For one type of product, there are literally hundreds (or even thousands) of affiliates that are actively promoting it. Affiliate marketing, after all, is a competitive business. But the result of having too many affiliates can present a challenging problem to each affiliate. One problematic result is that one customer may have already heard of the product being promoted by one affiliate. And this customer may have already encountered the promotional material for the product.

With so many affiliates offering the same product, how can one affiliate stand out from the rest so that the customer will choose him and not the other affiliates? What makes one affiliate different and better from the other affiliates? This is the present challenge of many affiliates, especially the new ones.

One creative solution suggested by many affiliate marketing experts is the use of extra specials. An extra special is something valuable that is given to a customer if this customer purchases the product from the merchant through the affiliates website. The affiliate must also mention that such extra special cannot be obtained from other websites. This will warn the visitor that if he purchases the product from another link, he will not have that extra special. And if that extra special is also needed by visitor, he will most likely stay in the affiliates website and discontinue his browsing.

Now that the affiliate has decided to provide the extra special, the next question in mind is what extra special will be attractive to the customer. The answer to this will depend on the type of customer that happens to purchase the product. And the type of product will give a big clue on the personality of the customers.

For example, if the affiliates website is all about rock climbing and other extreme sports, offering information about how tattoos are placed will not appeal to the majority of rock climbers, even when some of them may be wearing tattoos already.

On the other hand, if the affiliate will be offering information on various rock climbing places found in the country, the rock climber will definitely be interested and he may have no doubts at all in clicking that link that will take him to the merchants website.

Other extra specials can be a free email or phone consultation, an e-book, or links and ads in the newsletter. What the affiliate had to remember is that the extra special should be relevant to the main product being sold.