Preselling for profit
The number one strategy to increase your affiliate sales is preselling.
Before we start, let’s talk about what preselling actually is. There are two components to it – art & science. The goal is to get your reader prepped to make a purchase. Then sending them to the product sales page to make the purchase. And if it’s done properly, the process is completely sub-conscious.
The gist is that you give your reader some useful information. And then refer them to the product website. In a second we’ll talk about how to do actually it. But before we do, you need to know why it’s so important. Here are a few benefits of preselling:
- It helps your reader trust you – Once you have your readers’ trust, they will click your links more readily. And the more clicks you get the more sales you’ll make.
- Preselling is disarming – Nobody likes to be sold something. By not doing that to them, your reader is less defensive. And in turn they read to understand what you’re saying. So your content get absorbed.
- It creates buying readiness – Now they’re open to hearing what you’re telling them. So they become more receptive to other messages. This includes the sales website you send them to! Sending them to the sales page in this state makes them more receptive to the actual pitch.
- Your commissions go up – You’ve prepped them and referred them in the right state of mind. Open to the sales message and feeling safe. The only possible result is more sales!
- Your customers are happier – Plus, they feel they’ve made the buying decision on their own. Instead of being manipulated into buying. And this leads to greater satisfaction with the product.
- It boosts your profits – Satisfied customers are less like to refund. Less refunds means more affiliate money stays in your pocket.
Obviously, it’s important to presell. You earn more commissions. Your customers are happier. It’s a win-win-win!
OK, so how do you do it?
OK, now you understand why it’s so important. So, hopefully you’ve decided to start preselling. So, it’s time to break down how it works. Like we talked about before, it’s an art. And it’s a science.
Becoming an artist
The first step is in getting your readers to trust you and open up. And the only method of doing this is to give exceptional value to your readers. Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more – that’s the art of it. So you send them to the product website with a hunger for more of what the product provides. And since they’re more open, they are more likely to make a purchase.
The science component
There are also several key elements that need to be included.
One of these key elements is the presentation of the information. You need to know where you’re going before you begin. Your goal is to sell the product you’re promoting. How can providing information accomplish this goal? One way is to give them enough info to whet the appetite, but not enough to satisfy it. Or you can give them so much information that it feels overwhelming to do what you’re talking about. Either way, the product sales page solves the problem.
Next, you have to use “convert linking” methods. Instead you link directly to the product sales page. This increases your clicks. But how will you earn affiliate commissions if you don’t use your affiliate link? Well, that’s part of the science of this whole process. You use an image tag to cookie your reader before they leave your site.
The next trick is to hyperlink specific words and phrases inside the content of the article you’re providing. Hyperlinked words are clicked more than anything else. And when the words are in context like this, it makes perfect sense for your reader to click them.
Putting all of this together creates a powerful affiliate marketing formula for success.
OK, here’s the not-so-good news:
Doing all of this right is really hard! Let’s look at the skills required to pull it off: Awesome content. First of all, you actually have to write great articles and give value to your readers. This means you have to be able to write well, and have enough knowledge to be useful. Strategic writing. First, you have to give good information. But, you also need to know how to present the information in a way that give value to the reader. And somehow also make them want to learn more. Or provide so much information that they see how hard it will be to implement.
Choosing your products. You also need to determine what products you’ll be preselling. Even if you get the article written. You’ve wasted all your effort if the product doesn’t sell well.
Techy stuff. To be most effective you have to use the “covert cookie” method. This is pretty easy – you just make a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image with no border and make the “source†of the image your affiliate link. (But if you do it wrong, you won’t get paid for the traffic you send.)
In closing:
Now you know exactly how to presell effectively. Preselling properly will boost your affiliate profits up to 500%! It’s absolutely critical to do this every time – and to do it correctly. Take action now. The effort it takes is well worth the benefits…