Here are some common mistakes most affiliate marketers make, and why you should avoid them:
1. Sending people directly to an affiliate's website.
You spend so much energy, time and money to advertise. When you send people directly to a vendor's website you only have one chance to get the sale. If they don't buy they are gone. The best way to do this is to send people to an opting page, where you give them something of value for free, in exchange for their email address. That way you can follow up with them at a later date and have the opportunity to sell them other products.
2. Creating a website with a gazillion affiliate links, tons of flashy banners and all the colors of the rainbow.
You don't want to overwhelm people because when that happens they are gone. Instead, offer an honest review of a product, pre-selling readers on its benefits, and on how it will help them.
3. Falling victim of affiliate commission theft.
Yes, commission theft is a very big problem. While, you cannot eliminate it completely, there are some steps you can take, to minimize it dramatically. Two methods you can use are cloaking and redirecting, instead of having the affiliate url in the form: http://www.vendorswebsite.com/?id=imakemoneyoffofyou
It takes the same effort to refer a sale for a one-time purchase product than it takes to refer one for a residual payment product. Therefore, it makes good business sense to try and market affiliate programs with recurring commissions.
In choosing residual payment affiliate programs, you should consider the stickiness of the services you are promoting.
For example, you refer a sale for a membership website which only offers resale rights to products, and nothing else to keep the customer from canceling. People can join, download all the products and then cancel within the same month.
On the other hand, consider referring a sale for web hosting or for an autoresponder service. These services will be essential for the customer's business, and he/she is therefore not likely to cancel for a very long time or until they give up their online ventures completely.
In conclusion, you should try and avoid the common mistakes that affiliate marketers make by sending your customers to an opt-in list first, pre-selling them to the product's benefits, and by avoiding affiliate commission theft. In addition, you should be going after programs with residual commissions but be sure to always evaluate the stickiness of the product you are recommending. To be able to do that, the best way is to try the product yourself first.
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