Recently I posted an article entitled “How Many Sites Do I Need?” It was encouraging to see that readers found it helpful.
A reader named Darrel asked this. “With many offers at one site people can be confused. Maybe you could address that thought in another blog post?”
It’s a great question actually. How do you promote many products from one blog without confusing visitors?
There are several ways to do that. I will share my top three and one tip that can literally multiply your commissions with very little effort.
NOTE: These ideas build on each other so please do read the entire post, or print it out to read later.
1 – Realize that context is king
It’s often been said that “content is king” on the Internet. It’s hard to argue that point. People come online to find things like …
- The best price
- How to do a specific thing
- Where to find something locally
- News and gossip on today’s trending topics
- Pictures or videos about things that interest them
All of these are content. So content is king when it comes to building blogs and websites.
But when you want to promote many products from one blog then CONTEXT is king.
Here’s what I mean.
You can use many different methods to get clicks on the links you want to promote. Many people rely on banners on the right side panel, and that works well in most cases.
But what about other opportunities to put links where people will click them? I believe this is the hidden power of a blog.
Just a few places you can put links include:
- In your author’s box
- In the **middle** of the article content (see example below)
- At the bottom of the article
- Just above the article **comments**
There are more of course, but these work well. So try them.
Now here is why context is king.
You can’t put links in any of these places if the product you are promoting is completely disconnected from the content of the article on your blog.
- An article about automation is a **great** place to put a link about Aweber.
- An article about losing weight is a **horrible** place to put a link for Aweber.
So use context to guide your choices and put more than just banners on the right panel of your blog to do well if you want to promote many products from one blog.
2 – Make each product’s function a category
One of the best tricks of the trade is to make your blog categories match the function or purpose of the product you are promoting.
I have reviewed blogs where people made the actual product name (like Aweber) a category of the blog.
In my view that’s too obvious. It’s a very “salesy” approach. The main tenet of content marketing is to provide helpful content and integrate the marketing into the content. Not to make the content itself marketing.
But if you made a function of Aweber (like automation) into a category then you could write and curate all sorts of articles about automation, and your promotion of Aweber would make sense to readers.
How easy would it be to slip in a line like “Click here to learn how to automate your marketing” in the middle of an article about automating your life or business?
Answer: Easy … and effective! The entire line is a link that pays you when sales happen.
As Charlie Sheen would say … winning!
3 – Make your content sell the IDEA of the product
Now here is a power move. Make the content you write or curate sell the idea of what the product does and not the product itself.
The fact is – people do not want to own products. They want to own what the product does for them.
Sometimes this is a tangible thing (like saving money) and sometimes it’s more emotional, like looking good to others.
This is the classic “features vs. benefits” discussion, and it’s an important one.
Here are two very brief examples.
People who save “15% or more on their car insurance” don’t really care if you know where they get their insurance or who they insurance claim adjusters are. They just want the savings and want to feel good about getting the best deal.
People who own a Rolls Royce want to be seen driving their Rolls. They are not content to watch TV in their living room and know they have a Rolls in the garage. They want you to know they have a Rolls.
The key to making content sell ideas is to figure out what people really want when they buy a product.
For example:
- People who buy Aweber are buying convenience and increased sales, not programming.
- People who buy Six Pack Abs are buying better looks and longer life, not a specific type of exercise.
Generally speaking, people want the result of what a product does, not the method by which a product creates that result.
There are a million ways to get six pack abs. Yet the good folks at Six Pack Abs sell millions teaching their way. That’s because they know how to sell the benefits, not the features.
Now for my best piece of advice about how to promote many products from one blog
Build your list, not the other guy’s list
Here is the big one. I know this article is long already, so I will be brief.
It’s vital that you build your own mailing list and not build the other person’s mailing list instead.
The bottom line here is simple – instead of letting your banners and links take people off your site build your list instead right on your site!
This is vital for three reasons.
- You really do **need** a list of your own to build a strong online business. It is just not optional now.
- With a list of your own, you can promote **a range of products**, not just the product for which the visitor clicked the link.
- By using simple polls and surveys you can **learn what list members need** and help them by providing content and resources to meet those needs.
Here is your action step – review your blog today and find all the places where people are leaving your site by clicking a link or banner ad.
Now ask yourself if those ads or links are profitable for you.
If they are, and you know they are by looking at tracking, keep them. If they are not, replace them with a link that builds your list.
Then begin communicating with that list of people, finding out what they need and serving them by providing answers to their questions, helpful content and suggesting products they need as well.
When you do that you will build your list, build your business and be on the road to freedom.
And freedom is a beautiful thing indeed!
