The simplicity of representing a ready made marketing concept is truly enjoyable. All the hard work has been done in advance by the company. Your job is simply to market the product or service.

Please note that while this article is not intended to offend anyone, it is going to be direct and to the point. The candy coating has been removed.

It always amazes me when I look at the stats of People who join Affiliate Programs. Over 90% of them do absolutely nothing. They don't even so much as click onto their own affiliate page. Some of this may be due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of the process. Some have the impression that simply signing up will make them a success. But, the biggest reason, in my opinion, is that they just lose interest. They only have as much interest as it takes to get signed up and hope that the company or their upline will make them rich. They decide to "give it a try" and see what happens.

Basically, what it boils down to is that the new affiliate marketer must believe in the program AND IN THEMSELVES enough to take some serious action. Now if you are the type of person who is very intent on building a big affiliate income, keep reading. If you are only casually interested in Affiliate success, this article is not for you.

Promote Products and Services that YOU Believe In

First of all you must find a program that gets you excited. Yes, even with the anonymity that the Internet offers, your enthusiasm will be reflected loudly in your written words. Remember this; most people will make their purchase because of a testimonial or personal recommendation. Simply pasting pre written company materials is not going to yield the number of sign ups and sales that you want. You are going to have to communicate directly to the heart of your prospects. In order to do this effectively, you must exude enthusiasm and confidence.

Use Personal Endorsements

Personal endorsements and testimonials are going to provide far more credibility than banner ads and pretty pictures ever will. You must have them. Write your own. Ask your customers for feedback. Ask your upline for their testimonial. Ask your downline. Get as many legitimate words of praise for the program that you are promoting as possible.

Have you ever seen the ads that read; "I lost xx pounds - ask me how"? They are everywhere; in newspapers, on buttons that people wear, laundromat bulletin boards, bumper stickers, etc.. As distasteful as they may be, they are a testament to the power of personal testimonials.

Utilize the Full Value of Ezines

The most effective way to reach your prospects is through ezines. I won't go into all the reasons why you should have your own, there are already many fine articles on that subject. Let's just say that if you don't publish your own ezine, then you will have to pay someone else who does to present your marketing message. Even if you do have your own ezine it is very wise to buy or barter advertising space in other Internet newsletters to increase your exposure.

There are several ways present your message in ezines. The most common, but least effective, is through the use of classified ads. They do work, and are cheap to buy, but you will see far better results with a higher profile ad. Placing your message at or near the top of the publication gives it a much better chance of being seen. These "Sponsor Ads" or "Featured Ads" not only stand out from the rest of the ads, but they carry more credibility too. Also, many publishers will allow you to include more copy in the higher paying ads.

In your own ezine you can take your liberties and write full articles that discuss the merits of your affiliate program. This can be a very effective method, but you need to remember to write it with the readers interests in mind. Nothing turns people off faster than blatant self serving commercials. Always use the WIIFM principle. The reader needs to know, "What's In It For Me".

The Best Method

The absolute best way that I have found to promote any product or service on the Internet is by sending out special news releases or time sensitive updates to a targeted list of opt-in ezine subscribers. These solo mailings are separate from the regular ezine. They focus only on one program, or aspect of it. The results are astounding. Usually within a few hours you will see 90% of the action. If the copy is written well you can see a very high response rate.

Use Your Stats

One last method that helps me to focus my promotions effectively is simply to study the site logs and stats pages. Many Affiliate companies will provide you with a program stats page. Most of them are only about hits, sign ups and income. This is good information to know, but it doesn't let you know which ads are working the best. That's why I like to create redirect pages on my site that are trackable in my site server logs.

Here's how it works. You create an ad for XYZ affiliate and place it in an ezine (or on a web page). Instead of putting in a link to your affiliate page address, you would create a page on your site that automatically sends the visitor to the affiliate page. Each ad that you use would lead to a separate redirect page. There are two main benefits to this. 1) The link address is going to look more professional and probably shorter. eg: www.yourdomain.com/xyz3.htm. 2)You will be able to see in your server logs which ads are drawing the most hits. For more information about the mechanics of this, read one of my previous articles "Little known Secrets of HTML" at http://worlddealcenter.com/reports/HTMLsecrets.htm

Be Wise

One caveat. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of Affiliate programs floating around on the Internet for all kinds of products and services. Some of them are dogs. They just won't work, regardless of how well you promote them. Be wise in selecting the one(s) that you are going to invest your time and money into.

When you find a good one, practice the above methods, along with your own creativity and enthusiasm, and you too will experience the joy of opening envelopes with large checks in them. I look forward to reading YOUR success story.

Chris Small is a cyber entrepreneur and host of several successful websites. If you would like to read more articles like this by Chris go to www.worlddealcenter.com/reports

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