Declan Dunn - Winning the Affiliates Game

Still, when most budding E-Entrepreneurs are asked what an affiliate program is, they give that sort-of long, glazed over look.  There simply isn’t that much Concrete Information about how to successfully start and run an affiliate web site.

 

Let me be clear, Affiliate web sites are folks who are recommending another companies product or service and when that product or service sells, the person who runs the web site gets a commission on the sale (if they were the referring web site)

 

Anyway, I mentioned that there is a lack of affiliate training programs or systems out there today.  The good news is that the resources have grown, but for the most part, it’s a mixed bag.

 

Some authors simply illustrate how they made a bunch of money promoting one affiliate program or another.  Some of them are nothing more than a watered down sales pitch to BECOME an affiliate of their product or a sub-affiliate of their web site.

 

As with most Home Based Opportunities out there, you really need to look closely at the contents of a course and determine if it is at all related to what you are trying to do.

 

As with most web-based business today, success in the affiliate industry boils down to consultative selling and marketing.  Sure it’s nice to be able to zoom out onto the web and start marketing someone else’s product.  You have VERY little start-up costs, you don’t need a merchant account or a sales mechanism, and it can be pretty much an automatic business.  But, if people don’t see your site- you’re sunk.  And if people don’t believe your sincere or educated in your recommendation about a product-your sunk.

 

Affiliate programs are not the panacea that most folks would have you believe.  It does take work, and the most successful people really do become experts about the product that they are an affiliate of.

 

There are, however, exceptions.  Take for example on affiliate marketer that I know of who created a site that offers guaranteed unsecured credit cards. Let’s face it; people who want a credit card and have had trouble getting one in the past are HUNGRY for this kind of service.  His affiliate web site has made him over $100,000 in one year.

 

Is he an expert on finance? NO

 

Does he understand how to read a credit report, or know how to pre-qualify the credit history of an applicant?  He might, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his site.

 

Does he know how to market to the masses? HECK YES!

 

Does he know how to work the search engine? DARN TOOTIN!

 

Does he understand the value of using pay-per-click search engines? YEPPER!

 

The point I’m trying to make is that ALL affiliate programs rely on 2 things:

 

     1)      Getting the product offer in front of large quantities of the right audience

     2)      Making the customer feel that you know why the product is going to benefit them-because you are an expert!

 

Of course, being the affiliate of an incredible product or service can help-A LOT.

 

So, having said all of that, s there a source out there that covers all of the ins and outs of the Affiliate Industry?

 

Why Yes!  There is.  It’s called Winning the Affiliate Game and its author is Declan Dunn-the undisputed King of Affiliate Learning, Training and Success.

 

Declan is the operator of a company called Active Marketplace.  He can be found throughout the web as a guest speaker, author of editorials, tips, and cautionary tales.  One of his most popular works is called “Winning the Affiliate Game” It is a 200 page book that you can have delivered to you via the Internet or sent you bound via snail mail.

 

The book is broken up into 18 categories that cover every and all aspects of the Affiliate business.   In my opinion, there are a few VERY powerful sections that are worth the price of the book ($67 beans for the e-book, $97 for the hard bound) in their own right.

 

One of the powerful sections is called “How to Convert Customers to Buyers-The Buying Decision” Well…there you go…game over!  This section covers topics like

      1)      What sort of copy to use to get your customers into an open mind to buy

      2)      First: Contact - How customers will respond when they arrive at your homepage.

      3)      Use Content on your web site to invigorate, educate, advertise and sell.

      4)      Adver-torials, what they are and why they are wave of the future…

 

And on and on.

 

Declan also talks about how important it is to give credibility to your business by offering contact information and following up with your potential clients quickly. This falls into the category of back-end marketing and is according to Declan, is Critical to your affiliate success.

 

I realize that I am just glossing over the book, but I am well motivated in doing so.  Let me give you some of my impressions of Declan instead of just writing a book report about “Winning the Affiliate Game”

 

One of the things that struck me about all of the other systems that I review is that they all contain, to some degree or another, information about being a successful affiliate.  Once you have spent about $1000 dollars or so, you probably have 75% of the information that Declan has to offer in “Winning the Affiliate Game”. That is what is so cool about his book, it is a one-stop source for just about anything you need to get started and (hopefully) be successful using affiliate programs.

 

Declan starts off with the basics and ramps up quickly.  One of the things that annoys me about some of the systems out there is that the authors continue to treat you like a newbie throughout the whole book.

 

Not Declan.  Some of his techniques are very advanced and he relies on your ability to learn from what he taught in the first few chapters and be able to apply that in the following ones.

 

One of Declan's strengths is testing.  I am particularly awed by his methods of testing copy and headlines because I find testing and tracking to be labor intensive.  Sure enough, Declan addresses this issue head on and states very simply “There are two kinds of Affiliate Marketers, Those who make a few dollars a month and those who test.”

 

It’s really not that hard once you prepare to do it, but since I am a sort of “Shoot-from-the-hip” kind of guy, the prep time always seemed like a nuisance.  I have always said that some of the best systems are the ones that give you step-by-step instructions or Keys to Success.  Some people might be turned off by this paint by numbers method, but for me it really works.  Winning the Affiliate Game gives you Ten Keys to ‘Creating a profitable web site” and then expands in detail on each one. 

 

You might be thinking that there is more information here than a 200-page book can fit.  It’s interesting how people perceive value and page count as a corresponding element.  Sometimes, its true, but here it’s the opposite.  The information is clear and concise, there is no filler for word-count sake, and the information is in step-by-step form. 

 

Declan also listens to his readers and alters his material based on their feedback.  One of the most common questions that he gets is “What do I need to do, EXACTLY, to set up a good Web site for my business?” I got the feeling that this surprised him because he thought that his earlier products did just that.  Being the dedicated pro that he is, he went back to the product and laid it out in a simple to follow blueprint for Affiliate Success.

 

As I said before, there are other folks out there that talk about affiliate programs and the good systems generally do a nice job of touching on the things you should do to have success. Ken Evoy's Affiliate Masters course is a good example of one that does a nice job of getting your feet wet, but it is more of a How to Manual that does not go into the same detail that Declan’s product does. Still, for the most part, none the other systems out there are as complete and succinct as  Declan Dunn’s “Winning the Affiliate Game”.

 

 

Shop You Soon!