1. People like to feel you’re in their “corner”. When an affiliate marketer takes the time to nurture the members of her niche, solve their problems and look out for their interests, each member comes to trust the person who does good things for them – and consistently helps them succeed.
How do you do all these good things?By finding them exactly the product they need to solve this week’s problem or enhance their lives (or even just their hobby). You do this by focusing on their problem, not on the product. Strange as this may sound.
After you’ve showed them the pros and cons of a product, directing them to your affiliate link should feel as if it’s almost an afterthought, or – even better – as helpfully supplying the exact way to do what you’ve just been talking about.
2. People don’t like being “sold” to. Nobody likes to be manipulated, and that’s what the old-school style of aggressive selling amounts to, in most people’s minds today. When you’ve shared a secret method of making money with your reader, it should feel as if you’ve truly shared a secret method, and helped them in the process.
This level of service is what online readers demand nowadays. Yes, “in your face” selling still works – but at the cost of your credibility, if your skills aren’t quite at the level of Billy Mays or Anthony Sullivan. You’re seen as the next best thing to a carnival hawker; and while these people do a unique and mesmerizing job and that comment is not meant to judge them, there’s a reason most of them end their days as carnival hawkers, still living on a shoestring; and not living next door to another celebrity or otherwise enjoying their particular dream lifestyle.
But there’s another, far simpler reason to avoid “hard sell” techniques, and it has nothing to do with your customers: Most affiliate marketers just don’t have the “hard sell” personality. They don’t enjoy manipulating and pushing people into buying. They actually enjoy finding products people rave about. And all of us love a good paycheck – one that allows us to comfortably live the lifestyle we’ve chosen, taking care of people we love. Writing reviews is a perfect way to:
• Recommend products you’ve tried that really work
• Show people how to solve a problem
• Make a connection, and enjoy a relationship with your readers