While placing affiliate links and banners on a site is certainly an easy way to promote an affiliate program, there is actually a more effective way to make sales which, however, requires more work from the affiliate's part.
In terms of affiliate program, Pre-Selling is the art of turning qualified visitors into buyers by establishing a relationship of trust with them.
Building a sense of trust can be achieved by providing useful information to your visitors, using a personal tone and being honest. You should know your subject well enough to anticipate and address any concern they might have. Using industry lingo or adapting your writing style to your audience is another way to create a bound with your reader. In terms of site content, this means that you will need to create a page -- or a section -- on your site, which will be dedicated to the product or services you would like to promote. For example, many of our affiliates have been having success setting up pages that provide tips on how to write resumes, what to say during interviews, where to look for jobs, etc..
The next step is to make a recommendation about the affiliate offer you would like to promote but you should be honest, making sure that everything you say is true and avoid any type of sales pitch. For example, some of our affiliates have been recommending our services based on our success rate, the certification of our writers and our money back guarantee.
If you gained the trust of your visitors with your content, they will then be more inclined to accept your recommendations and once they arrive on the affiliate landing page, they will be in a buying mode, which will result in higher sales conversions for you.
While we do have drafts to write recommendations, I would however suggest to write your own recommendations, so that, not only they will sound from your own voice, but they will also be unique, thus avoiding any duplicate content slap by Google.