Reading through thousands of tweets, blog posts, affiliate program descriptions and other material related to affiliate marketing on a monthly basis, I see the same set of words and phrases being used over and over again… to the point when they no longer strengthen the content, but do exactly the opposite — discredit and weaken what you’re trying to say. Just as excessive exclamation marks or capitalized words, I believe the following 10 words and phrases should just be avoided at all times:
1. Instant / Fast — Whether you’re talking about an “instant access” to an army of affiliates, or an “instant income” for affiliates, you’re just making things sound too unbelievable to be true.
2. Easy / Simple — C’mon, folks! Using these is akin to calling affiliate marketing income a “residual/passive income” (or even “autopilot income”) as some do. By definition, passive income requires very little effort to maintain the income flow. This is not true about affiliate marketers who have to stay alert on the latest changes, developments, and threats, and adjust their strategies accordingly.
3. Success — Real “success” will always depend on the affiliate (or the merchant) themselves. It’s not something you can promise anyone.
4. Hot(est) / Best (especially when talking about an affiliate program) — Inserting adjectives like this into your affiliate program description just discredits the rest of the text. Either replace them by stats and real success stories, or avoid them.
5. Make Money Online — In case you haven’t heard, performance marketing is no longer only about online, and neither is it only about making money, by the way.
6. Highest Payouts/Commissions — They aren’t worth anything unless your product/service is in real demand, priced right, and hence, the conversion is there.
7. Boost Sales — They won’t “boost” unless you put in considerable effort.
8. Unique / Innovative — Add “revolutionary” to these, and you’ll loose thousands of listeners.
9. Outside the Box — Just substitute with “differently” or, better yet, explain how different it is, and why this difference is valuable.
10. Integrity, Trust — These are not for you to claim about yourself. Leave it to others to decide.
Have I missed anything? Feel free to add more in the “Comments” area below.
What kills me the most about this kind of stuff (and it’s not just in our industry, it’s all over the cultural landscape now) is that it’s all completely subjective. Like you said, how do you define “success”? Likewise with “out of the box” or “hottest/best”. You can’t define these things in a meaningful way. Words either have meaning or they don’t – if you call your product/program/system “unique”, it had better be the only one of its kind on the planet, otherwise you’re lying. I think it’s a travesty that the language has been taken over by wishy-washy marketing people who will use any word without regard to its proper use in order to sell a product.
And I say this as a marketer myself 😉 lol
I set up some google alerts for similar catch phrases, just to see how they are being used and certainly abused.
It almost blew up my inbox…
The amount of churning noise out there is appalling, really, and it goes to show you the over-saturation of words and phrases like these.
They can sometimes go hand-in-hand with the guy fanning out money in front of his red Ferrari.
Geno,
From what I’ve studied you are about the best in the business. Perhaps you can help me then, as I’m so new.
I’m apparently not just another affiliate marketer, because I’ve gotten a very unique and viable product to sell. Where do I go to study up on this? I need to know how to help my uncle’s business, and how to get affiliates for him.
Thanks
Candis
Candis, thank you for your compliment, and the best place to start in your case would probably be with my Online Guide to Affiliate Marketing [for Merchants]. Should you have questions about topics not covered in the Guide, feel free to post them in the “Comments” are under it, and I will make sure they are addressed and added to the Guide as well. 😉