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Internet marketing startups often turn to affiliate programmes for products to add to their sales listings because there is such a wide range of easily downloadable products offering generous commissions. However, they are often dismayed to find that it is surprisingly difficult to make any sales on the affiliate products they have placed on their websites.

While some people with high ranking websites will certainly be making sales directly off their pages, that is not really the best way to go about selling affiliate products or programmes, especially if the links are not supported by useful, relevant, well written and original product information.

The main aim of the front page should be to get visitors to sign up to your newsletter via your opt-in form. You will now be able to FOLLOW UP on those visitors who filled in your opt-in form, and remember, it is in the follow-up that most sales are closed.

If you have been struggling to master the net and make a profit on your online business, here is a three-pronged marketing strategy to help increase your sales.

First Prong: Know Your Product

Choose a product that matches your niche, offers a good commission and is also well written and presented. Yes, that means you will have to BUY it yourself!

Get to know the product well enough so that you will be able to write a review that is comprehensive, honest and authentic.

Second Prong: Write A Product Review In Three Parts

This is important. Don’t just write a single review, post it and forget it. Write your review in THREE parts and send each part as a separate message to your list over the course of 6-9 days.

The aim of the headline of the first message is to create maximum curiosity to encourage a high opening rate. The main copy should create rapport with the customer, induce a sense of familiarity, emphasize the BIG BENEFIT and neutralize scepticism.

Of course, your link through to the product site should be included, but since most of the sales come in the FOLLOW UP you will need to prepare your second and third reviews, each in a different style.

The second message should be in the form of questions and answers about the product, further neutralizing lingering scepticism and encouraging purchase via the link you supply in the body of the letter.

The third message should make use of bullet points to emphasize the benefits to the reader of purchasing and again provide a link for immediately doing so.

Third Prong: Whack Your List With A Too-Good-To-Turn-Down Offer

As well as the MAJOR BENEFIT of the product itself, make your readers a BIG OFFER and add a TIME LIMIT to give it an edge of urgency…

Here’s what you do. In each of your letters you emphasize how good the product is and how much you want your readers to benefit from it. So much so that you are going to make them a generous offer.

Offer them either a rebate on the retail price. Make it between 75%-100% of your commission. For example, if the product costs $50 and you earn a 50% commission, or $25 per purchase, offer to give them a rebate of between $15 and $25!

What? Am I crazy?

Well, maybe. Note that I did not advise that you offer a discount, (which you would probably have to process through Paypal). I said “offer them a rebate.”

…What’s the difference?

Well, a discount is given up front. A rebate is awarded post purchase.

What you do is provide your purchasers with a link to a rebate form that they print out and post to you with their name, address and the product they purchased and the purchasing code. Explain to your customers that it takes X number of days to process payments. Ask them to send the form to you X number of days after they purchased the product to claim their rebate. You undertake to send them their rebate as soon as you receive your commission cheque.

Simple!

Several things accrue from this.

Firstly, it is unlikely that every customer will follow up on the rebate, so you won’t lose all your profit, even if you offered to rebate 100% of your commission.

Secondly, you have converted a number of people on your list into customers. If someone found your products satisfactory and the sales experience to be smooth, safe and secure, they will be more inclined to purchase from you again. You can now sell to them again and again.

Thirdly, when you send them their cheque, you can include some direct mail materials. Of course they will open the letter from you since they know there is a cheque inside, and so they will be much more likely and well disposed to read your printed sales material.

So make them a nice follow-up offer and you stand to recoup your profit all over again!!

David Hurley lives in Japan and contributes regular articles about Internet marketing. If you would like a series of Clickbank product messages for your opt-in list sales campaign, David is offering five complete sets FREE and instantly downloadable here => http://grasp-the-nettle.com/clickfree.html .
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