Promoting An Affiliate Program
Written by Mr Javo
In the last post, I talked about how to drive traffic to your affiliate programs, touching some important points such advertising and building links. Promoting an affiliate programs is different than driving traffic to them, and it’s something misunderstood by many people in Internet.
Some weeks ago, I signed up to Market Leverage and promoted it in my blog by writing a little review about that program. What you can find there, in the review’s post, is a reflection of how to promote your affiliate programs.
If you want to be recognized and create an authority on Internet, you need to Be Honest with your readers. Many people lie in the blogosphere, even more when they are promoting a service or product. They do that with the purpose to convince the people who read their blogs about something that is not true. By catching them as referrals, they will earn money from their sales and from each activity the referrals make in the affiliate network.
Now, I will tell you why you SHOULD NOT to do that. At the first instance, you will earn more money with all those deceived referrals, the problem isn’t that, who don’t like to earn money? The problem starts when you are going to promote another affiliate program, in the future. What do you think will happen with all those people who signed up under your link in the past? Obviously, if they were deceived they will not trust in you anymore. Surely, they will sign up to the program referred by you, but through another blogger who inspire them more trust.
To be successful promoting an affiliate program you need to be transparent, telling to the people what they will find in the program, the most important features of the program, how much they will earn… All those kind of things, and if there is a catch, tell them. For example, many people get angry when they expect something for free and suddenly they need to pay a quote to receive the information.
By being honest at time of promoting an affiliate program could give you more chances to multiply your earnings in a future. Then, when you suggest to your readers to sign up to an affiliate program, surely they will do it under your name and this way, you will get many commissions from them.
Hey! my name is Javier but you can call me Javo, everybody does.
I think the saying that “good products sell themselves” is true when it comes to marketing a product. If you review it on your blog and have actually tried it and liked it then promoting it shouldn’t be too hard. If it’s a useful product people will be interested.
Problem is that all-too-often, people look at the short-term and not the long-term. You can talk about how things will be better for them in the long run all you want, but they’re just thinking “I need [or want] money now!”
Of course, they end up in worse shape than what they started, but it’s often difficult to convince people to think differently.
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@Erik that’s truth, if the product is good the people will use it without problems.
@dcr Great point! Many people think to get money in a short-term as you said, and most of the times you need to invest some time to see good results.
I’m a big believer in letting the truth set you free. I generally include affiliate links in posts, but I also believe in giving an honest opinion about the product. I guess that’s why I got out of the paid review game, as I found it hard to give glowing reviews to products I just did not buy in to.
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Great post mrjavo
Affiliate programs certainly are a quagmire. I have tried most, without much success, now trying the ‘place your ad here’ campaign – see how that goes.
Seeing the same ads on different blogs get a bit tiresome after a while.
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not enough bloggers talk about the need for honesty when promoting affiliates and programs. thanks for bringing this up, it’s vital to reputations and long term success.
What I don’t understand is that regardless of how much truth your message contain there will allways be people that will try to bypass you as a refferal they will lose your refferal code from the url in the way to the affiliate program that your message presents. Now why I don’t understand this is because afteral they don’t lose nothing from the earnings that they make, is the affiliate program that pays for the refferals
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Yes being honest is great way to build your good profile as an affiliate, good reviews mr javo
Thanks for the tips. I agree with the being honest part. I am always honest with my readers.
@Adrian Hey mate, as affiliate you won’t lose anything from your referrals, that’s truth. But if you were not honest with the referred people, the next time you suggest them to sign up to another affiliate program, they won’t trust you and probably they won’t do it, at least under your name…
Remember that you are building a reputation. If you are a liar now, you will be a liar forever, unless you change your name
I’m always amazed at the people who promote anything, as long as it has a high pay-out potential. Some of the things people promote… I wonder how they can feel good about encouraging people who probably have no money to waste to buy these things.
I like to work in affiliate links now and then, but only if they are for things that are genuinely useful. I suppose that’s why 90% of my income comes from advertising instead, hah.
Anyway, nice post. Thanks for writing.
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When reading a referral you can pretty much tell what’s bull and what’s for real. Most of the time, that is.
For me, if it sounds too much like a sales pitch I go elsewhere.
A good thang to do when writing about any product is to not just to promote the pros but also state the cons. No matter what it is, there is always both to consider.
One thang I hate is when peopes promote products they have not personally tested themselves…or tested enough to know enough.
As always, great post Mr. Javo. I’m beginning to enjoy your blog very much. I look forward to more…
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