Is it possible to succeed at affiliate marketing with virtually no email list, or even no list at all? Well, today’s case study proves that it is indeed possible using detailed product reviews.
I had the pleasure recently of speaking with Sandra Stachowicz recently and we discussed how she made $7,355.68 doing a product review of John Assaraf’s Winning The Game of Money course.
Below I share the 11 keys that Sandra shared with me in a recent case study interview for how to maximize your affiliate product reviews. Now before I share the 11 keys, there are a few things you have to do first:
- You need to sign up for the affiliate program of whatever you are going to promote (duh!)
- You need to have personal experience with the product. You need to at least have seen the product or know the person to be able to make a valuable recommendation.
- You need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of time (at least 2 hours) putting together your review post.
11 Keys to Writing a Killer Product Review
1. Go in-depth
This is exactly why I said you need to set aside a lot of time — at least two hours — for writing your product review. Google places a premium on length. Now, of course, you want quality over quantity, but, all things being equal, Google (not to mention customers) are going to value a 3,000-word review over a 500-word review. Or a 2,000-word review over a 1,000-word review.
So be prepared to go super in-depth. People are coming to your product review looking for in-depth information about a potential purchase. Make sure you give it to them.
2. Get Personal
Sandra shared a lot of her background, what her life was like before John Assaraf’s course and what it was like afterward. The only way to really have a quality review is to make sure that you get personal.
Yes, people are coming to the post looking for how the product can help them, but one of the ways to make yourself relatable and to paint a positive picture about how something can help them is to share your own personal story. Transformation stories are powerful. So share your before-and-after experience.
When I promote an affiliate offer, the ones that I’m most successful with are the ones that I have a personal story with, because I am able to share that transformation.
3. Be Helpful
Now, I know this kind of goes without saying, but, you want to make sure that your post isn’t just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. Make sure that it’s actually helpful and leads them to a buying decision.
The point is to get them to buy.
They came seeking clarity. They came seeking more information about a product, so make sure you give it to them.
4. Be Honest
Share honestly. You want to make sure that you write an honest review. Which leads to…
Which leads to…
5. Share the Pros and the Cons
This is part of being honest in the review. You’re not trying to make this just a glowing review.
People are coming here, again, looking for clarity. They want to know, “Is this right for me?”. So you want to tell them, “Here are some of the issues with this course.”
So you want to tell them, “Here are some of the issues with this course.”
Sandra makes a point to share at least one flaw. Now, this doesn’t need to be a fatal flaw, but you want to share at least one flaw. And you can use these “flaws” as sales techniques.
An example of that would be, you could say, “One of the flaws of this course is that it is only for beginners, it is not in-depth. It is not for intermediate or advanced people.”
But this really does make it a positive for beginners. They will say, “Great! I don’t want an advanced course. I want the beginning course. This course is for me.”
This helps them make the buying decision.
6. Write Like You’re Writing to a Friend
Don’t be super formal about it. Write like you are trying to guide a friend.
This is a new friend, or potentially a person who is going to make you a lot of money. They are looking for guidance and it’s your job to guide them like you would guide a friend.
7. Make it Clear That the Product Is Not a Magic Pill
One of the phrases that I like to use when I am trying to sell something online is that you’re going to have to “work your butt off” for this product to work.
This isn’t a magic pill.
And, again, you can use this as a positive by almost issuing a challenge to the person by saying, “Hey, you’re going to have to work your butt off!”
The person is then thinking, “Well, I’m willing to work my butt off! I’m not expecting this to be easy. This isn’t a ‘sit in front of the TV and get rich’ scheme…Oh, you don’t think I’m going to work my butt off, Matt? Watch me. I’m going to work my butt off and I’m going to take this course!”
So make it clear that this is not a magic pill.
8. Use Bullet Points and Images
When people come to read the review, the reality is, they are not going to read twenty blocks of text. They’re going to read bullet points. So make sure when you list the pros and cons, the flaws or your personal story that you use bullet points or other formatting techniques.
One thing that Sandra didn’t mention was using images and other things to break up the text — just to make sure there aren’t giant blocks of texts in the post.
9. Give Them Ways to Contact You
Sandra gave them not only her Facebook contact information, but she also used my strategy of using LiveChat to interact with potential buyers; to answer their objections and their questions and make sure the course that she was promoting was right for them.
Give them ways to contact you. I’m even experimenting now with sharing my phone number.
Now, don’t give me wrong, I’m not giving out my cell phone number on my blog. But I do give my Google Voice number. A number that multiple people have access to and that I might answer, but if you leave a message, it’s shared right there in my email where someone on my team can see it and see that it is a potential buyer for this course and be sure to tell me that I have an important voicemail.
So give them ways to contact you. This builds trust. And even if the people don’t use LiveChat, contact you on Facebook or they don’t call you when you provide this information, it builds trust and they are more likely to buy online.
I’ve studied this in numerous industries. When you have a phone number on the page it actually increases your online conversions.
10. Use Paid Advertising to Drive Traffic to Your Review
The reality is, when people are searching for a review of a product, they are already a very qualified prospect. So, in addition to organic traffic, one of the ways you can drive traffic to your review is through paid advertising.
It should be fairly cheap. It’s not likely that there will a lot of searches for this product that will make it expensive. And there is not going to be a lot of competition.
You’re going to be sending them to a high converting, in-depth review of the product. So even if you have to spend $1 per click, if you’re converting one out of every forty clicks into a sale, you’re only spending $40 to make a $100, $200, $400 or even $1,000 commission.
And the last thing…
11. Use Retargeting
Again, if people come to a product review, they are a highly qualified prospect. So you want to make sure that you retarget them on Facebook and other websites.
This is taking it beyond just writing a review and really targeting people who are interested.
So there have it…how to make more than $7,000 in affiliate commissions in just one month, with continuing passive revenue.
And the best part…you can do this without even having an email list. You can literally start today.
Have you tried any of these methods in writing a product review post? What was your experience?