From freezineweb.com
A few days ago I had a question from a man in the UK who was in trouble. He was trying to promote an affiliate link and was getting nowhere:
"I have tried a targetted ezine that went out to 6000 for $30, and have tried signing up for 573 free search engines/classifieds pages but so far have only had 20 hits and no sales. I also tried signing up to overture for $50 but they won't accept affiliate urls or redirecting urls."
"Can your system help me get traffic to my affiliate website?" he asked.
This article is my answer to his question. I hope you find it useful.
Free Articles continue to be one of the most effective ways of quickly generating traffic and sales, without paying for advertising.
But how can you use free articles to promote an affiliate link? Putting your affiliate link in your Resource Box is not going to work, for a number of reasons:
people can easily remove your affiliate ID and just visit the main website of the affiliate program (you get no commission)
an affiliate link makes you look like just another beginner, instead of an expert with something unique to offer
So how do you use articles to promote affiliate products? Here are some strategies:
(1) Turn your website into a 'Marketing Resources Directory'
On your website display book covers and provide brief reviews for a range of eBooks or software that deal with web marketing.
You could divide your directory into categories: Web Marketing (general), Affiliate Programs, Search Engine Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine Publishing, etc.
In your Resource Box at the bottom of your article you could say: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Visit his collection of marketing resources at: http://www.yourdomain.com
(2) Write a Free Report
Write a free report on web marketing and turn it into an exe format free eBook.
Your free report might have 5 or 6 chapters, each chapter dealing with a different aspect of web marketing (Affiliate Programs, Search Engine Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine Publishing etc).
In each chapter you would include recommendations (and your affiliate link) for eBooks or software that deal with that topic.
Your Resource Box could say: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Download his free report, 'Web Marketing In 5 Easy Steps': http://www.yourdomain.com/free_report.html
(3) Customize the affiliate links in Free eBooks
Most web marketers produce free or trial versions of their eBooks, and in many cases the order links in these free eBooks can be customized with your affiliate link.
You could build a directory of these free eBooks, each customized with your affiliate link.
The Resource Box at the bottom of your article might read: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in online business. Visit his collection of free eBooks today: http://www.yourdomain.com
(4) Use your Resource Box to get new subscribers to your Newsletter and then promote your affiliate programs in your Newsletter.
This is the strategy most people use. But promoting your affiliate links in a weekly Newsletter is a subtle art - the best way to learn is to join the Newsletters of marketers who specialize in this and study their techniques.
(c) 2002 by Michael Southon