If you've been searching around the Internet, you have come across many different types of sales landing pages. Do you remember those that have been written so well, with so much persuasion, that you felt if you did not purchase the product, you were a true idiot? Do you remember those sites that told you things like "free your acne in three days," or perhaps those that said "lose 30 pounds in two hours?" These are the typical sales landing pages that are all over the web. This is called selling -- write a sales pitch and sell your product to the world. If you are in the affiliate marketing game, however, selling is a good thing, however, pre-selling is more important. And this is why.
For affiliate marketers, you typically send out newsletters or generate content on your website, but your initial focus is not on making a sale of a product or service. This is because you are not the actual promoter of the product. The person or the merchant who created that product is really the one who needs to make that sale. Thus when you redirect traffic to their site, the ball is in the merchant's court to attract and sway visitors to purchase the product.
As an affiliate marketer, your true mission is to presell any visitor that comes upon your site. You need to establish your credibility, and allow them to view you as someone who has accumulated expertise in the specific area. Basically, building rapport and trust is the key to success for any affiliate marketer. Thus, your only task is to introduce to the visitors the product that you are promoting. As long as you have interconnected the product with your website or your opt-in list e-mails, then you are on your way to selling more products.
The real trick is to first give visitors a lot of useful and valuable information on the subject. Allow them to know that you are an expert and that you truly know more than they do. Provide them highly valuable advice and tips and, subsequently recommend the product to them because of its usefulness or benefits. Don't focus on giving a sales talk or trying to sell the prospect at this time. Remember this is the merchant's job. All in all, it is the decision of the visitor to actually go and visit the merchant's website. Don't make the decision on their behalf; let them do the thinking themselves, but help them to do it in a way that is profitable for you.
