Internet Marketing

by Maranda Mann

There are many advantages to becoming an affiliate for a company and earning a commission for sales. One of the obvious ones is you don’t have to create your own product! Here is how the affiliate business works:

You first sign up with with a company after a little investigating to make sure they have good products, their commissions are good, and they are honest and will actually pay you when the sell is complete. After you find a good company to work with and sign up, you will be given a affiliate link. This is how the company identifies you and makes sure you get paid for your referrals. Then you need to get people to click on this link and they will get redirected to the company’s website. If the customer buys a product, you get paid a commission. If the customer decides to come back later and buy, don’t worry! The websites software will keep track of them and you will get paid even if they come back moths later. Commission is between 1 and 100%, and its pretty common to get 50%. If you plan to only work affiliate programs some of the time, or make it your main focus, you need to have your own website! Now matter what your selling on the Internet you need to be capturing the emails of your customers. That way you can send them future promotional emails to sell the affiliate products. This list can be a great asset to you that you can only get if you have your own website.

Pros of becoming an affiliate:

You can start making money right away! Because the company takes care of everything for you but the marketing, you can put all your focus on making sales. As soon as you can get customers to their site, you are making money.

You can make more money per sale than they do. Good affiliate programs can pay 50%. This is actually a pretty good deal for you because other business expenses come out of their profits so you end up making more money from the sale then they do! Alot of the time a good company will provide you with all the marketing materials you need including pre-written emails, reports, ads, etc.

The Cons of become an affiliate

You are competing with other affiliates for sales. Other people out there are doing the same thing you are! You need to watch out for dishonest companies, or you could end up wasting a lot of time and money.

You can have your own affiliates so there is no way to increase the value of your efforts like you could if you were selling your own product.

Becoming an affiliate can also be a great way to break into a market before releasing your own product.It is also a great way to make some money if you already have a large email mailing list.

If you are looking for an unlimited income, you may want to consider developing your own product!

Best Wishes! Maranda Mann

Want to learn how to make a website, create your own product, and tons more absolutely FREE?

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About the Author:
Maranda Mann is relatively new to the Interent marketing world, but is an up and coming star in Internet marketing. She is working on a website, which will soon be released.

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by Talbert Williams

Those of you who popped your heads in the door last week are now thoroughly convinced that targeted email is the ticket to e-tailer bliss.

But how do you write email that cuts cleanly through the mumbo jumbo of mass marketing and enhances customer relations, while also boosting sales? Follow these top 10 tips to writing email that sells, and watch your response rates grow faster than a Paul Shaffer retort.

10. Be yourself. Remember the old adage “Don’t talk to strangers.” People live by those words. Introduce yourself, and your company, right away. Existing customers will greet you like an old friend, while potential shoppers won’t be forced to wonder if you are a shady scam artist.

9. Be clear and concise. What exactly are you offering, anyway? A sale on neon pink XXL gloves? Buy one Beanie Baby get the second at half-price? Free Ginsu knife in exchange for completing a marketing survey? Guessing games aren’t much fun and rarely lead to a sale. State your offer up front and without (too much) hype.

8. Be available. Can I get it express mail? What’s your return policy? Even when you address such questions up-front in your offer, these questions and others are bound to be asked. Let your customer know someone is minding the shop. Make it clear how and where to get more information.

7. Be a clock watcher. Is this an ACT NOW situation or is the offer good indefinitely? Include this information in your pitch. It is tempting to call for immediate action. However, if you go that route, be certain you don’t make the same offer twice. Remember, no one believed the e-tailer who cried wolf.

6. Be show AND substance. A little chic goes a long way toward keeping your customers interested. And lively writing never goes out of style. However, a good deal and flawless customer service is certain to linger longer than even the most eloquent turn of phrase.

5. Pass Go. Collect $200. The customer is sold on your offer. Now don’t mess up the actual sale by forcing Bob Buyer to hunt down details on how to give up his hard-earned cash. List purchase price and payment terms, plus delivery method and time, in an obvious location and in easy-to-understand terms.

4. Be an editor. You’ve heard it before: Your email reflects upon you. Your customer needs to know he is buying from the best. Proofread. Break up run-on sentences. Use simple language. Catchy phrases don’t make up for sloppy punctuation and typos. And if you can’t write, hire someone who can.

3. Keep it clean. I’m not talking language here. But unless you are marketing to an exclusively adult audience, I’d stick to puritan wording. Avoid the temptation to be too sophisticated in your design. Many systems still won’t support fancy formatting. Plus, most of it gets lost on the trip through the network anyway. Keep it easy on the eye with lots of line breaks and white space.

2. Get to the point. According to Jupiter Communications research, only 15 percent of web users read all email messages in their entirety. More than half (51.2 percent) read the first few sentences and then decide whether or not to continue. Forcing your customer to wade through paragraphs of superfluous information is the quickest route to the delete key and to the death of a sale.

And the number one way to write e-mail that sells (drum roll, please):

1. Target your message to the right audience. Never forget what you are selling and to whom you are selling it. Remember: Even the most well-crafted pitch is worthless if it’s delivered to someone who doesn’t want it.

Copyright 2001 LeadsandTraffic.com

About the Author:
Talbert Williams offers debt consolidation, debt reduction, credit card debt referrals and advice. For more information, articles, news, tools and valuable resources on debt solutions, visit this site: http://www.1debtfreedom.com

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by Jim Edwards

Copyright 2006 Jim Edwards

I frequently get similar questions from viewers and subscribers all over the world.

They often ask me “Jim, what do you think of So-and-So’s product?” or “How does So-and-So’s product compare to your product?” or “Should I buy So-and-So’s product?”

Typically these questions are about physical products, software or information products.

People ask for my opinion not only because I write a newspaper column, but also because I’ve produced and sold tens-of-thousands of products to people all around the world for the past nine years.

Bottom line: people want a clear, concise “yardstick” against which to measure any online purchase so they never feel ripped off.

Let me say right up front that I believe 100% in free-market competition and that having multiple products and perspectives on the same topic ultimately improves any marketplace for everyone.

I thank the Firefox browser and Linux operating system for getting Microsoft off its gigantic backside and addressing some serious issues.

But, with so many new products coming to market online, everyone must operate with a simple, effective criteria for evaluating any offer, especially in the business arena.

Let me offer you the exact same 2-part benchmark I use to evaluate any business offering that crosses my desktop.

This will help you avoid getting caught up in the “hysteria” of the moment and buying on impulse, rather than on careful thought.

Part #1 – I ask myself this question: Do I really need this in my business or is this just something “new” for the sake of something new?

If I realize that I’m just getting sucked into the “try something new” mentality, I put the purchase on hold for 48 hours to “cool off.”

If I honestly decide I need the product, then I move on to part 2.

Par #2 – I ask myself this question: Has the person selling me this software, product or course actually DONE (more than once) what they are selling me “how to” do – and can they prove it?

If someone sells a piece of software, I want to know how much time it saved, how much money it saved, how much effort it helped avoid, and how much money was made as a result of using it – and I want proof!

Let me simply repeat the mantra of the classic Wendy’s commercial from the 1980’s: “Where’s the beef?”

If someone tries to sell you a piece of software that claims to get 10,000 visitors to your site, ask to see screen shots of their server logs and sales in their merchant account.

If someone tries to sell you a course on creating website video, ask how many money-making videos they’ve put online over the years (ask for specific URLs) and run like heck if their personal website doesn’t have the first video on it (or if they just put one up this week)!

You’ll never go wrong if, before you buy anything online, you demand concrete, demonstrable proof that lives up to the claims made by the person or company selling it.

In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, “Trust but verify!”

About the Author:
“Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites… Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!” Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com

By the way, I have the Mini Site Creator course you see linked above. I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. You get far more than you pay for. It’s an education combined with “job skills” training.

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by Fred Farah

Table Of Contents

Marketing Strategies

Relations with your Prospects and Customers

Web Site Tips

Advertising and Newsletters

——————————————————

Marketing Strategies

1. Tell people the point or focus of your web site. Explain to them what things they can do or which goals they can accomplish while visiting your site. For example, you could say, “Read 250 Free Net Marketing Tips So You Can Increase Your Sales! Plus Check Our Wide Selection Of Online Marketing E-books!”

2. Educate yourself with new strategies to increase your sales. You could take classes, subscribe to e-zines and magazines, read books or e-books, etc. Internet business and technology move at lightning speed. You need to keep up so you don’t get left behind.

3. End your slow sales periods by planning ahead. Plan to add extra bonuses, hold a sale or package your product with other products. For example, you could say, “Buy one, get one free!” Another example would be, “Buy over $20 worth of products and get 5 free bonuses!”

4. Make more commissions from the affiliate programs you join by giving your own endorsements for the products. They usually pull more sales than ads. For example, you could say, “This e-book sent chills up my spine! I highly recommend buying it!” Another example, “All I have to say is, ‘Wow! It’s that good!’”

5. Take advantage of popular fads. If something is popular at the current time, put up a web site about it. Just promote your main site on the fad web site. You could also send off a quick article or press release about it to get free publicity. You could also do this with popular search engine keywords and phrases.

6. Increase the perceived value of your free things or bonuses by including the retail dollar amount the freebies would normally sell for. For example, you could say, “Bonus 1# Marketing Tips Newsletter (a value of $120).” Another example, “Get 7 Bonuses With A Retail Value Of $345! That more than pays for your purchase!”

7. Create your own web ring. You will gain highly targeted traffic to your web site and others will link to your site because they’ll want to join the ring. For example, if you were selling products to net marketers, you would want to start an online marketing web ring. You would then draw your target audience.

8. Record all your new promotional ideas, good or bad, into an ‘ideas’ journal. Sometimes you can combine ideas to create new ones to increase your sales. You never know when you, or someone you know, needs a new, profitable idea. Plus you could also sell your ideas to other business owners.

9. Buy advertising space on discussion board web sites. They are usually arranged by subject; that makes them highly targeted. For example, if you are selling gardening tools, you would want to advertise on gardening, farm, tool and lawn-related discussion boards.

10. If your online business has enough global potential, thenconvert your web site and free e-mail newsletter into different languages. This will increase your overall target market. You just won’t be targeting just one language, you’ll be targeting most of the major ones. Plus it wouldn’t hurt to learn a few different languages for this new global economy.

Relations with your Prospects and Customers

11. Make your visitors feel comfortable at your web site. Give them your main business address. Your visitors may not trust you if you’re using a P.O. Box. If you want to make them feel really comfortable, give them your business, home and cell phone number. Then they will know they can get hold of you if they need help.

12. Include a FAQ on your web site or via e-mail on an autoresponder. This will give your customers extra convenience without having to contact you. Of course there are some questions you can’t answer by using Frequently Asked Questions. You will get questions that you never thought of, but you can just keep adding them to your list.

13. Allow people who do not have time to explore your site to download portions of your web site in e-book format. This will allow them time to view it offline. Just compile it like you would a normal e-book. You could also turn it into a viral marketing tool by allowing people to give it away to others for free.

14. Upsell to all your customers. You could sell add-on products, deluxe products, extra parts, related products, add-on services, etc. You could offer them add-on products before or after they reach your order page. Just make sure the upsell products are compatible with the main product you’re selling.

15. Offer your customers back-end products. It is easier to sell to existing customers. If you do not have a back-end product, join an affiliate program. You could offer that product as a back-end offer. Just make sure it’s the right product for your target audience.

16. Increase the perceived value of your product. You could offer an affiliate program, give away free bonuses or use famous endorsements on your ad. Another way is to offer a sample or trial of your product or service. If people like it or it works, that will increase the perceived value because it gives them 100% personal proof.

17. Create a bond with your visitors by bringing up likes or dislikes you have in common with them in your ad copy. Just make sure you do your research. For example, you could say, “I hate it when you have to wait in line for a long time at the drive-through.” Another example, “I really like it when I have extra money to spend.”

18. Remember your customers are always right, even if they are not. They are the lifeblood of your business. Resolve all conflicts quickly and painlessly. There are many businesses which are solely profitable from repeat business. You don’t want to always have to rely on converting prospects into customers.

19. Remind your visitors to promote your web site. Use phrases like: “Refer Our Web Site To A Friend” or “Link To Our Web Site”. Offer them incentives for referrals. You could give them free e-books, reports, software and other informational products. You could also offer them discounts on other products you sell.

Website Tips

20. Make your testimonials more powerful. You can have people include pictures, handwritten signatures and normal net contact information with each testimonial. Other ideas would be to have people produce an online audio sound bite or video clip of themselves, home or cell phone numbers, proof of their credibility or authority, etc.

21. Speed up your Internet access. You can get your online business tasks done faster, which will help you stay ahead of your competition. It can speed up your research, online marketing tools, Internet utilities, software downloads, etc.

22. Tell people the point or focus of your web site. Explain to them what things they can do or which goals they can accomplish while visiting your site. For example, you could say, “Read 250 Free Net Marketing Tips So You Can Increase Your Sales! Plus Check Our Wide Selection Of Online Marketing E-books!”

23. Team up with your weaker competitors to beat your stronger ones. You can create win/win joint venture and cross-promotion deals with them. You could share marketing and advertising costs, create new products and services, share skills and strategies, trade leads, etc.

24. Design your site so it will be worth bookmarking. Your visitors will bookmark your web site if it’s full of free, original content like articles, e-books, etc. You could survey your target audience to see which web sites or what type of sites they visit a lot. Then you could place those links all in one section of your web site. You could advertise it as a start page.

Advertising and Newsletters

25. Start a free e-mail newsletter to create your own opt-in list. Create a title that grabs the reader’s attention. Submit it to free e-zine directories on the Internet. Advertise it on your web site. Offer a freebie or other incentive for people to subscribe. Give your readers mostly original and quality content.

26. Use permission marketing to increase your sales. You simply ask people to sign up to your e-mailing list. They’ll already be interested in your messages or ads because they’ve visited your related web site. You could also offer them incentives for signing up like freebies, discounts, expertise, content, etc.

27. Place your ad in targeted e-zines. Ask the owner if you could place your ad in a higher position in exchange for a percentage of the ad’s profits. You could also negotiate a lower ad price in exchange for you giving them affiliate commissions or an ad in your e-zine.

28. Make your classified ads stand out in a crowd. Use all capital letters in the headline, divide letters with extra spaces, add in text symbols, etc. For example, you could write, “WIN a VACATION to Las Vegas!” Another example would be, “Win A ($) Trip To Las Vegas!”

29. Use a lot of headlines and sub-headlines on your web site. This will hold people’s attention and keep them at your web site longer. Sometimes people don’t have time to read a whole sales letter. This’ll allow you to sell to people who are skimmers. Plus it will get the reader’s full attention at the same time.

Fred Farah
copyright 2005

About the Author:
Fred Farah – Best Affiliate Products for Maximum Profits
All you need to know about affiliate marketing starts right here at the: Affiliate Marketing Information Center.

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There is so much hype with the current boom in affiliate marketing. As an internet marketer you are known as a referrer. The current method of payment that you can make is via exit traffic – even if nobody buys anything from example a program like GOOGLE ad sense. If you have your own product you can sell it for a profit or find others and pay them in a form of a commission. Thirdly some companies pay for leads like insurance quotes where they build an email list of clients. There are some ways you can launch yourself to stardom.

Firstly participate in companies that have high conversion ratios. To avoid the disappointment contact the affiliate manager or owner of the website and ask them what actual products convert. Why would you promote anything that does not convert into sales- save yourself the time and money there. Secondly ask them for a keyword report or list of items that are working for there company. Without it how can you help each other improve each others bottom line. Thirdly relationship build with that company. Think about it, if they know who you are, they might be able to assist you better.

To be a super affiliate you need to list build. Find prospects who are looking for the product or service that you want. An email list of 1000 consumers can turn to quiet a few sales or leads. Often you can create an e-book or give something away for free. Thus you are building your database of potential customers. Also provide them with value. For example you might have a piece of material or software that helps them with a learning curve. The results can come with the proper knowledge.

About the Author:
Providing affiliate marketers with a web builder, where you can learn how to build top ranking sites passive income sites to give you more time freedom.

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