How to Squeeze Every Dollar from Your Affiliate Promotions

This is a guest post by Ryan M. Healy [you can read more info about the author at the bottom of this post]

If you’re an affiliate marketer, and you promote other people’s products, then chances are you already know some of the problems you face: hesitance to click your affiliate links, “click jacking,” competition with other affiliates (and even the company itself), just to name a few.

Fortunately, there are some very simple things you can do to immediately improve the results of any affiliate promotion you undertake.

Rewrite “Canned” Affiliate Promotions

Most affiliate programs will provide you with “canned” promotions that you can copy, paste, and send out. While this is very easy to do, it won’t produce the best results for you.

I recommend that you take the time to rewrite the promotion in your own voice so it resonates better with your audience.

For instance, I will often rewrite the subject line and write a new lead and close for emails. I may keep the bullets or “features and benefits” provided by the company in the middle. But I’ll “sandwich” them with copy I’ve written.

This way the whole promotion feels fresh, and I won’t risk sending my readers something they’ve seen three times already.

Tell Them It’s Your Affiliate Link

This sounds absolutely nuts when you first hear this strategy, but it really works.

You see, a large percentage of people surfing the ‘Net these days recognize affiliate links. When they see one, they’re automatically less likely to click on it.

One way you can fight this gut-level response is to be very open about what you’re doing. You might say:

“Yes, the link below is my affiliate link. If you click on it and buy, I will receive a commission. This helps me to continue providing you with quality content for free on this blog.”

Or whatever. You get the idea.

After making such a statement, most readers will relax and lower their sales resistance. They will be more inclined to side with you, click your link, and happily give you a commission.

Offer an Incentive to Buy Through You

Probably my favorite way to drive more affiliate sales is to offer an incentive for people to buy through me.

So instead of just providing an affiliate link to a product, I’ll offer a complimentary bonus gift. For instance:

• A free PDF report
• A free software program
• A free coaching session
• A free dinner with me at a seminar

All the person has to do is buy through my affiliate link and forward me their receipt. After it’s confirmed they indeed purchased through me, then I will send the free bonus gift.

It’s as simple as that.

To help you understand better how this works, here’s an example.

When I promoted Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Adwords, I wrote a bonus report called “How to Write Google Ads That Get Clicked.” Anybody who purchased Perry’s product through my affiliate link received this free bonus report that I had created.

In this case, the incentive I was offering both increased sales and  encouraged people to buy through my link. Do you see how this works?

You probably won’t want to create an incentive for every affiliate product you promote, but if you have a few “bread and butter” promotions you want to improve, then this is an excellent way to do it.

Remember: When you want to maximize the results you get from your affiliate marketing efforts, rewrite the “canned” promotional copy in your own voice; tell your readers that it’s your affiliate link; and offer an incentive to buy through you.

Do these three things and you’ll start enjoying more affiliate sales and fatter commission checks almost immediately.

About the Author: Ryan M. Healy is a direct response copywriter and business growth expert. He’s worked with scores of clients, including Alex Mandossian, Terri Levine, and Pulte Homes. Healy focuses on online sales letters, direct mail letters, and space ads for newspapers and magazines. Check out Copywriting Code to discover how you, too, can turn words into wealth.