The
Key To High-Volume Web Sales
By
Michael
Southon Copyright © 2003
The quickest way to achieve high-volume
sales on the web is to set up your own affiliate program.
The single most important factor in a successful affiliate program is to
make your affiliates your equal partners by paying 50% commissions. Let them
see that it is in their interests to promote yours.
There are two ways to set up an affiliate program: you can install affiliate
tracking software on your server or you can use a 3rd party affiliate
tracker.
Here is a list of sites that offer affiliate tracking software:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/affiliatesoftware.html
For most people, a much easier option is to use 3rd party (or web-based)
affiliate tracking.
There are literally dozens of web-based affiliate management services. Some
have setup fees, some have monthly fees and others charge monthly commissions
on your sales.
Here is a list of 3rd party affiliate trackers:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/3rdpartyaffiliate.html
One of the most popular 3rd party affiliate trackers is
ClickBank.
Compared to some other affiliate programs, ClickBank's system is quite basic
- for example they only offer one-tier affiliate tracking and they don't
provide click-thru stats.
But the one big advantage of ClickBank is they are widely used (by over 10,000
merchants) and trusted - and that means your customers will feel safer when
ordering your products.
Here are some of the features of the ClickBank affiliate program:
-
one time setup fee of $49
-
no monthly fees
-
7.5% commission on your sales
-
automatic email (to you and your
affiliates) every time you make a sale
-
ClickBank issues checks to your
affiliates
-
checks issued every 2 weeks
-
low minimum ($5) before a check is
issued
One drawback to using ClickBank is
that the links your affiliates post on their websites won't contain your
domain name - so they won't increase your link popularity.
But there is a way around this - a script specifically designed for ClickBank
merchants that generates URLs for your affiliates, based on your domain name:
http://www.easybiztools.com
With this script, your ClickBank affiliates would use a link that looks like
this:
http://www.yoursite.com/sales.php?offer=nickname&pid=1
Once you have your affiliate program set up, you'll need some promotion tools
to offer your affiliates.
Here are some ideas:
-
free eBook - this could be as little
as 5 or 10 pages explaining the benefits of your product or service. Make
sure it contains some valuable tips and include links to your website that
your affiliates can customize with their own affiliate link.
-
your own articles - if you write
free articles, encourage your affiliates to use them in their newsletter
and on the website, with their affiliate link in the resource box.
-
ezine ads - offer your affiliates
30-word ads they can place in newsletters (preferably ads you have tested
and found to be effective).
-
email course - if you have an email
mini-course, allow your affiliates to offer it from their website, with their
affiliate links.
-
popups - give your affiliates a template
popup for their website, with instructions on how to install it.
-
affiliate kit - put all your affiliate
tools into an eBook that your affiliates can download.
That's it! All the information you
need to set up your own affiliate program.
Copyright © 2003 by Michael Southon
About the Author:
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has
shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to get massive
free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. For more information
visit:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/
Web
Development
