Affiliate Marketing Isn't the Same as Selling

Sapphire has a great post at her Affiliate Marketing Journal. Not only does she do an awesome job of explaining just why so many would-be affiliate marketers (like me!) have making enough sales to justify the effort. And even better, she explains some of the changes she's making to try to improve her sales.

I have to remind myself you don’t really need to sell your visitors something from your pages. You can’t, really, because even if you do, that click is going to take them to the merchant, who can totally un-sell them if they don’t like what they read there. My job, as an affiliate merchant, is to get people to the store, so the store can sell them.

That means I need to pick stores I can imagine buying stuff from. They need to give details, not hide the shipping and taxes info, have clear and reasonable return policies. They need to have good photos of items. They need to have a site that loads before tomorrow. They need to look like someone I’d give my credit card info to.

These are, in my opinion, two of them most important things to remember in affiliate marketing. Market companies with sites that you yourself would buy from. Then let them do the selling, while you focus on your job of engaging and connecting with your readers.