What Tools do Affiliates Like?

Ellen C Braun · Joined: 15 Nov 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Baltimore, MD

Hello Experienced Affiliates,

I am in the final stages of publishing my first ebook, in the self-help-weight-loss category; based on my experiences having been a chocolate-and-doughnut-addict, and going to a starch-and-sugar-free diet. (It's called http://www.willpowersecrets.com/)

I will list the ebook with PayDotCom, and I would like to put together a good arsenal of tools that my affiliates can use for marketing, such as: articles, banners, buttons, etc....

Which tools do you affiliates appreciate most, and why?

Thanks in advance! Very Happy

Rosalind Gardner · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:20 pm Post subject:

Hi Ellen,

Congratulations on the new book AND the diet. Both are serious accomplishments... I know how addictive starch can be. Just try it in beer form! Smile

Re 'affiliate tools'...

I love to see a good selection of different sized, professionally-done graphics, ie. 468x60, 125x125, 250x250, and a few skyscrapers for those who use them. Smile

A selection of short and long copy (or articles) is always nice too, although I usually try to modify merchant copy, so that I'm not just repeating what everyone else has on their site.

Lastly, although this probably won't apply to your site, I love to see instructions on how to create affiliate links that point to individual pages on the site.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,
Ros

Lynn Terry · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 53 Location: TN, USA

I'll add to that list with:

- Free reports, trials, etc that we can promote. This can be on the sales page itself, or in the form of a rebrandible ebook that we can give away (which contains our unique Affiliate links to your sales page).

- Articles that we can post on our content sites

Ellen C Braun · Joined: 15 Nov 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Baltimore, MD

Thanks Ros and Lynn Cool

I am working on some of these things....

rr · Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 10

I'd like the tool to track my affiliate link clicks and how I am doing... Very Happy

callie47 · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 54 Location: NB, Canada

Great Idea.

Ditto on the professional graphics... 750x100 (header graphics) I've been searching all over the net for this size and can't find any that suit without paying for professional design ($100's)

That reminds me... anyone know of a good graphics editor that you can try for free before purchasing?

Rosalind Gardner · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:55 pm Post subject:

Hi Callie47,

You can pick up a free trial of Paint Shop Pro from Jasc.

Although I have PhotoShop, I always use Paint Shop Pro and love it.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Ros

Dan Reinhold · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 115 Location: Massachusetts USA

I'll go one further and tell you what affiliates DON'T like!

Once upon a time not too long ago, I released my first ebook. Ahh, a thing of beauty it was (at least to me) and how it would change the world for all those starting home businesses!!

I was even so bold as to contact some heavy-hitter affiliates, asking/begging that they promote it. One "super" affiliate in particular showed genuine interest and actually agreed to promote MY little ol' ebook. Knock me over with a feather or what...

What, pray tell, did this sales superstar receive as promotional materials in my haste and enthusiasm to maket this puppy?

> A very lousy sales letter that took over a month to make it merely bad

> No image links

> No written promotional materials at the outset, although a couple of handy five-part ecourses were available after a couple of weeks.

I could probably go on, but as it is, my tears are making my beer overflow and it's not even noon yet...

Consequently, darn few sales have been made to date and I blew my chance with a top performer. Crying or Very sad

Well, I'm planning the second in the series ( oh boy I do love punishment!) which will start with a notification page first and be built into something a whole heckuva lot more worthwhile before even being offered to anyone for promotion. Period.

O wondrous affiliate out there (and the others too), can you ever forgive me???

Rosalind Gardner · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject:

Hi Dan,

I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing but that's too funny!

Please don't cry in your beer, that waters it down and if you're drinking the stuff that passes for beer in the States, it's already water... I mean watered down, and that's bad for the buzz.

(Boy, you're all gonna think that I'm a total lush... truth is, I can rarely consume more than one a day.)

Hey, at least you learned the lesson... and it seems you got some good help there from a caring and generous person who was willing to take the time to point out the error of your ways, rather than the typical affiliate who would turn tail and run. Wink

If you turn that post into a full-fledged article, and fix a few more items on your site...

...note the way the left nav breaks, and the text after Becky's testimonial starts to the right and is unreadable.

You really need to go through every page... there are a number of table problems throughout.

Anyway, fix the issues, write the article and goodness knows, I might just use it. Smile

Stopped crying yet?

Cheers,
Ros

http://www.wahumor.com/thewahumorwaytoworkathome.html

Dan Reinhold · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 115 Location: Massachusetts USA

Well, Ros, you should be laughing 'cuz I'm trying so darn hard to be funny!!

And check the name again...being Kraut on both sides, do you think I COULD drink American bathwater?!?

I also noticed you neglected to define "one". Is that one 32 oz. Foster's lager?
One keg? Pretty relative term, I'd say.

avwaard · Joined: 22 Nov 2005 Posts: 10 Location: The Netherlands

[b]"The greatest viral marketing idea of all time" Free Download

... Lynn Terry, SelfStartersWeeklyTips.com [/b]

When I told my brother a couple of months ago that I was setting up my affiliate business to earn money on the net he gave me that typical "elder brother look" so typical sometimes in family relations. Now, months later, when I tell him I am making money through Adwords and giving away free ebooks that "look" became even more strong. "What are you up to?" he said and "how do you make money without a website and a product of your own?" I explained to him what I have learned so far from marketers like Ken Evoy, Jeff Mulligan, Alan gardyne and others. So I explained also how I make money with the "supertip" ebook almost every day now by just giving it away. I will tell all of you here who don't know right now how it works, like I told my brother. But first I cut and paste the content of one
email I recieved yesterday from Harvey Segal, the author of the "supertip ebook" to show you I'm not bluffing. I receive emails like this from him frequently because his stategy works...

Dear Ton,

Congratulations ! You've just made a sale for The Lazy Man's Guide To Writing Articles today.

Your earning: $17.39

Well done !

Thanks for being a SuperTips affiliate.

Best regards,
Harvey Segal

First of all I would like to mention that I was not aware of the existence of above mentioned ebook but then again I did not know about the other products as well. Only the ad-tracker he sells. Beside these commissions I also earn through Paypal when somene decides to join in. All this while Harvey Segal does not earn a single penny 'cause the Paypal payment (10 dollars) go straight into my account. So how does this work then? Simple, first you download the supertipebook free, in that book there are other links to yet more free ebooks (101 supertips, The power of Ad-tracking), all superb info for you to learn from. Harvey Segal is often called "Mr. Clickbank". In your copy of "The Ultimate Supertip" he explains to you how you can make money with this book by buying the link to brands this book with your aff. ID, the cost for you is $10 dollars. Those ten dollars goes to the person who gave you this book by Paypal transfer. So Harvey still don't make a single cent from it. However, when the receiver of the book buys a product mentioned in it (and in the other free ebooks) of course he will make money. Now if you want to receive emails like the one above stating that you made a commission you will have to buy the "Superlink" which brands all those free ebooks with your aff. ID. This is not some corny cookie kinda thing, the ID is unique and stored in Harvey Segal's database.
So in total I paid 10 dollars to the aff. who gave me the book, plus 17 dollars to Harvey Segal for the supelink. I can now absolutely guarantee and proof to you that those 27 dollars will return manifold but you have to be patient. It does not come back immediately, in all it took 2 months fore the C.B. sales happened and 3 to 4 weeks before payments through Paypal came from other marketers who want to try this strategy. So that is the first big P in my own strategy (P stands for patience). Of course you have to do some marketing to let people know you give away this free ebook, I did not spend a single cent on advertising. Only through my blog and through forums and a few emails to my list (only 30 people on my list, most of them I know personally). I think the viral aspect of this stategy is what's causing the spread of my ID in those 3 free ebooks is what makes these sales happening and I am very content with this. Just imagine if you earn 10 dollars a day from this, that's a nice 300 dollars
incomestream that is practically on autopilot. If I can grow my list to a couple of hundred or thousand I am sure that more income will follow.
So! Does my brother understand now? I think he did because he downloaded the free ebooks for further investigation. He saw my Clickbank commissions and my Paypal account and now he knows that I am truly making money on the web. Not thousands and thousands but a recurring income which will grow over time as I learn more and more about aff. business. The next time I will tell him about my Adwords campaigns and how I am now reaping the benefits from what I learned about that aspect of marketing. Soon I will have a website (With SBI) and then I will dive fully into my niche which is way out of the "money-making products" area. Generally "The Ultimate Supertip" is the only money making product I promote, the rest is all about tools (keywords mostly) to enhance and help your business efforts, whatever niche your into.
Follow the supertip link in my signature and let me know what you think of this free download.

May fortune smile on all of you and do not give up, you will make money if you persist and persevere.

Regards,

C.F.

Dan Reinhold · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 115 Location: Massachusetts USA

OK, Roz...

I fixed the page and wrote the article.

Wanna check 'em out?

its_me_shaners · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Ottawa, Canada

Dont forget to support your product.
Many will have questions for you, problems, or want to knwo thebestway to market your product.
So support is a good idea too!!

Good luck, sounds like a great product.

Shane

Kevin Riley · Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 17 Location: Osaka, Japan

Roz

I just finished reading your newsletter "Humor Writer Cries in Beer ..."

As a writer and vendor, I found this to be a very valuable e-mail and have added it to my files. It would help many vendors give you better service - you should post it here for them.