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If there's one weakness in affiliate marketing it's that we have absolutely no control on how the offer is presented by the merchant. Some merchants are open to constructive feedback and will take on board advice on how to increase their conversion rate and are simply too busy or lack the skills to test and tweak their copy.

However, if your merchant isn't receptive and you can't find a competing product within your niche market, here are 5 techniques that you can emply to improve any offer, and really send your sales soaring:

1. Increase the perception of value by providing a presale comparison

The real value of any product is always in the customer's mind, and you can increase that perception in dozens of ways.  For example, you guide the customer through a comparison of similar products, while pointing out why the one you're promoting is really the best deal for the money.

2. Demonstrate how the customer can immediately benefit

Show the customer how they can put the product to use from the moment they buy it. You should already own your own copy of most of the products you promote. So, create a tutorial or some way of showcasing the results you've gotten from the product.

3. Give More of Yourself On a Personal Level –

You can almost always increase the perceived value with social proof. Discuss your own experience surrounding the questions, problems and ultimate solutions in regards to the product at hand. Empathize with the customer's position and point out the things you share in common. Don't be afraid to point out the negatives, it's surprising how a fank description can sway the buyers decision. Let's face it we all know that nothing's perfect!

4. Build confidence in the product and the merchant

Your relationship to the merchant should enable you to give the customer a sense of security in making the purchase. Let them know about the product's guarantee and/or refund policy. Let them know the transaction is secure. You want to remove as much of the risk as possible from the purchase. If you feel comfortable with the quality of the product and customer support, offer a personal guarantee.

5. Provide additional incentives

Check with the merchant first to make sure you're allowed to do this. Its usually no problem when you're promoting things like e-books, membership sites, etc.. You can really sweeten up an offer when you add your own products to the mix. E.g., “order this e-book, and I'll throw in a free copy of this other product over here..”

So, you see, all it takes is a little creativity to add value to any affiliate offer. Use the five steps, differentiate yourself from other affiliates and you may soon be receiving accolades as the affiliate of the month!

Anyone who has known me for any length of time will tell you that, when it comes to testing and tracking, i'm a fanatic. I have probably tested more factors in the online sales and marketing process than you could even think of!

I have invested thousands of dollars in building up my database of test results and in developing my own tracking system. (I'm currently upgrading my own personal tracking system "AdTrackPro" and I will soon be opening the doors to a limited number of beta testers).

One thing that totally facinates me is determining what happens when a visitor lands on your page…

• What do they read first?
• Do they read everything in details or do they skim the sub-heads?
• Do they read the testimonials?
• Do they subscribe to the newsletter?
• Do they download the free report?
• How much time do they spend on the page?
• At what point do they leave the page?

There are so many questions for which probably in excess of 95% of Internet Marketers and webmasters just don't have the answers to.

Understanding what your visitor does and adapting your pages to achieve the optimum response can make a huge difference to your profitability.

This is especially true if you are buying your traffic through channels such as Pay Per Click, CPA or ezine advertising.

You probably won't be surprised to know that I'm currently testing this blog. I'll share some of my results in a future post.

In the meantime, have a great Easter Weekend!

I spend quite a bit of time on market research and I've always been fascinated by viral marketing. I was surprised to see that there are very few viral marketing ebooks or multimedia products that actually use viral marketing to achieve penetration within the Internet Marketing niche.

As I was researching, I jotted my notes down in the form of a mind map; and when I reviewed my mind map it occurred to me that I already had an outline for a special guide on Viral Marketing. I'll probably spend some time over the long Easter weekend to expand the ouline. Look out for an announcement next week.

I think that anyone that writes about viral marketing should at the very least build something viral into their distribution strategy so I will probably use ViralPDF (A brilliant application from Sean Kelly) to make my special guide "brandable".

I'm consolidating a number of my Internet Marketing related newsletters.

The main reason is to cut down on the number of duplicate copies many of my subscribers receive.

So, I'm looking for your suggestions for a suitable name for my new newsletter. Please post your suggestions by commenting below and I'll reward the best suggestion with a free copy of any of my products including my ebooks and scripts.

Come on, don't be shy!

I saw this question on an Internet Marketing Forum this morning:
"Has(sic) any of you tried getting interviewed by someone else, on tape, for the purpose of getting stuff you know out of your head and onto paper?"

I think it's an interesting question so here are some of my own tips and techniques

I love Mind Maps and Spider Diagrammes. I have a stock of paper that has been overprinted with a Cloud motif and I use that for mind mapping if I'm in my office. (I also carry a stock around in my briefcase) I also use software, there's a free application called Freemind which is quite powerful or, if you want a feature packed solution, you should check out Mindjet.

Another useful method of capturing ideas, especially when driving, is to dictate directly to some form of recording device. In the office I simply use my PC, when I'm out and about I use a Sony Minidisc recorder or I simply use the facility on my Mobile Phone. I have even been known to ring my own office number to record a message in my voice mail!

The most effective form of brainstorming is when you can put together a group of people. The internet makes it easy for us to record brainstorming calls with Joint Venture Partners using Skype together with HotRecorderPro.

If I want to remember something or simply to capture an idea for review at a later time, I find that the best solution id jotting the basic details down into my notebook or my diary. Sometimes the simple solutions are the best!

One of my most favourite idea tools is the combination of  "MagNotes" and my office whiteboard. Magnotes are magnetic hexagonal tiles that you can move around your whiteboard. You can write on them with marker pens, so you can edit them and they are totally reusable. They come in a wide variety of colours and sizes too.

John

I'm a big fan of resale rights products. Creating a product and offering resale rights to it allows you to charge a premium price and to boost your cashflow. You can often get a much bigger, and faster, return on your investment.

Not only that, but resale rights products have an in-built viral effect as they get passed on from reseller to reseller and eventually to the end user. Your resale rights products can generate significant levels of traffic to your network of sites.

Remember this traffic is from customers… people who have already bought your products.

As well as creating my own, I also look out for good quality resale rights products from other publishers. Especially when they come complete with good sales copy and quality graphics.

Buying the resale rights to products saves a lot of product creation time. I can quickly and easily set up a dedicated web site or simply offer resale rights products from a separate directory on an existing site. I can have everything set up in less than 20 mins and I'm ready to generate sales!

Here's an example of a nice resale rights package that you can pick up for only $17. You get three volumes of good quality information complete with master resale rights so with just a couple of sales you'll be in the back and get your copy at no cost… what a great deal!

A significant percentage of my income comes from affiliate earnings and here are three strategies that I use to maximise my profit…
Be different… don't use the boilerplate copy provided by the merchant. Write your own promotional copy. For example, pick one specific benefit and write your promotional copy describing how that one benefit solved a specific problem for you personally.

1. Build your own list… don't drive traffic direct to a merchants website. Drive traffic to a squeeze page and build your own targeted list.
2. Place affiliate links in your auto responder sequence. Then you get many more opportunities to make that sale and you can follow up with relevant offers.
3. Write Mini Reports… Creating a short report of about 10 pages, embedding your affiliate link and then giving it away is a very successful affiliate marketing technique. This is my favourite strategy for products or services that offer residual income opportunities. I still receive commissions from reports that I gave away five years ago!

Would you like to discover 100 magical ways to boost your own affiliate earnings?

Check out this new product from Larry Dotson.

Having been involved in the offline retail industry, I can tell you that not everyone is as honest and trustworthy as you are. So, why should it be any different online? Yes, there are crooks, scammers and downright dishonest people online.

However, the vast majority of us are honest.

So, why do so many Internet Marketers invest so much time and energy building almost impregnable fortresses to protect their products? It seems to me that all these barriers cost their customers far more in inconvenience than the potential loss through the theft of digital products. In my opinion, they are making their customers pay too high a price.

You customers are the very lifeblood of your business and it is far better to invest your time in delivering superior products and service than in making life difficult for them.

I'm not saying that we should make it easy for the crooks… I am saying that we should make it easy for our customers.

As I'm sure you already know… word spreads quickly online, and it doesn't take long for people to express their displeasure when something annoys them. In fact people are much more likely to spread a negative opinion than they are to spread compliments about you products or service.

So make sure you delight your customers and give them something positive to tell their friends and colleagues about.

By the way if you must implement a Product Protection system, then the system with the best reputation is DLGuard by Sam Stevens. Sam really knows how to look after his customers.

Have you ever thought how great it would be to play golf to the same level of skill as Tiger Woods?

How about being about to cook to the same standard as a Michelin Star chef?

Or maybe you'd like to emulate the success of a world champion athlete?

One of the most effective success strategies is known as modeling, it involves the detailed study of a complex event or phenomenon and breaking it down into small enough "chunks" so that it can be re-applied in someway.

Behavioral Modeling involves observing and mapping the successful processes which underlie an exceptional performance of some type.

Your ability to model another person's behavior opens up many opportunities…

If you want to achieve excellence in any endeavour, you need to find a high achiever, analyse their behavior and then apply that behavior to your own endeavours.

There are many experts and high achievers within the field of Internet Marketing, the trick is to focus your attention on just one specific area such as list building and then find the people who are excellent list builders. When you have identified your expert, your next challenge is to analyse in detail their exact processes and apply their processes to your own business.

Taking the list building example, three people come to mind immediately… Gary Ambrose, Tellman Knudson and Mike Filsaime. All three of those guys stand out from the crowd because they have developed their own systems, they have gone the extra mile to really leverage their lists and they are all earning seven figure incomes.

Modeling those guys and applying their systems to your business would be priceless!  I have to come clean at this stage… I've been beaten to the finish line… a brand new product called "Breakthrough Wealth" has just launched and it includes every little detail that I would want to learn about three of the most successful people in the business.

I couldn't believe it when I first saw it and you won't either when you see the massive value that's on offer, what a small investment to literally achieve Breakthrough Wealth!

Terry Dean is offering you the opportunity for you to own thousands of dollars instructional tapes.  Here is the URL:

http://terrydean.org/free-jay-abraham-mastermind-marketing-audio-series/

What do you need to do to get them?

You just need to have a blog… and if you don't already have a blog why not?

Post a link to Terry's offer… and you are in his drawing for thousands of dollars worth of material.

I hold Terry in very high regard, he helped me a great deal when I first got started online… for example, he took time out to give me free advice on improving the response of my very first sales copy.