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You Are Leaving nW e r r a by W
ock l t i h
Warren Whitlock
· Issue 19 · August 2012
on the Table
A
s affiliates, we find out early that most people we encounter (traffic) are not going to make an immediate purchase. What are you doing with those
By building a relationship you go from promoter to a full-fledged business.
that appear to be just passing through? The two things we learn to manage as affiliates.
1. Finding more traffic
Everyone hates to be sold. Most everyone loves to buy. We just help them buy more.
2. Converting traffic It’s no wonder that everyone wants more traffic. More
More Profits Came From Non-Buyers
traffic at the same conversion rate will increase your in-
Once we worked with a business that had great prod-
come. If you are profitable, you’ll make more, even if you
ucts and an excellent reputation for outstanding service.
don’t increase conversion rates.
His customer base was small, but he had a few hundred
Conversion tracking and testing is even better. More profits from your audience, more sales, and higher profits.
more email addresses of prospects from a promotion he ran the year before.
Both are necessary for success as an affiliate, but to-
We sent email to asking them to describe their biggest
day I want to tell you about an even more profitable strat-
question about his industry and expertise. A few dozen
egy by building a relationship to leverage your traffic to get
responded and we created a webinar to teach the most
paid over and over again.
requested information. The survey responders bought. Others on the mailing
Your Traffic Lives On Nearly 100% of people coming to your site will be alive
list bought. So we set up a PPC campaign using keywords from the questions. This product sold well.
tomorrow (and hopefully for many years to come). Instead of tossing them away, capture their contact information and then nurture them. They were interested enough to show up once. They are a highly qualified target market.
But Here’s the Rest of the Story We created a product to sell to those who wanted more service. Nearly 10% bought of the buyers paid 20
The easiest method is to capture a name and email
times as much for this high end product. Marketing costs
address and mail reminders. This is just the beginning.
were nil as we had already developed a relationship with
You can also:
them.
1. Survey to find out what they want to buy.
I’ve used this strategy in my own business projects
2. Give a gift to bond them to you.
and with hundreds of clients. It’s the best way I know to
3. Develop products that are exactly what they are
turn an affiliate into a long term business success.
looking for.
No matter how well you are doing as an affiliate, there
4. Invite them to share even if they don’t buy.
is more, much more to make from a customer base that
5. Develop real friends who will do anything for you.
you get to know.
Warren Whitlock is the author of “Profitable Social Media: Business Results Without Playing Games”, http://ProfitableSocialMedia.com.
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