Top Methods to Increase affiliate Commissions

Once you enter the world of internet affiliate marketing, it won’t take long before you become even more mercenary in you desire for profits. Yes, you’ll want to wrench every dollar from every promotion you can. And as Seinfeld would say “not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
According to recent research, affiliate program earnings already exceed $50 Billion. So, there’s definitely money out there to be made. How could you be sure to get your share? One way is to become more focused on profiting and less becoming less satisfied with simply making a little extra money each month. Here are some powerful tips that would get you rolling in those big commission checks and laughing all the way to the bank.

1. Determine what programs and products to promote.

Of course you will want to promote those programs that will bring you the greatest profits in the shortest time. There are several factors that play into selecting such a program. Start to explore more programs that have a generous commission structure, products that fit in with your target audience and a solid track record of paying their affiliates on time. Don’t continue a love affair with products that have shown little or no potential. There are tens of thousands of affiliate programs online so you can afford to be picky. This is a case where you will want to choose just the cream of the crop and so reduce the risk of losing your advertising dollars.

2. Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your website.

Increase your use of pre-selling with free reports and ebooks .Most likely you will be competing with other affiliate marketers who are promoting the same program. If you write a short report on a related topic to the product that you are promoting, then you can distinguish yourself from all other affiliates. In this report you can provide valuable information for free with a "recommendation" of the product. This is often referred to as a 'soft sell'.

The report or ebook allows you to develop credibility with your audience and your readers are more likely to follow your recommendation. There is less resistance to this type of selling because the prospect doesn't feel 'sold', just informed. The next step is to make this ebook 'viral' by allowing those who bought the product through your link to 'brand' the ebook for their own promotional use. Don’t underestimate the power of this tool.

3. Collect the email addresses of those who download your free ebook.

Research has shown that over 60% of the sales of any product are made after the sixth or seventh exposure to the sales message. In other words, most people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may need to send your marketing message over six times before a sale is made. This is the reason why you should collect the contact information of those who download your report. You can then follow up on these contacts to gently remind them to make the purchase.

4. Never send prospect directly to a vendor's website without collecting their contact info first.

Affiliate marketing is ideal but not perfect. You must keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. The merchants only pay you when you make the sale. If you send prospect directly to their website then these prospect are lost to you forever. If you collect these names instead, then you can always send other marketing messages to them and earn an ongoing commission instead of making a one-time sale. With today’s canned squeeze page templates, its easier to turn out web pages that “capture” email addresses. Simply tailor them to your affiliate program needs.

5. Publish an online newsletter or Ezine.

It is always easier to recommend a product to a friend than to sell to a stranger. This is the philosophy behind publishing your own newsletter. A newsletter allows you to build a subscriber list and develop a relationship of trust with this list. Your subscribers will then trust you to recommend products that will benefit them.

Always be on the lookout for useful information you can provide to your subscribers along with your with a 'sales pitch'. In other words, if you send out frequent advertisement to your list and little valuable information you are likely to lose credibility with your audience. But if you write informative editorials you will build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that will lead them to 'support' you by purchasing your affiliate products. This too is easier now that there is so much PLR available

6. Ask merchants for a higher than normal commission.

If you are very successful with a particular promotion you should approach the merchant and negotiate a higher percentage commission for your sales. If the merchant is smart he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose you. Keep in mind again that you are a zero-risk investment to the merchant, so don't be shy in your requests. Just be reasonable.

7. Learn to write strong Pay Per Click (PPC) ads.

One of the most effective means of advertising online is through PPC search engines. As an affiliate, you can make a sizeable income by just managing PPC campaigns on services such as Google Adwords and Overture. Monitor your campaigns to see which ads are pulling their weight and trim those that are not. Seek the middle ground here, find a niche that fits your budget.

You can use the ClickBank? Market Place, for example, and just choose a hot-selling product and start promoting. Once you are earning a decent return on your investment then you are in profit! Just this strategy alone can make all the difference to your commission checks.

Ron Thomas (AKA Big Paulie)