The follow-up is probably the most important aspect of generating sales. Unfortunately, it's also the one thing that most affiliates don't even bother to utilize.

Of course, in all fairness, most programs don't afford the affiliates an opportunity to collect names and email addresses in order to conduct any follow-ups. That particular privilege is generally reserved for the program or product owner exclusively.

If you really intend to get to the top of the affiliate ladder, then you need to make absolutely certain you're the one who captures the names of prospective buyers.

For every sale you make, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of viewers who leave your affiliate page empty-handed. But that doesn't mean you have to be left with nothing as well.

Granted, if you're merely promoting your referral link, you probably won't be able to customize that page in any way, shape, or form. And that's exactly why it's important to create pre-selling pages, ones that you direct viewers to prior to visiting the pre-made affiliate sales page.

That gives you the ability to capture viewer names and email addresses - either to join your mailing list, subscribe to your newsletter, download a free ebook, report, or ecourse, or simply request additional information.

Once you have your list, it's simply a matter of keeping in touch with them, continuing to promote your offer over an extended period of time. Instead of that one-shot, do-or-die opportunity when viewers land on your site, you now have the ability to make additional attempts at selling your affiliate product, service, or program.

Another important aspect of of creating a higher level of affiliate success is viral marketing. That would include anything that can be freely distributed - articles, ebooks, reports, ecourses - each containing your referral link and/or sales copy which promotes your affiliate product, service, or program.

And the more articles, ebooks, reports, etc. that you can begin passing around with your referral link the better. Of course, in order to gain positive results, viral marketing tools need two important attributes...

- they contain quality content

- they can be freely distributed by others

That's it. You write an article or create an ebook or report, attach your referral URL address, and then make it available for distribution.

Discussion boards (although not necessarily viral) are also beneficial. No matter where you post a message containing your referral link (most likely in your signature file), there's a good chance that post will remain accessible to other forum members indefinitely.

Of course, no matter what promotion method or methods you use, you should always pre-sell whatever product, service, or program you're involved with. In other words, you need to convince viewers to take a serious look at what you're promoting prior to sending them to your "assigned" affiliate sales page.

You can accomplish that through personal recommendation, carefully selected testimonials, or additional benefits that might not have been included with the original product offer.

Your objective is to get the prospective buyer primed and ready for the impending offer. It's also the perfect opportunity to tell them about any incentive bonus they'll receive if they purchase through your referral link (an additional ebook or software product at no extra charge, free graphic design, a cash rebate, etc.).

Beyond that, the only true method of succeeding as an affiliate is the same thing that any other business or product needs... maximum exposure involving as many targeted viewers as possible.

How To Raise Your Affiliate Power - Part 1 http://www.sites500.com/articles/affiliate-power-part1.html How To Raise Your Affiliate Power - Part 2 http://www.sites500.com/articles/affiliate-power-part2.html