Follow These 11 Sales Tips to Earn Big Commissions
This page is designed to give you many different samples of how you can link to my website, and you can use many of them even if you don’t have your own website. Please read through it carefully and choose the sample that is most appropriate for the type of website visitors you get. You can then tweak what I have written to make it perfect for your site.
Do This First:
Decide how and where you want to incorporate The Publicity Hound’s links into your website.
Many websites have multiple areas that are linked to my website. I have many opportunities for you to make money with my products. So don’t hesitate to link to my website from multiple areas in your website. Remember, the more people who see your links… the more people who click… the more people who order… the more referral commission you earn…and the more commission I send to you.
Why Endorsed Text Links Drive Sales:
People now tend to gloss over banner ads. So an “endorsed” text link will probably make you a lot more money.
Endorsed means that you highly recommend my products, and since your visitors trust your opinion, they are more likely to click through and check me out.
I recommend that you link to me on your main page because of the exposure. Appropriate secondary pages are good too, especially if our products and memberships are complementary to the text on the page.
Another good place to put affiliate text links is on a “Thank You” page in your shopping cart so you can make even more money from someone after they are LEAVING your site.
It’s generally not a great idea to lump tons of affiliate links from different programs together. You probably won’t make many sales because it will be confusing to your visitors and you will look like a jack of all trades.
I Can’t Emphasize This Enough…
You must make comments and choose headlines that match the type of visitor you get. In other words, don’t put a link that says “ATTENTION PR PROS” on your site, if you primarily get traffic from authors.
Even though some of the visitors will be PR people, most won’t be. And most won’t click through your link, and you won’t get many sales.
If you get both PR people AND authors, you could have links that say “PR people click here” and “Authors click here”. This would take visitors to a separate page just for them where you would slant your endorsement toward PR people on one page and authors on the other page.
Here is some sample text for each:
(For PR People) “Serious PR people and publicists who want to take their skills to the next level must check out the best website on how to get free publicity. Joan Stewart, also known as The Publicity Hound®, helps PR people develop strong relationships with traditional and online media. Check out her free publicity tips [hyperlink “free publicity tips” using your generic affiliate link].”
Or (For Authors) “If you’ve written a book or you’re thinking of writing a book and you want to know how to get valuable free publicity, you must check out this site. Joan Stewart, also known as The Publicity Hound®, teaches thousands of authors how to develop strong relationships with traditional and online media that, in turn, help them sell thousands of books. Check out her free publicity tips [hyperlink “free publicity tips” using your generic affiliate link].”
Sales Tip #1: Give a Personal endorsement Emphasize what my materials and information have done for you. Anytime you can add a phrase about how it helped you personally, do it. It will mean more referral fees for you! The best testimonials give exact details of how you benefited. Here are examples of a weak testimonial that won’t help you sell much, and a strong testimonial that will.
Weak testimonial: “Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound®, has terrific products that will help you generate free publicity. I have bought several of them and they’re tops.”
Strong testimonial: “I’ve been following Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound®, for years and have bought several of her products. As a result, I doubled the number of publicity hits I was getting in just eight months, and I even got stories in the Los Angeles Times and on National Public Radio. Check out her free publicity tips [hyperlink “free publicity tips” using your generic affiliate link] here.”
I’m not suggesting you say something that isn’t true. But if you have bought my products, like them, and they’ve gotten results for you, say so!
Your personal recommendation of my products will gain up to 400 percent more clicks than just a link (that means you triple or quadruple your referral fees!) If you know me, you know how powerful my material is and that I should be charging a lot more for it…so you can give it your personal recommendation.
Using this method can create huge profits for you and you’ll feel great knowing you are recommending a product that has valuable information and is truly worth every penny. It’s a win-win situation for everyone! It can make you a lot of money and your visitors will be very happy with my products and services.
To triple and even quadruple (yes, that’s quadruple) your referral fees almost overnight, just give MORE exposure to my links WITH a personal recommendation. What I mean is that in every instance where it’s appropriate in your site, have a link or recommendation to one of my top-notch products. You don’t have to necessarily buy the product to give it an endorsement. But if you bought it and saw tangible results, by all means mention that.
You could have a link on your main index page. Here are some examples depending on the nature of the people that visit your site:
Sample Text if Your Customers are Nonprofits:
“Budget-strapped nonprofits that don’t have big PR budgets can get thousands of dollars in free publicity with simple tricks from Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound®. Even if you have a staff of one, Joan’s products will show you how to make your news releases, media kits, articles and news releases do double and triple duty. She’ll show you how to identify story ideas within your nonprofit that the media will be tripping over themselves to cover. This is the best website I’ve ever seen on publicity for nonprofits [hyperlink “publicity for nonprofits” to your generic affiliate link].
Sample Text if Your Customers Are Authors:
“Don’t be like the thousands of other authors who can’t park in their garages because they’re filled with cardboard boxes of books they can’t sell. Learn how to get thousands of dollars in powerful free publicity online and offline so you sell, sell, sell. Joan Stewart, who worked in the newspaper business for 22 years, knows all the secrets of how to generate book publicity. She’s a great resource. Read her free publicity tips [hyperlink “free publicity tips” to your generic affiliate link.]
Or
“Authors who make money only from their books are missing valuable multiple revenue streams. Joan Stewart shows authors how to write special reports, host teleseminars and create other information products that go ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching! Read her free publicity tips [hyperlink “free publicity tips” to your generic affiliate link.]
Or
(Shorter Versions) “For tips on how to generate thousands of dollars in book publicity, check out The Publicity Hound [hyperlink “The Publicity Hound” to your affiliate link], loaded with free tips and tricks and valuable educational tools.”
Sample Text if Your Customers are New to Publicity:
“If it’s time to write a news release or lead a publicity campaign but you don’t know anything about the topic, I’ve found the very best expert to help you. Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound® [hyperlink The Publicity Hound to your generic affiliate link], has tips, tricks and valuable educational tools. She’s a great resource.
“Sample Text if Your Customers are Speakers and Trainers:
“If you want publicity for your programs and your products, publicity expert Joan Stewart says you must stop pitching your programs and your products and start pitching your expertise. Joan, also known as The Publicity Hound®, is a publicity expert and professional speaker. Her website will show you how to capture the attention of media people and have them coming back to you again and again for story ideas, background, commentary and interviews. Read about her free publicity tips, tricks and tools [hyperlink “free publicity tips, tricks and tools” using your affiliate link.]
If you have specific types of visitors and you’re not sure how the copy should read, email me at Jstewart@PublicityHound.com and I’ll help you write it.
Sales Tip #2: Send an Endorsement for The Publicity Hound to Your Email List
If you have an email newsletter, or a customer email/database list, it can be a very powerful way to promote my products. This is a way to really make big referral fees.
I sell most of my products through my ezine. Here’s how I do it. I usually excerpt from 3 to 5 tips from a particular product, then end with a sales pitch.
In fact, please feel free to lift entire tips from my twice-a-week email publicity tips and use them in your newsletter. Just be sure to include the sales pitch at the end, and the affiliate link.
Sales Tip #3: Mention My Products When You Do Public Speaking
If you speak in front of groups, you can find an appropriate time to mention my website. The most effective way is to tell the audience how they will benefit from my information (they can stop spending a fortune on advertising, they’ll learn how to build a media kit, they’ll learn how to generate Internet publicity, etc.) and then write the link on a flipchart, overhead, or put it in a PowerPoint slide. Give the audience a chance to write it down. Not only is this a “personal recommendation,” it was actually done “in person” which makes an even greater impact than emailing it to them. A great way to make the link handy is to give them a link to a downloadable handout you are providing them. That way they can click on your affiliate link to my website without retyping it. For full disclosure, tell them it is an affiliate link.
Handout materials: To piggyback on tip #3 above, make sure you put your recommendation and link in your handout materials if you use them (and most of the time you should). This way there is no chance that the link will be copied incorrectly.
Sales Tip #4: Slip a Flyer Inside a Product Package
Print an inexpensive insert to put in the package whenever you ship a product to one of your customers. This is a very effective way to put your personal recommendation in front of people who already are buying from you. It could be part of a “Thank You” note for purchasing. You could say something like:
“Thanks so much for purchasing our new and improved widget. Since we always like to give extra value to our customers, we recommend you visit a fantastic website we discovered that will really improve your publicity skills…” (then put an appropriate blurb about one of my products and the link. If you don’t know how to link to a specific product page, email my assistant, Christine Buffaloe, at Chris@SerenityVA.com.)
You don’t have to use the exact thank-you note above, but it’s a good way to lead in to your personal recommendation. And the best part is, this only costs you pennies. The customer has already purchased and probably paid the shipping, so it’s a much better deal than doing a separate mailing that, comparatively, would cost a fortune.
Sales Tip #5: Trade Articles with Ezine Publishers
If you have a newsletter or ezine, trade ads with other newsletter or ezine publishers, or better yet, trade article space. Many times the classified ads are never even seen by people because they mentally tune them out as they read through a newsletter. Articles, however, get a much higher attention level and they also give you more space to make your recommendation. Don’t get me wrong. If someone wants to trade ads, go for it. You have nothing to lose, but if you get a chance at article space, take that first.
You might want to write several different articles. Some newsletters will want higher content and not much of a pitch and others don’t care how blatant you pitch their readers. Have several articles ready to go if you plan on using this idea and let the newsletter publishers pick which one they like. Send them the conservative one first so you don’t scare them off from making a deal.
Sales Tip #6: Use the “Refer a Friend” Form
Use the “refer a friend” form by logging into your account and clicking on the “Refer a Friend” link. Use it over and over to tell your friends and colleagues about me. You can log in here.
Sales Tip #7: Refer to My Products in Your Email Signature
You can even refer to my products in your email signature line or when you post to email discussion lists, forums and newsgroups (but remember — absolutely NO SPAM)
Sales Tip #8: Link to My Blog
My blog is here. When you’ve found a post you love, contact my assistant, Christine Buffaloe, at Chris@SerenityVA.com and she’ll show you how to configure the link so it includes your affiliate code.
Sales Tip #9: Mention My Products in Your Blog Posts
Feel free to excerpt tips you see in my posts, with attribution, for your blog.
Sales Tip #10: Lead Your Customers to My Sales Pages
For my higher priced products and services, I have entire sales pages that really underscore the benefits. I recommend you lead your customers to these sales pages. (I explain how to do that below.)
Sales Tip #11: Use JPEGs of my ebook covers at your website
I have JPEGs of attractive covers for all my ebooks. If you want to use a cover at your website, feel free to lift it from my website, or email my assistant, Christine Buffaloe, at Chris@SerenityVA.com and we’ll l send one to you. I have many sizes you can choose from.
How to Lead Customers to a Specific Product Page at My Website
To link back to my website and have your visitor land on my homepage, just use your affiliate link which looks like this: http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=XXXXX or login to your affiliate dashboard and grab your unique link to a specific product. If you have problems with that, just contact Christine Buffaloe at Chris@SerenityVA.com and she can send it to you or walk you through the process so you will know how in the future.
Because some of the links can be very long, you can shorten it with your favorite link shortener. Use that tiny URL as the link you give your customers. Tell them it’s an affiliate link. Always test the link first to make sure it works before giving it to someone. Feel free to email me if you have questions or are confused about these directions. I’m here to help you.
***Warning: Spam and its Consequences***
I am very serious about this.
Affiliates sending unsolicited commercial email or posting to “inappropriate” newsgroups will not be tolerated.
It is against your affiliate agreement to advertise my website via unsolicited email. Some people think that affiliate “Spam” email originated from me, damaging my reputation and causing me many administrative problems. DO NOT send unsolicited email to promote me, or you will be in violation of your affiliate agreement and your account will be terminated, forfeiting all outstanding referral fees. Your cooperation and understanding is appreciated.
However, do not get this confused with PROPER WAYS to promote my products. Please recommend the course in your autoresponders, in a personal email to your client base, your lead lists, people that contact you, people you stay in touch with, a newsletter list, at your website, in your blog, even in appropriate email discussion lists, etc.
This is not spamming.
Need More Help?
If there is any confusion, please email me at Jstewart@PublicityHound.com or Christine Buffaloe, my assistant, at Chris@SerenityVA.com.
My mailing address if you need it is:
The Publicity Hound
Box 437
Port Washington, WI 53074
Thanks for being a part of my affiliate program. I look forward to a long, mutually profitable relationship with you.