This is why I hate Affiliate Marketing

[chewie49]

Hello!

I decided to promote one clickbank product. I prepared a webinar about the subject, with great slides, I am a good speaker so I engaged very well the audience. The only purpose was to sell the clickbank product at the end.

Many people congratulated me, they went to the product's website. Some of them bought the product while we were still on the webinar. So far,...greeat.

BUT...........

Many people contacted me after the webinar telling how great was the product, but I checked my account and !?!?!?!?!?!? NO Comissions!?!?!? How is that possible?

I asked some of the people "did you save the page in your bookmarks after the webinar?" and many of them said "no, I searched for the name of the product on google and went to the website and bought the product".

So even when they first visited the website through my affiliate link, then they went to google and searched for the name, they found another affiliate pre-sell page, and another person earned my commission because my cookie was replaced by the latest one the buyer got when visited another affiliate website.


How can I protect myself against this?? I don't want to spend a lot of effort promoting a product and then, if some people want to think a little bit and take a decision a couple of days later, and then they searched fot the name on google, and another affiliate keeps my commission.

what do you recommend?

Regards,

Chewie.

[Emily Meeks]

How did you present your link? Most people don't buy on the first time. Did you capture email addresses and send messages with your link?

[TheCren]

You should offer a bonus for the product. Not an overwhelming bonus, but simply one that complements the product and enhances what the product already does. Apparently there are a lot of affiliates in the niche you are in - you're going to have to stand out from the crowd. Explain that they have to buy through the link you give them in order to receive your bonus - it also helps if there is a time or quantity limit.

I also agree with moneysoapbox that you should be capturing email addresses. You got them to sign up for the webinar so you should've had their email addresses somewhere (Excel, MySQL, or even just in a text file). Then you could've emailed them a day or two later saying "Don't forget about the bonus(es) I'm offering."

[Loren Woirhaye]

Offer the bonus - with a time limit of, say, 2 hours - and
give very specific instructions about what they MUST DO
to get their bonuses.

You are letting your prospects control the buying environment -
if you want to win you must control the context of the sale.

[Alida Caprucean]

I just got into affiliate marketing business and I realized I have the same problem. The only thing I could do was to follow up with the people who signed in and send them a reminder about my link.

[melanied]

I agree with the idea of bonuses. Also, I hate to say it, but if it's in the IM niche, a lot of those people probably used their own affiliate link. One of the banes of Clickbank for that niche.

[Cyrus]

Thats the worst case, you should have a setup a domain with your affiliate link...or a subdomain.

[chewie49]

All my affiliate links are redirects from my own domains, so the links look as if it is a page inside my website.

That "buy using my link" approach sounds too desperate for me. That's against my Seth Godinism (i'm kidding)

There must be a way to make them buy using your link, even when they want to take a couple of days to think about it.

I am a very rational buyer. I never buy on an impulse. I like to think and re-think before I make a decision. Many buyers are like me.

I thought about puting an iFrame with a special offer so they are obligated (in a subtle way) to buy directly from my link ....But i think many people suspect about iFrames. I don't know....

[jaeburnham]

There is a lot of great advice here in this thread. You need decide for yourself the method that you feel comfortable with and do that. Obviously, how you were doing it didn't make you very happy so maybe not doing it the same way is not the best path.

You need to ask for the sale. How you do that is up to you. But you DO have to ask for it. And there is nothing wrong with people buying on impulse even if that is not how you operate.

Capture the emails and ask for the sale every time you have the chance, and you'll get more sales; then it won't matter if a few go else where.

Jae

[Solidsnake]

I am using hoplinks for all of my CB products and I don't know if I am experiencing the same problem... I checked all hoplinks and seems they are all working fine..

[rondo]

"so the links look as if it is a page inside my website."

You mean you've framed the salespage? Maybe that's the problem.


Andrew

[chewie49]

Originally Posted by rondo

"so the links look as if it is a page inside my website."

You mean you've framed the salespage? Maybe that's the problem.


Andrew

Not, it is a redirect. the page refreshes and goes to the sales page (without frames)

[TelegramSam]

As well as much of the above, build your own site that ranks well in google for the thing you are an affiliate for.

[chewie49]

And it keeps happening,....One more sale I lost because the prospect searched for the name in Google and bought it from another affiliate....

[affilcrazy]

As mentioned, you need to offer your customers something unique should they buy from you.

My personal approach, contact your listeners again and make a list of the top problems people face within this niche and what kind of solutions they hope a product will provide.

Then visit some other affiliate review sites and make a note of any specific bonuses or extras that others are offering for purchasing through them. You may need to sign up to other marketers lists, just to see what kind of offers they have and again make a note of anything that really attracts you to their offers.

Make a short report outlining the top 10, 15, 25 problems that they face or you could even turn this into a free bonus pre-recorded webinar addressing people's issues.

Encourage your readers/listeners/followers/potential customers to seek further informtion on the product elsewhere, but ensure you tell them that you have the most unique and helpful related bonus and that once they have studied enough and are ready to purchase, they should return to your site to make their purchase and claim their bonus.

I still remember purchasing a clickbank product last year through someone else's affiliate link. This was purely because, in their review they mentioned that some of the instructions in the main product were a little difficult to follow for non-techy people, so they had designed an easy to follow step by step report for technological idiots such as myself!

Cheers
Partha

[Hamida Harland]

That "buy using my link" approach sounds too desperate for me.

It's not desperate if you're giving them enough value in your bonus - it's mutually beneficial. You give them something that will help solve a specific problem (something that complements the product) and they will WANT to buy through your link so that they can get the bonus.

[Traffic-Bug]

Unless you are getting the direct real benefit of promoting an affiliate product, stop promoting that product. If you have put in the real effort, then you should be rewarded for it. Not other person.