This is actually a fairly common question I get via email – and one that many us struggle with when writing ad copy, especially when you are in a bunch of different affiliate markets simultaneously ( which I kind of believe you should be).  Good affiliates are mercenaries in many respects, and the path to least resistance in monetizing affiliate opportunities that you DON’T want to invest a ton of time in is in fact the mercenary approach.

Here is the problem – as articulated by Rob below:

Hi Ira ( *note to Rob – my name is Ian*..:-)

Good ideas on your blog!  I am trying to sell Affiiliate products on Craigslist like you suggested a long while back, and I am having a hard time coming up with good copy.  Should I email the people behind the products to see if they can help?  I don’t have a lot of extra money to invest, but I’ll pay for a copywriter if you know somebody who can help.

Regards -

Rob

Okay – this is a pretty standard fare sort of issue, and one of the EASIEST to overcome fast – and I’m going to give you MY secret weapon to creating killer amounts of copius copy in ANY given market in rapid fire turn around time, WITHOUT investing one slender brain cell, (because god knows I don’t have too many left)  one ounce of my precious energy, or have to re-direct one ounce of my cognitive care from other more pressing issues, like checking to see if I’ve got new mail on Match.com. (which, sadly – I usually do not)

It’s very simply the good old fashioned screenshot- and you can get a killer program – Snagit – for free for 30 days, (more than enough time to make a mountain of cash even on CL) and afterwards it’s like 50 bucks. 

(I actually prefer Skitch WAYYYY better…..and it’s totally free, BUT you need to be working on a Mac to use it at this point which I know many of you are not)

 You simply take a SCREENSHOT of the affiliate program ‘s landing page, I’ve illminated this above with one of my OWN landing pages for a diet offer I started running today as a quick illustration.

Screenshots are the MOST affiliate Way to Create KILLER Copy in a Hurry 

(this is not a re-direct to affiliate offer – rather a stand alone site promoting, primarily, the Medifast diet)

But I don’t care WHAT market you’re in, the affiliate who’s stuff you are selling WANTS you to sell MORE of it – so using the landing page that you would send folks to buy the product is KOSHER, clean and easy. 

If the vendor spent 50 Large on the copy?  You just got a FREE professional copywriter to write YOUR Craigslist ads.  On your landing page?  If you are re-directing RIGHT to the affiliate – I would put the image on your landing page as well for trust – and simply have a little bit of text above or below the image letting them know they are one simple second away from having their "solution"…whatever that is.

If you are collecting names first ( i.e. - squeezing the visitor BEFORE you re-direct to affiliate) – I would also use the pic below the opt in code, for the same "trust" purposes….and this is a VERY powerful way of building a BIG list, and still making great affiliate sales in a hurry.  I wouldn’t, however, especially on CL on cold traffic, use an opt in on YOUR landing page if the vendor is also squeezing the visitor to boot – as you end up with a disgruntled consumer.  And no one likes to be disgruntled, especially if they have a Post Office job to go to on Tuesday.

(of course you could always collect the name first.….then re-direct to an "order" page, bypassing the opt in the vendor uses if you have a piece of link re-direction software that will do it – this is the best way of handling this in an elegant way – AND – you can literally take the vendors email sequence and use THAT for your entire ecourse to boot. 

So your selling HIS (or her) stuff – using HIS (or her) copy – and using HIS (or her) email sequence to promote the offer.

More proof that there is indeed a God, don’t you think?