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The Top
10 Things That Turn Affiliates Off
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1 – The Look & Feel of the Site
First impressions are everything, especially online,
so once a
visitor (or an affiliate!) arrives at a website, they make an
unconscious decision on whether or not the company is professional and
trustworthy and if what they’re offering is a quality product or
service based on what they see and feel within the first 10 seconds.
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Every smart marketer knows
the
one simple truth of selling online:
No one
will buy from you online until
you’ve established trust and credibility.
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If your site looks homemade, like you took the quick
and easy (cheap!)
route just to slap a website up, your visitors (and potential
affiliates!) will hit their "Back" button faster than you can finish
reading this sentence.
You do the same thing. We all do.
What’s your first impression of a site with a header like this?
Fly-by-night? Shady? Would you trust
this guy with your credit card? Probably not.
But you wouldn’t think twice about handing your
credit card to this guy:
“Frank” could be a huge corporation, a guy working
on his computer in
his basement, or a thirteen-year-old kid from Paducah – we don’t
know. All we know is what the “Look & Feel” of his website
tells us. And the professionally-designed header above makes us
“feel” like we’re dealing with a big company who stands behind what
they sell, sells quality products and will be there if we ever have a
problem. And we won’t expect to see mysterious charges on our
credit card statement after we buy from them.
What separates the sites that look homemade from the
ones that look professional?
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One important thing to notice on
the following sites:
Whatever the customer is looking
for is right
there on the screen
in front of him or her.
You don't have to hunt to find what you’re looking for.
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Here are a few well-known sites that sell one
product or service (we’ll talk about sales letter sites in a
minute):
Chemistry.com
Vonage.com
This is a perfect example of a site that sells!
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They use a free, one-month trial
as bait.
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They broadcast all the features
people want, and get, with their service.
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They make it easy to sign up
online or call their 800-number.
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They make it easy to find what
you’re looking for on their site.
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They use video testimonials – genius!
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And did
you notice how the bright colors keep your eyes moving on the page?
BlueHost.com
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This site has a clean, uncluttered
layout.
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It’s easy to find what you’re
looking for.
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They broadcast everything you get
with their service.
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Here are a few sites that sell multiple products
or services:
Bowflex
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Headlines that speak to what the
visitor wants:
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“Are You Ready For
Real Results?”
“Make 2009 the year you get the body you want”
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Clean, simple layout.
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Easy to find what you’re looking
for.
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Easy to order online or call 800
number.
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Esurance
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Nice color scheme.
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Clean layout makes it easy to find
what you’re looking for .
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They make it sound like it’s easy
(read: painless) to get their insurance with their “Quote, buy, print”
slogan.
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24/7 Customer Service 800-number.
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Notice
they have their own seal – “Our Commitment to You - Secure, Reliable,
Superior.” Click on it.
That’s a smart way to reinforce the sale. 
Quickbooks
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Nice, good-looking site.
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Easy to navigate.
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Toll-free number.
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[If you
haven’t tried Quickbooks yet for
your business, check out the free trial. I love it!]
Some sites, like Amazon.com and Buy.com,
try to be too much to too many different people. Their sites are
so busy, you don’t know where to look so your only choice is to either
dive into the chaos or go to a different site.
CreditCards.com is
another one. They offer a great service but their site is so
cluttered and busy...
But look at Blockbuster’s
site. They offer thousands of movies and games to rent or buy yet
their site is clean and simple.
Overstock.com offers
tons of products and their site is so inviting, it draws you in.
It is possible to have a lot to offer without overwhelming the visitor
the second they land on your site.
But What If Your Site is Too Big to Fit Within
the Screen? (Not Sales Letter Sites!)
SouthBeachDiet.com is
a
great example of how to do it right without being overwhelming.
They put the important stuff is at the top to make it easy to find what
you’re looking for. The page itself is eye-candy. [I like
the way they incorporated their TV commercial (you know… the one we’ve
all seen a hundred times) on their site]
Sales Letter sites
Like their sales letter counterparts you find in your mailbox, an
online sales letter site’s only purpose is to sell one product, usually
an ebook or a software program. And they’re l-o-n-g. They
go on and on and on… for as long as it takes to sell that product.
One of the best sales letter sites I’ve seen is The Butterfly Marketing Manuscript.
Although it is no longer being sold (Mike Filsaime is now giving it
away for free as a bonus for signing up for his new monthly magazine, The 7 Figure Secrets), the site is still a
perfect example of a sales letter site that sells.
Another prime example, even without a header graphic, is SEO Equalizer.
Just like any other site selling something online, sales letter sites
have to build trust and
credibility and make you feel that what they’re selling is a quality
product.
Any one of the companies behind these websites could
be a huge
corporation, or a one-man show – we don’t know. What we do know
is that seeing a slick, professional-looking site makes us feel like
we’re dealing with a real company and that makes us feel better about
making a purchase.
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