BlogWorld Expo NY 2012 – Affiliate Marketing the SMART Way: Stop Hoping and Start Earning

Pat Flynn was the one to deliver this speech. I am not passionate about affiliate marketing (let’s say I actually hate it), but he was amazing. One of the best speeches of the day.

Bad vs. Good affiliate marketers: the good ones want to help, not just to cash out. Try to help your readers. The more you care, the more you earn. Do affiliate marketing to help people, not just to earn, so that it’s not bad.

SOFT PITCH PIPELINE

TRAFFIC -> relationships -> products -> experience -> proof -> seal -> MONEY

RELATIONSHIPS – if you cannot forge relationships, you won’t make transactions. If people don’t trust you, they won’t share or buy.

1. Be personable – put your image/photo, let them see you and your personality.

2. Tell stories – people connect to emotions. Talk about your experiences, your problems.

3. RAOK – Random Acts Of Kindness – reply to comments, visit your commenters’ blogs and post a comment there. You need to be real, help them and then you’ll get paid more.

PRODUCTS

Precision – recommend the RIGHT products. There are people who turned ‘bad’ and stopped having their readers interest in mind just for the money.

Ask yourself: what do you want your visitors to ultimately achieve? How do they get there?

Don’t start with the product, start with the good it can do.

Experience – the experiences are very important. Poeple take such information into account, even if the recommendations don’t come from people whom they know.

Experience SELLS

USE THE PRODUCTS. If you promote something, you need to have used it before yourself.This is a reflection on your brand, so make sure you do promote good stuff.

You use it

1. for your protection

2. to become a resource

3. to get rid of the mystery.

Show your readers EVERYTHING: what’s good, bad, videos etc. Unbox the products you’re gonna sell as an affiliate.

PROOF

Offer tangible proof. As an example: a documentary on Netflix – Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead – a guy who’s dealing with various health issues from being obese is documenting his weight loss based on a fruit/vegetable juice he’s fasting on. It’s so compelling it makes you buy that juice, after seeing his results.

You can use various platforms. The guy had a documentary, you can use podcasts, blogs etc.

THE SALE

You need to have an affiliate link. Be honest, tell your readers it’s an affiliate link. If they don’t know it, they might not click on it. If they do, they will probably make sure they click on it to help you.

Provide support. You can also mention it to the visitors, so they know they can get some help from you. This could also convince them to follow your link.

Provide more opportunities for them to click. You should have links at the beginning, middle and end of the article. You can use more platforms: blog, youtube, email etc.

Offer your visitors a bonus. An e-book, a guide for a tech product for instance. The bonus should complement the product / service and convince people to go through your link rather than other links.

Never forget to HELP people. Offer products that work and you experienced.

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Cheryl Zhao
Cheryl Zhao

Cheryl Zhao, a financial expert, has been a part of our team for five years. After earning her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, she worked as a real estate broker before turning to blogging. Cheryl’s extensive knowledge of the housing market and trends, coupled with her passion for financial literacy, makes her blog posts an essential read for anyone considering becoming financially independent.

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