Small Business Websites
Common Affiliate Marketing Mistakes Part 2
Written by Charles Mburugu for Gaebler Ventures
Affiliate Marketing is a powerful and effective way to earn a living online. Through affiliate programs, everyone has an opportunity to make a profit on the internet. Most affiliate marketing programs are easy to join and pay a commission on a regular basis. This has resulted in many people joining this promising business venture. What are the common mistakes made by affiliate marketers?
There are pitfalls associated with the Affiliate Marketing business. These mistakes are costly and may result in huge losses if not rectified or avoided.
Building an amateurish or unattractive site
There are principles of design you must adhere to when building your website to achieve affiliate marketing success. There are numerous tools available to help build a professional-looking site. When visitor lands at your site, you only have a few seconds to get their attention and to build rapport and credibility. First impressions are very crucial! Your banner must be of excellent quality and should be simple and to the point. Your website's name and the message in your banner must clearly communicate what your website is all about at a glance.
Excessive graphics is not a good thing. Your site should be mostly made up of simple text. Keep the site simple, clean, uncluttered and easy to read. This means having easy to read fonts, eye-friendly colors and margins. Black text on white backgrounds is best. Do away with flashy colors, blinking lights and wild graphics. Use a maximum of two colors for the fonts.
Your objective is to create reliability, trustworthiness and credibility with the visitor. Think conventionally. Another way to create rapport and credibility is to post your photo near the top of the page. Make sure you display your contact details and email address prominently.
Place your headline just below your banner in large type. The headline is the most vital part of your webpage. It should be bold and interesting and attract the visitor to the site. Your visitor should be compelled to continue reading. The headline should address your visitor's needs or offer an answer to the visitor's problem.
The navigation should be positioned in the same place on each webpage to make it convenient to your visitor. The visitor should be kept happy, and they will be more likely to buy. In addition, a customer that is happy with you and your product is more likely to revisit your website.
Failing to capture the visitor's email address and name
This is crucial to the success of your affiliate marketing business. There are numerous websites out there trying to sell products. Many of those new to affiliate marketing don't realize that most people must be exposed to a product up to seven times before they actually make a purchase. Getting people to the site takes money and time, and maybe only one percent will buy the product. What happens to the other 99 visitors? Don't allow them to get away!
Use an opt-in form in every webpage to capture their email address and name. Another option is to offer some free product associated with your product and entice the visitor to opt-in. Then market to them continuously. When they get to know you better, they are likely to buy from you repeatedly.
Selling to customers
Your job as an affiliate marketer is not to sell, but to PRE-sell. The merchant has the responsibility of writing killer copy to translate visitors into paying customers. Pre-selling has to do with sharing your experience with a product. This is why it is important to actually purchase the product before you go about promoting it. Talk about what the product has done for you and how you feel about it. Let the prospect understand why you like it. Don't attempt selling the product.
Charles Mburugu writes for us from his home in Nairobi. He has a graduate degree in Business Management from Kenya Institute of Management. He is interested in writing about branding, CSR and intellectual property.
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