Give your Affiliate Programs New Life and Bigger Sales

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by Woody Sherman

Affiliate programs have become one of the most widely used business models on the Net. While some people earn thousands each month through their affiliate sales, most of us rarely see a dime from the programs we sign up for. Here are five ways to get an immediate boost in your affiliate profits.

1. Include a personal testimonial with your affiliate link. This encourages sales better than anything else. Use the product yourself, then tell visitors in your own words what you liked about it.

Don't worry about making your copy sound professional. Writing your testimonial in your own words is what counts with prospects.

2. Put your most promising program near the top of your opening web page. Visitors tend to click links near the top of the page first. Include a headline and short description. People should understand what it is your program is selling and what benefit they will get for clicking to read more.

3. Choose affiliate programs that match the topics and purpose of your site. Try to find products and services that will interest the kinds of prospects who are drawn to your site's content.

If your site provides tips for small business, an affiliate link to an office supply firm would make sense. A site with articles for teachers might do best with an affiliate link to specific books on education at Amazon.com.

4. Keep in mind people must first want to come to your site for the good information you provide. Use affiliate programs to add extra value for your visitors. Sites that are just affiliate links don't do very well. In fact, a growing number of search engines won't list them.

5. Promote your site. Sales on the Internet is mostly a numbers game. Only one to ten percent of visitors buy anything. To increase sales, get more visitors. Advertise in ezines, submit your site to search engines (see all4one.com for one-click registration), participate in discussion groups (with subtle promotion of your site in your sig file), and send out an occasional press release or article.