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Re: Getting affiliates to promote for you

by Pawprints34
13 replies
A relatively famous internet marketer in the last few days sent out an email saying that what he had learned after attended the Clickbank summit is that the way to make money without Google is to forget SEO and just create a high quality product and focus on conversions and then lots of affiliates will want to promote the product and it will have a snowball effect.....

Now I've read lots of emails like this where it all sounds so simple and easy and I'm sure what he has said is true but I imagine that in reality unless you have deep pockets to do mass media buys like Mike Geary to build up your brand and name then no real affiliates with decent lists in the fitness/weight loss industry are going to promote you. I imagine that the top listed websites on Google in these niches get an Inbox full of requests from "nobodys" to promote their products to their list and even offer 100% commission. I'm sure some of these are quite good products but unless you are "in the know" with the right people, have built brand recognition with your name and attend expensive CLickbank summits where you can talk to people and hope they like you then none of this JV partnering is possible???

I know there is a JV section of the forum here on WF but when I look at it alot of the offers seem a bit spammy (no offense). Things like "Investors needed"...." Make and extra $1000, $5000, $10 000 this month"... "If you have a website I can get targetted traffic to it" but when you open the thread there are very few details.

Sorry If I have offended anyone with that analysis that is just my general impression of looking at this section of WF. It seems a bit "buyer beware" as to whether you are actually getting a genuine JV partner with a good list in a niche.

Maybe I have it oversimplified but I was interested to get the opinions of others who perhaps have tried to encourage list owners or top website owners in non-IM niches to promote ebook products via Clickbank (say for example if I was the vendor of a Clickbank product)?

What do you think? And how would a complete beginner go about getting decent JV partners? I know I need to show evidence of a good conversion rate to try to interest people but how would a beginner do this? Spend a fortune on PPC, media buys, solo ads (and hope the list is decent?)?????
#affiliates #promote
  • Profile picture of the author andynathan
    You find affiliates the same way you find anything else. Build quality relationships with customers and connections who will promote your product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pawprints34
    It's the "how to" build quality relationships with connections who will promote your product that I am wondering about.

    I imagine most people that would buy a weight loss/fitness product are probably not affiliate or internet marketers and would know nothing about lists, SEO, PPC etc. so I wouldn't expect my customers to buy the product, love it and promote it to their list cause they probably don't have one!
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  • Profile picture of the author TeamTCW
    Affiliates also try to promote your products using SEO so this is good thing as you get long time relation with your affiliate while doing your business, I suggest that you shouldn't ignore the power of SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
    Mike,

    Finding the right affiliates is a critical part of building
    a successful online business. The "secret" is to go out
    and find active affiliates. You need to be proactive in
    finding those people.

    For example, use Google to look for people who have
    built quality review blogs in your niche market.

    Don't go charging in straight away with a proposal! Add
    a few thoughtful/constructive comments, ask questions
    and establish a dialogue with each blogger on a personal
    and individual basis.

    If you don't already have it, get Skype and use it as a
    networking tool to build relationships.

    John
    P.S. I have a mind map that I'm sure you'd find useful.
    Let me know if you'd like a copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pawprints34
    Thanks John. I'd like to take a look at your Mindmap...thanks for that.

    Your plan sounds quite possible. Its nice to hear some real advice rather than all the hype.

    I guess there is no easy way to do it and there is always the element of persevering through rejections and hoping that someone eventually picks up your product before you run out of options for decent websites in your niche. After the first few I'm sure it gets easier to say to the next website owner in your niche...."XYZ.com is promoting this product and got X% conversion rate when he sent it to his list..."
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  • Profile picture of the author NetUsher
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    I think if you can develop a really good product that people are genuinely very pleased with after using the product, you should be very targeted in who you market the product to. What I mean by this is most super affiliates don't just randomly market products.

    For instance super affiliate only marketing products that they have tried and used themselves and were pleased with the product. If I used a product and I thought wow this stuff is great. You know the first thought to come in my head is, I could make a lot of money selling this stuff.

    So your first customers have to be super affiliates that are promoting these types of products, but yours has got to be better. You don't try and sell to them; you give them your product to try for free. If you can convince these folks just to try your product, don't mention anything about marketing, let them come to you. If your product is good they will contact you, their not stupid, their always looking for money makers.
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  • Profile picture of the author researchpro
    Good question Mike, I am in the same boat. I have a great product that is not any bs, it's taking me years to develop it. The problem is where to go from here to get the value represented and returned effectively. Would be easily just to sign for clickbank but have no idea the consequences or real benefits I'd be stepping into.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Turn buyers into affiliates.
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  • Profile picture of the author sharkey
    I started my affiliate group by reaching out to people who had strong blogs who reviewed products like mine that I could tell had affiliate ads on their site. I reached out to them and asked them to write a review of my product (I sent them one for free).

    After I sent them the product I said by the way, I do have an affiliate program if you're interested, then if anyone clicks the links back to my site from yours and purchases you can make money.

    most of the reviewers put up an affiliate ad in their sidebar too! I had already been working with some bloggers for reviews in the past so I already had relationships with many of them, so I sent them all an email saying I had a new affiliate program and here's the link. Many of them signed up. From there once I had a few, I found that people in that niche who were reading the blogs ALSO signed up. It did take a few months to build up a decent roster. it didn't happen overnight.

    The benefit of using an affiliate site (like shareasale) is that affiliates will just find you on the site, which is also what has happened.

    I have to say the bloggers were not top quality affiliates - they don't make webpages devoted to my product and rank them in SEO and I don't get a lot of sales from them. BUT It was a good place to start and has helped my products get a lot of exposure, and the reviews they write do drive traffic to my site. I've often been surprised which sites drive tons of traffic and which don't.
    I have gotten more sales from people who found my company on shareasale who are full time affiliate marketers - those affiliates are doing a good job - but they found me, not the other way around.

    It really depends on your niche. It's easier to turn buyers into affiliates if you're in the internet marketing niche because the buyers are going to be interested in affiliate marketing. If your product is a consumer products most buyers will not be affiliates.
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    • Profile picture of the author researchpro
      Originally Posted by sharkey View Post

      I started my affiliate group by reaching out to people who had strong blogs who reviewed products like mine that I could tell had affiliate ads on their site. I reached out to them and asked them to write a review of my product (I sent them one for free).

      After I sent them the product I said by the way, I do have an affiliate program if you're interested, then if anyone clicks the links back to my site from yours and purchases you can make money.

      most of the reviewers put up an affiliate ad in their sidebar too! I had already been working with some bloggers for reviews in the past so I already had relationships with many of them, so I sent them all an email saying I had a new affiliate program and here's the link. Many of them signed up. From there once I had a few, I found that people in that niche who were reading the blogs ALSO signed up. It did take a few months to build up a decent roster. it didn't happen overnight.

      The benefit of using an affiliate site (like shareasale) is that affiliates will just find you on the site, which is also what has happened.

      I have to say the bloggers were not top quality affiliates - they don't make webpages devoted to my product and rank them in SEO and I don't get a lot of sales from them. BUT It was a good place to start and has helped my products get a lot of exposure, and the reviews they write do drive traffic to my site. I've often been surprised which sites drive tons of traffic and which don't.
      I have gotten more sales from people who found my company on shareasale who are full time affiliate marketers - those affiliates are doing a good job - but they found me, not the other way around.

      It really depends on your niche. It's easier to turn buyers into affiliates if you're in the internet marketing niche because the buyers are going to be interested in affiliate marketing. If your product is a consumer products most buyers will not be affiliates.
      Shareasale cost about 600 bucks just to join, up. That's a risky entry into the market for a new product imo.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      There's more to it than simple conversions or commission percentages. Some will tell you that the only thing that matters to an affiliate is how much money they can make. Maybe at the lower levels, that's true.

      The super affiliates that I know would laugh at that. They can pick and choose which offers they want to work with and often they can ask for and get special terms.

      In other words, they don't need you. You do need them.

      Before they even think of testing your offer on their lists, they want to know that the product will benefit those who buy on their recommendation. Will the product, and the service behind it, make them look good for recommending it? Is there any possibility that recommending this product could damage their ability to make future successful offers?

      Once they're reassured on that front, it's time to look at the economics.
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  • Profile picture of the author accendo
    I agree with the initial comments about the JV section here on the forum. Most posts are false advertisments. Hey let's JV, you click and investigate and it's someone selling a Solo ad. I have only found 1 good post there about a Facebook Mastermind Group which has been a polite surpise - shout out to Andy

    If you spend enough time on this board, you know you need to build products. The next thing you learn is the money is in the list. And probably #3 would be the REAL money is in the Affiliates. It would be great to see this post take off on how to really make those type of relationships from the standpoint of a newbie with a small budget. The JV Broker approach appears to cost $2000 just to get in the door. I actually wouldnt mean paying $2000 if one of them would promise I would at least make my money back.

    Great advice to look for review blogs in the niche. I've also read somewhere to just email everyone on Clickbank in your niche for access to their list. Here's to hoping this thread takes off.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pawprints34
    I agree Accendo, I hope it takes off too. There is no-where near enough trustworthy information on how to get started as a beginner.

    I am looking at the weight loss/fitness niche so most of my customers are NOT going to be affiliate marketers.

    At the moment the best suggestion is looking at the leading weightloss websites ranking on Google and trying to forge an affiliate relationship. As said above though....it's how to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Once the first few decent website owners start to pick up your product it gets easier.

    I agree most affiliates want to know whether it will be a good recommendation so I guess they want testimonials from people.

    Anyone had experience getting good testimonials from people in the weight loss industry? I guess testimonials from reviewers that own other weight loss websites would be good for this.

    But don't they get HEAPS of requests for "review my product, I'll send it for free?"

    I guess you would need to offer guest blogging or participate on their forum if they have one or buy their product and ask them a question then they might actually look at your product(as long as the question doesn't indicate that you are a newbie... the question would need to sound intelligent and be kind of a side topic that you are not a specialist in. Then you could present what topic within weight loss that you specialize in and go from there.....)
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