Many times you’ll promote a product directly.
EXAMPLE: You might send a product pitch directly to your newsletter list and encourage them to buy using your link in order to get your bonus. Or you might create a product review section on your blog where you review and compare products as a means of directly pitching them to your readers.
Sometimes, however, you want to be a little sneaky. You don’t want to be so direct and “in your face” with your pitches. You don’t want your prospects to feel like they’re being sold to. Rather, you want them to feel like you’re a good friend just helping out.
Here then are three sneaky, “under the radar” ways to get your affiliate links in front of your prospects…
1. Get prospects to analyze a sales page. Here you ask your prospects to examine a sales page, but not because you want your prospects to purchase the product.
For example, you might tell your copywriting students to examine the headline and bullet points. You might even ask them to tell you how to improve those points.
Other examples: Asking graphic and design prospects to examine the design of the page or asking usability students what they think of the ordering process.
2. Weave a product link into a “how to” article. Another way to indirectly promote a product is by giving prospects step-by-step instructions for some task. The trick is that one of the instructions includes the use of a product (which is where you drop your link).
For example, you might create an article telling people how to clean their computer of viruses and then protect themselves in the future. One of the steps might involve purchasing a specific anti-virus program.
It works because it’s not a direct pitch. It never crosses the prospects’ minds that they’re reading an ad. Instead, your readers will feel grateful that they’ve found your helpful article.
3. Use a contest to get prospects to look at a sales page. You can use a contest as an excuse to get prospects to look at a sales page. For example, you can ask reader’s to scour a page looking for grammatical errors or count how many times the word “discover” is used. (The winner is chosen randomly from among all correct entries.)
I saved the best (and bonus tip) for last…
4. Use a contest to get the prospects to sell themselves. For example, you can create a contest where the person who creates the best commercial for a product wins a prize. While your prospects create these commercials, they’ll sell themselves on purchasing the product!
Point is, you don’t have to put a direct sales pitch in front of your prospects in order to sell an affiliate product. And sometimes, you’ll find that the indirect approach creates the highest conversion rates!
