If you're affiliated to Amazon, ClickBank, eBay, MadBid or basically any site that has an affiliate program, I'm pretty sure one of your main goals is to maximize the click rate on your affiliate links. There are many tricks to do that, and in this post I'm going to put into view five that I've been using. 

Screenshots with a interface of a YouTube video.

Everyone likes videos, and if there's a video on your website, many people will click it to view it. Now, if the merchant's site has a video, you can simply get a screenshot of their site, crop the part with the video in it, and put it on your site, with the attached text "click to see video" or something like that. Evidently, add an affiliate link under the photo. When someone wants to see the video, they will be sent to the merchant's site and view it there. This way you've got your click and added the cookies into their computer.

"Click to Maximize" photos. 

This is also a neat trick to secure some clicks. It's similar to the one above, but in this case, you should use small size photos of a product (with affiliate links), with the "Click to Maximize" text attached. When someone clicks "to maximize" and see better what's in the photo, they're sent to the merchant site and you've collected the click.

"See Best Price" buttons. 

When you make a review on a product, simply don't mention anything about the price of that particular product, or at least don't be specific about it. End the review with a button such as this (which should be a .jpg, made in Photoshop), button that has an affiliate link under it. Evidently, when people are interested in buying a product, they will want to see its best price. This way you'll get more clicks. 

Start your post with a bold, clickable link, on the name of the product. 

And the keyword should also be underlined. The underline automatically suggests a clickable link, and also allows everyone to see it better. 

Links under the comment section. 

This is also a nice trick to pull, if you have comment sections on your website, and evidently there's commenting activity. You can add the affiliate links under the blog comment section and everyone who tries to comment will be redirected to the merchant's website. However, make the redirection to open in new tab or new window, to not give the visitor the impression that they've been tricked. Let them comment or use the comment section. They will eventually look at the new opened window or tab too. And even if they close it, you've still added the cookies in their computer.

If you have an affiliate website, or simply a website on which you sell your own products, there are multiple methods and tricks to pull, to increase the volume of sales. So, without wasting too much of your time, here are 7 that you might want to try out.

1. Offer gratuities. Everyone loves free stuff. Therefore, if you offer something free on your website, chances are people will come back. Of course, you should be using a squeeze page or pop-up to gather up emails in exchange for the free stuff you offer, and extend your promotions via email to your subscribers. More promotions should bring more sales.

2. Your main page should be dedicated to only one product. Of course, depending on what you sell or promote, you may use a split test for a home page with one product, or multiple products. Who knows, maybe the second alternative would work best. But in general, it's best to make people focus on one product, THE product.

3. The top headline of your home page should cover at least some of the benefits of your main product. A catchy headline is necessary for any sales or promotions site. It's the first thing the visitors see. It's the first hook that catches them and keeps them on the page.

4. Use calls to action. Whether they're clickable links, buttons, photos, it's important to influence the decision of your visitors and make them take action in purchasing. Of course, it's not the best idea to be too aggressive, but any sales page should have at least a few call to action elements. 

5. Use hover ads and pop-up. Even if not many users like pop-ups, these are and will be useful marketing tools. Provide special promotions, free stuff, discounts, or even direct viewers to other posts and pages on your site, to keep them longer. Even though pop-ups may turn away some of your visitors from the start, you can be sure that most of them aren't interested in buying anything.

6. Make your website smartphone-friendly. Many people nowadays surf the web via their smartphones or tablets. Not all websites can be accessed by smartphones. If someone tries to access your site with their phone, and they simply can't, they're a potential buyer that you've lost.

7. Take good example from the top sales websites. Amazon, eBay, uBid, or MadBid have been in the business for a long while, and they've made billions in the business. They know how it's done. Therefore, even if you don't want to buy anything from these sites, visit them regularly, learn and even copy their techniques.

Nowadays you can buy basically anything online, from eBooks to real estate. Online car sales and online car auctions are quite common as well. But evidently, buying a car at an online auction, is not exactly the same thing as buying it traditionally, directly from the dealership or private owner. Therefore, here are a few particularities regarding the purchasing of a car in an online auction.

The Mechanism Of An Online Car Auction

To be able to sell an item on a website such as eBay, MadBid, Bidz.com, or eBid, you need to be a registered user, and provide a number of personal details to the sales website, and also agree to the terms and conditions. To bid on an auctioned item (in our case, a car), you also need to register. Typically, the car seller will upload at least a photo of the vehicle, a description (the more detailed, the better), and will also choose the closing time for the bidding. 

The bidding for a car is rather simple. Once you've registered with the site, you can simply click on the bid button to place a bid. The website will pass your bidding info to the car seller. 

The highest (and last bidder) will receive an email from the auctions website that they've won, typically including the details of the seller. If the deal closes without any impediments, the buyer transfers the money to the seller, it's usually common sense that the both buyer and seller give each other a positive feed back on the auction site, to build reputation. 

Each auctioning website has its own rules regarding the bidding on an auction. For example, in case you have missclicked on the bidding button, or changed your mind about your bid, you may retract your bid before the end of the auction, but usually you will have to contact the seller and ask if they agree to let you retract your bid. 

Tips For Buying At An Online Auction

- Never bid on a car that doesn't have a satisfying photo. A car seller should upload muliple photos of the car, not just one.

- Check other websites for similar cars and see if you won't find one for a lower price. 

- Normally a seller should upload their phone number, so you can contact them and ask them questions about the vehicle, if needed. Or you can contact them via the sales site. In case the seller lives nearby, you can even ask them for a visit to test drive the car.

- Read the description carefully, at least a few times. 

- Don't get carried away with the bidding. 

- Keep in mind that purchasing a car at an online auction may not provide you the same benefits as buying it from a dealership.