scare Them a Bit – Explained that they are in danger of losing their savings if they don't read this.
The money is out there folks, ready to be to yours. What are you waiting for? Start building your effective affiliate website today and craft a supreme sales letter. This is only the tip of the iceberg as you read on in the next sections about optimizing your website while maximizing your profits.