Are You Practicing “Spray And Pray” Affiliate Marketing?

Marketing things as an affiliate is obviously a good way to make money with a blog. It is WAY better than using banner ads and the income potential is far better.

That said, making good money as an affiliate is about being more strategic than simply tossing out posts promoting stuff. You’ve got to think like a marketer and that means thinking about what’s going on inside the person’s head.

A lot of blog owners do what I call “spray and pray”.

They just “spray” their affiliate link out there. In their sidebar. In blog posts. In footers. Maybe via the email list. Then, they “pray” that somebody will click on the link and buy.

In other words, you just spray the message out there and see who bites. It isn’t really targeted beyond the fact that it is relevant (hopefully). It doesn’t take into account that a pretty huge portion of your audience isn’t really in the mood to buy anything. Plus, it depends on you HAVING a decent-size audience already.

The alternative is to specifically cater to people who ARE in the mood to buy. They are actively looking for solution to something, or perhaps even a particular product. As a marketer, you are dealing with a person who is in the buyer’s mindset. All you really need to do is push them over the edge and get them to take action.

What we’re talking about is thinking in a targeted fashion. Instead of trying to attract just anybody, you instead make the promotion geared to people who are in the buyer’s mindset. Push them over the edge and get them to take action. If anybody else decides to come along, all the better.

How can we do this?

A person in the buyer’s mindset is not simply casually checking their email. They’re usually on the prowl. So, what kinds of things do they look for before they’re about to buy?

• Reviews
• Bonuses
• Comparisons
• Coupon codes

When somebody is actively considering buying something, they start looking at reviews. Most people also try to be smart shoppers, so they’re looking at comparisons to other competing products.

So, obviously, content that does reviews and comparisons will attract people who are already on the prowl to buy.

Your blog post review for that affiliate product can contain your full review. Include both the good and the bad and keep it honest. And include comparisons to competing products. All this will help with your SEO.

It is also a great idea to post your review in video form to Youtube. Youtube is immensely popular for people looking for reviews and comparisons. They want to SEE the product in action. Unboxing videos, while stupid, are nothing more than giving the viewer the experience of seeing the product and imagining themselves unboxing their own. They get excited.

But, attracting them to your content is just half the battle.

As a marketer, you also need to drive them into action. You don’t want them to just read your thing, then back out just to go read other reviews and take action through somebody else’s affiliate link.

You want to give them a reason to act now…. through you.

Bonuses can drive action. It gives people a reason to buy from you versus somebody else. Even if they go out and read other people’s reviews, if your bonus resonates with them they’ll come back to you.

For any product you really want to stand behind, it is definitely worth your time to create some complementary bonus. Make that bonus such that it fits the offer like peas and carrots.

Coupon codes are also great incentives. People looking for coupon codes are about to buy. As an affiliate marketer, that’s low hanging fruit.

I’ll leave you with this…

Spray-and-pray marketing is VERY limited in how well it works when it comes to affiliate marketing. It is lazy. You can’t just drop random links in your sidebar and expect it to generate commissions.

You’ve got to think like a marketer. You’ve got to put yourself into the mindset of the person seeking to potentially buy the thing you’re reviewing.

Yes, it takes more work than link-dropping. But, it is the only way.