Starting up a website for the purposes of making money can be a very exciting prospect. After all, it’s easy right? You put up a website, send some traffic, and BOOM! You’re supposed to start making money right away, aren’t you?
Well, let’s face it – if that was really the case, EVERYBODY would be making money on the internet.
Understand that putting up a website is just part of the equation of starting a successful internet business.
If you were to start a real brick-and-mortar businesses, opening your store would only be the first step. Once the store is open, you need to attract people to come inside the store, and then once they are there, they must BUY.
If you are doing any type of selling on the internet – especially if you’re an affiliate – you need to convince people that buying through your website – and your website alone – is the way to go.
The best way to do this is through a process known as “preselling.”
This is where you, as an affiliate, attract a prospect to your website, and convince them that the products you are reviewing are the ones that they’ll want to spend their hard earned cash on.
The following are some tips you can use to become an effective “preseller,” and get people to buy products through your website…
Preselling Tip #1: Establish Authority
People respond well to authority. Policemen, judges, doctors, and politicians are all examples of people who can get others to follow their instructions based around the “status” of their authority.
So the best way for people to do what you want them to is to come off as an authority figure on the subject you are talking about.
For instance, telling people they should buy one product over another doesn’t carry any weight. But when you come off as an authority on the subject, people are more willing to accept your evaluation.
Saying something like:
“I have been golfing since 1998 and have competed in 12 professional golf tours…”
Is much more effective than saying:
“I’m really passionate about golf.”
In one instance, you are stating why you are qualified to be an authority on the subject, and in another instance, you are just talking about your affinity for the subject.
Keep in mind – you don’t ACTUALLY have to be an authority on the subject to establish your authority. Saying things like “I know what I’m talking about” and “I’ve done my homework” can go a long way.
Preselling Tip #2: Provide Contrast
When people are searching for information on a specific product or service, what they are doing is looking for reasons why they should or should not buy one product over another.
For instance: Is an XBox 360 better than a Playstation 3?
If someone is wondering which game console they should purchase, giving them a review that contrasts the two products is much more effective than offering them a review of the consoles on their own.
Let’s say that you, as an affiliate, get a better commission selling an XBox 360 than you do selling a Playstation 3.
What you’ll want to do in your review is state the reasons why you feel the XBox is better than the Playstation 3, AND why the Playstation 3 isn’t worth buying.
The key here is to never be overly-critical of the product you don’t want people to purchase. When contrasting products, a balanced review is always more believable than a lop-sided one.
If you’re in a market where you have many products to compare and contrast, choose the top products in your market – the ones people are most likely to buy – and break down their pros and cons.
People will feel they are getting great insight for their purchase if they know all the reasons why they should buy one product over another.
Preselling Tip #3: Offer Personal Experience
Personal experience with a product or service is always far more powerful than a “general” review. So telling your prospect a story about your experience with the product you are selling is very powerful.
For instance, let’s say you were selling a book on how to lose weight. In your review, you talk about how you went on the diet the book recommends, what you felt like while you were on the diet, how much weight you loss, and how good it felt to finally find a diet that actually works.
As you can see, reading about someone’s personal experience is a much better selling point than saying:
“By following this diet, you’ll lose weight and feel good doing it.”
People respond well to stories, and they want to see proof that something works, or does what they need it to do, before they commit to buying it.
If you can show them personal examples, experiences, and results you yourself achieved, they will more readily believe your recommendation to buy.
Preselling Tip #4: Relate To Your Reader
It’s a well known fact that people are more willing to buy from someone they know than from a complete stranger.
The more you can make your reader identify with you and relate to you, the more comfortable they’ll feel buying from you. So you should always make an effort to relate to your typical website visitor.
For instance, let’s say your a single mother working from home, and you’re site is all about teaching other single mothers how to work from home as well.
Talk about dealing with the kids, doing laundry, having lunch with the girls, finding a babysitter for the night, and any other thing that single moms can relate to.
But also talk about common problems you experienced before you found the solution to them.
For instance, a big problem with single mothers is making enough money to support their family, and still having time to take care of their kids.
In this instance, you can talk about being worried about making enough money to support your family, and being too tired to take care of your kids the way you wanted to, until you discovered a method that allowed you to work from home, make good money, and spend time with your family.
Every single mom can relate to that problem, and once they relate to it, they will gladly accept the solution you offer them.
Preselling Tip #5: Give A Reason To Buy Through Your Site
Too often, affiliate marketers will simply post a review with their affiliate link in it, and that’s it.
But you always want to offer your readers reasons WHY they should buy now, and buy through you.
Actually telling people to click your link is a good start. Don’t just have a link to the product that says “Click Here To Buy Now,” have a link that says “Click Here Now To Quit Smoking Just Like I Did.”
Tell your reader about special offers the merchant is giving away, and make them think that buying through your website will give them access to them.
For instance, let’s say the merchant you’re an affiliate for is offering five special bonuses to anyone who buys his product. On your page, you can say:
“By clicking this link now, you’ll get access to 5 special bonuses.”
Even though these bonuses are accessible to everyone who visits the merchant’s site, saying they’ll get access for clicking the link on YOUR site makes it far more appealing.
You can also appeal to someone’s generosity to get them to buy through your site. Saying something like “If this review helped you, please be courteous and purchase your course through this link to show your support for my efforts.”
After all, if you’ve given them good information, they should feel compelled to return the favor if you ask them to.
Finally, if you’re really ambitious, you can offer your own bonus for people who buy through your website. This can be something simple like offering a Public Label Rights E-Book, or as extravagant as an Amazon Gift Certificate.
Just let people know that if they buy through your Web site and send you their receipt, you’ll give them something special in return.
Remember – preselling is all about making people WANT to buy, so that by the time they click on your affiliate link, they’ve already made the decision in their mind to make a purchase.
Check back now and again. The resources here are still pretty useful, though.