Your strategies and actions as an affiliate directly affect your Conversion Rate. This section deals with how to PREsell effectively. (Later in the course, we will cover traffic-building in more detail.)
Let’s look at examples of how “ low-CR affiliates” create negative mindsets by making HOW-YOU-REACH, WHAT-YOU-SAY, or HOW-YOU-REFER booboos. We’ll begin at the top…
1) How to Reach Your Visitor...Free-For-All Sites (FFAs) are a great example of how not to reach people. For the most part, FFAs have become so seamy and useless that no matter what you say, you’re doomed from the start. I once made a request to all 5 Pillar Affiliates for FFA success stories... not a single success story! I won’t bother to ask again.
Compare this with how smart and open-minded your visitor feels when she finds you via a Search Engine!2) What to Say to Your Visitor...
Don’t write a site purely devoted to “hard-selling” your merchants’ products. Imagine a visitor who hits your site and reads an immediate sales pitch. That person will resist because she does not know you. Then, ifshe clicks to your merchant, she gets another sales pitch on the SiteSell site ==> Negative x 2!
Never devote your site to one company’s product line. No matter what you do, no matter how sincere you are, this kind of approach always ends up “smelling” like a sales pitch. It simply makes no difference that you honestly love the products -- your visitor will mistake your devotion for selling. Remember, she doesn’t know you!
It’s far better to develop a concept that relates to that company’s products and to other products from other companies that are complementary. Develop related content that PREsells. Then “get the click” through “in-context” text links.
3) How to Refer Your Visitor to Your Merchant...Banners, as we discussed earlier, are the best example of how not to refer your visitor to your merchant. In plain and simple language, people feel “pitched” when they click on a banner. And people who feel “pitched” are difficult to convert into a sale.
Now for a critical ACTION STEP...Review your site or whatever other means you are using to REACH, TALK TO, and REFER visitors to your merchants. Put yourself in your customer’s brain. What will she think, how will she feel, at each of the 3 major steps from above?
If you’re doing everything perfectly, congratulations! You must have a high CR. If you don’t have a high CR, or if you see some big mindset mistakes. Consider how much higher your CR would be if a visitor found you in a bona fide manner (ex., as a result of doing a search on a Search Engine), then became “your friend” (or your “trusting admirer” if you do a truly awesome job!) because you provided excellent content, and finally was led to a context-appropriate recommendation. (There will be more on recommendation vs. sales pitch shortly.)
Key learning point?Always consider how these actions affect your visitor’s mindset...
1) HOW YOU REACH your visitor, and…
Get inside your visitor’s head. Realize how she will feel each step of the way. Whatever you do, consider the impact on your visitor -- if it does not make her more “open to buy,” don’t do it.
PREselling is really all about selling yourself (i.e., your credibility) to your customer, every step of the way. You reach your targeted traffic in a proper fashion, you deliver valuable, appropriate, editorial content, and you recommend merchants to your visitor after she has come to respect and like you.
Your CR will soar.
Why does PREselling work so well?A sale via any Affiliate Program is really a two-step process. It requires the delivery of two “Most Wanted Responses,” yours and your merchant’s.
As an affiliate, what is your Most Wanted Response (MWR)? No, it’s not to get the sale. That’s the second step and it's also your merchant’s MWR. Your MWR is to “get the open-to-buy click” (i.e., your visitor clicks through to your merchant with an open-to-buy mindset).
Writing to PREsell does not require genetic talent. It’s not a “gift.” Writing to PREsell is a skill you can acquire. Make Your Content PREsell! (MYCPS!), the only book of its kind on the Net, shows you exactly how to...
1) write to communicateEveryone, regardless of what they do online or offline, needs to know how to write effectively. That's why MYCPS! is so affordable (just $9.95!), even though it’s worth three to four times its price. For more information about this must-have resource, please visit…
http://mycps.sitesell.com/
Let your merchant’s site do its job and get the sale. I remember when I used to tell my star baseball pitcher, Joel Leonoff...“Joel... you don't have to strike 'em all out. You’ve got a great team behind you. Let them do their job.”
The same goes for your merchants. Let them do their job.
Our “Top 100” 5 Pillar Affiliates all provide useful content. They PREsell. Then they let the rest of their team (us here at SiteSell) get the sale.
It’s a two-step process that builds to the sale...
STEP 1 You PREsell to get an open-to-buy click-through to your merchant.
So, whatever you do, however you do it, it should always pull your visitor one step closer to delivering your MWR...
Get an open-to-buy click through to your income-generating source! Whoops! I was just about to move on to the next point. Good thing I heard you asking...
“Ken, if I leave it up to the merchant's site to get the sale, I still don’t see how I have any influence on the Conversion Rate. I'd much rather sell the visitor on my own site.”
First, let’s make sure we have our terms straight by examining a real case study. Elad Shippony, from Israel, is an excellent example of an infopreneur. He is creating fun and entertaining content to drive traffic from the Search Engines, and then monetizing that traffic, without selling a product or service.
http://www.sitesell.com/case-studies/infopreneur-elad.htmlPREsell effectively, and your CR will zoom. But if it reads like a “hard-sell sales pitch,” you’ll quickly lose credibility with your audience.
On the other hand, let’s say that you do not have a mega-content, ultra-high traffic site. You really love SiteSell products and that's why you’re so proud to represent them. After all, you’d never want to just “push stuff” on people, products that you do not believe represent true value-for-dollar.
Site Build It! (SBI!), SiteSell’s flagship product, gets results at an affordable price. No other comparable product can boast the same certified proof (and those companies would, if they could)…
http://proof.sitesell.com/Do not represent merchants who simply bribe you with a high commission to recommend overpriced products. A short-term gain like this ends up in long-term pain. Your reputation is your foundation. Build it on rock rather than sand.
Check out the SBI! Action Guide for an inside-look at how SBI! provides all the information, strategies and tools needed to progress from brainstorming to content-development to traffic-building to growing a profitable business.
http://action-guide.sitesell.com/
You create a Web site that really raves about Site Build It! (SBI!) and other SiteSell products. You mean every word of it, of course. And you are really proud of your site. And you know that you are doing visitors a favor by telling them about the SiteSell products.
Whoa! Let’s shift the focus from YOU for a second. Let’s focus on your visitor’s mindset. Up above, I said...Get inside your visitor's head -- realize how she will feel each step of the way. Whatever you do, consider the impact on your visitor
-- if it does not make her “open to buy,” don't do it.
So maybe you see an honest site that tries to share the benefits of SBI! with your visitor. But your visitor does not know you or your motivations. And most importantly, she is not reading the relevant information that she was searching for. (The fundamental reality of the Net is information, information, information).
Your visitor sees a straight sales effort. With no other true content, it would be hard for “an outsider” to see it any other way.It does not matter what you see. If your visitors basically perceive a straight sales effort for your merchants, you’re selling, not PREselling. That means that the two-step process is now SELL-SELL...
Redundancy = Turned OFF customer = LOW CR.But if you develop great content ( as Elad did with his niche), it will lead to the click. You become a friend making a recommendation rather than a stranger making a sales pitch. And if you create a truly great site, you’ll actually become a trusted expert making an endorsement.
Recommendation = Turned ON customer = HIGH CR.In other words, don’t push your visitor to the click, make her want to click. It makes all the difference if your visitor feels that it’s her idea to deliver your MWR (the open-to-buy click).
Another question? Geez, I was about to grab a coffee. Fire away!“Can you give me another example of using content to PREsell?"
Sure. Let’s say that you love Make Your Words Sell! (MYWS!), the perfect bookend to Make Your Content PREsell!. Your plan is to create a Net marketing site.
Whoa! My first recommendation...Do not create another Web marketing site. There are zillions of them.
However, if you can develop a unique twist in the way you present high-value Web marketing information and build at least 30 quality content pages about this subject, then go for it. But don’t limit your monetization efforts to PREselling SiteSell products exclusively. Instead, diversify.
For example, let’s say you create a content page about “how to write persuasive sales copy on the Net.” Within that page, include in-context text links to your Top 3 books about copywriting.
According to customer feedback, Make Your Words Sell! is far ahead in the #1 position…http://myws.sitesell.com/
… but it’s also a good idea to still include a #2 and a #3 recommendation. Why?
First, this approach gives your page extra content value -- it shows visitors that you have their best interests at heart. Second, it adds extra credibility to the #1 choice (ahem!). And third, it gives you three possible links for your visitor to click upon.
Include your favorite book about writing “offline” copy, too. Naturally, it’s an affiliate link to one of the online bookstores!
It’s a WIN-WIN-WIN situation for you, your visitors, and your merchants. Now, please think about the following for a moment...
Why would I, a merchant, recommend that you not create “yet another Web marketing site,” and especially not one that is dedicated to selling our SiteSell products?
It’s because I know you’ll waste your time . The two-step SELL-SELL does not work. Period. Sure, you’ll get a few sales. But you won’t make enough money to stay motivated to build your business. I’d rather give you a far more powerful, successful approach…
http://affiliatemarketing.sitesell.com/…and have a smaller piece of your larger and more successful attention!
Bottom line?...
If you want to create and build a site that is related to Net marketing, take your time and do your homework. Find a new concept, or a unique twist, or a trend that you think will become important, and be the first one to do it. Do not be a “me too.”
Better yet, find your own unique concept.And where do you find a great concept for your site? Inside you!
You do know stuff other people don’t... things people would pay to know. You might have learned it “on the job” or through your hobby. There’s a good chance that you don’t even realize what you know. It’s often right under your nose. But, as you’ll see in DAY 2, everyone is an expert about something.
In the meantime, check out how these small business owners have created their own unique site concepts based on what they know and love. Find out how they discovered SBI!’s most valuable benefit of all…
http://specialprize.sitesell.com/
Here’s a real concrete, non-Web-marketing example that will succeed... It’s all about creating a Theme-Based Content Site that is loaded with KeywordFocused Content-Rich Pages. Your theme?...
You love concrete. Yes, cement! It’s been your hobby, your passion, for years... Concrete statues. Concrete painting. Decorative concrete. Concrete in the garden. Repairing concrete. The various types of concrete. Hand trowels. Things to do with cement blocks. Concrete trade shows. Concrete and swimming pools. Concrete molds. Cleaning concrete. Ready mixed concrete. Concrete countertops.
For this example, I had to brainstorm topics for concrete. I know nothing about it. I chose “concrete” because it was the first thing to enter my head. But I could develop topics about concrete forever. More about brainstorming and developing HIGH-PROFITABILITY topics later in the course.
Anyway, let’s say that you decide to create a Theme-Based Content Site that is all about concrete. Your home page explains how your site is the site for everything concrete, from structural to esthetic.
Of course, you create high-value, content-jammed Keyword-Focused Content Pages. For example, your page about concrete statues explains all about how to make striking statues for the home and garden. You could even expand it into an entire “Statue Section,” with a page on the history of concrete statues and another one about how to market and sell the statues that the visitor makes.
The main point, though, is that you create truly excellent, high-value content that attracts and delivers what your readers sought at the Search Engines, “warms them up” and increases your credibility…
C
T
PYou also weave relevant, “in-context” text links right into the content (i.e., your recommendations)…
• Books about the topic (ex., concrete statues if that's what the page was about)
• A garden supplier for concrete molds, trowels, etc.
• A concrete supplier
• Consulting services -- your own, of course!
M
See what’s happening? When you write about a niche that you know and love, the content is easy. I’ll show you how to attract even more targeted traffic by ranking well for the Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization) later on.
By providing great content, you PREsell your reader, increasing your clickthroughs and your Conversion Rate. And by monetizing through related and excellent affiliate programs, and other appropriate monetization models, you develop multiple streams of income from one site.
This is the way to go.
I’d love to have just a small piece of your attention on a site like this... perhaps a button link “Powered by SiteSell.com” or perhaps a page called “How I Built This Page.” If you can create a way to make it fit on your site, I’d love to be with you.
OK, we can summarize this section into a key take-home lesson. I am giving it this title...“The Road to Becoming a Master Affiliate”
The more I researched successful 5 Pillar Affiliates, the more PREselling techniques I found. But, no matter how they do it, they all accomplish the same thing in the end...
************************************** “They refer people to their merchants in an ‘OPEN-TO-BUY’ frame of mind.” **************************************
What's the key? PREselling. Not selling.You must, must, must know how to PREsell!
Basically, The Affiliate Masters Course delivers the single most productive approach to affiliate income. It will show you how to PREsell your way to a CR of 5-10% and at the same time, maximize targeted traffic to your site and your merchants’ sites (and your other monetization options, if applicable). This brings us to the bottom line of this DAY...
If you’re drawing targeted traffic to your site... and if your site is getting a great Click-Through Rate (CTR) to the merchants that you represent (and your other monetization sources)... and if you are converting a high percentage of them into sales...
You are following the roadmap to becoming a high-earning affiliate champion!Let’s summarize the whole point of PREselling with this question...
Which would you respond to?...
A stranger with a sales pitch?
Before proceeding to DAY 2, please complete your DAY 1 Goal-of-the-DAY, and take note of your Ongoing Goal...
Ongoing Goal... Deepen and focus your understanding of this material. Reread it once per week for the next eight weeks, monthly after that. As you progress through DAYS 2 through 10, it’s going to be easy to lose sight of the “big picture” presented today. And there’s another reason to re-read regularly. It will mean more and more to you as you gain each DAY’s new perspective.
And with that, it’s on to DAY 2….Time to begin the blueprint for your Web site. Take the first step by brainstorming your Site Concept…
