Affiliate Basics, Why aren't I getting commissions?

You have an affiliate product, and now you put the links on your site. But you are not getting any signups, cash or anything like what the company said...why?!

Here are some pointers of why you are not getting the cash that you deserve.

1. Increased traffic brings increased signups. If you have 10 visitors a day it is unlikely that you will have any signups. The more traffic you get the better the rate of signups.

2. Just because you have an affiliate link on your site doesn't necessarily mean that people will actually click to buy. Not all people on the Internet are actually looking to buy anything. Remember that the Internet was built to ferry free information from one place to another. People look for free info not things where they have to buy.

3. If you webpage has on it all free information, why should they buy anything? Catch 22 isn't it. Provide free info and they might not buy anything. So you pre sell them something- increase their hunger for the product using content and information. Make a webpage about a review of a bit of software, of a bit of equipment, of something that has to be bought. Provide proof that you used it (YouTube vids, scans etc). This then targets people who are looking to buy and are looking for a review. For people to buy something, you need first to target those people who want to buy. They are about.

4. The affiliate product is totally unrelated to the website/ webpage. I have talked about this constantly but it still is a big reason why people don't get the click. Even with a music site you should never put on "marketing literature" unless you have a related article page about music promotion. At least you will have people already in the frame of mind that go onto this area who are willing to learn and are interested in the material.

5. Most sites state that an email to your subscribers is the best way to make cash. It is, but again you need to be clever. Most people subscribe to 3 or more newsletters. Most companies give out promotional emails to send to your subscribers with your affiliate link embedded. Problem...how about if those people had the same email? People can smell a sale a mile away. If you make it out like you have actually seen/ read/ played with the product then your subscribers will believe you. Some marketing types actually include page numbers, sentences etc to prove that they have read the product (if an ebook).

6. The price of the affiliate product. It is well known that very few people actually buy high price products, so putting a $150 affiliate product on your site is less likely to attract people to buy. It takes much more marketing to even tempt people to buy "high ticket" items, and usually involves phone calls and emails. You will get much more people to buy a product if it is low price ($5-40) than high.

7. The type of product. A product that will help someone will be sold better than a product that doesn't do that much. Info products like ebooks are high sellers because they are targetted for people who want to know something, therefore the webpages used to promote these are also targetted to increase knowledge.

8. The type of advert. As we have already stated a text link is much better then any other affiliate promotion. Banners and flashy lights tell people that an advert is present but it all depends on the advert itself- if it converts lookers to buyers. I have installed a banner ad from Google onto my site on a page that is specific to that ad. Out of thousands of views, I have got 1 sign up. With a text link on the same page, I have got countless sign ups.