Particularly when it comes to affiliate programs you will have hundreds of people promoting the same links and offering pretty much the same deals. When a program is particularly popular it can become almost hated real fast because people get sick of seeing the same ad over and over again everywhere they look. That many affiliates are also newbies, they seem not to realize how doing some things to get your link seen are particularly egregious, especially to seasoned marketers.
When a program is way popular (usually in the beginning) you will hear lots of sick ‘kool-aid’ snarks. The combination of the extreme enthusiasm of the affiliates and seeing them everywhere seems to say to the antagonistic and skeptical that ‘we are brain washed’. The fact that the affiliate links scream ‘newbie’ people will sometimes judge that these are folks who ‘fake it until they make it’. In other words, that they may be selling something that in fact has not yet worked for them (yet) and they are only parroting the slogans and etc. that are promoted by the company.
After all though where do you start? It’s like how do you get experience if nobody will give you a chance because you have none. This is why it really matters to find a way to stand out from the pack. It is where you can be creative in your presentation and offering. It is a matter of competition, and to use an offline analogy if there are two stores on the block selling the same thing, many times the business that will sacrifice a few dollars to have the lower price will be the one that wins the sale.
Some more examples are offers something like ‘buy one get the second one half price’. Don’t be afraid to lose a dollar off your bottom here or there; and to help motivate this concept, ask yourself if you would rather sell 10 at $5 or none at $10. Mostly with affiliate programs there is no way you can change the price but you could include something as a free gift if they purchase from you or even ‘pay it forward’.
Paying it forward is really very effective if the business model/compensation plan will allow it without too much risk. For example if there is a trial price such as first month $10, offer to pay it for them and when the second month comes and their cost to stay in is $20 = you profit $10. From there you will keep the entire $20. There is a risk you can also lose $10 but that can be seen as ‘the cost of doing business’ – you can even look at it like that is the same as paying for advertising.
