How did you get your first sale? inspired by TonyHamilton. Here's how I got mine

So here it is: how I got my first sale.

I discovered yesterday that I got a sale with Amazon Affiliate Program. It's tiny, just a bit over 20 cents, but it was enough to get me ecstatic.

It was't a product I recommended on my site, but another related to my niche. That means the customer clicked on something on my site, decided not to buy the product, but kept browsing Amazon and ended up buying something else anyway.

In case you are not aware of it, if someone clicks on your link and decides to buy something else instead of that product you recommend (within a timeframe), you still get a commission. That is why traffic is so sacred!

In light of HOW I got the sale, well this is the best I made of it:

- I shared my content actively on Twitter and Facebook, especially Twitter. I scheduled my posts such that everyday I will share 5 posts on my site content.

- I did a small experiment on one of my posts, where I put two links for each product that I reviewed. The first link is where I first introduced the product, while the second is after I have given a detailed description on it. You can probably guess, the second link receives much more clicks.

So I think having both links there did something to the readers, telling them "hey, if you are ready to buy this product, go here. But if you want more information, there's another link you can use after reading about it". This goes back to the customer buying cycle Kyle spoke about. I personally think having both links is better than only either one. (if anyone has a better explanation for this please do put it forward).

- A large portion of my review articles are on multiple items , i.e. best guitars for beginners, best audio interfaces, best midi keyboard, etc. that's how I got so many clicks. But I gotta work on conversion, for sure. So I will try having more reviews on single items next time and see if it works out better.

- Almost all of my review articles contain lists. Product features, pros and cons, etc. Lists look neater than paragraphs and they are very easy to read.

- I didn't use any Amazon affiliate widgets in my reviews. In my opinion they make my reviews look very disorganised. I instead use just the image and state the price separately. Anyone who has a different opinion please do speak out!

- I also reached out to like-minded people on Twitter, retweet & favourite their tweets, and they did the same for mine. That contributed a lot to the traffic and clicks too.

So that's what I think made my first sale happen. Do share your strategy and what you have been implementing, and maybe we can have a conversation on what works and what doesn't work so well :)