The best way to boost your affiliate sales is to create something original and let people know about it--break out of the "me, too" crowd and do something different.

There is a common misconception among affiliates that they are "stuck" with the marketing materials the product owners provide, and unable to do anything of their own.

This is, by and large, not true. If you're not sure, ask. Most affiliate managers will okay outside materials if they can see them first.

Your first step is to create a free report. This sounds like a monumental task, but my own free report, "Ahead of the Pack," available at my web site, shows you how easy it is.

The easiest way to write a report is to compile a list of 5 or 7 tips, and write a few sentences on each one. If I were an affiliate for a book on resumes, I might write "5 Tips for a better resume." Then I'd use the report to lead to my web site selling the resume book.

The next step is to set up a way to capture email addresses--either by offering the report as an autoresponder series or by requiring signup to your newsletter to download the report. Tips reports work very well as autoresponder series, and you can follow up periodically.

Finally, let people know about your report using a press release. My free report "Power Press Releases" makes this super simple.

Basically, you need to write Who (the person who benefits, not you), what (the free report), when (available now), where (at your web site), why (why this report is available) and how (how it provides the benefit).

I realize time is scarce, and people who don't write for a living often think it's much harder than I do. But I can almost guarantee that if you sit down and write a quick report and publicize it with a release distributed by the top free distribution services, you will make more affiliate sales and it will more than make up for the time you invest.