KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays by Comm, Joel (free e books to read .TXT) 📕

the post office. (My sister just had a baby and B. wants to send her one of her quilts.) I must have been there a hundred times since we moved here but, sure enough, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the highway heading in the wrong direction. I’d like to tell people that I’m always at least 10 minutes late because my life is so busy, but the truth is that it’s because I never know where I am.

Last week, I finally gave in. I admitted that I’m hopeless and boughta GPS system. It’s great. I went for the Magellan RoadMate 1470. So far, it’s working great. The graphics are much easier to read than I expected them to be. The voice is clear and far less annoying than listening to the kids say, Are we there yet?” And it hasn’t once directed me into a river.

If you’re geographically challenged like me, then you should get one. You might be able to finally get places on time.

There are a few points that you want to note before creating an affiliate-supported post like this. First, it’s personal. It’s filled with all sorts of little pieces of information that say something about the writer. The article doesn’t just say the writer went to the post office, for example. It also says why he went and what was in the parcel. That brings the reader into his life and builds a personal connection. This isn’t an ad; it’s a friend telling another friend what he’s been up to lately.

That’s the kind of communication that leads to sales.

That’s also why the post is lighthearted. It doesn’t list all of the product’s features, and it doesn’t even say it’s the best GPS system on the market. A review might do that, but when you’re recommending a product that’s worked for you, you won’t know whether it’s the best or just good enough.

All you can do is talk from your own experience, and your experience is that it was good enough for you. That’s your advantage, and it’s something that a post like this makes the most of.

If you’re going to use this post as a model for regular, additional affiliate income on your web site, start by building context. Explain what led you to make the purchase so that the product’s solution to your problem is clear. Make a few positive comments about the product. Don’t go overboard (unless you really do believe that it’s the greatest thing since the spam blocker). Just say what you like about the product the most.

Finally, end by suggesting that people who are like you—and that should be most of your readers—go out and buy one, too.

It’s an approach that’s subtle, easy to do, and doesn’t make your users feel as though they’re getting a hard sell. It won’t turn you into an overnight millionaire, but it should deliver conversion rates of perhaps 1 to 2 percent.

That might not sound like much—it means that 99 out of every 100 readers aren’t buying—but a product such as a GPS system costs about $135. On Amazon, that would mean an affiliate commission of around $5.40 for every sale. To earn $540 extra each month, you’d need make 100 sales during the month. At a modest 1 percent conversion rate, you’d need 10,000 unique users every month.

When you’re generating that kind of traffic—and a site that’s been up for a while should be generating that kind of traffic—that’s the sort of boost to your income you can expect from just one short post recommending an affiliate product.

You can characterize a post like this as an “experience” recommendation. It’s saying, “I’ve used this product. I like it. You’re going to like it, too.” You won’t always be able to say that about every product you’re going to offer because you won’t be able to try every product. (Although, if you are managing to earn $500 a month through occasional affiliate recommendations, then spending $130 or so on a gadget that you can recommend is still going to look like a good deal. You’ll be making a profit of $370 and have a cool new toy every month.)

An alternative approach is to recommend the producer.

This is something I do frequently. I know that if Yanik Silver or Shawn Collins or any of the other marketers I’ve met at conferences is bringing out a new product, it’s going to be good. I’ve seen them in action; I know their work; and I know they don’t produce garbage.

I can’t say what a product has done for me if I haven’t used it. But I can say what the product does; I can tell my readers what the person I’m recommending has done; and I can remind them that he hasn’t brought out a dud product yet.

Again, this comes down to trust.

For “experience” posts, sales are going to depend on the depth of the connection my audience feels with me. If readers identify with me, like me, and trust me, they’ll believe that they’ll like the same products that I do.

For these “publisher” posts, readers will buy the affiliate product because they trust my judgment. If I tell them that some publisher has good information and they should listen to that publisher, then many of them will trust me and do it.

Of course, that trust is only going to last as long as it proves to be true. If it turns out that the product is poor or that I’ve misplaced my own trust in the person I’m recommending, then I can expect my conversion rates to fall through the floor. As that trust dries up, so will my income.

So while these kinds of recommendations are very easy to make, they do carry an element of risk. Choose them carefully and don’t promote a product simply to help a friend. A real friend will understand why you have to refuse if you’re not 100 percent certain that the product is going to deliver.

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