One of the real secrets of successful affiliate marketing is to do things completely different from what the herd does. Although you can make a lot of money from this business model, it gets harder and harder the more you copy others blindly. The affiliate herd usually doesn’t make a lot while the top 20% of affiliates make probably 80% of the money.

I’m sure you have seen it every other day in the Internet marketing niche – come launch day of any product, you will see herds of marketers all promoting. And that’s not the worst part – the worst part is they all use the same ad that was provided by the merchant! They leave it virtually unchanged except for their affiliate link. It is little wonder that most people don’t make much money, while the top few who do make most of the sales usually differentiate their promotions, either through a different subject line, totally different body copy, extra bonuses etc.

So why is the strategy of merely copying others a poor one? The reason is simple. If everyone is simply doing what others do, there is no innovation. Many of the prospects in your market will be subscribed to many mailing lists and visit many websites in the market so you will be marked out as someone who simply copies and pastes. And if you’re promoting the same product everyone else does, it doesn’t matter if you have a big and responsive list, you will still not make as much money as you could because you are competing with so many other affiliates.

What is the solution? Simple. Do use proven tactics – but with a twist. Put your own spin on things. For example, if you have received a sample email to promote an affiliate product, make the email ad your own. Rewrite the subject line (make it better), change the call-to-action or add in more benefits to get your prospects to buy. You will make a lot more money this way.