If not, you should. And if you already do – or you regularly promote other entrepreneurs as an affiliate – then today’s article has a simple yet powerful tip to make your efforts more effective.

But let me backup here and make sure we’re on the same page…

In case you aren’t familiar with affiliate programs; they’re basically a simple way for others to refer prospects your way online and get credit for it. And they’re great for small businesses.

Typically, you set up an affiliate program using your shopping cart or other online tool. And you make sure to include a set affiliate commission (basically a referral fee) of either a dollar amount or a percentage of the price for anything you’re trying to promote.

Then you invite people to join who know, like and trust you and would be willing to promote your stuff to their community. Each person who joins gets their own, unique affiliate link. This lets you track who sends you each new client or customer so you can pay them their fee.

Once you have a few affiliates, it’s time to promote your products, events and/or services via your new affiliate partners. That means you’re going to put together emails, Facebook posts, tweets, ezine blurbs and more for them to use.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky…

In order for an affiliate program to be successful, the affiliate link included in each promo needs to send prospects directly to the page for that product, event or service. NOT to a generic products or events page, or worse to your home page. Do this and you WILL lose sales.

The problem is, every affiliate is automatically issued their own affiliate link via the system. And that link goes to one Website page and one page only.

So what do you do when you want your affiliates to send prospects directly to a specific page for a new product, service or event (Or when you want to promote a new product as an affiliate, but you only have the one link)?

You could set up separate affiliate programs for each item. But that’s a huge pain on your side. Plus then affiliates have to sign up to promote each one. Uggh.

Instead, here’s a cool little trick to customize affiliate links I learned years ago from my VA Erin Blaskie…

All you need to do is add this little piece to the end of the affiliate link (be sure to include the landing page URL): &u=www.URLHERE.com

So let’s say the generic affiliate link is:

http://www.myshoppingcart.com/app/?af=651317

But you want the link used to promote your new book, “Buy It Now” from buyitnow.com. In that case you simply copy and paste &u=www.buyitnow.com to the end of the affiliate link like so.

http://www.shoppingcart.com/app/?af=651317&u=www.buyitnow.com

Make sure there are no spaces between the original link and the bit you just added and it should work like a charm. Of course, be sure to test it before you use it yourself, and advise your affiliates to do the same. Then shorten it using a service like bit.ly or tinyurl.com for ease of use.

Simple. Effective. And sure to increase your affiliate-based sales.

Comments

Ever read a business’ marketing materials or Website and still not really understood what they did or sold, who would buy, or why anyone would even want to?

Maybe you’ve had the experience yourself where someone read your stuff then asked, “Okay, so what exactly do you do (or sell)?” Or worse, discovered that loads of people were visiting your site…Only they were clicking away without taking any action.

All too often the problem lies in the written content or copy. Copywriting, or writing to sell, is vastly different from the way most of us were taught to write in school. And it’s highly specialized skill that requires years of practices and a solid understanding of sales and marketing psychology to be effective.

When small business owners either decide to write their own marketing materials or Website, or they hire the first or cheapest writer they run into, they typically end up with generic, bland, boring copy. Instead, what entrepreneurs really need is content that grabs their ideal client by the eyeballs and doesn’t let go until they’re convinced to take action right now (whether that action is signing up, emailing, registering, calling, or buying right now).

To help you determine whether or not your copy is designed to do the job—and help you make it more effective—below are two lists. The first is common words and phrases that are worthless in your marketing materials. The second is a list of words that really sell.

Avoid these weak and worthless words and phrases like the plague:

• Great customer service
• Quality
• Honesty
• You can trust us
• Will
• That
• Prosperity
• Call for a free consultation
• Sign up for newsletter

Plus…

• Overblown promises (Lose 30 pounds in one week with no dieting or exercise)
• Most words with 3 or more syllables
• Having most of your sentences or paragraphs start with we, I, our company, or “your company name”
• General statements meant to speak to the greatest diversity of prospects

Use these powerful marketing words and phrases whenever possible:

• Free
• You
• Imagine
• Because
• Discover
• Finally
• At last
• Why?
• Guarantee
• Here’s why
• Here’s what you get

Plus…

• Any kind of call to action like: Click here, Sign up below, Email me, Tear out this coupon, call this number, etc.
• Specific nouns and adjectives
• Numbers, graphs, charts, examples, and other specifics

Just switching out a few words and phrases can make a huge difference in your response rates and sales. So grab this list, and use it to make your own Website and marketing materials way more effective.

Check out The Unchained Entrepreneur for more articles by Stacy Karacostas

It’s probably not just to put pretty pictures into the world… Or kill trees…

You want to get clients or customers, right?

Sure, a big goal is getting the attention of your ideal client and letting them know what you have to offer. But just doing that is not enough.

The real goal of marketing and advertising is to get people to take action—whether that’s picking up the phone, emailing, subscribing, walking in your store, or busting out a credit card and buying something right now.

The thing is, most entrepreneurs forget all about this when they put together their marketing materials. So they spend a ton of time and money creating attractive pieces that are basically just a bunch of company info.

They talk about who a company is, what they do or sell, how they do it and who their clients are. Then they stick their contact info on there, send it out into the world, and wait for something to happen.

Only it never does. Or if it does, the results are nowhere near what they’d hoped for. Sound familiar??

—–
What’s stops prospects from taking action?

—–

Well, it could be the benefits of what you’re offering aren’t clear and compelling.

Or your writing style isn’t friendly, readable and engaging.

It could also be you didn’t get it in front of the right people.

Or you didn’t provide enough info for them to confidently take the next step.

But let’s say you did all those things, and still didn’t get any response. There is one more that might be missing. And you can add to every piece of your marketing and advertising to dramatically increase response rates…

A “call to action”!

—–
What, exactly, is a call to action?

—–

Fundamentally, it’s where you tell someone exactly what to do next if they are interested in what you are selling.

On TV infomercials, it’s where the announcer says “Call 1-800-buy-this within the next 30 seconds to get your super juicer and the special, bonus slicer-thingy for just $9.95”.

In a print ad, it might be “Visit www.dogtricks.com to get your F*ree report 7 Fun Tricks You can Teach Any Dog in Five Minutes”

Or “Call Jennie at 867-5309 and mention this offer to save 50% on your first consultation” on a brochure.

On a Website, it could be as simple as “Visit my services page (insert link) to learn more about what I can do for your business…” OR it could be a subscription box with instructions. Even a “Buy Now” button is a call to action.

Why is a call to action so important?

—–
“If you don’t tell someone what to do next, there’s no telling what they might do.”

—–

Life is busy and full of interruptions. Even if someone is ready and willing to buy, they might not be sure what to do next if you don’t tell them. Or they could end up going to the bathroom, answering the phone, or clicking to another Website as easily as calling you.

And haven’t we all had the experience of finding something on the Web, but not being able to figure out how to buy it???

Your job is to make it dead easy for them to take action…and ideally the action you want them to take.

—–
How do you create a powerful call to action?
—–

STEP 1: Decide exactly what you want someone to do after they read your Web page, ad, brochure, or whatever.

STEP 2: People need a good reason to take action. So make them an offer they can’t refuse. These days, a f*ree consultation isn’t enough. A lot of folks think this just be a pitch-filled waste of time. Ditto for just saying sign up for my f*ree e-newsletter.

STEP 3: Tell them exactly what to do to take advantage of your offer. IE: Do X to get Y

STEP 4: Make it painfully easy. Put the phone number, link, Web Address, BUY NOW button right there. Don’t assume they’ll take time to find it in the small print on the back of your brochure.

STEP 5: Whenever possible, add incentives to take action now with limited availability (only 10 left!), deadlines, or special sale prices. People are busy. The more reasons you can give them to take action now, the more likely they are to do so. If they wait they probably will never do it. But be sure to do this honestly. If you say you only have 12 left, you better only have 12.

That’s it. Give ‘em a good reason to take action, tell ‘em exactly what to do, and make it easy as pie to do so. You’ll be amazed at how many more people actually do.

Want help creating a powerful call to action with an offer they can’t resist? You’re in luck!

I have two open spaces left in my calendar for 1-hour, one-on-one consults in the next few weeks. Just reply to this email and we get a time on the schedule.

Comments

Now, on the one hand, you can absolutely work to market your product or service as something they really do need to solve a problem or achieve a goal. That’ll help sales. Because when money is tight people have to justify every cent they spend.

On the other hand, you can narrow your focus to those who are still buying. And someone always is, even when most people aren’t. You just have to find them and speak to them in a way that resonates with where they are at right now.

Or, on the third hand (3 hands, I know…I’m a bit odd that way. Alien baby and all that…), you could find ways to get people to fall in love with whatever you’re selling.

If you can arouse that deep down desire-that “I gotta have that” feeling-you don’t have to do any selling at all. Because once we fall in love with something (or someone), we can rationalize and justify just about any choice or behavior if it helps us get the object of our desire.

Case in point. I’ve been thinking about buying a new mountain bike. My bike is fine, but I bought it back when I first started riding and didn’t really know what I wanted or needed. It was a good deal on a great bike so I went for it.

Fast forward to 4.5 years later and I’m a much better rider. Now I’ve realized that it’s not the best bike for me and my riding style. So I’ve been saving up to buy a new one.

Then, a couple weekends ago, I went to Whistler for a weekend mountain biking camp (Big fun. I highly recommend it!). And I got to demo a bike for free as part of the camp.

This was both good, and bad. Because I fell head over heels in love with the bike. It fit perfectly. The weight was just right. It jumped solidly and climbed like a demon. And I rode like a Goddess on it!

Little did I know it’s because it’s an amazing, hand-built bike with all the best components-and about twice as expensive as what I’d been budgeting for.

So when I got home I started trying to find ways to get my hands on one without paying full retail. It being the end of the season, I thought maybe I could find a deal. Or buy one used off eBay.

Turns out the bike is sold out everywhere. And the manufacturer isn’t making any more because they have a new model coming out next year.

Now the bike was playing hard to get. My passion intensified.

Although I looked at other bikes, trying to find one with similar qualities, nothing else seemed near as perfect for me.

Then, the lovely ladies from my biking camp emailed me that their demo bikes were available for sale. Needless to say I responded right away.

They sent me the details, and the price tag made me spew my tea across my desk. But it didn’t stop me.

I started figuring out ways to afford it, and justifying the price (It was in Canadian dollars, and the US dollar is worth more right now, so that’s a savings. They threw in an extra set of tires. More savings. Etc. Etc.)

I was pretty sure I was going to buy it when the clincher arrived in my Inbox…

“Normally we don’t let the demos go until after our last camp in mid-September, but no one has this one reserved and my folks are coming down your way this Friday. So if you want they could bring it with them…”

Done. Sold.

The fact that I wouldn’t have to pay shipping AND I could have the bike in two days pushed me over the edge.

So I agreed to spend almost twice what I’d originally intended. And you know what? I’m thrilled! Ecstatic even!! Plus I’m feeling rather smug that I managed to find a bike that is no longer available anywhere (stores, reps, the manufacturer-all sold out).

I can’t wait to pick it up today and simply stare at it and run my hands along its beautiful, charcoal and white top tube. Not to mention show it off to all my friends like a hot date. And of course ride it this weekend.

This is the power of emotion. Love triumphs over all.

No matter what you’re selling, or what the economy is doing, if someone falls in love with your product or service they’ll find the money to buy it. And they’ll do so quite happily because they’ve convinced themselves life won’t be as good without it.

So how do you make love happen?

Well, you’ve got to give people a way to test the wares. In my case, it was demoing the bike that did the trick. If I’d simply seen the bike, and its price tag, I would’ve walked the other way. But I rode it all day and that was all it took.

That’s why you get to test drive new cars too.

How can people get a taste of what you do?

Offer a test drive via a book…A free report…A free ticket to a presentation…A one-night stay if you come to look at a property…A weekend in the house someone is thinking about buying.

If you sell paintings, you could offer to bring a couple over to their home to see how they’d fit.

Seed the market by giving a few out as gifts to well-connected people. If they love it they’ll tell two friends, and ideally let them check it out.

Even if you can’t actually let someone try your products or services, you can certainly use your sales copy to help them imagine how good life would be once they have what you sell.

Imagine the ease…Or how nice it will be without X problem holding you back…Or how impressed your friends will be…Or how much happier their kids will be…Or how much less pain you’ll be in.

Whatever you sell, you want people to see themselves already owning it and how wonderful that would be. Once they picture themselves in the driver’s seat, if it’s a good fit for their wants, needs, desires or problems, love may start to bloom.

Have you ever fallen in love with something that was out of your budget but you found a way to buy it anyway?

Do you have a great way for people to test drive what you sell?

If so, I’d love to hear all about it, so please leave a comment below…

Comments

In it, he references a Future Now’s 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study that every business owner with a Website should be aware of.

The study states that a 2007 Forrester survey revealed, “only 26% of online consumers were simply satisfied with their shopping experience. This suggests a whopping 74% – three-quarters of online shoppers – weren’t even satisfied. And what of the remaining 26%? They weren’t delighted. They were merely “satisfied.” In other words, the shopping experience was, at best, adequate.”

Twice recently I was personally reminded of how bad some Website shopping experiences can really be-as well as what a stellar shopping experience is like. In the course of one day, I had shopping experience that ranged from frustrating, to great, to near perfection.

Let’s start with perfection…

First, I went looking for a place to send the rear shock on my mountain bike to be overhauled. Usually you send them back to the manufacturer, then wait 4-6 weeks to get it back.

I wasn’t happy about this ideaEspecially since I’d procrastinated on taking care of this over the winter and now biking season is here. The last thing I want to do is be bikeless but my shock is shot an leaking oil. So I went online to find the address for the manufacturer’s repair shop.

Only I couldn’t find it anywhere. Even though my shock is pretty popular, I had zero luck finding the manufacturer’s Website at all.

Thankfully, I found two Websites for independent repair shops that could overhaul my shock. And one (http://www.thebrokenbike.com) was, quite frankly, one of the best examples of a small business e-commerce Website I’ve ever seen!!

• Everything was well-organized and easy to read and navigate.

• His buy now buttons were big and obvious.

• He had his picture and the story of how he came to start this business that added tons of credibility.

• He included testimonials for even more credibility.

• And he had audio and video explaining the entire processFrom the best way to ship your bike part, to what he’s going to do to make it like new again.

On top of all that, he made a promise I couldn’t resist big and bold… Same day turnaround.

I was sold and sent my shock in yesterday. If he delivers as promised, I should be riding on my overhauled shock next week (woohoo!).

Now, because of my needing to rebuild my shock (and the fact that I’ve never been thrilled with how it, or my bike, ride), I’ve also been considering selling this bike and upgrading.

So I started surfing bicycle Websites in search of a new steed.

I’ve been mountain biking pretty avidly for about 5 years, but I’m not a total gearhead about it. I couldn’t tell you which front forks have more travel, or why I would want one disc brake over another. And I certainly don’t know the features and benefits of all the different bikes models and components by name.

As a result, the first Website I went to (http://www.santacruzmtb.com/home/) totally lost me. Rather than dividing out the bikes by style or ideal use, they just had a list of names and icons. So I had to click on each one to see whether or not it was a bike might be interested in (a huge PIA!).

Then, when I got there, I couldn’t easily find the info that was most important to me (namely, a simple statement of what type of riding the bike is designed for, and how much travel the shocks have).

Clearly they geared their site towards more gearhead riders. But they lost a sale by not communicating enough for the average, non-technical mountain biker to make a buying decision. And I don’t think they would lose the gearheads by offering more info.

Needless to say I left that site and went to another…

The Kona site was a whole different ball of wax. It immediately helped me locate the bikes that would be the best fit for me via an interactive questionnaire. In seconds I was looking at exactly what I wanted.

On top of that, the bike descriptions were really helpful in explaining what the bike was best suited for, as well as giving me the key feature info I needed. Now I’m seriously considering buying one of their bikes.

The only negative is that their banner picture is a bit too big. So when I first clicked on the site, and it opened in a half-size window, I couldn’t find the navigation. Other than that the site was easy and intuitive to use.

The bottom line is, if you’re focused on driving traffic to your site, that’s great. But it’s a waste of time and money if you’re site doesn’t do a good job at helping people find what they want and give them enough info to confidently make a purchase.

Jason’s article lists some terrific tips to help you make your Website visitor’s buying experience better than adequate.

For even more helpful info on how to turn your Website into a highly effective salesperson, check out my latest e-book The Small Business Website Bible.

Have you found a Website you either love or hate? Are there certain things you always look for, or that always drive you nuts, when you’re shopping online?

Comments