Whether you’re new to your online business or have been at it for awhile, there’s one dream entrepreneurs have in common:
Passive income.
And while there’s really no such thing as 100% passive income (good business owners are always adjusting their marketing—almost daily), it IS possible to make money with less stress.
One of the best ways to do it?
Affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing allows you to promote a product you love—one you know your readers and followers want but is something you simply don’t provide—and earn income from it.
Sounds easy enough right?
Not so fast!
The truth is, there are a lot of ways online business owners totally blow the sale when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Click to TweetThere are a lot of ways online business owners totally blow the sale when it comes to affiliate marketing. Jenny Shih can help.But if they knew these four simple tricks, they could make bank.
So how do you sell products and programs as an affiliate and make it work for your business and for your subscribers?
I’m filling you in today.
Here are my top 4 tips for how to make more money as an affiliate (even if it’s your first time).
Make it personal
Choose a program or product that you’ve used and loved.
Please, please don’t pick a random product that you know nothing about!
First, it will make selling harder.
But more importantly than that, if the product your promoting is mediocre at best, your audience will quickly lose trust in you, and your hopes of selling your own products—as well as future affiliate products—will plummet.
That’s why I recommend you focus on promoting the programs and products that had a positive impact on you and/or your business.
An easy rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “Would I share this even if there were no commission in it for me?”
If your answer is yes, that means it’s a program you feel confident standing behind.
Be generous
Wondering how to persuade people to buy from you instead of someone else?
Give an incentive you know your audience will love!
Bonuses are a great way to ensure your audience buys through you instead of someone else. My bonuses are great reasons why people go out of their way to ensure they join programs like B-School or Authentic Selling® University (formerly Sales School) through my affiliate link.
So what do you offer as a bonus?
It depends! The easiest answer is to offer something you already have or could easily create just for these purchasers.
Even better, offer something they can’t get any other way—except if they join through your affiliate link.
Have fun creating a complementary offer, and your fans will be thrilled to buy through you.
Make a plan and follow through
Like I said before, “passive income” doesn’t mean that you’ll sit around and do nothing while the money rolls in.
If you’re an affiliate for a program that’s being launched by the host, you have a lot of work to do leading up to the sale if you want to succeed. Pre-scheduled social media posts just won’t cut it!
The good news is, this is great training for your own launches!
As you put together a plan, I recommend you include things like:
- Writing a thorough review of the program and why you love it. (For reference, check out my B-School review and Authentic Selling® University review.)
- Creating a special bonus page so people know exactly what they get when they join through you.
- Mapping out the emails you want to send to the free training or webinar. I recommend 2–3, at least!
- Mapping out the emails you want to send to the paid program. Again, I recommend 2–3, at least!
- Creating a blurb to include in your weekly newsletter promoting the free training and the paid program, based on the launch schedule and your email schedule.
- Determining how often you want to share the free and paid programs on social media and writing your posts.
- For bonus points, a few weeks before the promotion window begins, start talking about this program’s area of focus to warm up your audience to this topic. Then, during the launch, continue to offer great content around this same topic.
- For more bonus points, see if you can schedule a Facebook live, interview, or something similar with the program creator, so you can add impact to your sales.
Use your sales skills
Now, here’s the real secret to being a top-selling affiliate:
Help your audience decide if the program you’re an affiliate for is right for them.
Tell them why they’re a great fit (if they are) or why they shouldn’t join (if you think it’s not best for them).
Your honesty sells!
Click to Tweet“Honesty sells” @jennyshihAnd yes, it’s as simple (and non-slimy) as that!
My friend and sales genius Kendrick Shope always says that selling is all about helping people, and this is especially true with affiliate sales.
When you add “ask me anything” to your blog post review and to every sales email you send, you will get responses. And those folks want your genuine opinion on the program and if it’s right for them.
Answer honestly, and you’ll make more sales.
Even if you turn someone away from the program, you’ve turned them into a fan of you and how you do business. And there’s really nothing more valuable than that!
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