How To Boost Your Affiliate Sales With Free Articles

Free Articles continue to be one of the most effective
ways of quickly generating traffic and sales, without
paying for advertising.

But how can you use free articles to promote an
affiliate link? Putting your affiliate link in your
Resource Box is not going to work, for a number of
reasons:

- people can easily remove your affiliate ID
and just visit the main website of the affiliate
program (you get no commission)

- an affiliate link makes you look like just another
beginner, instead of an expert with something
unique to offer

So how do you use articles to promote affiliate
products? Here are some strategies:

(1) Turn your website into a 'Marketing Resources
Directory'

On your website display book covers and provide brief
reviews for a range of eBooks or software that deal
with web marketing.

You could divide your directory into categories: Web
Marketing (general), Affiliate Programs, Search Engine
Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine
Publishing, etc.

In your Resource Box at the bottom of your article you
could say: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in
online business. Visit his collection of marketing
resources at: http://www.yourdomain.com

(2) Write a Free Report

Write a free report on web marketing and turn it into
an exe format free eBook.

Your free report might have 5 or 6 chapters, each
chapter dealing with a different aspect of web
marketing (Affiliate Programs, Search Engine
Positioning, Email Marketing, Copywriting, Ezine
Publishing etc).

In each chapter you would include recommendations (and
your affiliate link) for eBooks or software that deal
with that topic.

Your Resource Box could say: John Doe shows webmasters
how to succeed in online business. Download his free
report, 'Web Marketing In 5 Easy Steps':
http://www.yourdomain.com/free_report.html

(3) Customize the affiliate links in Free eBooks

Most web marketers produce free or trial versions of
their eBooks, and in many cases the order links in
these free eBooks can be customized with your
affiliate link.

You could build a directory of these free eBooks, each
customized with your affiliate link.

The Resource Box at the bottom of your article might
read: John Doe shows webmasters how to succeed in
online business. Visit his collection of free eBooks
today: http://www.yourdomain.com

(4) Use your Resource Box to get new subscribers to
your Newsletter and then promote your affiliate
programs in your Newsletter.

This is the strategy most people use. But promoting
your affiliate links in a weekly Newsletter is a
subtle art - the best way to learn is to join the
Newsletters of marketers who specialize in this and
study their techniques.

(c) 2002 by Michael Southon