Sometimes your visitors want to buy, but they hesitate and leave. To help solve this challenge offer bonuses.
This gives them a more enticing reason to buy dating or relationship affiliate products through you.
Think about it.
Have you ever hesitated to buy a product somewhere, then ended up getting it somewhere else because they gave you an irresistible offer?
Or perhaps you just didn’t feel ready to “pull the trigger”.
So, you waited and bought it later at a different store then the first store you saw it.
This regularly happens to affiliate marketers like you and me.
That’s exactly why you want to offer bonuses to your visitors and email subscribers.
But I know what you’re thinking?
“How do I offer bonuses? What can I give away?”
We will cover that in this post.
And a few strategies to help you separate paying customers from people who only want free information.
What can you offer?
Should you purchase bonuses to give away?
You could and here are some ideas.
…but this could get expensive.
AND if the customer gets a refund for the sale of the affiliate product then you would lose your commission AND the money invested in the bonus.
That’s one reason that I suggest that you create your own bonuses.
Plus your bonuses will match your brand.
And your brand comprises of different components:
Anyone willing to purchase an affiliate product through your site trusts you.
They like you and buy into your style.
Therefore, they know what to expect with your bonuses and trust that they’ll satisfy their needs.
As far as what bonuses you could create check out this next list.
All of these are simple ideas that you certainly could handle.
Think of it this way.
Imagine lead magnets that you could make to get visitors to subscribe to your newsletter.
So, instead of designating them for lead magnets, set them aside for bonuses to offer in exchange for affiliate purchases.
Designating them just for bonuses makes them exclusive.
I’d recommend that you create a package of bonuses to make it more enticing to purchase the affiliate products through you.
Some of these will be shorter and not go into as much details.
But at least ONE of your bonuses should thoroughly explain how to achieve something in dating or relationships; show multiple examples, scenarios or case studies or both.
(I won’t cover how to go deeper into topics, but you can click here to see how I do it on another blog post of mine X).
The more that you stick around in the blogging world and take courses to advance your experience level you naturally find more ideas and get more creative.
Watch this video below of a sample affiliate bonus package page from the dating and relationship niche I have for my blog InfidelityFirstAidKit.com
Next let’s look at how we can create these bonuses.
This is super simple.
Copy and paste the blog post into your favorite word processor and then save as a PDF.
Make sure you edit after you paste to make it look right.
Microsoft word let’s you create tables of content with internal links to jump to specific sections of the eBook.
You should make a cover with an image.
Only choose high-quality with royalty free images.
I get free ones from Pexels.com, Picabay.com, LibreStock.com and even Canva.com
However, the one problem you run into is that many other relationship bloggers use the same images.
But I want at least some of my images to stand out and get the attention of my potential subscribers and customers.
Therefore, I pay for a subscription to download unique images that not everyone else has access to.
You can pay for images at many good sites such as:
But these cost more than I want to spend.
That’s why I currently get my pics from Storyblocks.com.
(This is NOT an affiliate link, and neither are the rest of the stock photo links).
I pay $150 per year and have access to over 10,000 images.
You can get upgrade to higher subscription level to access thousands of audios and videos too.
For now, I’m good with just images.
Most people find in more compelling to learn in different ways.
Therefore, it makes sense to offer your bonuses in a variety of formats.
To make this simple and efficient choose PDFs or posts that you already created and turn them into videos.
Specifically, a combination of slide shows with audio of you explaining the key points.
[Video + Visual + Text] = more engaging content
I have created slide-show videos like these with PowerPoint and then recorded them right within the program.
PowerPoint gives you many in-slide animation and slide-to-slide transition options.
However, it requires many steps and several minutes to upload it to YouTube.
For now, I prefer to use Canva.com to create my slides because it’s easier than PowerPoint, albeit with less animation features than PowerPoint.
Then I create my videos with Screencast O-Matic because it’s the most affordable option to screen record, I’ve found.
Plus, you could upgrade your membership to self-host your videos so that you don’t need to upload to YouTube.
But for now, I upload to YouTube and save them as unlisted videos so that the only people who have the link to them can watch them.
(could be webinars, PDFs, videos or a combination)
Everyone who arrives at your blog looks for answers to questions regarding relationship topics.
Why not turn them into Q and A sessions?
One of the affiliate programs I promote offers these in webinars.
That’d really only work if you have a sizable newsletter subscriber list or build a funnel with advertising.
Nevertheless, you could still simply create PDFs or slide-show videos or both.
I create member pages where my subscribers (or visitors) can access multiple formats.
With member access pages you can monitor analytics more thoroughly than just emailing your bonuses.
More on that in a moment (inter link to this section).
Another creative, yet simple idea for bonuses are video conference interviews with dating coaches or other relationship bloggers.
They might specialize in specific area of relationships and have more expertise than you (online dating profiles, meeting people IRL, texting, getting over a break up, etc.)
Ideally, you’d interview someone from one of your affiliate programs. Or create one with them using basic, affordable affiliate program softward such as Samcart or Sendowl.
At the minimum you could barter: give them backlinks to their website or even pay them for their time.
To conduct the video conference interview use Google Hangouts, Skype or Zoom.us. With all of these you could do this for free.
I admit that I have only done these for guest posts, but they certainly could work for bonuses.
If you get enough traffic to your site you could embed polls and then record their replies on a PDF. (I use the free plugin Crowdsignal- formally Poll Daddy).
Without enough traffic you won’t get sufficient enough participation.
You’d want at least several hundreds, preferably in the thousands per poll to get reliable data.
As an alternative to polls you could do surveys with multiple questions.
Some bloggers or businesses use Survey Monkey for this.
Which makes sense if you want to send the survey to a large audience.
However, if you get decent traffic to your blog you could create free surveys with Google Forms.
Over time, you could get a large amount of responses by sending visitors or subscribers to it.
Another option to offer bonuses from Google Forms that I like are quizzes or interactive exercises.
One of the affiliate programs I promote did this so I gave it a shot.
You can give feedback or lead them down a customized path of questions based on their replies or even grade them via the quiz format.
I saved the best for last.
(The video towards the top of this page is another example of a member page.)
If you want to tip the scales in your favor and convince someone to purchase affiliate products through you and not someone else then offer bonuses with a package of bonuses.
House everything on a member access page.
Send your customers the page link after you get proof of purchase (more on that in a moment).
Password protect your pages or at least set the pages up to block search engines from finding them.
Consider using a member site plugin after you begin to see regular conversions such as:
(list of member site plugins)
I’ve heard Teachable.com works well for some bloggers, but you will pay a portion of your earnings to Teachable.
However, it can get expensive and you don’t need them.
For now, just create pages within your own blog.
I prefer to make the design of the pages more visually appealing by using the editor plugin Elementor. (I use the free version).
You can choose from many different editor plugins or perhaps even your WordPress theme includes one.
Condition your audience to expect multiple pieces of content from initial contact (upon opting-in).
Offer packages of free gifts in exchange for signing up for your newsletter.
Your bonus packages, however, must exceed your opt-in packages in quantity and value.
Make your bonuses more in-depth and cover multiple angles of relationship topics.
[Click here] for ideas on how to go deeper into your relationship topics.
Email Me at Rick@RelationshipBrew.com
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, how do you promote your bonuses.
I’ve used a couple ways, both work.
For existing newsletter subscribers, you could detail the directions and rules in an email.
Make sure that you state them clearly but also simply to remove ambiguity.
The most important rules are:
1. They must click your links in the email.
2. They must show proof of purchase with an order number. (Find this in your affiliate dashboard.
3. You’ll deliver their bonuses within 24 hours of them providing proof of purchase and it matches up with the order number in your affiliate dashboard.
You could promote your bonuses with your subscribers via campaign launches.
Here you’d send several emails leading up to a launch day.
Or you could insert your bonus promotions in your on-going automated emails (say, every 10-15, depending on how often you email your list- do not bombard them).
One downside I’ve run into with promoting the bonuses through email is that your email service provider might flag your account for placing too many affiliate links in the email that you blast out to your subscribers.
That’s just one reason I prefer to create a landing page for my bonus promotions.
(This is just an image- not a video.)
I set up these promotion landing pages once and point links in emails to it as well as straight from blog posts.
Anyone visiting the page can click my trackable affiliate links that go straight to the affiliate programs sales page.
Landing pages make the information much more visually appealing, easier to read and you can insert videos.
With video you can record yourself guiding them through the instructions.
I screen record my landing pages and guide them step-by-step through the instructions.
A few additional advantages to a promotion landing page are the ability to run analytics and you can easily duplicate them for multiple bonus offers.
I don’t recommend that you make these pages on your blog because there are too many distractions on them.
Unless your theme allows you eliminate both headers and side bars.
I don’t know of a theme that eliminates headers, though.
It’s just easier to use a landing page creator like Leadpages.net.
That’s who I’ve used for years plus I create all my subscriber opt-in pages and pop ups with them.
Try out Leadpages for a free 14-day trial and get my free bonus promotion template and checklist PDF.
An advantage that choosing the bonus promotion route over putting all the details in email gives you is automation.
With Leadpages I set up an information collection page where my subscriber or visitor can return to and insert their first name, email address and product order number.
I receive an email when someone fills it out.
The best part is that this data automatically gets added to my buyers list (which identifies and separates paying customers from everyone else). So, later I can send one email to the list.
After they fill in their information, I redirect them to a confirmation thank you page so that they see I got it.
Plus, I remind them that I must first confirm the sale and will get back to them within 24 hours.
To summarize, you’ll need three pages to set up the automation:
To announce your bonus offer and the rules.
To gather their first name, email address and product order number.
To confirm you got their information and to remind them that you must confirm the purchase and then get back to them.
[Click here] to download my templates. ==>(Sorry not ready yet ... Coming Soon…)
(transition into the best people to market to who are more likely to take you up on your offer)
Offering bonuses incentivizes your visitors and subscribers to purchase affiliate products through you, thus increasing your affiliate sales conversion rates.
But if you want to increase them even more than you can take an additional step.
Identify buyers.
How can you do that?
Three ways that I know of.
People who pay for one item, likely will buy more items later.
You can reel visitors onto your newsletter list with free lead magnets, but most will not pay for anything.
So, the first way to identify paying customers is to create a separate list for anyone who takes you up on your bonus offers.
Do this is in your email service provider.
The second way is to offer quality, but low-priced pieces of content that your subscribers or visitors cannot resist.
After they purchase you can set up a simple sales funnel that triggers them to receive a short series of emails with the last email presenting your bonus offer in exchange for an affiliate product purchase.
You could even offer it for a limited time to stress urgency by placing a timer on the bonus promotion page.
(Leadpages gives you this feature).
The strategy behind it is you identify a problem in the first few emails (traditionally 3-5) with the promise of the solution in the last email.
The solution itself is a strategy how to accomplish something in relationships.
Here are some examples…
The affiliate products explain how to accomplish these goals.
And thus, of course, you recommend them in the final email.
Since, they’ve already proven to be buyers many will likely take you up on your offer.
Often times they will even purchase the upsells that the affiliate programs offer.
These low-priced products at the beginning of a sales funnel are called tripwires.
You’ll need a safe online shopping cart to take credit card payments (I currently use Sendowl) and a payment gateway to accept payments and deliver the money to you via Paypal or straight to your bank account (I use Stripe).
Of course, you could use Paypal as your shopping cart, but this limits who can buy your trip wires, preferably you’d want to offer Paypal and credit cards.
That’s why I chose Sendowl.
It’s simple to use and affordable.
Although I may go back to upgrading my Leadpages subscription in order to create shopping carts right from my landing pages and integrate them with Stripe.
Honestly, this converts better because the visitor never leaves the page. The shopping cart appears right on the page instead of being redirected off to a separate page.
It’s just pricier than using Sendowl.
Plus, Sendowl offers more features that I may use in the future.
Stripe is free to set up for your payment gateway, but they do take small percentage per sale.
The third way I know of to identify buyers is to sell your own products.
You’d need the same tools (online shopping cart, payment gateway) to sell your own products.
These simply could be the same products as your bonuses.
Then that way your visitors and subscribers would have two options to get your content:
Then, of course, you’d place them on your buyers lists and present more bonus offers to them in the future.
Sell your products for less than the price of the affiliate products you recommend to give them a legitimate alternative to buy them.
People like choices and they might now even like the affiliate products you recommend but might be willing to pay for yours.
Give your subscribers a reason to purchase through you.
Offer them bonuses, preferably several.
Your subscribers are more likely to take you up on your bonus offer since they trust you and like your brand of advice.
Choose a system that you feel most comfortable with.
You might feel that promoting and delivering bonuses via email suits your experience level better.
Of if you’ve already gained experience creating landing pages then it makes sense to go that route.
Or, better yet, try both.
Again, people like options.
Some people will feel weary about interacting with your information collection landing page.
But they find the email method more trustworthy and less overwhelming.
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