“Affiliate marketing is hard…”
“I can’t do it…”
“I’m not salesy….”
“I don’t want to pitch my friends all day long…”
“How can I even find a product I believe in so much that I can sell it, even if I DID want to sell something?…”
“I put links on my blog, but no one’s buying and I can’t figure it out…”
Have you ever said any of those statements? Have you ever thought them?
I have…
When I first started blogging, I wasn’t doing really all that well in earning money with affiliate marketing and I just didn’t get WHY. “I’m recommending a product,” I thought, “People should drive off in hordes and go get it. I personally buy stuff others recommend. Why isn’t this working.” I’d look around, see others doing it (and rocking it) and felt like a complete loser.
Until one day…I realized something that would change EVERYTHING for me.
I realized that I’m GOOD at affiliate marketing. That the problem wasn’t ME! Here’s the shocking secret about affiliate marketing…
The Shocking Secret about Affiliate Marketing
See, before I became a homemaker with my first child, I was in banking…for over a decade to be exact. We were taught how to sell. We would go to training’s, we would learn on-the-fly, customer by customer, day by day, on the job training type of thing. And over time, I picked up patterns.
At one of my jobs, the month I first started, that very first month, I made MORE sales than the current record-holder, a woman who had worked there something like 4 years! She held the title of most sales every month for a very long time. Boy, was she MAD at me! Here I come in, my first month and break her record-streak. I’d go on to win every month. OH….she did NOT like me! I tell you what! Like, I’m sorry. I’m just doing my job. That’s what they pay me for…to sell.
What did I sell? Checking accounts mostly. See, she was pushing credit cards. That was her personal thing. But, I never really have been fond of credit cards. It goes against what I believe, so I went for checking accounts. While everyone in my department was trying to win most sales (you got a big bonus + job security) with credit cards to be like her, I was going a different route. I was going MY OWN WAY! I wasn’t DOING what everyone else was doing. I knew full well I couldn’t sell (get someone to open) a credit card. Because I don’t believe in them. But, I DO believe in checking accounts. I mean, we all need one, right?!
But you think to yourself, most people who come into your bank, already HAVE a checking account, right?! My question back to you is, “Do they?”
You have the person coming in cashing out their coin in the coin machine…no account. You have a person coming in cashing a check drawn on another person’s account…they don’t have an account there.
You have a person walking in, looking at a home loan. The easy thing there is to say that I’ve been in home loans and the NUMBER ONE thing any home lender is going to look at, is how long you’ve an account with them. No account…okay, let’s fix that! It is $100 to open and you can withdraw the $100 tomorrow if you want! Plus, I’ll even give you these……fill in the blank with whatever your company gives out. Usually there’s something free you get when they open an account. You can be in and out of here within 5 mins. Would you like to open an account? There’s the pitch right there.
90% of the time, their answer is yes.
The trick to making sales is that you have to LISTEN to what the customer NEEDS and then solve that problem. You solve their problem, you get the sale. It’s as easy as that.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
How in the world does banking have to do with affiliate marketing?
I’m glad you asked! Look at choooo. You are smart! I like you! 🙂
Here’s the thing…when I worked in banking, I wasn’t selling MY OWN PRODUCT. I was a REPRESENTATIVE to sell OTHER PEOPLE’S PRODUCTS! That’s what I was paid to do!
It wasn’t MY checking accounts I was selling. It was the banks.
That’s affiliate marketing!
Lemme ask you…have you ever had a job, where you’ve sold something, offered an option to a potential customer, or made a recommendation putting the best interest of the customer before your own?
That’s affiliate marketing!
When someone asks me, “What host do you recommend going through for your blog?” I say, Bluehost for beginners. Why? Because if you are just started out (or have less than 250,000 pageviews a month, that IS the best company to go with). They are even recommended by WordPress themselves as THEIR #1 pick, so you know the information is trustworthy.
Now if you have MORE than 250,000 pageviews a month, the best company for YOUR size blog is Agathon Group because you’ll need more resources and a higher level of on-going technical help from your host.
See how I’m making the recommendation based on what’s best for YOU, not me and my pocket book?!
You know that I’m not just making the recommendation for the money. Because my goal is to put YOUR needs first. I’m simply meeting YOUR needs.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve had some sort of experience in affiliate marketing; you just didn’t realize it.
So the question isn’t that you CAN’T sell something, it’s that you haven’t found the RIGHT PRODUCT to sell.
When you’re first starting, you need to try out many different affiliate programs and there are lots of good ones out there. My most popular product to date (my Blogging Binder) has sold more than $4,000 its first month released with absolutely no help what-so-ever. I had originally opened up an affiliate program on it at the time (but since have had to close it due to people abusing the system).
Since opening my Shopify store website, I haven’t gotten an order less than $30, so the potential for making money with one affiliate sign up to many different types of products, is really good. I’d highly encourage you to join different programs like that, that line up with what you do on your blog!
The main tip is to test out different products in your niche, things that your audience is buying and over time, you’ll begin to see what they are buying the most.
When you’ve determined that, THAT is the fun part.
Then, it’s just a matter of talking about those few products in as many posts (completely naturally and organically), as you can. The more you talk about them, the more you make AND…if they are products you can create yourself (take my Blogging Binder for example). If you started promoting it on your blog and saw it was selling really well, then you can make YOUR OWN blogging planner yourself, and instead of getting 40% of the affiliate commissions, selling your own product, you get 100% of the commissions.
Being an affiliate marketer, actually helps you decide what products to make because you know exactly what your audience wants!
Really, it’s a win-win all around.
The shocking secret about affiliate marketing is that you most likely already know exactly how to do it, and it’ll help you create your next (or first) product!
Can’t get better than that, right there!
Do you know any other shocking secrets about affiliate marketing?
