Results Of The Affiliate Contest I Entered

Sorry this has taken me a while to post. Honestly, I wasn’t sure where I ended up with the PLRme affiliate contest so I waited for Ronnie to tell me. Then I got uber-focused on the product I was creating so I could get it live. I’ll post about that next!

Anyway, I learned some things in this contest, both about affiliate marketing, and about me and what I’m comfortable with.

[See the previous posts on this blog if you're not up to speed on this contest]

 

Here’s what I did:

Please note – I do have different optin lists in different niches, even separate lists for certain areas within a niche.

First thing I did was brand the reports he offered and let you and some of my lists know about them.

While I was doing that I asked Ronnie if he could give me a discount coupon so I could share it with my lists. He did! I also sent him some written interview questions and he answered them.

I gave my group of PLR writers a heads up to opt in to one of Ronnie’s free PLR packs so they could watch how he operates. I preach how important it is to know what the “competition” is doing and how they’re doing it, especially when the competition is  a successful marketer.

I emailed my PLR user lists a nice email promo. Afterwards, I could hear crickets chirping. Not the best start! I realized I forgot to tell them about the bonus they’d get from me if they purchased through my link. Doh!

I waited a day and emailed again – just a short one admitting my mistake and letting them know about the bonus.

I tweeted, but rather sporadically. Not near as often as I should have. I kept forgetting and my other tasks/work were getting in the way of this. I have to admit it is hard to focus on one stream of income when you have other streams that need attending to as well.

I posted Ronnie’s interview on my PLR blog and emailed my list a little over a week after the last email. No promoting in this email, I sent them to the blog post.

I sent a last reminder when the sale/contest was almost over. There were several items I talked about in that email so it wasn’t just about PLRme.

 

Here are my results:

I made enough sales to get me to the 2nd level of prizes. That means I earned over $200 in commissions (over $400 in sales)  My prize choices were $50 iTunes gift card, $50 Amazon gift card, or $50 Paypal. I chose to have the nice Paypal addition.

The sales were slow going with the most coming with my last reminder email.

Some of the sales were for memberships, so that means I will have a recurring income.

Ronnie’s affiliate program is 2-tiered and several people became affiliates under me. That means when they make sales I also make a small commission off their sales (at Ronnie’s expense, not the affiliate’s).

Only 1 buyer has contacted me about her bonuses so far which is a surprise. If it were me, I’d be all over the bonuses!

Unexpectedly, sales for my own PLR products were up during this time. I did email about this one promo more than I am used to and this made me a little uncomfortable. I don’t like to “bug” people. But these emails must have kept me and my products in the front of their mind. This promo wasn’t the only thing I was emailing about, I was sending a few of my regular emails as well.

The people I sent over to PLRme are now cookied with my affiliate link and I continue to make sales. Just this morning I made $98.50 on one transaction. Gotta love that!

Sounds crazy, but while this contest was going on I became more attuned to affiliate opportunities in general. I thought of a new benefit for another product that I had promoted and I let a specific list know about that. This benefit wasn’t really talked about on the sales page so I had happy results from pointing it out.

All in all, I had hoped to do better, but I realize I didn’t spend as much time on this as I wanted. I did learn some more about affiliate marketing and about myself while earning commissions and a prize!

Thanks again to Steve Scott, Connie Ragen Green and everyone else who offered their tips and insights.

photo credit: annethelibrarian

The Winners of Connie Ragen Green’s Affiliate Marketing Books Are…

You probably thought I forgot about the affiliate marketing contest I posted on September 29th, right? The one where 3 people could win Connie Rage Green’s affiliate marketing book?

Well I didn’t forget.

I was just trying to give as many people as possible to post their tips so they could share what they know and get into the drawing.

So I drew the winners and the first one declined. It was Alan Petersen and this is what he said. “Thanks Peg! I never win anything in random drawings. But I’m going to decline because we’re such good friends and a lot of your readers know that. I don’t want them thinking you were playing favorites. Go ahead and give it to someone else.” What a guy, huh?

Okay, so here are the 3 random winners. They’ve been notified and told to pick Huge Profits With Affiliate Marketing, or her other book: Huge Profits With A Tiny List.

Tiffany

GrandmaMarilyn

Tomek

Many thanks to everyone who added their comments. It’s people like you who make this blog a fun place to come and learn!

photo credit: pj_vanf

 

5 Steps For Writing Killer Affiliate Promo Emails

I’m happy to share this affiliate marketing guest post by Steve Scott. Be sure and read to the very end.

As an affiliate marketer your goal is to build a responsive email list.  Unfortunately most get this wrong.  Either they pitch too many products or they’re scared to present people with an offer.

I think it’s easy to write promotional emails that make money.  The trick is to do it without “burning a list.”  Your subscribers are an asset.  That’s why it’s important to implement a strategy where you’ll make money for years to come:

 

Step #1 – Know what Subscribers Want

Don’t just blindly blast emails to subscribers.  Instead, know exactly what they want before hitting the send button.

How do you find this out?  The quickest way is to do market research.  Go to popular forums in your niche and look for topics with a high number of responses.  Do this for blogs as well.

Your goal is to find out what problems are common in your niche.  These are the challenges that prevent people from achieving success.

What if you get stuck?  Just ask subscribers what they want to learn.  Use these polling tools for this:

• WP-Polls Plugin (for  Word Press blogs)
• Survey Monkey

Knowing what people want is the #1 secret to writing killer promotional emails.  Your goal is to tailor content (and offers) around the needs of subscribers.

 

Step #2 – Give Great Content

People join email lists to receive a benefit.  Most don’t like getting hit with offer after offer.  Remember this as you’re interacting with subscribers.

My rule of thumb is to offer at least 80% content to subscribers.  You can do this in a variety of ways:

• Teach a valuable niche-related lesson
• Link to a recent blog post you’ve written
• Create a content-filled PDF and offer it to subscribers
• Give a link to training video and/or webinar
• Answer questions from readers

Promotional emails start before you ask people to spend money.  Give people value and it’s easy  to get value in return.

 

Step  #3 – Use a “Mini-Launch” Sequence

Don’t just send a one-and-done email to promote a product.  Instead use what I call a “mini-launch” sequence.

You’ve probably seen the big-time gurus use product launches.  This technique can be applied to your promo emails.  The goal here is to introduce the offer while giving value to subscribers.

For example, here’s a  sequence I normally use:

• 1^st Email:  Identify the problem that’s solved by the offer.  Use a personal  story; talking about how you’ve encountered the same thing.  Provide a few basic solutions but hint at a total fix in a future email.

 

• 2^nd Email: Link to a valuable piece of content.  Most affiliate marketing programs give away a value piece of free content.  Like
  a PDF, video, or webinar.  In this email you’ll presell this freebie and provide subscribers with a download link.

 

• 3^rd Email: Promote  the affiliate product.  This is where you’ll sell the value of this offer.  Your job here is to leverage the goodwill you’ve built with  subscribers.  Give honest feedback about this product and tell people why it’s  helpful to them.

 

• 4^th Email: Follow-up  with subscribers (Optional.)  You can pick up additional affiliate sales by following up with readers.  Usually this is a great time to use scarcity – Especially if a product owner is offering a limited time or quantity.  Give them a reason why they should take action now.

 

Step  #4 – Offer a Bonus

Another way to produce additional sales is to offer a bonus item.  This will be something valuable that you’ve created.  This technique is extremely
effective if it directly relates to the offer. I do this for any high-ticket offer.  This technique provides an incentive for people to buy through your affiliate link.

 

Step  #5 – Rinse and Repeat

Email marketing is the lifeblood of your affiliate marketing business.  That’s why it should be treated with lots of care.

I’ll always offer content after a “mini-launch” sequence.  Even if I’m just sending links to a recent blog post.  The idea here is to remind readers that your
goal is to help them.  You’re not someone who sees an email list as a  personal ATM machine.

Rinse and repeat this cycle.  Send an email or two that doesn’t  promote a thing.  Next, go through a  “mini-launch” sequence.  Finally, go back  to giving great content – Starting the process again.

This process builds loyalty with your email list.  It’s also a great way to make money.

At the start of this post I talked about the importance of creating a responsive list.  Just follow these five-steps and you’ll have a killer affiliate promo sequence.

The  best part?  With this process you’ll have a long-term  asset.  This is an income source that can be relied upon for years to come!

~~~~~

Steve Scott generates a six-figure income from using email with his affiliate marketing sites. You can learn more about this on his affiliate marketing strategies page. Plus, he’s also created a step-by-step process where he reveals his income-producing techniques.  This can be found in his Affiliate Marketing without the Bulls**t product.

* Steve’s got a free chapter/module from his ebook that you can download now without opting in. Get it here!