Work Yourself Up!

Want Reader Trust? Keep Your Promises

Every person has bought at least one product that didn't do what the advertising said that it did. That's what we get for watching late night infomercials. If you want your online business to be around in three years, build relationships through integrity.

Integrity

It's a word that some business owners know nothing about. They would promote any product or service to get a quick buck. What happens after the customer pays their money is immaterial to them. Their websites pop up one week and disappear when the heat gets to be too much, only to resurface under another name.

There is a reason for that. They know what people are looking for, but instead of trying to provide it, they exploit it for the money.

Integrity in business means keeping your promise. It may not seem like it, but readers scrutinize website businesses. It could be because there is no physical body to put with the company that the eyes watch a little closer. The result is the same though: if you don't come through you will lose readers and sales.

One area where readers learn to mistrust is use of their personal information. If they opt-in for an email newsletter, don't sell their names to mailing lists and by all means, don't spam them. This is not the way to get what you want from your readers.

Test, Test, Test

Are you selling products on your website? There are a lot of variables with that especially if it is a physical product. Before you offer a new product, always test market to see if it is going to garner a demand. No market means no money.

With digital products testing comes in the form of knowing that the advice inside will work for the person buying it. If you sell an eBook about how to set up your own affiliate program in one day (example only) then every customer should be able to duplicate your process.

The same goes with affiliate marketing. Only upsell affiliate products or services that you know are legitimate and deliver what is promised. What is the money going to help if your online reputation is shot?

Truthful Content

Before readers become customers, they will visit your site over and over. They are reading your content. Be sure that everything you write is truthful and unique. There is enough bad information floating around and you can't build a relationship of trust on false information.

You don't have to make big boasts to get readers to keep reading, just make good on what you do offer them. This builds a relationship of trust that can benefit you and your readers for years to come

4 Quick Tips for Setting up Your Own Affiliate Program

The goal of developing an info product is to make sales – and a lot of them, right? In order to do so, you'll need to get traffic to your website.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to do that is by starting an Affiliate Program. Your affiliates will become an amazing asset to your business, since their job will be to promote your product for you. The best part? You don't pay them until they make you money.

There are some decisions you will have to make first, and these 4 quick tips will help you on the way to making more sales.

Quick Tip #1: Choose The Right Technology... for You.

One of the first decisions you'll have to make is which program or script you'd like to use to process payments and manage your affiliate program.

There are many different options, so it's helpful to weigh the cost and benefits of each service or program. You can use your own script, join an affiliate network, or use a shopping cart service with a built in affiliate program.

Running it yourself on a Script: Your own script and server will track your affiliates' sales and the amount owed for those sales. It is then your responsibility to go in and pay your affiliates when their commission is due.

Affiliate network: An affiliate network will generally do all the tracking and affiliate recruiting for you, as well as make the payments each month. The affiliate network will then charge you a percentage for utilizing their service.

Shopping Cart Services: There are also shopping cart services that will help you to manage your infoproduct business and your affiliate database. You will normally have to do more affiliate recruitment rather than depending upon an affiliate network's large database, but you are much more in control than with the other alternatives.

Quick Tip #2: Make Resources Available

Affiliate marketer are inundated with different products in many different niches. It can be extremely difficult for you to stand out from all of the options.

As a product seller, you'll want to do everything in your power to stand apart from the crowd and grab the attention of potential affiliates. One of the best ways to do that is to offer your affiliates plenty of resources so they can get their promotions up and running quickly and easily.

Some resources you might consider offering your affiliates might be graphic banners, articles, sample excerpts of your product, marketing plans, and more. Remember, the easier you make it to promote you, the more sales both you and the affiliate will make

Quick Tip #3 Request Feedback from your Affiliates

The best way to find out what is working and what isn’t working is to communicate with your affiliates. If one month there is an abundance of sales and the next nothing it is wise to communicate with your affiliates to see if something is up. 

You can easily create a survey online with OneMinuteSurveys.com – or just email your affiliates and ask them to respond.

Any number of factors may be causing the dip in sales. You may discover that a new competitor is enticing your affiliates more, they may think that your resources are not doing the job they should, or maybe your payments haven't been on time. Whatever their answers may be, it will help you to make the necessary changes to get sales moving in the right direction again.

Quick Tip #4: Make Yourself Available

If you are not willing to set aside time to ensure the success of your affiliates, you most definitely will lose them. Make sure your contact information is easily displayed for those who might want to get a hold of you with questions or concerns. Be sure to offer an option other than a single email address, just in case there might be email glitches that prevent your affiliates email from reaching you. Set up a forum, blog, or social media hub where your affiliates can connect with you. Other options – offer phone help or host q&a webinars.

Also, providing contact information shows that you are a credible and experienced marketer. This is especially important if you're running your affiliate program through your own script. Unfortunately, too often affiliates work hard promoting and selling a program and never receive their commissions. You should always make sure that your affiliates are confident that this will never happen to them while they are working with you.

Starting your own affiliate program is an excellent way to sell more of your products. There are many affiliate marketers out there who enjoy the fact that they don't have to create the products but can still make money from promoting them. At the same time, you have to realize that there are other opportunities out there, so your affiliate program needs to stand apart from the others. Make yourself available and give your affiliates the tools they need to succeed. You'll create a loyal fan-base of affiliates... and your bank account will certainly thank you for it.

4 Quick Tips for Bigger Affiliate Checks

If you have ever tried affiliate marketing, you know that is can become addictive as you start to earn passive, recurring income online.

It's amazing to be able to guide someone through one of your referral links and earn a  commission when they purchase someone else’s product.  The only problem is when you hit a plateau and can't seem to get past it.

These quick tips will help you earn bigger affiliate checks, so you can get more from your efforts.

Quick Tip #1: Be Picky

With so many affiliate programs on the market today it is extremely important to choose the ones that you promote wisely. Make sure they relate to your website content and are of interest to you and your audience. Nine times out of ten if you aren’t excited by the affiliate program, no one else will be either.

Always check out the affiliate program first. You may want to order the product, too, so that you can use it and even put it into action on a personal level before recommending it to your audience. If after trying it you believe it is something of substance and worth, more than likely so will your target audience. If you can also show your own results, and share both your  positive and negative views of the product, your readers will grow to trust you more.

Quick Tip #2: Test Your Positions

Many affiliate marketers set up their webpages with links and never consider them again. It's easy to fall into the habit of thinking that a certain program just doesn't convert well, or that you'll never be able to earn much money with that program. It might be that just tweaking things a bit can greatly increase your commissions.

For example, if you have only text links on a page you might test a graphic image near the text to see how that converts. People are drawn to pictures (especially of people or a desired result) and a graphic can work wonders. Alternatively, if you only have a graphic image you might want to test text links as well.

Little tweaks can go a long way toward helping you get bigger affiliate checks.

Quick Tip #3: Get More Traffic

There are many people who spend a lot of time writing content for their websites and waiting for the search engines to come find them.

Search Engine Optimization experts find that getting links from other websites is just as important (if not more) as on page factors. What this means is that the links pointing TO your website from others may be more important than the text on your actual site.

If you don't have very many backlinks to your website you may want to get more. How?

•    Article marketing.
•    Guest blogging.
•    Writing and submitting press releases.
•    Podcasting.
•    Submitting Videos to video sites.
•    Commenting on other blogs
•    Blog directories
•    Link directories
•    Interviews on other sites
•    Setting up an affiliate program

This can boost your rankings in the search engines and increase your visitors. By getting more web traffic, you will earn bigger affiliate checks without having to change anything on your page (other than what you are currently testing).

Quick Tip #4: Test Various Programs to See Which Works

It can be extremely disappointing to know that you have chosen a hungry or desperate niche only to find that they aren't buying as much as you expected. You may need to reevaluate the vendor that you’re promoting. The vendor may not appeal to your audience. Sometimes the sales letter is bad, product feedback and reviews are bad, or the reputation is bad, etc.

You will want to search out a competing vendor that offers a similar product with a better sales page. Before signing up for the affiliate program, review the sales copy to make sure you're comfortable with their marketing tactics. By making this small change, you can greatly increase your affiliate checks. It's all about converting your visitors into buyers and if a certain vendor can't do it, then it's time to look elsewhere.

You'll notice that two of these tips have to do with testing and tweaking. It can be tricky turning browsers into buyers, and it's a two part job between you and the vendor. Figure out the  combination that works best, and you will improve your commissions. Be sure to also continue to improve your web traffic. Marketing your website and boosting your rankings by gaining backlinks is definitely the way to go.

With a some effort and patience you're sure to find a winning combination that will help you get the bigger affiliate checks you deserve.

4 Quick Tips for Convincing Partners to Promote You

One of the skills that can make you the most money online is networking, which is nothing more than building relationships with other successful marketers so that you both profit.

Networking successfully with jv partners can really boost your Internet Marketing business. The most successful marketers do so smartly; they use each other as leverage to get where they are today. Follow their lead and you'll see why.

Here are a few quick tips to help you get started.

Quick Tip #1: Develop a USP for Your Request

Most people in business have heard the advice that you're supposed to have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your customers, but a USP also helps when you are seeking joint venture partners. The most sought-after JV partners receive requests on a daily basis. You'll want to strategize to stand out from all these others who are vying for their attention.

The best way to accomplish this is to think about how your offer is different from the other offers out there. What are you going to offer to that person's customers that no one has before? Make sure that you have truly thought this out before making contact.

Quick Tip #2: Pay Attention to the Marketer

Many marketers just focus on sending many JV requests out hoping that someone, anyone, will say yes.  The problem is that the most seasoned marketers can spot this a mile away. If you're asking someone to promote to their list, you'll get better results if you do some research on the marketer you are sending that request to. Whatever you do, don't send a group mailing or a form letter to the JV partners that you're really hoping to “wow”. It's a  turnoff.

Take a look at the websites they run and opt in for their newsletter. What kinds of offers do they normally promote? Knowing this key fact is important so you can determine if your offer may be something that would interest their target market. If not, save their contact info for another date.

Quick Tip #3: Compose the Proper Request

Now that you made the decision who to send your JV requests to, it is time to craft and compose what you are going to say in your request.

Make sure you get to the point. More often than not these marketers are extremely busy and time is money. Eliminate fluff and flowery language. Be cordial, but stick to the task at hand. You will also want to make sure to read and reread your email before sending. Even if you have had dealings with this particular marketer before, keep your letter at a professional tone.

Quick Tip #4: Plan Ahead

If you're looking for JV partners for a launch, the timing can make things a bit more difficult.

More than likely you have spent a lot of time preparing your offer and getting it ready to go. It can be very stressful to attempt to get those last minute details together in time for your launch. Inquiring about potential JV partners should not be one of the last minute details. 

Be sure to respect the schedules of your potential partners. Many of them plan their promotions out months in advance. So, giving them advanced notice will help you get a much better response. If your product is close to being ready but not yet completed, you still may want to put out JV requests. They may request that you contact them again at a later date, but at least you have made the first connection with them.

Bear in mind that you might be faced with rejection even if you do everything "right." Sometimes marketers are too busy, don't promote others' products very often, or have another reason why they can't promote you. Don’t let this discourage you; keep searching and you'll find the right JV partner to assist you on your journey to internet marketing success.

Why I Love Affiliate Marketing - Part 5

NOTE:  The following is a guest post from one of my favorite internet marketing mentors, Jimmy D. Brown of "Affiliatenaire".

The word "overhead" is not a favorite among those who run businesses of any kind.  Nobody likes the expenses of operating a business.  And nobody really talks about them much when it comes to promoting all of the "money-making" products and services online.

But, don't kid yourself, there's a lot of overhead.

That brings me to the fifth reason why I love affiliate marketing...

  ** You don't need a big budget to make it work **

Do you have any idea how much money is spent running an internet business? There are monthly fees for...

• Autoresponders
• Hosting
• Management
• Advertising
• Scripts
• Much more

There are regular fees for...

• Licensing
• Outsourcing
• Support
• Customer Service
• Maintenance
• Development
• Recruting
• Much more

 

It's not uncommon to spend tens of thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of dollars in operational costs -- which is fine if you've been in business a while and are making the bucks. However, if you're a newcomer, it can be taxing on your budget!

     SIDEBAR:  I paid one girl over $30,000 last year
     just to oversee one small part of my business.
     No one talks much about it, but there ARE a lot
     of expenses involved before you get to the
     "bottom line" of profit.

BUT, with affiliate marketing, you don't need a big  budget to make it work! You can simply use a variety of free and low-cost marketing methods to generate clicks to your affiliate link.

That's why I love affiliate marketing.

You don't need a big budget to make it work.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of "Affiliatenaire", which teaches you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in only 1-3 hours each week.  Visit Affiliatenaire to discover how you can get cash in the bank without a website, experience, or even an idea!

Why I Love Affiliate Marketing - Part 4

NOTE:  The following is a guest post from one of my favorite internet marketing mentors, Jimmy D. Brown of "Affiliatenaire".

I'm sure by now you are well aware that there are those who have reported HUGE amounts of money being made with their online businesses.  What you may not be aware of is the amount of work involved in generating those "sales" (not always net profit, mind you ... this isn't "spendable" income in a lot of cases.)

That brings me to the fourth reason why I love affiliate marketing...

  ** You don't need to manage an entire business **

While it can be quite lucrative, running an entire business with employees, inventory, partners, vendors, and other associates can be a time-sucking, frustrating ordeal.

Imagine...

• Processing refunds
• Putting out fires when partners SPAM
• Managing day-to-day operations
• Overseeing projects you've outsourced
• Recruting new affiliates
• Training everyone to help you
• Paying taxes
• Taking care of the paper trail
• Doing all of the "stuff" that business owners do.

Didn't you want to start an internet business to make more time for important things in life?

Why not make a lot of money WITHOUT making a lot of extra work for yourself?!

It can be a lot of extra work and stress. BUT, with affiliate marketing, you don't need to manage an entire business! You are simply responsible for promoting your affiliate link... someone else handles all the rest.

That's why I love affiliate marketing.

You don't need to manage an entire business.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of "Affiliatenaire", which teaches you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in only 1-3 hours each week.  Visit Affiliatenaire to discover how you can get cash in the bank without a website, experience, or even an idea!

Why I Love Affiliate Marketing - Part 3

NOTE:  The following is a guest post from one of my favorite internet marketing mentors, Jimmy D. Brown of "Affiliatenaire".

Some people have the ability to persuade others and talk them into just about anything.  Especially when it comes to influencing their buying decisions.  They know how to push the right hot buttons, say things the right way and generally get consumers into an emotional frenzy to the point they are ready to click an order button.

There are two key words in that paragraph that really need to stand out in your mind:  "some people".

Not everyone has this ability.  In fact, only a few do.

That brings me to the third reason why I love affiliate marketing...

 ** You don't need to write a world class salesletter**

Have you ever tried to write a salesletter? There's a reason why professional copywriters charge up to $10,000 (and sometimes even more) for a SINGLE salesletter. It takes a lot of experience and skill to write a top-gun salesletter, which is why most people have a hard time convincing people to buy if they do create their own products and website.

They simply don't have the right salesletter in place to make it all work. Without good copy, it really doesn't matter how spectacular the offer is, you're simply not going to get many sales.

     SIDEBAR:  The average conversion rate of site visitors
     who become buyers is reportedly less than 2%.  That
     means 98 out of every 100 do NOT buy.  That's why
     sales are so incredibly bad for a poor site ... you
     *might* get 2 sales out of every 300-400 visitors.

BUT, with affiliate marketing, you don't need to write a salesletter! You simply direct people to someone else's high-octane salesletter for THEM to convert your leads into commissionable sales.

That's why I love affiliate marketing.

You don't need to write a world class salesletter.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of "Affiliatenaire", which teaches you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in only 1-3 hours each week.  Visit Affiliatenaire to discover how you can get cash in the bank without a website, experience, or even an idea!

Why I Love Affiliate Marketing - Part 2

NOTE:  The following is a guest post from one of my favorite internet marketing mentors, Jimmy D. Brown of "Affiliatenaire".

Pop quiz time.  What does "HTML" stand for?  Don't know that one?  How about this - what does "FTP" stand for? OK, one more chance.  Do you know how to work with either?

That brings me to the second reason why I love affiliate marketing...

      ** You don't need to build a website **

What scares people more than creating a product is building a website!  

• What in the world is HTML?  Or FTP?
• How much does the software cost?  And hosting?
• How do I upload files?
• Why isn't it formatted correctly?
• Why don't my graphics look like the ones the pros have?

If you are a complete beginner, it can be very difficult (even using templates) to get an attractive website in place. And hiring a professional to do it fo ryou is out of the budget for most people.

But, with affiliate marketing, you don't need to build a website.  You simply send visitors to someone else's
professionally designed site through your affiliate link.

     SIDEBAR:  Just in case you're interested, HTML stands
     for "hypertext markup language" and is the coding
     used to build webpages.  FTP stands for "file transfer
     protocol" and is the process used for moving files
     from your computer to a website, or vice versa.

Really, in a manner of looking at it, you get to take advantage of the time and money invested by someone else to develop the site.  Think about it:  when you promote an affiliate link, it reflects firstly upon YOU.  You are the one who is advertising the link, recommending the product, sending people who have interacted with YOU to the website.

The professional site of someone else really represents you as the promoter, in the eye of those who have clicked through your link.

You get the benefits without the bother.

That's why I love affiliate marketing.

You don't need to build a website.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of "Affiliatenaire", which teaches you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in only 1-3 hours each week.  Visit Affiliatenaire to discover how you can get cash in the bank without a website, experience, or even an idea!

.........................

Why I Love Affiliate Marketing - Part 1

NOTE:  The following is a guest post from one of my favorite internet marketing mentors, Jimmy D. Brown of "Affiliatenaire".

Do you find yourself "starting" to create your own product to sell online, but never "finishing" it? 

One of the things I love about affiliate marketing is --

    ** You don't need to create your own products **

Many people find the idea of creating their own products to be an overwhelming and even paralyzing task.

• I don't have any good ideas!
• I'm not a writer!
• There's too much competition!
• I don't know how to set everything up!
• I can't figure out where to start!
• It's too hard!

These are just a few of the valid reasons many people give when it comes to not creating their own products to sell. I'm sure with a few minutes of brainstorming, we could come up with a list of many more.

With affiliate marketing, you don't need your own products. You simply promote someone else's already proven successful offer for a commission.

And, truth be told, even if you ARE a writer and you DO have lots of ideas and you CAN figure it all out...

  ** Nobody wants to create new products all the time **

As good as you may be, you don't know everything!  Why try to create a product on every topic imaginable in your  market when you can earn just as much money by simply promoting someone else's really good offer as one of your profit streams?

That's why I love affiliate marketing.

You don't need to create your own products.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of "Affiliatenaire", which teaches you how to create big-time affiliate commission checks in only 1-3 hours each week.  Visit Affiliatenaire to discover how you can get cash in the bank without a website, experience, or even an idea! 

Finding Affiliate Partners

You can always position your product in third party marketplaces like ClickBank and PayDotCom. They’re the most well-known markets for selling your products, but you also want to secure joint ventures directly with marketers who promote your niche topic, not wait for them to find your item on ClickBank.

Start by listing as many sites as you can where there’s strong interest in your niche topic.  That includes discussion forums, chat groups, membership sites, and Google groups. Don’t forget the social networking sites like Squidoo, Facebook and MySpace just to name a few very popular sites.

Listen to the social conversation going on. Ask a relevant questions and pay attention to the answers. Do you get comments and ideas or recommendations for an information product and website with more details?

From that information, go to the suggested sites. These are potential affiliate partners. Even if you don’t see any affiliate products on their sites, contact them and propose an affiliation.  It may be that the site owner is so focused on his or her niche that product affiliation wasn’t even considered.

Or they may not know how this can work to their advantage for new business. You never know until you ask.     When you discover another start-up site related to your niche, propose an affiliate JV opportunity. 

They may not have much traffic in the beginning, but you’ll grow with them. You can also propose a shared email campaign - agree to recommend their site to your list if they do the same for you with their list.

Now, here’s one source that new marketers tend to avoid: highly successful sites. As soon as you see the big site with powerful affiliate partners, don’t think there’s no room for you.  An established site has a large following and repeat visitors and the owner is always looking for ways to provide value and insight to his or her community. You can offer a special bonus or discount for the site owner. 

Identify the top 5 most influential people in your niche and study their websites.  Look at their products and promotion methods. After a thorough analysis, contact their centers of influence and propose your product as an affiliate.

Send your product for a review. Most new Internet marketers avoid the big guys thinking that people so well established in the niche wouldn’t bother with a newcomer.  You might be surprised at the result of simply asking.

Some of the biggest names in Internet marketing are great people who believe strongly in the “pay it forward” philosophy. Don’t hype yourself, tell it straight and ask for an opportunity. When you get the open door, you need to present your best quality product with excellent customer service so they feel comfortable sending their traffic to your site.