One of the biggest mistakes affiliates make....

The biggest mistake many affiliates make is not setting up a list. They will often direct traffic that they generated to their affiliate links, instead of a list. When this occurs, they may not know it, but they are wagering that their visitor will purchase on first contact. Unfortunately for the affiliate marketer, this is usually not the case. Visitors many times need to be warmed up to the product with several visits and more information before they decide they may wish to buy from a business or person (you). This is where building a list become effective.

When you build a list, you, the affiliate, can remedy this problem. In addition, you can keep traffic and then proceed to warm it up, and then point it to different purchases down the line. What this means is that it is not a one-shot deal. You can make the effort to sell the same person other products over the course of time and you use you existing traffic instead of going out and finding new prospects.

Now, to pull this off with success, you the affiliate in question must purchase the required tools. We personally suggest using the autoresponder service listed at the bottom. It is relatively inexpensive ($18/mo.) and comes with a large range of services, including macros and spam checkers and macros. I believe it is also whitelisted by many email clients and boasts a near 100% delivery rate. This autoreponder service will not only manage your list, but it will also help you grow it. It comes with many free tools that enable you to create hover-ins, web forms and pop-ups, all of which can be employed to maximize your opt-in rate.

Besides buying the autoresponder service, you should also setup your own site if you do not already own one. I often use Yola to create one in minutes, give it a try. The first five you set up don't cost a thing! Of course if you already have a related site, you can simply add your opt-in form to a page on your existing site. This applies to blogs too.

After you have your site and your autoresponder setup, you only have two steps remaining: the first is creating a course or several articles that are related to the affiliate products you will sell; and the second is creating an opt-in form for you site or blog.

The first part is rather easy. Begin by figuring out what your topic will be and then outline it over a period of five to seven days. Write everything as if you are talking to a person, you don't want it to look like a formal article.

If you don't want to write the articles yourself, hire a ghostwriter at elance for $5-15 per issue, depending on the size.

After you have created your autoresponder articles, load it into your autoresponder with advertisements in the text for the affiliate product you are going to sell, and then create an opt-in box for your list.

The opt-in box is very important. Most marketers often neglect this which is strange since they have spent the time to create a good course, inserted affiliate links that don't look too obvious and decided on the delivery dates on all of the emails.

How to make your opt-in page convert...

First, remember that the main purpose of an opt-in page is simply to collect opt-in email addresses and/or phone numbers. You don't want Google Adsense ads all over them and you definitely will not include a navigational menu that readers can use to browse your site. Why? Because they detract from your main purpose which is to get visitors to opt-in to your list.

I personally suggest what is called a “squeeze page” which will “squeeze” new visitors for their email addresses and names. Here's a few things an effective squeeze page should include:

1. A nice graphic header. Make sure it's not a blurry header created from using using terrible templates. I suggest you visit BZ9 (see below)

2. A grabbing headline. Before you request someone to opt-in to your list, you must reach out and GET their attention with a red headline in large font. Make sure your headline is clear and very COMPELLING. No fluff, keep it simple.

3. Use compact text that is two paragraphs at most. All you want to do is basically tell them “Look! Here's a really great reason to opt in to my list. Did I mention it is free? Please opt in now”. Consider also giving them a free report for opting into your list, which can be downloaded as soon as they opt-in. Nothing like a good incentive that will push them to join.

4. Your call to action. Tell them to stop kicking the tires and join now. Tell them their future hangs on it.

5. Your signature. It will immediately provide you with credibility. People want to see one, so write yours down, scan it; and add it to your squeeze page or use the below tool.

6. A no spam clause. Let them know that you will not spam them or sell their information. Telling them that will make them far more likely to opt-in.

Once you have your opt-in form set, the only thing left is to drive traffic sources to your opt-in list (see resource box) collect their email addresses – and then wait for the money to roll in.

Larry G Potter
Pres, KIM-LAR INC.
Good Autoresponder: http://budurl.com/FastAutoResponder
Squeeze Pages: http://budurl.com/InstantOptinPages
Signatures: http://www.vletter.com