Less than a decade ago, Amazon.com, an upstart little
online bookseller, started a unique new business model:
have other people's websites sell books for you. It made so
much sense that other booksellers started doing it as well:
have fishing websites sell fishing books, and needlepoint
websites sell books on knitting and crochet. Any site that
sells a book, they decided, deserved a piece of the profits
made from the book.
Affiliate sales program today still make up a large chunk of
Amazon's sales, although many other innovative online
business models have come into practice. And with several
years of experience, those affiliates have learned a number
of tricks to maximize their book sales. These tricks don't
work only with books, but with any number of affiliate
programs.
Know Your Customer
Affiliate sales sites that try to sell everything are going to be
a turnoff to the average consumer. Even though the Internet
is an anonymous electronic force, consumers want to feel as
if the website owner knows about and cares about them as
individuals, and a website that tries to be Wal-mart to you is
going to get exactly what it deserves – nothing.
At the same time, if you understand the type of person
coming to your website and you can deliver to them items
that they really want and need, you're going to get a repeat
customer. Ideally, your affiliated sales should take place
within articles or in the right sidebar of your website, and
when your customer sees the item you're selling, they
should instantly want it.
Use Targeted Content
Once you know exactly what you should be selling to your
customer, you can target your content to support those
sales. Consumers, more than anything else, want
information on products they may want to buy. And those
who sell products depend on "buzz," people like you talking
about the product's advantages and disadvantages, to get
those products sold.
Targeted content can be the obvious reviews of books, new
products, etc. But it can also be things like descriptions of
fishing trips where you drop in links to affiliated products
you actually used. For instance, if you caught a huge bass
last weekend using a particular lure, you can drop in a photo
of the lure, linking the photo and a text reference to your
affiliated sales page where you actually allow the consumer
to purchase that lure.
This is a trick that television networks are just catching onto.
While recent fashions may have been largely driven by the
clothes characters wear in popular TV shows, there was no
way to purchase those fashions without searching for
something similar throughout stores. Just this season,
networks are starting websites where you can purchase the
sweater Jennifer Aniston wore, or Tom Welling's jacket, even
funky new glasses frames. It's the ultimate targeted-content
model, if they sell it right.
You probably don't have a network to sell your products on.
But you can develop a dedicated audience that knows your
recommended affiliate products are good, reliable, and
exactly what you say they are.
Develop a Reputation
The largest sales driver online is trust. This is a rare
commodity in today's world of corporate scandal,
downsizing, and sell-it-now trends. If you can develop a
growing loyal customer base who know they can trust you,
you are guaranteed success, no matter who tries to move in
on your territory.
One of the best ways to do this is by writing excellent
reviews. Another is by giving information away on your
website. You must be able to write well to do all this, or at
least contract with others who can write well and to your
specifications.
To grow your customer base, you must expand your
communications outside your own website. You must be able
and willing to distribute articles to other newsletters,
websites, and content distributors who are willing to print
your information and retain your personal name and URL in
a resource box attached to the article.
You also must be honest about the items you write about. If
it's junk, you should be willing to say it's junk. You won't sell
many of the junky things, but you'll gain something
priceless: respect from your customers.
