Sometimes one of the most exciting things in life is buying something that has meaning and value to you. You hear about something on television that sparks your interest, or you see an ad on the Internet that puts you into that mode where you just have to buy it. But then you buy it and that’s it – nothing more to it. You simply have the product now…

That’s the way many customers feel when they buy something. That’s also the original way we were taught to sell. A majority of sellers do not make it fun or exciting to buy. They just pitch a product to get a sale, give it to the customer, and hope they buy again. Well this is where we need to step outside the box and let our creative juices flow.

How about start a contest? What will this contest be? What will the prize be? Most of the time, you hear about sales contests, but what about doing it with your customers? Everything is up to you, the seller. Since you are reading this article, I will give you some tips and ideas on how to start a contest.

One contest can be to give a gift to the 100th buyer. This has actually been something in practice for years. One of the best things about this contest is you don’t have to let your customers know in advance. As you may have seen on television, when someone is the 100th customer, balloons, confetti, streamers, and such start falling from the ceiling all of a sudden. Then an announcement is made over the loudspeaker that they are the 100th customer!

Surprise contests will leave people smiling for a long time. They began with the brick and mortar stores. As you are using the Internet mostly for your business, you will more than likely have an email list of buyers. When one of those customers is your 100th buyer, you can reward them as well by making an email blast about it.

Keep in mind too; you should never entice your customers to buy from you in an unethical or illegal way. Be careful of what type of contest you run. There are some dos and don’ts for this. For instance, you do not want to shame another company. You also do not want to bash anyone or say anything hateful. This is for your email list, website, and article directory, whatever you use.

If you are using social media, make sure to check out the platform’s terms of service. Please be sure you understand what you are allowed and not allowed to do. If you violate their terms, they can and most likely will deactivate your account and put an end to your strategy.

Do however, offer special bonuses. When someone buys from you and they win your contest, you can give them a bonus, and also offer unadvertised bonuses. People like the unexpected if it is something that will benefit them in any way.

People get excited about the bonuses especially when it is something they can use. Make sure the bonuses are useful and related to your niche. They should add to the use of a product either by giving the product more uses or make it an extension of what they bought.

These are some ways in which people think it is fun to buy something. Whatever you decide to do in order to make buying from you fun; remember to keep certain rules in mind. You can surprise them or make an announcement. As long as it adds value and people enjoy the product, then you will win over your customer’s hearts.

Things that entertain us – well, that’s not entirely our choice. When you satisfy your need for entertainment, (eat ice-cream, watch a movie, win a game) the reward centers in your brain fire off a weaker dose of the same chemical rewards that you would get for actually gathering rich food, finding a partner and winning a fight.

These chemicals stay in your brain telling you the behavior that triggered them is really good for you and forcing you to seek more of this ‘high’ state. Essentially, you don’t need entertainment, you won’t die without it- but the more you have, the more you think you need… you want it like a drug.

Advertising is the biggest business on the planet – why? Because they know this deep addictive need in human beings to want to be entertained so they weave a good feeling story or an adventure into their product brand and just like that – people are buying four pairs of the same shoes with different shapes on it.

I guess the lesson is this: Want someone to buy your products? Want someone to love/remember you?

ENTERTAIN THEM. Make them laugh or cry, make them say yes! Make them want more videos, more options, more of your approach. Give them value.

This idea dates back to the Roman era when the Colosseum delivered people to their death in the name of entertainment; showing how important it has been to us for centuries to feel occupied and given a certain standard of entertainment in order to maintain interest. This fact doesn’t escape us as Internet marketers. Just because we are not film directors doesn’t mean we cannot use what we have and know to entertain and keep people engaged with us.

My first bit of advice is this – we live in social media times so it is irrelevant if your business is well-established, new or you are selling nails and think you don’t need to know what the ‘crowd’ is doing – because you do. Make sure your social media strategy is up to date and always try to be ahead of what is happening. What are people interested in? What’s happening now? If you don’t know what is going on, I’ll bet that your competitor will and I’d say they’ll use that strategy to keep people entertained, and focused on their business – not yours.

In the same way as a face-to-face conversation, make sure your posts, tweets, content and images are unique and entertaining. People get bored in dull conversation all the time so it’s not a surprise that uninteresting social media webpages and irrelevant, boring posts will not get people coming back to your social media page or engaging in your online ‘conversations’. No talking about you? No sales. It’s really that simple.

Invest a little in finding out what really gets people talking and update yourself to be authentic, current and cool. Maybe you’ll find your inner entertainer in all sorts of unexpected ways, and in turn create more of a tribe following for your business that you can grow to ever-increasing heights.

What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂

So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)

Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?

But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.

Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?

There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.

And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.

1: Build a Relationship

I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.

If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.

This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.

Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.

Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.

Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.

And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.

But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.

And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.

Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.

Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?

Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.

Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.

Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.

2: Use Your Own Voice

How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”

Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.

There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.

Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”

People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.

Same phrases, same message, same B.S.

If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.

Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.

Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”

I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.

But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.

Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”

The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.

Weird but true.

My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.

3: Email a LOT

This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.

You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?

After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.

Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.

Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.

Here’s why:

First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.

Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.

What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.

Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.

Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.

And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.

4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS

This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.

Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.

You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.

With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.

Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.

Hi, it’s Shelli and this is my new website. Stay tuned… I’ll have great things to share!

For starters, here’s an article I think you’ll enjoy…

It’s called: “Make the Leap to Home Business Success”

If you are going to build a successful home business, you need 3 “intangibles.” These are things that must come from WITHIN you.

===> Intangible 1 <===

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why must you make a home business work? What’s driving you? What is it that you CAN’T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn’t stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone’s time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children’s lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in this business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

===> Intangible 2 <===

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don’t believe that it’s POSSIBLE for you to succeed in a home business or make your living on the Internet, you won’t. It’s that simple.

For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money with a home business online. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money online in many different ways. Just get online and do some research and you’ll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you’ll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it’s getting easier and easier to start and succeed in a home based business. This is primarily because of the Internet and affiliate marketing.

I’ve always said that “affiliate marketing” is the job of the future. In the “old” days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. Believe me, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the “job” of the future that’s here TODAY.

===> Intangible 3 <===

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim… This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with an Internet home business.

That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is the Internet is a moving target… The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can’t learn from the outside… You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. This is what I call “Making the Leap.”

The good news is that the cost of failure on the Internet is very small. In the “brick and mortar” world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It’s almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. In fact, Plug-In Profit Site is a really good example of this.

You simply need get IN THE GAME… Each moment that you stay “out there,” you’re wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to become a successful affiliate marketer. In fact, if you’re not in the game yet, you’re ALREADY behind the times. Come on… You can do it! Make the leap to becoming a successful home based business owner today!

About the author: Stone Evans was a washed up restaurant worker desperately searching for a way to save his family when he discovered the internet and affiliate marketing… 24 months later he finally cracked the code and started earning over $10,000 per month. Now the same system that saved him is available to you here >>