Making Your Affiliate Marketing Website Payoff  

by Dave Cooper

When creating an affiliate marketing website, here are some valuable tips you should know. The key to great performance is of course having the right product--and the right marketing niche. Make sure that the content and links are easy to follow, user friendly, and that there is key contact information for your customers to reach you with follow up questions.

The headline of an affiliate website, or any website in general, should have a strong headline that grabs the attention of the reader. This should be immediate. Studies rule that the attention span of people surfing the net is far shorter than if reading a book or newspaper. Make sure the content is such that a reader will want to read more.

Plan for solid endorsement content on your web page. As a rule people like to know what others who have tried the product or service really feel about it. This is where having a hybrid sales letter/article, will be the best way to quickly inform the reader of the benefits of making a purchase. However, at this stage, the goal of an affiliate website and its content should be working to build trust. What you'll be offering is content, reviews, and articles that will help the buyer make a decision to purchase. This necessary material will also provide search engines with the material that your prospects are looking to find. In short, this means more traffic to the web site--and the results are increased sales.

A good piece of advice is to also build in an informative FAQ section. A customer should always have every available piece of information possible at their fingertips. A FAQ section entails facts about the product and services and how they impact the customer's level of satisfaction. This will keep them at the website.

Consider scripting support and e-commerce services as part of your affiliate marketing website development plan. The scripting option will allow you to gather information on the customers shopping habits. This can proves useful down the line when developing or offering new products. Make sure you don't overdue it with the scripts though. Your customers should not be caught in a snag if they want to depart.

There are even web page analyzer tools that can gauge how fast your page is downloading. This information will reveal if the website is too busy. Customers will tend to shy away from websites that take too long to download. Remember, you want the customer to have easy and speedy access to the products or services. All of these things are important because they allow you to know your business up close and personal. And don't feel lacking if you're unfamiliar with some of these elements right now. Knowledge comes with time, often by trial and error. The goal is to reduce the error rate and maximize your time and money.

Don't be shy either in utilizing the links on your page to their maximum advantage. A common mistake is to make the links too small or obscure at first. Try for a workable balance of size and quantity that is proportional to other word content on the site. The goal is to direct the reader to more information that can help them make a well-informed decision. A well-informed decision results in a sale--that leads into repeat buys.

If you're serious about growing your affiliate marketing business, it'll help to have some type of answering service also that can screen and direct inquiries if you're unavailable to be on the other end. The most successful web sites understand this and provide immediate access for the reader. This gives the impression that the website is run by a professional. Once again, you'll be building the trust that allows the reader to ultimately make a purchase.

What would turn people off from a potentially dynamic affiliate website, and from signing on to an affiliate marketing program is too much initial hype. People can sense if the message is all about signing up new prospects. There has to be sincerity about fulfilling a need in the initial message conveyed. The goal is find buying customers--and to retain them possibly as affiliates who will be as loyal and charged about the service as you are. Another major turnoff is a pushy response to buy now. The buy now concept may work on merchant web sites, but an affiliate marketing approach has to be far more subtle. Remember, the primary goal of the affiliate marketing program is to win friends--and influence people.

About the Author

David Cooper is the editor of the Affiliate Marketing Articles Newsletter. David specializes in helping people make their affiliate marketing website payoff by offering real world tips and strategies.
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