I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about people saying how hard
they find it to sell ClickBank products as an affiliate.

The problem is, in my opinion, that they overthink the problem.
There is nothing magical about ClickBank. There are good and bad
products there, and good and bad vendors.

Some of the stuff there will sell well, and some wouldn’t sell if
you offered it as a free bonus for a bus ticket.

But just because it is on ClickBank doesn’t mean that anyone can
put up a scruffy web page and rake in the moolah. Real life
doesn’t work that way.

At the very least, you have to attract interested, targeted
people to your scruffy page – and do your best to make it less
scruffy that other peoples’. You might also want to give some of
that traffic an incentive to buy through your link rather than
keep on shopping for a better deal.

The first bit is called marketing. You go out and attract people
to your offer – you create a market.

You might do that with paid advertising (pay per click is one
example) or by free methods such as article marketing.

When you’ve got them to your page the next skill has to be
brought to bear onf them: selling.

Your web page needs to sell the idea of buying something.
Actually, as an affiliate, your focus is on pre-selling – making
them want to visit the product’s sales page where the real
selling can take place.

You might also want to sell the idea of getting a free bonus
report or some useful information so that they will sign up to
receive future emails from you. That bit is the key.

There is a significant cost, in either time, money or both, in
getting a prospect to visit your web page. But if that prospect
signs up to receive future mailings from you, there is zero cost
to get them too come back. Your customer acquisition cost is
negligible. That’s why squeeze pages are so popular and you have
to give out your email address to the most successful marketers.

That’s it in a nutshell: create a market by advertising, capture
the names and email addresses and presell them on the idea of
visiting the product’s sales page. And give a nice bonus to them
if they buy from your link.

If that sounds simplistic, it is. But why make it any more
complicated when simple works?

Over the last year or so I’ve recommended some excellent courses
on the subject, so I know good information is out there. It is
just a real pity that more people don’t buy it, study it, and
apply what they have learned without questioning every tiny
detail.

The most recent one that I recommended is still my favorite:
Chris Freville’s Dominating Niches. Chris is a really nice man,
who comes along to my London Lunches on occasion, who has that
fortunate knack of seeing directly to the heart of a problem and
finding the best way through it to a successful conclusion.

For Chris, that conclusion is a massive annual income that he
teaches you how to emulate.

Dominating Niches is one of those products that if you read,
study and apply it, you will succeed with. There isn’t an single
ounce of BS.

Check out the full details here:
http://urlnex.us/dominatingniches

The SAS motto is ‘He who dares, wins.’ Maybe it should have a
second sentence tacked on: ‘He who dithers, doesn’t.’

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Somebody offered me a free video the other day. The promise was
that I would learn a fantastic new traffic technique and it would
cost me absolutely nothing.

I took the bait and followed the link.

What I came to was a squeeze page that had a very short
promotional video on it telling me about the benefits of the
‘free’ video. But to watch the free video I had to give them my
name and email address.

Okay, I have no problem with that. I’m a marketer too – I
understand about squeeze pages and list building. No problem.

But then I was taken to an upsell that was trying to sell me
something I had no idea what it was, and had no interest in
finding out.

I was there to see a free video, after all!

Eventually I found the ‘No Thanks’ link and so settled down to
watch the video I’d wanted to see five minutes ago.

But no. There was another sales page trying to make me buy a
cheaper version of the first upsell. I didn’t want it then and I
don’t want it now! Enough already!

Finally … finally … I got to the page the original email had
promised and watched the video. It was quite interesting, as it
turned out, although not quite as ‘new and revolutionary’ as the
author seemed to think.

What a palaver! Four clicks, two upsells, a name squeeze and a
promotional, pre-video to sit through. All to watch a short free
video.

I wish I hadn’t bothered.

I know it is marketing. I know that the gurus teach this stuff. I
know that it is effective. Heck, I know that the guy running it
is probably making ten times what I am.

But despite all that, it is still bloody annoying. Surely there
is a better way?

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Success is largely a matter of getting in the way.

Think about that.

If you want to do business with a certain type of person, find
out where they hang out, find out what their needs are and put
yourself in their way.

If you want to sell ebooks online, fine out who wants to buy what
and then put yourself in their way.

If you want to speak at seminars, find out who organizes the
events and get in their way.

People who are ‘in the way’ get noticed.

While most people are happy to shrink into the background and
‘blend in’, successful people – or those on the journey towards
success – know that blending in is the LAST thing that they need
to do.

Where is the differentiation in that?

Sheep on the hillside blend in. All you see is a flock of sheep.
But if one of those sheep happens to have black wool it stands
out and your eyes are drawn to it. It is in the way of your
vision.

You have to find ways to get in the way of the people you need to
further your success. You have to be noticeable and noticed.
Whether that is by the way you act, the services you offer, or
the skills you possess, when you are in the way and you have
something that can solve another person’s problem, you are the
natural first choice.

And where success is concerned you are either the first choice or
you are no choice.

Get out of your blended-in comfort zone and put yourself in the
way of success.

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