Affiliate Marketing: How to Use Coupons to Get Customers

One underestimated way to bring more traffic to your affiliate marketing website(s) is to offer coupons.

According to many recent studies, the coupon crowd has grown by leaps and bounds as the economy has tanked. Yahoo's internal company research shows that coupon use has risen by 50 percent in 2009 and is up 135 percent since 2007.

Here are three proven strategies for using coupons for affiliate marketing purposes:

1. Work With Affiliate Partners Who See the Coupon Trend

Coupons have always been a non-starter for some retailers because, frankly, coupons attract frugal folks who may be slow to pull the "buy now" trigger. However, in these economic times, searching for coupons on the Internet has achieved widespread cultural acceptance.

Merchant partners who see this trend--and, more importantly, want to exploit it--can provide you with a great opportunity to capitalize on coupons and thus increase your affiliate marketing commissions. Remember: a Google search for coupons is an indication of a buying desire.

If possible, partner with at least one or two merchant partners who actively use coupon marketing. This way, you can have a "coupons" section on your website(s).

Also consider, if you have the clout to say such things, suggesting to your affiliate partners who don't do coupons that, well, maybe they should.

2. Use a Special Landing Page for Each Coupon Offer

Buying pay-per-click advertising for the search terms "your product + coupons" can be a good investment--but only if you build a special landing page that creates high conversion rates.

A special landing page for coupon offers with a clear call to action will yield much better results than bringing a coupon-searching visitor to your general home page.

Beyond PPC, you may attract some decent free traffic from having a whole page dedicated to each coupon offer that you're promoting. Despite the rapid increase in the number of people scouring the Internet for coupons, there is still a shortage of coupons for certain products.

If you can target those searchers with a special, specific, "take action" landing page, you can make affiliate marketing commissions that you wouldn't otherwise.

3. Offer Your Own Coupons

Ace Affiliates is never in favor of you making less money. However, there is a case to be made for paying part of your commission back to your customer in the form of a coupon.

Let's say, for example, that you are an affiliate marketer for the online gaming industry, and your average revenue per new customer is $100, with 20 percent of customers bringing in $700 or more of revenue over the course of their online gaming career.

In that case, it may make a lot of dollars and sense to offer new customers a coupon for $20 upon sign up, branded with your website's name.

Just make sure to vigorously track the results of such a campaign, and to watch out for scammers of the infamous "purchase and return one day later" variety.