Hi guys,
Whether you’re an affiliate or selling your own product, it is important to know what to look for or include in a sales page in order to be successful.
Most affiliates who promote products from the Clickbank Marketplace tend to just jump on board high gravity products.
Sure this is a pretty good way to tell that a product is selling but then you will face the issue of higher competition. So why not learn the skills to assess a low gravity product, that has potential to sell, and where the competition is not as fierce. This can be a smart approach for some easy wins and great commissions.
So in this post I am going to provide an overview of crucial aspects to look for when considering promoting a new product, and of course these same principals apply if you are creating your own product too.
If you are in the Clickbank marketplace low competition can be indicated by low gravity, but it is vital to take a very close look at low gravity products before deciding to promote them, to make an assessment of the likelihood of them having a great conversion rate.
10 Key Aspects of a Great Product
1.) Scarcity
It is a well known fact amongst experienced online marketers that the use of scarcity increases sales. A lack of scarcity can reduce sales by up to 40%, so it is a vital ingredient to look for in a product.
Scarcity can be used in a variety of ways, however the most popular being time based. A great sales page may state that the price has been reduced until a certain time and will be increasing soon.
If you have been online for sometime you can become accustomed to this tactic, and think to yourself that this doesn’t work, and falsely assume other people also think this tactic is bogus. However this is the trap that a lot of people fall into when they gain more experience.
The problem is that they forget what the average Joe thinks, because the fact is that testing shows that this type of scarcity actually works, so be aware that not everyone thinks like you do! So with that said a great product will employ scarcity in their sales page.
2.) Benefits and NOT Features
You would think this is a no brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many products on Clickbank try and sell their products on the features and not the benefits.
Benefits selling is a proven tried and tested sales technique that works! So why are some merchants neglecting to do this? Perhaps a lack of experience or understanding of key sales elements, either way feature based selling does not work as well as explaining the benefits to a customer.
Here’s an example for you of a candle making site that is selling on features:
This is an ebook that teaches people how to make candles, and if you look at the line I have highlighted in yellow, not only will you notice a grammatical error, but the focus is on features. Now I don’t know much about candles, however to illustrate the point, this could have been written in a benefits orientated way, like this example:
“3 very clever tricks for using wicks that will allow you’re candles to burn twice as long”
Here’s a good example of a Spanish product that sells on benefits:
As you can see this example tells me that I will be able to watch Spanish movies and actually understand them, which is a great benefit, rather than saying there are 30 great audio lessons.
3.) No Table of Contents
For some reason you will find ebooks that decide including a table of contents on the sales page is a good thing. Don’t ask me why!! I assume it has come from the fact that Amazon have the ability for customers to view inside their books. However notice that Amazon don’t make this link very obvious.
This again is trying to sell a product on its features, and as mentioned above is not the best approach.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
4.) Testimonials
I always make sure that a product that I am selling has testimonials on the sales page. Some people respond extremely well to testimonials. Just so you know this type of personality is known as ‘Amiable’, and people who lean strongly towards this trait will buy products a lot faster when they can see that other people are having success with product already.
5.) Avoid Adsense
If you see a sales letter that has Adsense or a Google search bar included then this usually means that the merchant is struggling to make sales and therefore is trying other ways to monetize the site. Alarms bells should go off when you see this happening as you do not get any commission from these ads, yet you’re the one driving the traffic!!
6.) Strong Headlines
A great sales letter will have a powerful benefits driven headline. This is absolutely crucial, as a poor headline will not encourage the reader to carry on and read the page. If you are paying for traffic as an affiliate a page with a poor headline can reduce conversions and of course your profits as an affiliate
Here’s an example of a great headline:
7.) Strong Guarantee
If you are promoting a Clickbank product they are required to have a 60 day money back guarantee. However if creating your own product, or perhaps an affiliate through another network, then make sure the product offers a strong money back guarantee, as this increases conversions significantly.
8.) Great Look & Feel
I know the old saying goes “Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” but I will be honest and say I think I still do to some extent. If I see a sales page that has graphics that look like they were made in the 1990’s then I just don’t get the same reassurance about the product. So as part of your assessment of a good product consider the look and feel and what your first impressions are.
This page looks pretty good to me!!
9.) A Little Help From Amazon
Another point and perhaps one of the most important, is to check that a niche you are considering is selling already.
A great way to do this is to go to Amazon and search for books in that niche, and if you find ones and their are positive comments left on them (that are in at least in the double figures) then this is a good sign and means this is a healthy niche.
You could then consider promoting an E-book on Clickbank with low gravity, if of course it passes the screening of the previously mentioned points above, or you could make your own product.
10.) Exit Grabber
You may be one of those people that hates exit grabbers, however the fact is that they do increase conversions, and therefore although not essential, is something to consider as another great aspect of a strong product.
11.) Do the Maths
I know I said 10 points, but I just can’t help but add this extra one and make it 11.
Make sure that the product has a decent enough payout for affiliates. Some merchants are wise and payout 75% commission, and this is a great thing, especially if you are paying to drive traffic to a merchants site. Products that have lower commissions mean the margin for profit when using PPC is smaller.
This is something that you NEED to consider if you are focusing on PPC, because if your commission is $25 and you work on a 1% conversion rate, then just to break even you can’t spend more than 25 CENTS a click. However if your commission is say $30 dollars then you can spend 20% more on clicks to break even.
Now of course you want to be in profit don’t you, so make sure you do the maths before launching into a new campaign.
Summary
I have listed these 11 points to help guide you when choosing a product. If you are a Clickbank affiliate following these guidelines can help you assess if a low gravity and hence low competition product, has potential to be a cash cow for you.
If you are making your own product then you should make sure your product has these aspects to encourage affiliates to get on board.
However please keep in mind that a product doesn’t necessarily need to have ALL of these points, but the more the better!
Happy selling.
Cheers
Matt
Related articles
Thanks for these great tips!!!
Is it always better to avoid products with
Adsense on the sales page?
As I think some people will still
use adsense when products are doing well.
Matt Carter Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Hey Becca,
Thanks for your comment. As far a Adsense goes, I would avoid promoting a product that has adsense on their sales page because this is a clear indication that the product is not converting that great. If it were then there would be no reason for the merchant to add them in.
Also as an affiliate you have to work hard to get traffic to affiliate sites, so the last thing you want is that traffic clicking on adsense ads that you don’t make any money on.
Hope this helps clarify it.
Cheers,
Matt
I would like to comment on number 11 and say that this is CRITICAL!
And…
If the numbers don’t work then you might want to look at another niche or product offer with higher payouts.
Good stuff Matt, Keep it up.
Matt Carter Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hey Rob,
Great to hear from you again, always valuable comments mate!
Cheers
Matt
Hey matt just started putting together a website for my wife and daughterinlaw.Great advice i appreciate it we can use all the help we can get.
Thanks
charlie
Matt Carter Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Hey Charlie,
Great to hear from you, and also great to hear that you are taking action and building a site!!! There may be a few challenges with internet marketing but if you stick at it you WILL get there!
Cheers
Matt
This is the problem, taking on someone products and not getting sales. I have been down this road many times. Sales pages are very important on all CPA netwoks including Commission Junction and NeverBlue.
Hi Matt,
I have been a member of your list and I think I signed up through one of your opt in forms through Mark Ling. I am a proud member of Affilorama and I just want to say that you are one of the few internet marketers who are really giving value. A lot of marketers only do this within the 1st 10 emails and then they just kept on promoting whatever product has been newly released on the market. You on the other hand is someone who not just give value within the 1st 10 emails but has continued to do so long after your 10th email. People don’t mind receiving promotions so long as there are more value emails being sent that the promotions themselves! I always read your blog post whenever you send a notification email about it. Please keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Regards,
Renato
Matt Carter Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Hey Renato,
Thanks for the comment and your kind words also!! Its a pleasure to have you as part of my community too!!
Catch ya soon,
Matt
Hey Matt,
That’s a really good blog post. When I get a chance I’ll have to recommend it to my readers as it really sums up well how to find profitable niches when the gravity is low. I’ve often taught people to look for niches that have products that have at least one product with high gravity as that does prove there is a lot of money in that niche, but certainly there are several growing niches that only have products with low gravity in them and your analysis above is a great checklist for people to go by.
Matt Carter Reply:
August 9th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the comment, and I do agree with you that promoting at least one high gravity product is a good thing to do on a site also. Thanks mate!
Another great post Matt. One of your best yet. One of the earlier posts hit the nail on the head — most marketers stop providing value and just try to sell sell sell after the first few emails. Congratulations to you – it is great that you are different from that perspective.
One more thing – our organisation will be launching an online product later this year. This post will come in handy during the launch planning process.
As always, keep up the great work
Regards
David
Matt Carter Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Hey David,
Great to hear from again, and thanks for the words of encouragement!
I look forward to seeing this new product of yours too.
Catch ya soon,
Matt
I really like your article and blog, Matt. I did notice a grammatical error that you might want to fix.
“Amazon don’t make this link very obvious.”
This makes your point about sales page grammar kind of funny.
Also, the correct terminology is math, not maths.
Appreciate the valuable insight and I’ll be sure to come back for more.
Stacie
Matt Carter Reply:
August 11th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Hey Stacie,
Great to hear from you and thanks for the advice too.
Look forward to more comments from you,
Thanks again,
Matt
Matt, this is a great resource! I’m putting together my knowledgebase and this definitely goes in there!
Cheers,
Mitch
Matt Carter Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Hey Mitchell,
Thanks for dropping bye, adn I’m glad you liked the post
Look forward to hearing from you again soon
Matt
Hi Matt
Great article with really helpful ideas that we can use.
Thanks.
Maria
Matt Carter Reply:
August 26th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Hey Maria,
Glad you liked it and thanks for your comment, I look forward to hearing from you again soon!
Cheers
Hi MAtt,
I just joined few days back through MArk Ling’s reference. I’m really impressed with your videos as you reveal a lot of useful info rather than just the basic stuff that everybody knows as other marketers do.
Using Amazon in your research was useful to know as I’ve used ebay in my benefit.I’m fairly new in the Affiliate business and still trying to have a grip. To be honest I’m still stuglling to find ‘that’ product or niche to atleast cover my investment.These tips will surely come handy but still not sure where to start from. The 11 points are handy but is there some guidelines on which products to shortlist to have them go through your 11 point test. There are 100’s of product out there…not sure if this is a very silly question to ask.
Matt Carter Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Hey Manish,
Thanks for adding a great comment on my blog!! To answer you question you can go
and check out this video I made it will shed some more light on the matter for you:
http://www.mattsmarketingblog.com/untapped-niches/index.html
Also remember if you pick a niche and it flops badly, then don’t be discouraged because
although you may not have made money you will have learned some valuable lessons and
be one step closer to making it work. I failed heaps of times before I got a it right!!
Cheers
Matt
Hi Matt, I have just subscribed to your 12 free video coaching series and you seem to have come along just at the right time. I had an idea of a subject to maybe promote and when I went into Clickbank there is nothing there for this subject. There are loads of books at Amazon with a maximum review score of around 7. Should I maybe look at producing an eBook, or what would you suggest.
Gillian
Matt Carter Reply:
September 6th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hey Gillian,
That’s a really good question you have asked! What I suggest is that if there are a few books on Amazon already and as you say 7 comments, then this is pretty good still. What I also suggest you do is check if ‘Dummies’ have made a book on the topic or a closely related one, as Dummies spend a lot of money on market research and so you can ride on the back of that. However if you don’t find a Dummies book its still ok to go ahead, but I would do a bit of keyword research on search volume for core keywords for that niche and product and make sure people are actually searching currently for info on this topic.
All the best with and I look forward to more comments from you!
Cheers
Matt
Hey Matt,
I’m really enjoying your tips especially the U.K domain name tip, anyway learning a lot here on your site, I’m a relative newbie and have yet to make any substantial income online however I’m very committed in doing so, giving up is not an option and your info has made the journey much easier and insightful. I’m a subscriber going through choosing my niche at this stage and keyword phrase. I have just purchased a fabulous keyword tool so it’s making a massive difference, adjoined with your info, thanks heaps!
Best Regards Karen
New Zealand
Matt Carter Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hey Karen,
I love the Kiwi’s!!!!! look forward to hearing about your progress.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’m just 2 weeks old in this affiliate marketing and still have lots of question marks in my head. I’ve just watch your video about how to find low competition hugely profitable niches, and I’m just wondering how did you discover all those niches that you’d recommended. Did you search through the clickbank market place one by one or…??
Simon
Matt Carter Reply:
October 31st, 2009 at 6:16 am
HI Simon,
Yes I found those all in Clickbank, but the key to that video was to teach you what to look for in a product so you have the skills to know what will convert best to sales for you.
ALso you do not have to stick to Clickbank, you can join a whole range of other networks, its just that Clickbank automatically approves everyone, so it is easier to get started there.
I am bringing out another blog post this week about finding niches outside of Clickbank, which I think you will like.
Cheers
Matt
This is a great introduction for new people, and I am loving the 12 videos!
Matt Carter Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
Hi Billy,
Thanks for your input and also good to hear the free video training has been helpful
Thanks
Matt
Matt,
I just reviewed your blog for the first time and I am inspired by the comments from others. I signed up for your niche training and just watched the first video. The content is outstanding and current. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the training. I am going to subscribe to your RSS feed to stay connected.
Thanks,
Roy
Matt Carter Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Hey Roy,
Great to have you on board!!
Cheers
Matt
Hi Matt
Hows it going?
Just wanted to say thank you for all of your worldly information as i am one who suffers from information overload from all of the ebooks i have wasted money on in the past.
Your video series is amazing,i am going through them one by one implementing your techniques as you make me want to get into action and not get stuck on each step because i have been told multiple ways of doing things.
Wish their were more of you out their.
Cheers from fellow oz gal,
Becky:)
Cant wait to make my first sale online.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Hi Becky,
Great to have you as part of the community, and I know what you mean about info overload, don’t worry you are not alone on that one!
Hope you learn some stuff here that helps you
Cheers
Matt
Thank you for this article. I’ve never thought of checking Amazon the see if the niche I’m researching shows popularity there. I’ve also never thought of trying to promote a “low gravity” product. Thanks for the insight and giving me something else to consider.
Matt Carter Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hi Kat,
Great to hear from on the blog! Thanks for commenting, and
happy that this post was helpful to you
Cheers
Matt
Hi Matt,
I just watched video 1 and I am excited! I am trying again to earn money online after getting frustrated a couple of years ago. Luckily I found your video and blog before I spent any money, so I’m a very happy camper! Quality instruction in an easy to understand format (it doesn’t get any easier than video) is exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks,
Linda
Matt Carter Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Hey Linda
Thanks for your kind words
and glad I can help you out!
Chat soon
Matt
Hi Matt
Just wanted to add my thanks to that of others.
I’ve worked in professional web development for the last five years but have always focused on delivering business projects for businesses. After a couple of recent bad debts, late payments and projects slipping I’ve decided to invest some real time, effort and money in building an online business to provide a second income and hopefully one day take over from my core business.
I came here via Mark Lings Affilorama site where I’m a premium member. Mark is brilliant but I must say I also love your straight forward and very thorough approach and I will certainly be coming back for more.
I’ve spent the last three weeks on research and despite all the stuff I’ve already read and seen you’ve added some more real nuggets to the list. I’m about ready to start in earnest and I’m really looking forward to the journey so look forward to keeping in contact.
Many thanks again
Mike
Matt Carter Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
You are most welcome Mike!
Thanks for you compliments
Matt
Matt, just finished your 1st of 12 free videos.. Came here to read about picking a niche with low competition. I am one of the “jumping bean” people who has jumped from site to site to accumulate (too much) information to start my online marketing.
I have seen many blogs, sites and wasted money on programs but I have to say your sight makes me smile. Your approach, wealth of information, ease of understanding the subject and explanation of the topic is superb!
I want to thank you for all the great information!
Renee
Wow! Thanks Matt!! A bunch of really quality tips! I love the one about using Amazon to confirm if niche is good or not by checking the # of positive reviews— +++ very clever +++ Thank you!!!
Hi Matt,
I am looking forward for you 2nd video. i enjoyed your Ist Video and after reading your blog post I am curious to know about the adsense setting thing. Could you please let me know whether it is not OK to put adsense ads and your affiliate link on the same page? Is that what you are trying to say in this post. Would appreciate very much for your answer.
Thanks
Kamrul
Hey Matt,
Thanks for this great list partner. I am a newbie when it comes to affiliate marketing via Clickbank so this is very timely and enlightening to me.
Keep rockin,
John
Hi: Matt
Thanks for sharing tis 11 tips for choosing a product to promote as an affiliate.
I will definately store this article so that I will always refer to it when creating a product of my own to sell online
Thaks Again!
Patrick sekhoto