Affiliate Marketing’s Biggest Mistakes

I just spent the weekend at the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Conference down in Atlanta! What a fabulous time! I met a lot of great folks just starting out, and a lot of seasoned folks as well!

I heard a lot of stories,- some good, so not so good! Maybe you could say that this is your story – a story of trials and tribulations! After searching around online, let’s suppose you just found a good affiliate program – it pays you recurring commissions on a high-quality product or service and you even purchased it and like what it is! AWESOME! (That wasn’t so hard was it?)

At this point, you are imagining all the cash that is going to flood your PayPal account. But then… something curious happens…

Or to state it more accurately, nothing happens. No noe is coming to your site! The traffic is non-existent! The small amount that does come in, well, they are not buying! Back to the drawing board… (Or worse… you throw in the towel!) All your dreams about earning lots of commission are gone!

So what went wrong?

The “Root cause analysis” (or what went wrong) could be a number of things, but the 3 biggest mistakes that affiliates make are the following:

Mistake #1: Sending anyone and everyone to your site: Untargeted Traffic.

If you’re using “home page swaps” to sell dog training, that is not very targeted traffic. If you’re using a vague pay-per-click keyword like “dog training” to sell a dog agility course, that’s untargeted traffic. Or if you’re sending weight loss offers to your online marketing list, then you’re tapping into an untargeted traffic source.

The key here is that you will get a much higher browser-to-buyer conversion rate if you send traffic that is focused and targeted.

Example: If you’re trying to sell memberships to a weight-loss site that’s designed for women, then find women who need/want to lose weight (brides-to-be, new moms, those who’ve experienced the “Freshman 15” or middle-aged spread, etc).

Mistake #2: Neglecting to presell the offer. Before ‘forcing’ your link onto your prospects, you need to tell them what it is, and why they need it! You cannot expect them to rush over to the over just ’cause you say so!. Instead, you need to tell them why they should buy it. Teach them! Instruct them on why they need this item!

Once your prospects are “warmed up and ready” and they are interested in the offer, THEN you can send them to the sales page to close the sale.

Mistake #3: Not building a relationship with prospects. Here is a simple question to think about – Whose advice do you trust more, your friend’s or that of a stranger you just met on the street? No brainer, huh?

Whom do you trust? You trust your friends more. Same thing with your prospects. That’s why you’ll get more sales if you build relationships with your prospects before you start selling to them. Get them to KNOW, LIKE, and then TRUST you. You can do this by publishing a blog or newsletter and interacting with your readers.

For these 3 biggest mistakes an affiliate makes, you got 3 short solutions. Is there any hope to this frustration? You bet there is!

(The follow up post is here: Solutions To The 3 Biggest Mistakes An Affiliate Makes)