Saturday, December 8, 2007

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer


Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner.

The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website.


In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.


Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme.


Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.


Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits.


Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.


Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home.


  • There are virtually no production costs.
  • The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate.
  • Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs.
  • There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun.
Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary.


Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort.

You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping.

These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.


Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing.

By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not mBenefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer


Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner.

The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website.

In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme.


Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing. There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales.

Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.


Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits. Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home.


There are virtually no production costs. The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort.

You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home. In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping.

These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.


Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn. Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business.


With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential.

Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

Why Is Keyword Research So Important?

Why is keyword research so important?
Well, even if you're doing affiliate marketing, you'll need to find a way to reach your target market. There are so many websites out there peddling their wares that you need to find a niche within a niche in order to find a small group of people who are actively searching for whatever you have to offer.
This is especially true in the world of home business opportunities and information products.
For example, your main keyword cannot be "Home Business" or "Internet Marketing" when you are starting out with your new home business. There are too many big companies out there compeing for those keywords who have tons of advertising money and have been around for a while.
Think about your interests and your strengths.
You want your website to reflect on topics that you have researched or learned through experience. Is there something you've always wanted to learn? Something you are an expert on? Something you're really interested in?

Figure out what your going to make your website about and then research the possible keywords you could use. Make sure you check out your competition and see how you could give your target market something different.
Give them something more than they're currently finding on the Internet.
When you're doing your research, don't be afraid to dig really deep and find out what your market wants that they're not already able to find. This is going to be your long term strategy. You want your site to be content filled and resourseful enough that you won't have any trouble getting other webmasters to do link exchanges with you.
Let's do a little brainstorming.
Let's say that you're an affiliate marketer. You need to think like someone who is searching for what you have to offer. Let's say you're selling an information product about starting a home based business. This can be a really hard niche to get noticed in because there are so many information products out there and there are so many affiliate opportunities out there.

So, you can narrow your topic down to your area(s) of expertise.
  • Have you tried different methods of running your business without success? make your website about what NOT to do when starting a home based business.
  • Are you a techie? Make your website a how to website for the more technical aspects of home business set up.
  • Are you a master at creating website design? make your website a how to for home business entrepreneurs who want to have their own website.
  • Are you a people person? Get into network marketing and make your website about techniques network marketers can use when prospecting.
Even if your not an expert yet, find a topic that interests you and get to researching it!
If you plan out your business before creating your first website, you'll save a lot of time and money. Whatever it is that you want to do, you'll find plenty of learning resources on the Internet. Just remember to be careful out there.

There are a lot of "companies" selling information that can be found for free on the Internet. I am always adding new free resources for Newbie affiliate marketers, because you are their prime target. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. before you leave here today.

With that said, there are also some really good products out there if you want to learn something in detail. For example, I really wanted my business to get a head start and I found an awesome full course on Internet Marketing (after buying a couple of other 'newbie targeted' products that were junk). I also wanted to get a thorough education on website design and found a great product for that as well. Those are just some examples of things that I wanted to have some know how on and I found it.

There are resources on the Internet for just about any subject you could ever wajnt to learn about. Just be aware of the 'expert competition' that's already out there.

One thing I found when researching the "Home Business" niche is that a lot of people are just parading their opportunities on a website with a good domain name.
If you set out to help people rather than make a quick buck, I promise you that you'll have far greater results.
That was the best advice I ever got when I was building my business online. Once I really set out to give my readers good solid information instead of trying to 'sell them', I got a lot more interested people coming to my other website.
Now, I want to offer you some help.
If you want a head start, I have a great opportunity that is really exploding. The best part is, I have a list of keywords that people are actively searching but aren't finding much of a solution.

Monday, December 3, 2007

'Insider secrets' to marketing your business on the internet

By Derek Gehl

Product Review

By: Sheree Motiska

How many times have you bought an ebook claiming to give you the secrets of starting a home based business only to find you were still clueless?

What if you could have, physically in your hands, an entire 8 step bluprint to your business at home?

That's what you get with Derek Gehl's 800+ page Internet Marketing Course.

Not only that, but you also get a bunch of inspirational audio CD's and a "Website Makeovers" DVD for business websites.

I'm going to tell you exactly what you're going to get in Derek Gehl's course (without giving away his secrets of course).

Let's go through
each of the 2 parts (2 binders, each approximately 4oo pages of good, solid instruction).

Part I : "Build Your Business"
Lessons 1-44
Steps 1-5
Step 1 Talks about researching your niche and deciding what you're going to sell, before you start signing up for affiliate programs and buying resale rights to all kinds of different types of products. The best part about Step 1 is Lesson 9 where Derek talks about branding strategies for your home business.

Don't think you can't get your business branded, you can.

Step 2 is a detailed, 5 lesson course on how to write good salescopy and what kind of salescopy works best with each type of business model. It doesn't matter whether you're offering a product, a service, or someone else's product or service, you need salescopy. Otherwise, the customer won't know why they need what you're offering.

Step 3 is my favorite step. Here Derek teaches you, in lessons 16-28, how to design a great website for your business.
  1. Choosing a great domain name depending what you're offering.
  2. Choosing a web host.
  3. Designing your website.
  4. How to accept credit cards and other payment methods.
  5. Putting a shopping cart into your site.
  6. how to deliver your products.
  7. How to automate some of your customer service.
  8. Protecting your business from fraud.
  9. Dealing with chargebacks & refund requests.
This was my favorite lesson, there is also a DVD that goes with it for visual aid. Before I read this, I thought my site looked just fine. I also thought it was optimized for search engines. Boy was I wrong Then, I went out into the home business opportunities niche and saw that many amrketers are amking a very common mistake with their web pages. Once I fixed the mistake on my site, traffic really changed, and so did my opt-ins.

Step 4 is all about Search Engine Optimization to get targeted traffic to your website. You get a lesson in search engines and how they work followed by step by step directories for getting your home business website ranked in search engines. There's even a Pay Per Click lesson.Then, it goes into detail about how each page and the "secret" to getting all of your pages indexed in the "Big 4" of the search engines.

Step 5 gives you 9 lessons on "The Secret Sources Of Cheap and Even Free Traffic."
  • How to get other sites to link to you (very important for search engine rankings)
  • Giving away expert content
  • Viral marketing
  • Forum marketing
  • Classified ads
  • And more.
Then, we come to...

Part 2:" grow Your Business"

  • Lessons 45-64
  • Steps 6-8
Step 6 is 13 lessons on "how to build your opt-in list" which is about the most important part of your entire business. You need people that actually want to hear what you have to say.
  • Newsletters and other methods of collecting opt-ins.
  • How to create a great opt-in offer.
  • How to manage you list.
  • How to abide by spam laws when doing e mail promotions.
  • How to write and format emails.
  • And more email marketing tips and tricks.
Step 7 is "How To Increase Your Income With Follow- Up Offers."

Step 8 is about taking affiliate marketing to the next level. Even having your own affiliates to make money for you!

Then, you've got extra secrets to effective Internet marketing and a glossary, which is especially helpful for the Newbie Internet marketer. It explains what all of those Internet business terms really mean.

All in all, this is the most in-depth and well organized guide to starting a legitimate home based business I've seen so far.

I refer to this course every day and I learn something new every day.

Insider Secrets To Marketing Your ZBusiness On The Internet

Friday, November 30, 2007

Organize Your Home Business and Reap the Rewards of Success

The time to realize how important home business organization is to your overall success is not when you need to find important tax papers or income statements quickly. To avoid problems in the long run, take some time and devise a workable organization and filing system now.

Get a sturdy lockable file cabinet and durable hanging folders. Buy manila folders to tuck inside the hanging folders, and make sure you've also got several manila envelopes on hand that you can tuck receipts into and label easily.

Organize your financial papers chronologically, and divide them by types. Sort all your financial papers into piles and stack them chronologically. Be sure you have folders for bank statements, credit information, bill stubs, paycheck stubs, receipts, tax information, real estate papers, investment papers, insurance policies and statements, loan agreements and any other financial papers in separate hanging folders. Further divide your tax information by year. Include tax returns, receipts, copies of W-2s, 1099s and other pertinent tax information. Divide the bill stubs by the companies they represent and divide real estate papers by mortgage documents, home improvement receipts, second mortgages and so forth.

Important documents such as savings and certificate of deposit passbooks, car titles, stock certificates and yearly Individual Retirement Account, pension and profit-sharing statements should be kept in a safe deposit box, along with any vital records and valuables.

Make sure to keep on top of your inbox, especially your bills that need to be paid. Put them in a separate place where they are easily seen and handy.

When purging documents from your filing system, be sure to hang on to tax paperwork for at least seven years, and other financial documents for three years.

Financial planning software for your computer is available, and most are very user-friendly. Some include online banking functions. If you decide to utilize this, be sure to back up your data on a regular basis.

If you make a commitment to keep on top of your filing and organization system continually, you'll benefit when the time comes to locate those important documents necessary for your continued success. If you don't, the paperwork monster will easily overwhelm you again and could mean trouble for your business.

Running your own online home based business can cost you tons of money and leave you frustrated and broke.

Go To The Easy Home Business System

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Affilaite Marketing Or Adsense?

Lately there has been a lot of discussion on how to make tons of money with Google Adsense. In fact, many people are making the claim that Adsense sites can earn a higher revenue then an affiliate-marketing site.

So that brings us to an important question: Which is a better online business - Affiliate-Marketing sites or Google Adsense sites?

Let's explore each one and then find out which online business is better option:


Google Adsense

How do you like the idea of earning m*ney without dealing with customers or answering emails. This is possible when you run a Google Adsense site. With Adsense sites, you can have a virtual passive-income that requires little maintaining. But is this the best option for an online business?

Here are the positives of Google Adsense sites:

· They are perfect for people who run information sites that have no related affiliate product

· You can set it and leave it. With Google Adsense, you can create a content page, and there is little need to update the content.


· Adsense sites are easy to scale. Since they require little upkeep, you can easily create multiple websites that each make a nice income.

Here are the negatives of Google Adsense sites:

· They are not a great long term solution. Instead of getting your visitors to subscribe to a mailing list, you are focusing on getting people to click on ads. Real online businesses concentrate on building assets that can use for long-term growth.

· These sites are dependent on search engines. Most Google Adsense sites make the mistake of depending on search engines for the majority of their traffic. If the SE algorithms change then your income might drop significantly.



Affiliate Marketing

Being an affiliate marketer is great for those who want build a theme site. With this type of business, you can easily create web pages around a topic and get people to buy products through your products. If done correctly, you can easily build a loyal following that will help you make money for years to come.

But can affiliate marketing make you more money then Google Adsense?

Here are the positives of affiliate marketing:

· A great advantage of affiliate-marketing is that you can build a long term business that will bring in a revenue stream for years.

· With affiliate-marketers you need to focus on building an email list. This list is a major asset of your business. Every time you have an offer, you can go to your list and increase your profits..

· Unlike Google Adsense sites, which only concentrates on high paying keywords, an affiliate marketing site can be centered on a topic that you have an interest in.


Here are the negatives of affiliate marketing:

· You have to learn how to write persuasively and get people to purchase the product that you are recommending. For many people this is a difficult skill to learn.

· Each affiliate marketing site requires a lot of effort. You must spend a lot of time writing product reviews, building your email list and creating web content.


So which is better: Affiliate marketing or Google Adsense?

The answer is that both are great solutions for an online business. Instead of choosing one over the other, you should create websites that can take advantage of both.

Here is how you can do this:


1) Create a content site on a topic that you are interest in, while paying a good amount per Adsense click.

2) Integrate your Adsense into the menu bars and the top of your web content.

3) Add web pages for affiliate-products and your opt-in email list. But, make sure that you leave out the Adsense blocks on these pages. This way you are ensuring that you are building your long-term assets.

4) Create optimized web page articles that focus on a specific keyword phrase. Place your Google Adsense in these blocks.

5) Provide your email list with good content and product recommendations. Once in awhile, email your list and provide a link to some of your web articles. That way, you can earn a little bit of m*ney from your subscribers while giving them good content.

By focusing on both affiliate products and Google Adsense, you will be building both short-term and long-term profits.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Webmaster's Course Get's Deep.

I was just sitting here rewriting some of the "webmaster course" I offer free to my subscribers. The reason I'm RE-writing is because of the unfortunate death of my computer. Yes, I have a live one now. I'm not going to go into that story right now.

I was writing some website deign tips that I want the webmasters using the course to keep in mind right from the start. I always write everything out on pare before I type it. I'm just ol-fashioned that way. If I just start typing, I don't really get that inspired. Maybe that's why I don't blog like I should.

It's not that I don't have plenty to say, I definitely do. But when I put the pen to the paper, I'm off. I never know where it will take me.

So, I'm going to publish what I ended up writing. It's going to start out as just basic design strategies to keep in mind when building your first business website, in my example, it's an affiliate product site.

I'm a network marketer as well, but there are some really great products that taught me the foundation I needed to get as far as I have so, I still have a website and promote them very subtlety.

What I mean by that is that the sites I made were made with the intention to help people who were new to starting a home based business online. There are some really sleazy folks out there who get their claws in newbies and make them believe all sorts of crap until they realize they aren't making any money, just spending it. Then, they either quit, and never get to experience the excitement of seeing their creativity and persistence pay off.

OR...

They're like me and they get PISSED. I knew that I could make money somehow without pushing stuff that doesn't really work. You know, "the systems."

So, if I can save one newbie internet marketer from the former fate and show them the true way, I'll know that my work was not in vein.

I digress.

Back to the Webmaster's course thing. O.K. Here it is just like it's written in my notebook. I hope you enjoy it. I'll definitely be sending my subscribers links to this post, I think it may just show someone the light.

Enjoy...

Don't Confuse Your Visitors!

We're going to give them good, informative content and then show them possible solution(s) to said problem. If we point them to products that we know are good, this will be cake. More on this a little later.

So, make sure your website instantly portrays what it is.

  • Grab your visitor's attention right away. Open with a clear, concise message telling them what you're going to do for them.
Always remember that you made your website for them, not you. You're job is to solve a problem or fulfill a need for them, NO MATTER WHAT YOU SELL OR OFFER.

While a cute little entrance page that says "click here to enter" may seem high tech and neat on the surface, it will only annoy people who are at your site looking for relative information. Don't scare them away with script tricks, keep them there with the content they want!
  • Make navigation easy for them. You want to design your website so that your visitors can browse all over your site and not get lost. Even find pages that they want to go back to! What a concept. How many times have you been on a site a navigated so far away from anything you were looking for and just leave? Well, this is what you DON'T want to happen at your site.
If your visitors have to use the back button to get around your site, it'll make your business seem unprofessional and poorly planned. They're not going to stick around and buy something if they think you're just some goofball who just put his website up yesterday. You want to present yourself as a real business.
Take pride in it.

This is why we're making the plan first. I know, it seems like overkill and you just want to get to the part where you build your site, right? Well, trust me, these things are important and if you have some fundamental principles in mind from the start, guess what? You're going to have a much easier and more pleasant design experience.

You might even have fun.

You may want to pick out a template to work with. This just looks nice and makes it easier to keep with the core foundation. You're main navigation links will automatically be in place when you start each page.

There are a lot of great free templates available, just use the search engines. Oh, and remember, I sent you guys a bunch of templates when you subscribed. If you need those again for whatever reason, let me know.

Also, if you have a design in your mind that you can describe to me, I can see what I have in the way of templates for you. Don't worry, I don't sell any templates. If They come from me, they were probably purchased with resale rights or I downloaded them free myself. I only purchase resale rights products to give away to my loyal subscribers, I never sell the stuff.

Wow, I have no idea where that little pat on the back I just gave me came from, sorry about that. But seriously, let me know what you need, I don't bite, you're welcome to contact me anytime.

Back to the course.

As long as you have a neatly planned, visitor friendly website that is made for the benefit of your potential subscribers and/ or customers you'll be fine.

In the design tutorials, we're going to be working with a template, but when you get better with your HTML, you can even make your own templates if you want. You can always change your website as you get more skilled. I've changed mine a few times.

Actually, Lets Start Earning started out as a Plug-In-Profit site.
You can't really tell now and I'm not saying anything bad about pips. I just went another direction. I kept the host though all this time because their tech support got me through some of the hardest times in my Internet Marketing career.

There you see, it's about loyalty. That's what I want to see from you guys.

Back to the course, again. (I'm sorry I get so sidetracked all the time. There's just so much I want to say to all of you before I lose you to some slick talking guru with an "automatic system.")

I've decided that for the screen capture video design tutorial portion of this course, we're going to redesign The Newbie Business Center.

For those of you who've never seen it, it's my little helping hand site. I try to tell it like it is. It does have a few affiliate products on it, but only ones that I've used and actually benefited from them. It will be a great example site for you guys to get ideas from because it's got a lot of different elements that you may want to implement into your own site.

Why are we redesigning my website for this? Well, I love the way Lets Start Earning looks and feels now that it 'has matured,' remember, that was my very first website. But, something about Newbie Business Center just urks me. I think it may be the blue background instead of white, but it's also something else I can't quite put my finger on.

I want to use the affiliate site as the example because I suggest that anyone starting out should create one of these and nurture it, no matter where your business journey takes you.

As you see, Lets start Earning has gotten to be more of an info site about network marketing because that's my main daily business that I run. But, Newbie Business Center is the vision that I've had since the very first time I got ripped off buying a step by step system to make money online.

What the goal is, is that your affiliate site will be great practice to try out different ideas you may come up with, showcase your refreshingly honest reviews, and give you some street cred. I want you to really dig deep into your niche topic and become an expert. Then, you'll give the spectacular information you've come up with in your research away to your subscribers, FREE.

Doesn't it all sound great?

Most of all, I want you to make your site not so much a sales site, but an information hub (w/product suggestions in the background, not in their faces) that allows you to build up your list. When you build a trusting relationship with your list, they'll be more likely to buy a product that you recommend without having to 'hard sell' the. We've got a little bit of a journey ahead of us with our creation we're about to take on, but I promise you that I won't lead you astray.

We'll most likely have some fun along the way as well. I always try to keep my internet business fun because it makes it a lot easier to do the tedious stuff when you have fun too.

Just keep in mind, your potential customers are coming online
  • To gather information.
  • To compare what is available to solve their problem.
  • To make a decision based on their feeling about the information they found.
  • Purchase a product that will help them do whatever it is they need done.
They're looking for something anyway, if you can honestly show them the benefits of YOUR product AND they already have a relationship with you via your newsletter or something similar, there you go.

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself with this it seems, but I want you to have your potential customers and their needs at the forefront of your mind from the start. This will make your website so much easier to perfect.

We want you to have that baby up and running right ASAP!

I know that it took me a lot of trail and error to figure everything out because I got sucked in by some very convincing sales pages in the early days. My goal is that I don't leave anything out so that you have a big head start. I want to give you exactly what I needed when I got started.

Why?

Because as I said, the gurus pissed me off severely. They take a person's hope's and dreams and they feed on them and twist their thinking until they're brainwashed into buying into these ridiculous ideas about Internet Marketing.

If I can save just 1 newbie...

A WORD TO THE WISE

There are a TON of junk products out there that you can promote. They may have a very convincing sales page, BLAH BLAH BLAH...

If it seems hokey, it more than likely is. Feel free to ask me about a product you're thinking about promoting, I probably bought it, joined it, bought the T-shirt. See, after I decided that I was done getting ripped off, I tested out a bunch of stuff out there, just for spite. I know this seems counterproductive, but it really opens your eyes when you realize that it's just all the same crap rephrased a lot of the time. I did this so that I could actually give honest reviews about not only stuff I choose to promote, but stuff I won't and why.

What I want, no challenge, you to do is this...

Promote only EXCEPTIONAL products and services to your list and visitors. Promote what you can learn from yourself. It's not a bad idea to invest in one or two products that you can learn a ton from and then make money promoting them. If you can give a real nitty gritty review, your people will realize that you actually own and use the product.

This makes a HUGE difference in your reviews and in turn your sales. People are not stupid. They can usually tell the difference between a rewording of the sales page and an in-depth look at a product. If you need some ideas, let me know.

You see, when you're doing your marketing, I want YOU to believe every single word your telling THEM.

I know that you've heard that you should push the next "hot" internet marketing product, system, whatever they want to call it. That you'll make a killing, right?

Well, that may be true (although I highly doubt it).

But check this out...

What if you could make that same "killing," maybe it may take a little bit longer to get it really kicking out profits for you...

BUT

Your customers are always happy with your recommendations. Therefore, when you recommend another product that you find useful, they trust you.

Your customers from the initial "killing" are now loyal, repeat customers and guess what?

You'll have them forever as long as you always maintain your level of honesty and keep helping them. You won't have to rebuild your list every time they figure out you're full of %&$%. and unsubscribe.

I am dead serious about this you guys, I really want you to keep this your number one goal. There are literally millions of websites out there. So many products to choose from, so many affiliates promoting in this way or that way.

You get my point? If you really want to make it online, you have to do something different then what every other sleazy sales pitch website does.

You must think like YOU'RE the customer.

What would you want? What standards do you expect when you buy something?

You want it to do what it claims to do, right?

PLEASE, don't get into the trap of promoting every "hot" e book that comes down the pike. The ones that are usually hot claim to be:
  • "Step-By-Step" Systems To Make Easy Money Online.
  • "Automated" systems that allow you to get rich without working at all.
There is no "end all" Internet Marketing system that guarantees success online. There is definitely work involved. You must be committed and you cannot treat you new online business like a hobby or just something you'll check out and see if it works.

You are the key to making it work.

I'm not saying you have to quit your job and work your business online full-time in order to make it. I'm just saying that you must be prepared for a commitment and it will not happen overnight.

Don't get discouraged by this news, it's actually good news. Think about the pride you'll have when you watch the business that YOU built grow and grow all the time. If you can come to terms with the news that your business won't run itself and you need to put in a bit of effort (don't worry, it's not that it's hard work), you're in for an amazing journey my friend.

You are about to find talents and strengths within you that you never knew existed.

It's quite amazing to create something so detailed and technical as your online business, especially if you take the time and learn to do it yourself instead of paying someone else to do it. Then, you get to publish it (your business site and it's 'branches') and watch it come to life.

It's going to seem really slow at first but if you keep putting your site out there, they'll see it. Little by little your list will grow. The very first subscriber you get is one of the coolest things ever. I still talk to mine, we've even talked on the phone because he trusted me and when I got involved with my network marketing business, he wanted to hear all about it. He's thinking about coming on board when he retires in the near future.

I thought that was an inspiring story that you might like. You will most definitely build some friendships along the way. Just stay on the right path. If it feels like you're doing your target market wrong, don't do it. They are your lifeblood and you must respect them.

I promise that if you're trying to get online to rip people off, you will not last long. The work at home niche is huge. Apparently a lot of people dream of the financial freedom and time freedom that having a home based business allows.

But guess what...

The work at home niche is not dumb. They are savvy and they do their home work. If you are out to rip them off, they will know. So, you might as well do it the right way, huh? We all benefit and live in harmony. Nice.

With Web 2.0, I think that it's going to be an even less-friendly place for scamsters. What will they do when they can no longer hide behind the fancy website because everyone wants to see the videos of real people talking about real things.

There are ups and there are downs in this business, just like any other. But I PROMISE you, if you do your due diligence and stay with it you will be rewarded over and over again, not just monetary rewards. The kind of reward you get when you realize that you may have had a part in the story of the single mom who was finally able to stop bartending to pay the bills. Now, she is home to tuck in her little guy every single night. That sounds like my story, huh? Well, I know I'm not the only one. There are stories out there yet to be told. If you are sincere and truly want to give back to your fellow human beings, you can be a part of it too.

You ready to be the next story?

Treat your prospects and customers like you would expect to be treated, and above that. There are enough scammers out there, this is where you'll shine.

I might sound corny to some of you, but I truly believe what I'm telling you. When I first started, all I wanted to do was make my first sale online. I even stooped to the safelist level because that's what I was told to do. NOTHING happened for me until I said screw this, there must be a better way. I found better ways and I spread the word.

Someone in my travels had said somewhere that once you start helping and stop selling people, it will all come together. So simple, yet so true.

So let's build the site that is a helping hand to someone who needs one. Let's build another site that provides good information. Profit from you recommendations because of the non-salesy way you offer a potential answer to a problem.

Wouldn't that be refreshing to you? Definitely.

So, pretend you're trying to market a product or opportunity to yourself. How would you like that product to be presented to you?

OK, we're finally at the end, I swear.

MY SOLEMN PROMISE TO YOU:

I you concentrate on helping people in your target market BEFORE they ever pay a dime for any product you promote, you'll end up making out much better than the sleaze ball making enemies up and down the Internet.

Build yourself a LOYAL list instead of a GIANT list of people who couldn't care less and you'll be just as successful, if not more.

Phew, that was a lot of typing.

So, there's a special edition of the webmaster's course for all the world to see.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Before You Even Start.

Newbie Tips
A Couple Of Things Before You Even Get Started.
1. If you are not committed to building your business, you're done.
I'm not saying that you can't start a home based business on a part-time basis, you can. What I am saying is that you absolutely must treat it like a real business no matter what or you can forget about having any success.
2. If you're just in it to make a quick buck, I can't help you.
There may be ways to do it, but I haven't found them (and I've been up, down, and all around the Internet searching for answers.)
What I can show you is how to build an affiliate marketing business on the Internet. I'm going to tell you what I know you'll need and I'm going to tell you what I know are cutting edge methods that most of your competitors (other affiliate marketers) are not using yet.
How do I know about these strategies?
Because I am a network marketer and I'm very in tune with my company. I know what big companies (and small companies) are using right now to stand out on the Internet. This is so important. You must be something special because there are so many marketers out there.
That brings me to another point.
Network Marketing or Direct marketing?
At the end of this newsletter, I'm going to give you a link to an article that I think clears up a lot of misconceptions about what network marketing is really about.
I'm not talking about Pyramid scemes, I'm talking about a group of Internet marketers about a group of Internet marketers who have a common goal to grow their company by representing their products in a professional way and by putting together an organization that keeps running the company level by level.
I have done both network marketing and direct marketing. All I'm going to say is this:
If you're trying to build up a business that will pay you residual income even after you want to "retire," then network marketing may be something you should look into BUT...
It only works like that if you're willing to work hard at it and learn everything you can so that you can pass the knowledge on to your organization.
OK, with that said...What About A Niche?
Well, you'll hear that you've got to choose a niche that you're passionate about. well, that's true but it must also be a niche that's profitable. You cannot choose some really obscure topic that you'll never be able to find your target market.
You may have also heard that the work at home niche is too competitive to get into. well, this is both true and false. If you're trying to sell the usual recycled junk to unsuspecting newbies, then yes i would say choose another niche.
But if you can really find an innovative approach or an awesome network marketing company, there are always people out there who are looking for a way to make real money from home. A way out.
Hint: Paid surveys and data entry are not it.
If you get involved with an affiliate product or network that can honestly give people a chance to build a real business, you're on the right track.
Here's a hint...
When you just join a bunch of free 2 tier programs and try to build a downline, your downline isn't going to take something seriously if they have nothing invested in it.
So go ahead and think about what kind of products or services you want to get involved with. there are a lot of great digital based niches so you won't have to keep an inventory.
Here are some examples of things you may be interessted in:
  • Web hosting packages.
  • Autoresponder services.
  • Streaming video services.
  • Internet Marketing Courses.
  • Web design courses.
Theses are just a few things that have available affiliate programs and are in demand to people who use the Internet, especially Internet marketers.
A key point in all of this is you need to be a product of the product. Be an affiliate for something you actually use so that you can be a testimonial for the product.
Think about it. When you tell someone...
"Hey Joe, you've gotta see this movie."
Joe says, "Oh yeah, you saw it, how was it? Who was in it?"
And you reply, "Well, no I never actually saw it but...I can make a 50% profit from your ticket price."