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With the iGaming Supershow in Dublin just around the corner, I wanted to write a quick blog post about business cards.
This article isn’t really designed for your average affiliate who attends conferences all the time; it’s more for internet marketers whose plans are to make a ton of contacts, or have a lot of meetings scheduled. It’s also extremely helpful for affiliate managers, who will be handing out business cards like they’re going out of style.
However that’s only if you take it at a surface level. When we dive into it a bit deeper, you’ll see that it’s something that you can actually apply to internet marketing as a whole. We’ll go into that later in the article.
If you’ve ever been to an affiliate conference, you no doubt know how crazy it can get when it comes to business cards. Every person you meet has a business card, and by the end of the conference you’ll no doubt have at least 50 business cards to take home with you.
I know many people who simply take business cards out of politeness – I’ve seen numerous affiliates dump their pockets full of business cards out in the garbage as soon as they’ve left the conference.
People don’t realize how important business cards can be. They think business cards are made for one reason only: the ability to contact people. Yet business cards can be a method of creating a strong first impression – positive OR negative.
For example, numerous times I’ve had affiliate managers come up to me and try the strongarm marketing tactics – forcing their business cards into my hand while telling me what an amazing program they are. Yet I look at the crappy business card that cost 20 cents a piece to make at Business Depot and get a negative impression of them. If they’re as good as they say they are, then why are they cheaping out on something as important as a business card?
There’s one affiliate program I currently work with, who I wouldn’t even have considered working with as I had heard their retention stunk. However I ended up promoting that program simply because of the business card. Why? Because their business card stood out from the rest.
When I was going through all the cardboard style business cards at the end of the day, I came across their business card which felt like a credit card. The design of it was slick, and it felt like I was holding an actual credit card in my hand. It was the type of card that I looked at and thought “I can’t throw this out”. And I didn’t.
The fact that the affiliate program went that extra mile when it came to something as simple as business cards was enough to convince me to give them a shot. It showed they care about the little things, and that they’re proud of their company. I know I’m not the only affiliate that was impressed by that, and something as simple as a classy business card has probably made that affiliate program a lot of money over the last few years.
I was actually so impressed I went out and got my own business cards made up. I’ve taken a picture but it doesn’t really show the effectiveness of the card:
So here’s an enthralling video just to show the sturdiness of them:
This is a plastic business card that I got made. It actually wasn’t that much more expensive than the regular business cards, and it’s something that always makes a strong first impression.
I’ve actually met affiliates or affiliate managers a few months later and went to trade business cards, and they’ve opened their wallet and pulled out mine to show they still have it, “because it’s just so awesome”.
Hilariously, I’ve also had friends tell me my business cards are “great to chop up a line of coke”. So hey, they’re practical too!
However if you’re looking to buy some new business cards, I highly recommend going the slightly more expensive route and getting something slick done. First impressions are everything – and giving someone a really slick business card is a way to really set a good impression.
Also I just want to quickly throw in a plug for Mike Wittmeyers awesome Business Cards website. He offers a great variety of business cards including plastic, metalic and magnetic. If you want business cards that people won’t throw away, be sure to check his site out.
Now – how does this apply in the internet marketing world? It’s simple: setting a good first impression.
When you give someone one of these business cards, it’s very unlikely they’ll throw it away. You want to do the same thing with your website. You need to set a good first impression the second that they open your website. When I am given a really slick business card I think “Hey, I should check this affiliate program out”. When I see a great website, I think “Hey, I should bookmark this.”
I’m not just talking about the design either: it’s all about substance. Take a look at your website and think “In 5 seconds, will the visitor see this for the quality website that it is?”. If you were a fan of Lost(best television show ever!), within seconds of going to a website like Lostpedia you’re going to think “Wow, look at all this. I need to bookmark it.”
Whether it’s the design, the quantity of the content you have or even just the quality of the content – it’s very important the first impression of your website is a strong one. First impressions usually end up being final and lasting impressions, and you want people to leave your site with a positive impression.
That’s why the term “above the fold” is so important. It’s because it’s the first impression the visitor gets of your website – and the content above the fold is what usually convinces a visitor to stick with your page, or look at other pages.
And if you want those visitors to convert, you better make a damn good first impression.
This article was written on May 16, 2011 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
