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What makes you promote a product?

by eSubmarine
22 replies
When I find myself looking at products to promote, IF I feel myself being won over by the sales copy, finding rapport in the story or liking the features/benefits of the bullets I will give it a look. I am very good at saying no when I need to be focused so if I get 'sucked' in by something it's often a sign others will as well.

I am more picky about having a well written sales page than the end product. I like to make sure it sets the right expectation for the potential customer, it's priced correctly for the niche and forefils a need/desire of that niche.

After buying that product, reviewing it and if I find there is value in it I will blast it to my list.

What do you look for when your finding products/offers to promote? Do you need epic EPC's? Done for you affiliate tools? Good copy?
#makes #product #promote
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by eSubmarine View Post

    What do you look for when your finding products/offers to promote?
    What matters to me is that selling it to my subscribers/visitors/readers has to increase the chances of them buying other things from me, in future (because I'm a full-time affiliate marketer, so that's where most of my income is - in repeat/further sales). So it has to be something I'm proud to sell, that I'd recommend to my family/friends. It's clearly no good if it's likely to be the last thing I ever sell them.

    And then it has to have a sales page which I think will convert my traffic, no payment leaks, no vendor's opt-in on the sales page, no pop-ups, no autoplay video, no fake urgency/scarcity, no income claims, and all the other more obvious things. Legal, decent and honest, in other words.

    I'm not remotely interested in "affiliate tools" (and I doubt very much whether many serious, full-time affiliates are, either). Anyway, my selection criteria are here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2161932
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJo
    1. We have to believe in the product. Else, we would be fooling ourselves and others. Initially affiliate marketing will not yield any result but in the long run hard work and dedication pays. There is no success mantra, purely depends on the individual.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I look at the niche and the possibility to enter and gain alot of traffic and sales. If i can get alot of leads with a squeeze page, i know that it's probably a good market to enter into.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      I have a rather simple system for selecting products for promotion. They must be a relevant fit for the demographics of my customers and provide best value among competitive alternatives.

      Anything beyond that including EPCs, vendor sales copy, and affiliate tools are irrelevant IMO. What matters most is how the product(s) affect marketing continuity for additional sales.
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      • Profile picture of the author eSubmarine
        Originally Posted by myob View Post

        What matters most is how the product(s) affect marketing continuity for additional sales.
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        What matters to me is that selling it to my subscribers/visitors/readers has to increase the chances of them buying other things from me, in future
        Alexa and myob thanks for making the point about continuity, will definitely be exploring this further.

        Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, some interesting points have been brought up.
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  • Profile picture of the author khooster1
    I would usually promote products with relative high price to my buyer list. And products under $7-9 for opt-in list/ solo ads. My main purpose for this list is to cover my cost for the ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author karlmay1980
    Creators reputation and the quality of the product and if it suitable for my market, pretty simple.

    Sales copy may help a few sales but you should be able to pre sell it before they get to that page, if you cant do that then leave it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michelle Strait
    I don't promote many products. When I do find a product to promote, it's always something that I use and love. If I'm not passionate about it, then I feel I won't be able to convince anyone else to try it.
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    • Profile picture of the author SamAlnawar
      Originally Posted by eSubmarine View Post

      When I find myself looking at products to promote, IF I feel myself being won over by the sales copy, finding rapport in the story or liking the features/benefits of the bullets I will give it a look. I am very good at saying no when I need to be focused so if I get 'sucked' in by something it's often a sign others will as well.

      I am more picky about having a well written sales page than the end product. I like to make sure it sets the right expectation for the potential customer, it's priced correctly for the niche and forefils a need/desire of that niche.

      After buying that product, reviewing it and if I find there is value in it I will blast it to my list.

      What do you look for when your finding products/offers to promote? Do you need epic EPC's? Done for you affiliate tools? Good copy?
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      What matters to me is that selling it to my subscribers/visitors/readers has to increase the chances of them buying other things from me, in future (because I'm a full-time affiliate marketer, so that's where most of my income is - in repeat/further sales). So it has to be something I'm proud to sell, that I'd recommend to my family/friends. It's clearly no good if it's likely to be the last thing I ever sell them.

      And then it has to have a sales page which I think will convert my traffic, no payment leaks, no vendor's opt-in on the sales page, no pop-ups, no autoplay video, no fake urgency/scarcity, no income claims, and all the other more obvious things. Legal, decent and honest, in other words.
      Originally Posted by myob View Post

      I have a rather simple system for selecting products for promotion. They must be a relevant fit for the demographics of my customers and provide best value among competitive alternatives.

      Anything beyond that including EPCs, vendor sales copy, and affiliate tools are irrelevant IMO. What matters most is how the product(s) affect marketing continuity for additional sales.
      Originally Posted by Michelle Strait View Post

      I don't promote many products. When I do find a product to promote, it's always something that I use and love. If I'm not passionate about it, then I feel I won't be able to convince anyone else to try it.
      You all provided such great info and thanks a lot for that!

      However, there's one point no one mentioned which I think
      it's very important when choosing a product to promote..

      I'm talking about the person behind that product! do you
      care about that at all? Do you care whether he/she will reciprocate
      or not?
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      • Profile picture of the author jgant
        Originally Posted by SamAlnawar View Post

        You guys provided such great info and thanks a lot for that!

        However, there's one point no one mentioned which I think
        it's very important when choosing a product to promote..

        I'm talking about the person behind that product! do you
        care about that at all? Do you care whether he/she will reciprocate
        or not?
        Sometimes. One recurring commission product I promote is the leader in the industry, which results in a decent conversion rate. I chose this merchant due in part to their reputation.

        Reciprocity? I don't sell products, so reciprocity isn't a concern. That said, I've had merchants promote my websites via their enewsletters and their websites, which is great for listbuilding. Obviously these subscribers won't buy that particular merchant's product, but they buy other products.

        In my experience, once I've generated decent sales volume for a particular merchant, they'll reciprocate by publishing my articles in their enewsletter and in some cases provide a direct plug to sign up to my list. This is pretty cool and is another good reason to generate plenty of sales with a few merchants instead of promoting thousands of merchants generating few sales for each.
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        • Profile picture of the author SamAlnawar
          Originally Posted by jgant View Post

          Sometimes. One recurring commission product I promote is the leader in the industry, which results in a decent conversion rate. I chose this merchant due in part to their reputation.

          Reciprocity? I don't sell products, so reciprocity isn't a concern. That said, I've had merchants promote my websites via their enewsletters and their websites, which is great for listbuilding. Obviously these subscribers won't buy that particular merchant's product, but they buy other products.

          In my experience, once I've generated decent sales volume for a particular merchant, they'll reciprocate by publishing my articles in their enewsletter and in some cases provide a direct plug to sign up to my list. This is pretty cool and is another good reason to generate plenty of sales with a few merchants instead of promoting thousands of merchants generating few sales for each.
          That's interesting.. but you said reciprocity isn't a concern, so why
          would you focus on a few merchants?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by SamAlnawar View Post

        However, there's one point no one mentioned which I think it's very important when choosing a product to promote..

        I'm talking about the person behind that product! do you care about that at all? Do you care whether he/she will reciprocate or not?
        Yes, I care about this. It's probably indicative of how they'll deal with my subscribers/customers, too, so it's important to me. I've covered it here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2161932 (8th point on my list).
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        • Profile picture of the author eSubmarine
          Originally Posted by jgant View Post

          It has to be a great product. If I use it, then it's a no-brainer ... but this isn't always the case.

          I also like recurring commissions. I focus on promoting a few recurring commission products as the benchmark of my long-term strategy. But, one-off commissions are fine as well as long as it's good and relevant.

          When it comes to choosing local businesses to promote as an affiliate (I receive commissions from sending local businesses new customers), I visit the business to ensure they're well set up. It must not be a seasonal business. The value per customer must be very high so commissions are high. I have to trust the owner(s). I prefer businesses in mid-sized cities with a population of 75,000 to 400,000 instead of major cities which to avoid too much competition. Finally, the business must be expanding and be able to close the deal. This involves ensuring few or no bad reviews and that they can close the deal when I send referrals.
          jgant, thanks for the contribution, really interesting to know the qualifications for a 'offline' B2B model.

          That's a completely different angle from what I've been doing, I build lists and have a few successful affiliate campaigns running that get traffic from media buys, but my lists are the keystone in my business.

          Originally Posted by SamAlnawar View Post

          You all provided such great info and thanks a lot for that!

          However, there's one point no one mentioned which I think
          it's very important when choosing a product to promote..

          I'm talking about the person behind that product! do you
          care about that at all? Do you care whether he/she will reciprocate
          or not?
          As long as they don't have a trashed reputation I didn't really consider it, but I will in the future. The post that Alexa just referenced highlights the importance of this really well....

          "8. Good vendor reputation/attitude/behaviour (I'll contact them first, one way or another, and if I don't get a reply I won't promote their product, because I can imagine what their after-sales behaviour will be like if they won't even reply to a prospective business associate)."

          A sound bit of advice that I am taking on board.
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  • Profile picture of the author Juan-Pablo
    Good payouts, decent landing page (no leaks such as untracked phone numbers), well-working tracking. EPCs, if available, are helpful too.

    Other than that, just send some traffic and see if it works (you need some money to test, of course)
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    If it is related to my niche and if there are a lot of positive reviews about it I would promote it to my list. You should always Google the products first and conduct some research on them to determine if they are good or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin E Anthony
    Originally Posted by eSubmarine View Post

    When I find myself looking at products to promote, IF I feel myself being won over by the sales copy, finding rapport in the story or liking the features/benefits of the bullets I will give it a look. I am very good at saying no when I need to be focused so if I get 'sucked' in by something it's often a sign others will as well.

    I am more picky about having a well written sales page than the end product. I like to make sure it sets the right expectation for the potential customer, it's priced correctly for the niche and forefils a need/desire of that niche.

    After buying that product, reviewing it and if I find there is value in it I will blast it to my list.

    What do you look for when your finding products/offers to promote? Do you need epic EPC's? Done for you affiliate tools? Good copy?
    I usually promote products that I am passionate about and what I think will make me money. If I can't come up with content, I will outsource it.
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  • Profile picture of the author robingg14
    I need to feel like I have a chance in hell of getting some sales. There are so many people out there giving massive bonuses that I cannot possibly match for newly launched products that sometimes I give up before I even start. Who started that trend that anyway? Just makes it so much harder for us newbies...
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  • Profile picture of the author adsassist
    For me its been getting easier.

    Now that I am selling my own services, I promote products that people NEED to have.

    You don't need to have my membership but will be cheap compared to other membership sites that teach how to make money online.

    Mainly I will be promoting products people NEED to have to create an online business.

    Go-daddy, you NEED a domain name.
    Host Gator - You NEED Hosting.
    Aweber - You NEED an auto-responder.

    Still deciding on what video software (don't need it but HIGHLY recommend it).

    Was thinking on contacting Optimize Press and become an affiliate for them. It is the best thing next to sliced bread.

    Basically I will promote the products I use and are successful with.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    for me the product has to be damn good, and it truly has to produce great results for the people buying it.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    It has to be a great product. If I use it, then it's a no-brainer ... but this isn't always the case.

    I also like recurring commissions. I focus on promoting a few recurring commission products as the benchmark of my long-term strategy. But, one-off commissions are fine as well as long as it's good and relevant.

    When it comes to choosing local businesses to promote as an affiliate (I receive commissions from sending local businesses new customers), I visit the business to ensure they're well set up. It must not be a seasonal business. The value per customer must be very high so commissions are high. I have to trust the owner(s). I prefer businesses in mid-sized cities with a population of 75,000 to 400,000 instead of major cities which to avoid too much competition. Finally, the business must be expanding and be able to close the deal. This involves ensuring few or no bad reviews and that they can close the deal when I send referrals.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidtye
    Good copy is the key - without it you can have all the visitors in the world but you won't sell a bean. Copy is actually more important in many ways than the product!
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