There’s a bit of debate going on at the moment over in the Wealthy Affiliate forum about bonuses. It kinda came about from someone questioning why anyone would buy a Clickbank product through someone else’s link when they could use their own to get a hefty discount and it was specifically aimed at the IM niche.

Well, the short answer is, if you are promoting in the IM niche, then you must offer bonuses that have a perceived value that is more than the discount you can get by buying through your own affiliate link.

‘But’, came the reply, ‘I’ve got a hard drive full of these bonuses and have never done anything with them.’

OK, we’ve all got those, right? And I bet many of you have whole ebooks you’ve never done anything with as well.

Maybe some are crap but I can tell you I’ve rarely read any guide or bonuses that didn’t have something of value. It may have just been one idea, one sentence.

Now, I’m not suggesting that go and buy every guide under the sun or buy things just to get the bonuses.

More… I’m thinking about your own campaigns…

The recent WA Seven Day trial promotion was successful for us because we added a critical bonus. Our ‘Using Wealthy Affiliate Guide‘ which showed people how to get straight to the juicy bits of WA within that first week. You can’t sign up to WA using your own link anyway but you can go direct of course.

But the crucial thing about the bonus was not so much the amount of people who took up the trial though our links but how many stayed on board and became full members. And I can tell you more than 75% did. That’s a pretty good conversion rate. :)

Anyway, that’s in the IM niche… what about other niches?

In most other niches people are not even aware that they can buy products through their own affiliate links… indeed a lot of people are not even aware of affiliates at all!

So, do you need to offer bonuses? Certainly, if you are list building, you must offer a bonus to get people to opt-in. It does not have to be a 20 page PDF. It can just be a ‘Top Ten Tips on ____________ ‘ Anything that adds value.

And that’s the key to whether to use bonuses or not. Do they ADD Value?

Because if they do, not only will you enhance your customers use of the product or service you are promoting but they are far more likely to buy related products from you again.

So, think about this in your promotions… look for opportunities to add real value bonuses. Ones that people will read… that people will use.

The effort it takes to create a good bonus are far outwighed by the benefits for both your customer and you, as an affiliate.

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