Rules for picking the right products
Again this list is a by-product of seeing the best and worst of Amazon Affiliate marketing, so treat this as the 10 5 commandments of picking the right products:
- Pick products that support your audience's why. When you start with the why of your audience, it becomes much easier to explain to them why they should buy the product you're promoting, because in that moment they're looking for a product that will help them address it.
- There must be a clear transformation between before using the product and after using it. Let's be honest, it's pretty easy to achieve this in the context of the example in the previous section. No self-respecting business is going to get staff to work on the floor! Instead, your focus should be on how your product does things better than your competitors. The clearer and more compelling those benefits are, the better.
- The best products are ones that can be clearly demonstrated, which is just about every physical product on Amazon. Can you make videos, take pictures or write blog posts demonstrating to your audience why they should buy them? If so, then you're on to a winner.
- Pick products that you have direct proof for. Don't make me tap the sign... TRUST IS KING IN THE WORLD OF AFFILIATE MARKETING!!!!!!!!!! Your honest personal experience with the product is your most valuable asset, and is the quickest way to build trust with your audience. What's even better are products where your audience can prove for themselves how well they work, eliminating the need to take someone else's word for it. This can be difficult for physical Amazon products, but think about products where you could, for example, offer free samples, or even demonstrate how they work on a live and interactive webinar.
- Pick products that have the potential to be indispensable to your audience - where your audience simply couldn't live without them. Finding a product that becomes part of the everyday habits of your audience is absolute gold! Think about the products you've purchased that have incorporated themselves into your daily habits, and how much of a lifesaver they are. Your audience will thank you and handsomely reward you (via Amazon affiliate commissions) for helping them discover them.
With these rules in mind, it's now time to start brainstorming product ideas in the next section!