Why are affiliate programs proving so popular today? Well for a start you don't need to research and create a product. You don't need to hold stock or provide customer support. Since your costs are limited to running your website there is minimal risk in promoting affiliate programs.

Through combining affiliate programs you can procure multiple streams of income, as well as diversifying. Affiliate programs are flexible; simply change the link on your web site and away you go promoting a different product. Finally, all these benefits taken together mean that you can focus 100% on building website traffic.

Sounds good? Yes it is. However, if it is so good why are so many affiliates unable to generate a reasonable income from affiliate programs?

Let me turn this question on its' head. Why are 3% of affiliates accounting for 95% of affiliate revenue? Let me go even further and consider how some affiliates can see a significant rise in their affiliate income through a few simple changes. The answer lies within...very Zen! :-)

There are two ways you can build a website for affiliate programs...the right way and the wrong way. :-)

First let us consider the steps from a surfer out there in cyberspace to your affiliate income check. Joe Bloggs in cyberspace has to find your website from among the galaxy of websites out there. When he does find you he is what's known as your visitor. The sum of visitors to your website is commonly known as traffic.

Once a visitor hits your website, you will want one action above all other actions for that visitor to do. Ken Evoy, yes he of SiteSell fame, terms this the "Most Wanted Response" or "MWR" - in terms of your website, the MWR is to click on an affiliate link. The click on an affiliate link is what's known as the "Click-Through Rate" or "CTR."

Finally, on reaching the merchant's site (on the other side of the affiliate link) you will want that visitor to convert into a sale, lead etc...this is known as the "Conversion Rate" or "CR."

Believe it or not, you the humble affiliate can control EVERY step of the process to a greater or lesser extent.

Here we will look at how you can influence the CTR, which in turn will increase the chances of the visitor becoming a sale or lead and hence influence the CR.

As an affiliate your task is NOT to sell anymore than your own credibility. You are not there to directly sell a product, or a service or even a merchant from your own website. Do you recall Ken Evoy's "MDR" concept? Exactly, you want nothing more than the visitor to click on an affiliate link and the most effective way to do this is through what is termed "Pre-selling". Pre-selling is a much little talked about and much misunderstood concept. Today that is all going to change. :-)

PRESELLING has very little to do with SELLING a product or service and everything to do with selling YOUR credibility as an expert. It's all about TRUST.

How do you achieve trust and credibility? Content, content and did I mention content? It is all about you delivering a valuable content driven website for your visitors to enjoy.

Select a theme that is of interest to you and develop a themed based content website around it. For example, if your website's theme is about "domestic cats" keep all your pages tightly focused on this theme. Deliver page after page of great content. Plan your website, researching information and building a page a day. BINGO! After 3 months you will have a home page that answers the visitor's "what is in it for me?" question by giving them the benefits of reading your website, as well as 90-odd pages of well researched content.

Think of all the affiliate programs that could be of interest to cat lovers? Pet food, cat accessories, books, pet insurance etc. Imagine how your CTR would be improved from having a page with a series of banners and minimal content to having a website all about healthy eating for cats and affiliate links to cat food and books.

Pre-selling is all about content. It is all about delivering "Ready-To-Buy" or "RTB" visitors to the merchant's website.

Just think...how long would you remain at a website crammed full of banners and very little content? The answer is not very long. Such websites are screaming one thing SELL! Surely, you would be more receptive to the recommendations of a website delivering valuable information. Would you not be more prepared to follow the expert advice of a content crammed website rather than one that is little more than a banner car park?

What is the value to you the affiliate of delivering great content and ultimately RTB visitors to a merchant's site? The answer is a CTR approximately 10 times greater and a CR 20 times greater than is otherwise the case. Yes, instead of a CTR of 5%, you will be at 50%, and instead of a CR of just 1%, you will be enjoying a CR of 20%. Just plug in the numbers and see.

Let us assume that your site has 4,500 Unique Visitors a month. If your CTR is 5%, the CR 1% and you get $5 per sale your monthly income would be $11.50. Now imagine your content driven website had a 50% CTR and the CR was 20%. Now your monthly income is $2,250.00. That is a geometric growth of 200 times!

Lesson One:
Presell not Sell to your visitors. This way you will be more credible in your recommendations. Further, visitors that click-through will be in a RTB mindset. Don't try to sell off of your affiliate site. Visitors will recoil at the hard sell and even if they do click-through, what do they get...another sell (probably repeating exactly what you said).

Lesson Two:
Affiliate programs are partnerships. They are partnerships between you and the merchant and each has a distinct role if your income is to be maximised. It is your responsibility to Pre-sell in order to get the visitor to hit the affiliate link ("MWR") and ultimately, to maximise the CTR. It is the merchant's task to make RTB visitors into sales or leads (their "MWR").

Lesson Three:
The winning bet is PRESELL and SELL, not SELL and SELL again.

Lesson Four:
Your ability to Pre-sell will ultimately affect the CR. If you deliver RTB visitors, they are more likely to buy than visitors bludgeoned into clicking the affiliate link.

Having a themed and content driven website of 90-odd pages will please both your human visitors and the search engines when they come to index you.

Now that is great news!

Finally, the way to link to the merchant's site will have a material affect on your CTR. The biggest turn-off are banner ads (currently a 0.4% CTR per banner). They are cliched and have a poor reputation. Banner ads are seldom looked at and trusted even less. If you want to explode your CTR, use subtle and "in-context" text or product links (currently a 4.25% CTR per link) interwoven into the body of your content. This way the affiliate link is a "logical link".

About The Author
Richard Baker is author of AffiliatePreSelling. Common sense articles on exploding your affiliate income. To contact us, drop an email to info@affiliatepreselling.com.

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