Ok, My problem is with selling affiliate products. There are so many products that it would take weeks to become an expert in all of them, or even one. Is there a way to short cut learning all the nitty gritty features of a product in order to sell it. For instance, I know the primary benefits of my product, but I don´t feel like I have enought to say about it. Its like Im selling a toothbrush or something and I write. "Makes Teeth Cleaner Faster." And I feel like I don´t have anything else to say. I could elaborate. "Your teeth will be so sparkly clean that your friends will think you got a haircut." or whatever. ************ It seems like some people can write 3 pages about almost nothing, but after you get done reading those pages, it feels like you got convinced of something. I guess I would like to be able to expand on just a few benefits, rather than feeling like I have to say 200 things to get the person to buy. Its like you list off all the benefits and your on line 5 and your like, "well thats it, don´t you want to buy now?" But you haven´t said enough to convince the person or to get them emotionally involved or captivated enough to understand what this will do for them. I am selling through ClickBank and I really don´t like ClickBank, because most of the sales pages are so Hypy that even if it is a quality product, you feel like you must be getting ripped off. (and some of the products claim things that may be a rip off. I don´t know because I can´t afford to buy everything I sell.) Not that I´m not willing to sell through clickbank, but its hard not start following suit with the crappy sales pages. There must be a way of selling where you don´t have to be so sleasy. **************** So, my basic question: How do I market something if I just know one or two benefits of the product? How do I expand on those benefits to get the person captivated and wanting to buy, without going into all the technical details of the product.
Why don't you post a few of your products that you think can sell, and we will all brainstorm for a few sales lines? That way, hopefully it will get your brain going for your other products.
I have been looking at this product Fap Turbo. It's a Forex Trading Robot, so it does all the trades for you. The primary benefits that I have discovered up to this point are: 1. It has been proven to consistently double your money in less than 30 days. And you can see several live trading accounts that have been running for the last two months. 2. It trades on autopilot, so you don't really have to do anything. 3. You can trade without knowing anything about the Forex market. 4. The returns are much better than the stock market. 5. If you don't make money, get your money back with the unconditional 60 day money back guarantee. So, I understand these benefits. The strongest benefit is the "double your money potential." I have several problems here. One problem is how to prove that the claim of "doubling your money" is legit. That is a really huge claim, so when most people read it, I think they are thinking "that's bogus." My other problem is the fact that the "problem" this thing solves is MONEY. For me, the benefit is simple, "everybody wants to make more money." But somehow I have to flesh that out. Should I go and start talking about all the "island vacations" you will be able to afford after your first 2 months, or should I say, "wouldn't you like to can your job or work less? Fap Turbo may be the answer." It almost seems harder to sell something that offers the world, than something with more realistic claims. Like if the product said, "will grow your money 30% faster," then that would be easier to talk about then "will double your money every 30 days, until you are a billionaire by the end of the year." ****However, I know the product is selling, because the PPC cost is about $1.50 to get on the first page and the clickbank gravity is aroud 850. I'm having a similar problem with a FREE DOWNLOADs product I am promoting. It is hard to conceptualize, "get every movie and show in existence." People just don't seem to realize what unlimited means. So, the Fap Turbo is a product I am working on right now. Any feedback about how to sell it or make the claim more realistic, or anything would be helpful. side note: The people I'm selling to probably fall into two categories, people that are familiar with Forex robots and the Forex market and people who don't have a clew that have just heard the hype or want to get rich quick.
A couple of suggestions: 1. Learn copywriting. Knowing how to sell to people with words is a skill. If you want to do it effectively, learn from people who already know how. I would check out some free articles from Bob Bly or Gary Bencivenga for tips on writing copy/benefits. Here are their websites: Bob Bly Gary Bencivenga Archives 2. Don't let your personal feelings about marketing get in the way of sales. Just because a sales page seems "sleazy" or unbelievable to you doesn't mean that customers will respond the same way. The bottom line is that regardless of whether or not you like the sales page, these items are selling well. For me personally, I don't care if the sales page is melodramatic, as long as the product works the way it says it will. On the other hand, if you ACTUALLY think the product itself is sketchy, then just don't promote it. What I do is only promote products that I've personally used, or if I haven't used it I check forums and other places for reviews and feedback from people who have used them so that I can get a general consensus of whether or not it's something I'd want to promote. 3. This seems to contradict what I said in "1" above, but why are you looking to sell people as an affiliate? Remember, the product already has a sales page. As an affiliate, your selling should be minimal. All you're really doing is making a recommendation based on your experience with/knowledge of the product. MINIMAL selling involved on your part. Just make a recommendation with a FEW benefits thrown in, and let the sales page do the selling for you. One last thing regarding the above is that depending on how you're promoting the product (review site, your email subscriber list, etc.), you may have to tweak your message a bit. If it's "cold" traffic coming from search engines to a review site, you'd want to do more explaining about the product and what it does. If you're promoting to your email subscribers (assuming you've built up a relationship with them), then you won't have to describe the product as thoroughly because they'll trust your recommendation more. Hope that helps!
Numbers 1-5 sounds like a good start. Though I would leave out the words: "doubling your money" and "island vacations" as this is so typical, and most who claim this are full of crap. Use different words, or don't mention anything like that at all. Perhaps: Make more money. Make enough to pay your high mortgage or rent. Use the money you make to pay those damn high utility bills. Pay off your car loan twice as fast. Some do not make a lot of money in their first 6 months, but they are able to pay their rent and mortgage and their utility bills with what they are making now. On and on and on.... Little things that sound achievable, little things that they can see themselves actually being able to pay off. Don't oversell, and do NOT have a looooooong-ass sales page! In most cases those do not work because one of the reasons is that not many can pay attention for that long. Also, try to be a friend to them, and be real yourself. For example, say something like: "I haven't tried this yet, but I am hoping that I can make enough money from this to pay off my Nissan Frontier. The payments are killing me!" Maybe make it sort of like a blog. Don't jump to conclusions. Could those ads be from affiliates? If so, it could be selling, or it could be that new affiliates are coming in with their ads to replace the old affiliates who are not making any money. I don't know, I'm just saying. What is "clickbank gravity 850"??? That's a perfect example why you have to set your sales page up to where even a ten-year old can understand it. You have to idiot-proof your site.
If a product has a high gravity then something about that products sales page is working. It's selling. Analyze it. If your using your own landing page and then directing your traffic to your affiliate product, create your page to sound and look very much like the products main sales page. I say it all the time, don't reinvent the wheel. Everything you need has already been done for you to make some sales. Just do a little re-writing. Plus, think about it. Do you think an owner of a product is going to get mad at you if you do a little "borrowing" from his sales page to make a landing page? Not if your making sales for him/her they're not. Good Luck raycer P.S. Yes, many CB products are COMPLETE rip offs and scams. A lot are not. Remember...if it sounds to good to be true then...
You need to do some research first and find out which market is currently stronger and then concentrate on that.
People who buy Forex trading products are going to look for credibility - or maybe I'm just applying my own approach to what I think other people should be doing. Fact is, a few weeks ago I had been looking at Forex trading products, and as I scrolled down the Google search results page, I skipped all results from domains which did not have the term "forex" in them. Why? Credibility, and my assumption that if the product info came from a site other than a domain that said forex[something].com it's probably just someone who's promoting the product for a commission. Now, if you have a site with the term "forex" in, and you write a review of some Forex trading product, you're also doing so for a fat commission, but at least you run a site about Forex trading, so I'm assuming you actually have some experience. Back to what I wanted to say: you probably don't have to become an expert in everything you promote. But considering that hundreds of other people with the most basic level of knowledge in a specific field are promoting the same products, it's much better to focus on promoting products in a field in which you do have some experience, and about which you CAN write CREDIBLE, informative reviews.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Basically, there are a few ways I can go. Currently, I am using a sales letter to promot Fap Turbo. It probably isn't the best idea, since the Fap Turbo website already has a massive sales letter at their home page. That is where Im not sure. I need to add something to the user for coming to my page. I could do a review of several products and then point out why Fap Turbo is the best. I have been wanting to get good at writing Sales letters, because I know there is a lot of money in this if you can get good at it. But maybe affiliate products with sales pages is not the place to use a sales letter. Ofcourse, if my sales letter sucks on this affiliate product, it will also suck on other products. Ok, so the points I picked up: 1. I can imitate the sales page of the affiliate product on my landing pages. 2. Provide a review of the product or comparison to other products. 3. Try to use more believable statements when talkinga about the product. *************** I have been reading over some sales letters and rewriting them by hand to get their style engrained in my mind. I have noticed that copywriters will try to say things that have zero hangups or are obviously true. I think they will try to say things, so that the customer basically feels smart and right. They basically say everything the customer wants to here or could easily understand. Its kind of fun to read a good sales letter, because you just kind of float along in this sort of emotional movie and the person just feeds you everything you want to hear. I notice that statements that are obviously true are kind of refreshing in the sales letter. So, rather than saying, "eat my vegetable soup, because vegetables are healthy. {which creates a lot of questions, debate, guilt} the copwriter might say, "my soup has vegetables, and mom loves you to eat your vegetables. Mom wants you to be healthy." So, those individual statements are easier to swallow. They are all easy to accept as true. I've noticed another thing that they do. They will say something like "grapes are purple and you are a fool." So, the truth of the statement "grapes are purple" help carry the other satement, "you are a fool." Anyway, I am finding it really helpful to rewrite really good copy and try to get a feel for why it works. And why I feel so good when I read it. *********** Thanks for the suggestions so far, I really need to implement them, because currently my sales page is not working.
With somewhere around 99.9% confidence I can say that those claims are complete BS. I say that with some credibility: I became a CPA 20+ years ago. Tom
Outsource. Hire someone to make the website for you. And then you can promote it yourself. I have done this alot. You can ask someone from here DP to make it for you. Few hundred bucks should do it.
Forex is a complicated "animal". Both to make money at and as a niche to sell products in. Maybe you should consider another niche? I promoted paid surveys for a time and it was simple. I made a review page comparing 3 different but similar products. I wrote as If I was a neutral, 3rd party reviewer that was simply reviewing make money programs. I made 2 of the products sound like they were good and gave them a 4 out of 5 "star" rating. I made the 3rd program sound like it was VERY good and gave it a 5 "star" rating. The overall sales/review page gave the "feel" to visitors that I personally had no interest one way or another if they bought or not. To sum it up, it worked. I would like to make it known that I don't promote paid surveys anymore, for many reasons, but to each his own. Good Luck, raycer P.S. @OP, I get the feeling that your a VERY analytical guy. This can be a great trait in IM but it can also cause you to over think some very simple things and cost you a lot of time. Keep it simple You'd be amazed at how simple my survey site was but it converted.
You need to get more into the head of the person who would be buying the product. Why are they into Forex trading? What are the core "dreams" associated with that which touch a huge nerve in potential customers? I've traded Forex off and on and for me the big things are: 1) Freedom from a dead end, 40 hour a week office job 2) Can trade when you want to, all times of the day, on weekends, etc 3) Can exploit the ever-changing economic conditions - you're not just tied to the dollar performing well; you can short the sucker when it's tanking and trade the yuan or whatever against it 4) You control a huge amount of money with each trade 5) Scales up quite nicely; the more money you have to trade with, the more you can earn, so you're not tied to an hourly wage and there are no limits to your earning potential Now.....take one of those dreams and elaborate on it in your sales text....sell them on the idea of it.....conjure up pictures within your writing....youre' on the beach, drinking margaritas in Fiji or whatever.....you take a break from the hot sun to go inside your $1000 a day luxury cottage and fire up your wireless laptop for a few minutes.....spend an hour trading....voila! The money you just earned extends your vacation by another week. That type of thing. Get into the mindset of the dreams your product promises to fulfill. That's the secret. Dan
Absolutely true. "paralysis by analysis" will ruin you in this business. Also, to re-iterate, you definitely don't want to get caught up in trying to write the most awesome copy in the world to promote an affiliate product. The only times I really see people use actual sales letters to promote an affiliate product is if they're offering some sort of unique bonus along with the product. Remember, you don't want to sell them on the product, you just want to convince them to check out the real sales letter. Then let it do all the work.
Thanks for your great comment. This is what I have been trying to do. I have been trying to look in forums and blog comments and look at what people are talking about, look at what excites them, I am also listening to sales and marketing mp3s 24 hours a day. They are helping, but I think like anything, you have to immitate and do it for a while, before you get good at it. I think I am going too annalytical in the sale. It amazes me how LITTLE logic there is in some of the PROS copywriting. Half the statements are just fluff that makes you feel good. It reads like air, you just kind of melt through it and feel really great and you are knodding the whole time. Its like some sales letters will start out like, "Get Rich in 30 Days" and then they will just kind of weave threads and give you bits to keep you going, like they are flashing part of the picture and you are drawn to read because you are starting to believe that its real, because the persons starts saying everything that you expect them to say, and they even seem to know what you are thinking. So, there is some connection with the sales person, because you feel like you understand eachother.
I've posted this before but i don't remember where. PLEASE READ CLOSELY: People want to believe in the dream. People are lazy and people want to believe that there is such a thing as easy money. This will always be true. I guarantee it. They think that if they just find the "right" software program or money making program then all their problems are solved. They'll make millions in their sleep or while on the golf course...hilarious. Check out the "gravity" on some of the top "make money" programs on Click Bank. It's insane! There really is a sucker born every second. Most Cb products are legit but some are just plain...whack! If I could make $25-$50 an hour filling out simple surveys I can guarantee you one thing. I wouldn't be posting on this forum I realize I've gotten a bit off topic but let me end this diatribe with one last statement. Sell the sizzle...not the steak. In other words...sell the dream. Most folks don't want the facts, they can't handle them
If there is one thing the human race is good at it is telling stories. Making things up is an integral part of the human experience. Look at religion for example. If there is no god you simply make up one using your imagination and presto you have a powerful religion to influence people (jim jones and his refreshing Koolaid for example). Don't have a wii but want to make money on it? I did that last year when it was hot and still do not have one. I just read a little on it (very little) and made shit up to fill in the blanks.
Yeh, It seems like you have to tell people what they want to hear. You have to become their #1 advocate. You start telling them, "You deserve better than this. You think you can't make millions? You are dead wrong, and you need to stop short changing yourself. You have been cheated your whole life and now its your turn to get what you deserve. You're smarter than you think and you owe it to yourself to start making the money that is rightfully yours." There is like a little kid voice inside of us that wants to believe this kind of crap. And it feels so good to believe it. It is someone telling us exactly what we want to here. It seems like in sales, if you are an advacate of people and act like you are their hero and you are trying to stick up for them or treat them as special, then people are almost mesmorized by you. They eat it up. People in general want to believe in an altruistic leader. Ultimately, I think most people believe that someone is going to reach down and save them or help them out. And if you can be that caring hand that they don't seem to be able to extend to themselves, then people will be drawn to you emotionally, just like they are to a preacher or to their mother. ************************** I hadn't really noticed it before, but I was watching the New Years count-down on one of the channels and I noticed how the announcers give people exactly what they want. And that seems to be the key to being successful in marketing is to become the person that people want you to be. In reality, the announcers could probably care less about the audience. They just put on a persona that feeds people what they want to hear, "Its been a great year. 2009 is going to be even better. We have prepared a special program for you, because we know you have worked hard this year." If you can seem like the one person in the world that is totally standing up for the persons desires and preferrences and feelings, then it probably isn't that important what you actually write, because the person is going to feel a deep connection with you by the time they are done reading.
Why are you going to market something that you don't even know a single thing in the first place? I'm sure that there are affiliate programs fro any kind of topics.