How You Can Overcome Affiliate Marketing Failure Starting Right Now!
By Liz Tomey
Affiliate marketing is a field that has become more and more attractive to people. It is a wonderful way to make money equivalent to a full-time job at home via the internet. It is beneficial to both merchants and marketers alike. However, there are strategies that should be employed to be successful. Unfortunately, too many jump in without knowing just what can cause them to fail.
The first problem many people run into is advertising. Many marketers believe that affiliate programs will help them to “get rich quick” and they fail to put in the effort required to succeed. Advertising, however, is the most important thing you can do in any business. You cannot rely on luck alone. Because of the competition in affiliate marketing, it is imperative that sites be appealing and informative to keep a visitor’s attention, eventually making the sale.
Another reason many people fail at affiliate marketing is a lack of preparation. Research is involved as the affiliate must be knowledgeable about the product he is trying to sell. It helps to be interested in the products you are trying to sell. This interest will help keep you focused during slower periods. It will also make it easier for you to spend the time on learning all you can about the product and keeping updated on changes related to the product and/or industry. Remember that you will be providing information to potential customers and must be as knowledgeable as possible.
Along with lack of preparation when it comes to product knowledge, many people fail to prepare for their website. Your website is the core of your affiliate marketing business. You need to plan the layout, domain, content, and ads that will be included. Remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Visitors may leave your site without even looking at your products if you do not have an attractive homepage. Also keep in mind that visitors are looking for information. Provide interesting, relevant content that includes plenty of keywords to help your search results. Finally, keep in mind that you are going to have to prepare to continually update your site to keep visitors coming back again and again.
Above everything else, do not close yourself to more learning. There is always something to learn in affiliate marketing. Whether you are studying up on techniques to increase visitor hits or ways to increase the attractiveness of your site, or simply increase your product knowledge, you are making an investment in yourself and your future. Those who are able to maintain success for the long haul are those who are willing to put in that time and energy.
Whatever happens, do not give up. It is not easy to find quick success with little work. This is no “get rich quick” plan. Keep trying and consider selecting a different program if the one you first doesn’t work for you. There’s no shame in that. Remember, with effort and perseverance, you are on your way to success!
Liz Tomey runs an affiliate marketing website that focuses on educating people about the different ways of making money through affiliate marketing.You can enjoy reading tips, tricks, and other information about affiliate marketing and finding the best http://www.TheAffiliateMarketingBlog.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Tomey
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The Secrets To Using Multiple Marketing Strategies For Multiple Streams Of Income!
By Liz Tomey
When most people start looking for a way to make money online, they settle on promoting just one product or service. By doing this, they are committing financial suicide. You should never put all your eggs in one basket when looking for a way to make money online.
Let’s take a fictitious example of what could happen if you do this. We’ll call this example, the “Jane Example”.
Jane is new to the world of online marketing. She’s read a lot of ebook, articles, and other resources about all the ways she can make money online. All Jane wants to do is replace her current income of $2000 a month with an income of $2000 a month that she make totally from the Internet.
She’s decided that she wants to promote a product as an affiliate for an online website selling an ebook on dog training, and she’ll be promoting this ebook via an easy to setup blog.
After Jane gets her blog all setup and begins promoting this product she sees that she is doing well with this product, and as a few months pass by, Jane is making around $2000 a month. For several months Jane is able to consistently make an average of $2000 a month, and can now quit her job because she has successfully replaced the income from her “real job”.
All sounds great for Jane, right? Well now a couple of more months have gone by and Jane is enjoying her online income and not having to work at her old “real job”. While checking her email one day, Jane gets an email from the website selling the dog training ebook telling her that the site will be closing, and that all affiliates need to remove their affiliates links because they will no longer work. Jane just lost her $2000 a month income, and since she quit her “real job”, she has no income at all now.
Jane committed financial suicide by promoting one product. She had only one strategy to make money online, and now it has all been taken away from here.
What is Jane to do?
Jane has learned her lesson and has decided to do things a little big different, so that she can not only get her $2000 a month income back, but not have to worry about it all being taken away from her in the future. Jane’s new plan is to pick 3 different products she can promote from 3 different blogs. While she’s getting her blogs setup, and waiting for the traffic to start coming in, Jane also decides to create some content sites that she can earn money through Google Adsense with.
A few months later, Jane is now making about $5000 a month from her 3 blogs promoting the 3 products and a couple of content sites that she’s making money through Google Adsense with. Jane is making even more money than before by adding more strategies to her plan, and if she loses one of them, she’ll still have money coming in while she replaces the lost one with a new one.
So, what have we learned from the “Jane Example”?
In order to survive online, you have to put multiple marketing strategies into place that will bring you in multiple sources of income. If you only have one stream of income, it’s too easy to lose it and have no income at all coming in.
Maybe you want to build content sites and make money with Google Adsense. There is one marketing strategy.
Maybe you want to promote products as an affiliate marketer. There is another marketing strategy.
Maybe you want to provide a service. There is another marketing strategy.
Maybe you want to sell your own ebooks. There is another marketing strategy.
The list could go on and on, but you get the idea here. The more marketing strategies you have, the more money you will make and the less likely you will be to ever lose your entire income. Don’t become a “Jane Example”. Site down today, and create a plan to secure your online income by implementing multiple marketing strategies.
Liz Tomey is a successful Internet marketer who has produced several amazing products about creating an income online. If you’d like to get started with an internet marketing strategy, just visit http://www.UndergroundMarketingStrategy.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Tomey
10 Web Site Design And Writing No-No’s
By Larry Dotson
1. Don’t load your web site with a lot of high tech clutter. Your visitors may miss your whole sales message.
2. Don’t use unnecessary words or phrases on your site. You only have so much time to get your visitor’s attention and interest; make ever word count.
3. Don’t make the mistake that everyone will totally understand your web site message. Use descriptive words and examples to get your point across.
4. Don’t write your strongest point or benefit only once. You should repeat it at least 3 times because some people may miss it.
5. Don’t push all your words together on your web site. People like to skim; use plenty of headings and sub headings.
6. Don’t use site content your target audience isn’t interested in. If people are coming to your site to find info about fishing don’t include soccer content.
7. Don’t use 50 different content formats all over your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text colors, etc.
8. Don’t use words your web site visitors might not understand. People are not going to stop and look in a dictionary, they will just go to another site.
9. Don’t let selling words and phrases go unnoticed. Highlight important words and phrases with color, bolding, italics, underlining, etc.
10. Don’t forget to use words that create emotion. All people have emotions, people will have more interest when they are emotionally attached.
About The Author
Over 40,000 Free eBooks & Web Books when you visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com As a bonus, Bob Osgoodby publishes the free weekly “Your Business” Newsletter - visit his web site to subscribe and place a FREE Ad! http://adv-marketing.com/business
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_Dotson
Narrow Your Focus to Broaden Your Sales
By Michel Fortin
In the competitive marketplace of the new millennium,
the demand for specialized products or services will
increase. If your site sells everything or to everyone,
chances are that your audience will not perceive any
greater value in shopping from you than anyone else.
The more generic you become, the greater your
competition will be, since you’ve placed your offering
in the same ring as the Wal-Marts, Targets and eBays of
the world.
In other words, cast a wider net, and the likelihood
that more competitors who are trying to go after the
same “fish” will occupy the same marketspace.
Unless you are trying to be another Wal-Mart, there’s
no use competing with them. The sheer size of such
Goliaths gives them a sizeable competitive advantage —
purchasing power.
That is, they can buy their stock at considerable bulk
discounts, giving them the low price advantage with
which most small businesses cannot compete.
Keep in mind that price is never an issue — what’s
important is the value behind the price.
Price is an arbitrary figure that merely represents the
value of an offering. Here’s an example: you walk to
your local home furnishings store. You ask the sales
clerk, “How much for that washer?” to which he
responds, “$600.” “Wow! That’s a lot of money,” you
exclaim. “The price is way too high for me. I just
cannot afford that.”
This is a typical knee-jerk response.
Moments later, you walk by a car dealership and notice
that favorite new car you’ve been itching to buy for
the last month and a half. You walk in. “It’s $25,000,”
says the salesperson. “Wow! That’s great!”
You drive it off the lot that same day.
If you could not afford the $600 washer, why could you
afford the $25,000 car? So, price is never an issue. In
the case of the car, the perceived value matched or
surpassed the price, which wasn’t the case with the
washer — i.e., the washer was too pricey based on its
perceived value.
Therefore, if your value is perceived as equal to that
of others, naturally the cheapest alternative will win.
Price is only a metric — a currency to which most
people can relate.
Take the weather, for example. When you meet someone
for the first time, the weather will likely be a topic
of discussion. In terms of degrees or temperature, the
weather is the same for everyone. But “hot” and “cold,”
however, are different.
Similarly, price is only used when there’s nothing to
which one can compare your value. (Of course, price is
not the only metric, but it is the most common one.
Most people easily understand units of dollars rather
than value. Value is more subjective and personal. It
cannot be measured.)
Therefore, if you’re too similar to your competition,
price will always then be (or become) an issue.
However, the more unique you are, the less competition
you will have. And the less competition you will have,
the less substitutable you are (or your product is).
And the less substitutable you are, the less elastic
the demand for your product will be (i.e., the less
important price becomes, in this case).
So, if you try to copy your competition, or trying to
promote your offering as one that’s better than your
competition, like it or not you’re only reminding
people of that which you are better: your competition!
It’s better to be different than it is to be better.
Being all things to all people will likely help you to
stumble onto some people who will visit your site and
respond to your offer — it’s the law of averages.
Increase your hits and you will increase your sales.
But that’s not the problem. The problem, with such an
approach, is the fact that you must generate a large
quantity of hits in order to produce a certain result.
It is absolutely true that, if you want a lot of hits,
you want your site (or access to it) to be in front of
as many eyeballs as possible. But what about quality?
Would it matter if your site generates an incredible
quantity of uninterested visitors that will simply
never buy from you?
Would you prefer less than 1% of 10,000 visitors? Or
10% of 500?
For those who wish to find more effective and cost-
efficient ways of selling online, then attracting a
higher quality stream of website visitors — that is,
attracting interested, pre-qualified visitors that are
genuinely interested in the website’s offer and ready
to buy — is definitely a better alternative.
The more general or broad you are, the more you will
need to paint your website or content with broad
brushstrokes in order to appeal to everyone. In the
end, the traffic you do generate will be just as
general or broad.
Even if your product is a perfect fit for some
visitors, it will only be a fit for a small percentage.
Additionally, the broad nature of your offer and the
image you project will likely convey that your value is
equal to that of others and that there’s no added value
in buying from you than in buying from others.
This is when price becomes the metric with which people
will measure your value.
Additionally, out of the small handful of qualified
prospects that hopefully hit your site, a large number
of them — if not all of them — will likely leave due to
your apparent lack of understanding of their specific
needs, goals and concerns. In short, the more general
you are, the more you are compared to others and
therefore the more you dilute your value.
In other words, the more general you are, the less
value you have.
However, the sales you generate will increase
dramatically if your site is narrowly centered on a
specific theme, product, audience or outcome. And niche
marketing has an added benefit: the need to produce a
sufficient quantity of visitors to produce similar
results will lessen considerably.
Offline, being everything to everyone is understandable
to a certain degree since, geographically, a niche will
likely be small. Online, however, niche marketing can
work since a market will expand, even if it is a small
niche.
But it’s a double-edged sword.
Since the web increases your target market, it also
increases the competition as a byproduct. Again, cast a
wider net, and the likelihood that your net will fall
into someone else’s waters will be higher.
Offline, location is important. And a competitor next
door can be your biggest headache. But online,
thousands of competitors have instantly become your
neighbors.
Thus, niche marketing is even more important online
since, by narrowing your focus, you both increase your
niche AND decrease your competition!
Here’s an illustration: let’s say that your best client
is the corporate executive earning $50,000 annually or
more, and that your site receives approximately 200,000
hits per month.
If your site’s message aims for the public at large,
you have a problem. There will only be a small
percentage of that ideal market (i.e., corporate execs
earning $50,000) that will hit your site. (And an even
smaller percentage will genuinely be qualified for, and
interested in, your offering).
For the sake of example, let’s say that this percentage
is around 0.1%. That means that, out of 200,000 monthly
visitors, only 200 will fit your perfect customer
profile (and that’s a very optimistic figure).
Since your site is too general or too vague, an even
smaller percentage of those 200 executives — let’s say
about 0.5% — will be truly interested in your offer
and eventually buy. In this case, 0.5% (of 200
qualified visitors) would equal to a mere client for
an entire month.
(Following me so far?)
Looking at it in reverse it means that, if you want to
achieve at least a single sale per month from this
ideal market, your site will thus require at least
200,000 visitors on a monthly basis. So, based on the
law of averages your marketing efforts will need to
multiply exponentially in order to create a high enough
quantity of traffic to yield acceptable results.
Now, take the example of another website dedicated
exclusively to corporate executives earning over
$50,000.
However, this site receives a meager 5,000 visitors per
month — admittedly, it’s not a lot, especially when
compared to the other. But in this case, the percentage
of those 5,000 that fall into that site’s target market
will be 100% — if my math is correct, that’s a 10,000%
improvement.
Furthermore, the percentage of interested leads that
are in a much better position to buy will be far higher
by virtue of the fact that the site centers on their
specific needs, goals and concerns. The perceived value
of the site, in other words, will be greater in the
mind of those specific prospects.
To be conservative, let’s say that this percentage is
only 5%. It means that out of 5,000 visitors per month,
one can achieve 250 sales — that’s 249 more sales than
the other (and, on top of that, with only a quarter of
the traffic).
But let’s be a little more conservative for a moment.
Let’s say that only 1% buys. It’s still a remarkable
400% improvement over the other, as 1% of 5,000
visitors equals to 5 sales per month (4 more than the
other).
Of course, the above example is when all things
considered are equal — I agree that there are many
variables, here. But the spirit of this illustration is
clear: it took an equal if not lesser investment of
time, effort and money to achieve 250 sales per month
than it did to achieve a single one.
So, there is much truth to the statement that you will
get more with less. And online, where there is so much
more of nothing, less is indeed more.
Therefore, the paradox is true on the Internet: by
narrowing your focus, you will likely broaden your
chances of online success.
Although most business owners are aware of clear,
target marketing strategies to achieve results that
could be far more effective and cost-efficient, the
ideology remains: to be successful one must be
everywhere. That statement may be true to some degree
and should not be discounted…
… But it is far better to be everywhere that matters.
In other words, your message should appear in front of
those people who will likely read your ad and take
action. If you promote your online business in places
in which your target market is likely to congregate, it
is fair to admit that your immediate costs will likely
be higher.
Targeted marketing is not cheap. However, the bottom-
line is the fact that your visitor value will increase
substantially as a result. That’s more important.
In essence, it will certainly be cheaper for you to
spend the money in these targeted areas than it would
be in trying to find those ideal clients any other way.
Remember that your goal should be to attract people to
your site who have a genuine interest in what you have
to offer. Targeting as many people as possible
particularly with a message that appeals to only a
portion of them may produce a fair amount of hits. But
it will mostly consist of people who will never be your
clients anyway — you will attract the curious and not
the serious.
With all things being equivalent, if your ad appears on
a site that caters to your ideal market, you may get
less hits but you will certainly get more sales.
Nevertheless, combining targeted and niche-based
marketing strategies can make substantial improvements
over general, non-focused marketing. By lessening your
market as well as the market to which you advertise,
you will proportionately increase your sales.
Jim Banks started selling carpets online in 1998. He
admits that, at the time, he knew nothing about it.
Says Banks: “I thought that it would be a non-
competitive market (’who would want to sell carpet
online?’ I asked myself) and it would allow me to learn
about this whole new Internet thing.”
But at first, Jim floundered.
“I showed carpet on the website, sent out samples, and
used a wholesaler in Georgia to deliver the goods. I
made some money, but it was a lot of hard work. In
fact, a lot of hand-holding of customers was required,
and my time was a limiting factor in how much money I
could make.”
But then, Jim had an idea. He adds:
“I had read one or two of your articles at the time
where you stressed the importance of niche marketing.
And after thinking about that, and applying it to my
industry, I came up with the idea of selling carpets
and area rugs with children’s designs (e.g., animals,
letters, game boards, etc). Today, things are going
very well!”
(By the way, see Jim’s site at KidCarpet.com.)
In conclusion, here’s my advice: if you’re looking at
starting a business online, first find a niche and fill
it. But if you already are doing business online, then
narrow your focus to a specific outcome, audience or
product.
And finally, if you do sell everything to everyone
already, I suggest breaking your business down by
developing several sites, which sell the same things
but targeted towards different segments of your market.
Don’t be the best. Be the first. As Earl Nightingale
once said, “Don’t copy. Create!”
In other words, don’t duplicate. Differentiate.
— About the Author —
Michel Fortin is a direct
response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and
instrumental in some of the most lucrative online
businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to
ever hit the web. For more articles like this one,
please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/
and subscribe to his RSS feed.
——————————————
Blog Posts that Get Attention
By Sharon Housley
Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers…
1. Draw Attention
Use titles to attract the reader’s attention to the blog post. The title should mimic newspaper headlines and generate interest in the blog post. The title can be controversial, but not to the extent of being misleading. Use action words in the title. Bloggers will often come up with a handful of potential titles for blog posts, and then settle on the title that is best suited to a particular blog post.
2. Deliver
Having a catchy title, but following it with content that fails to deliver, will not endear you to your readers. The blog content must deliver what is promised in the blog title, or readers will unsubscribe and stop reading. When deciding on a blog title, do not stray too far from the content, as the two are intricately related — the title will attract the reader’s attention, but the content must then live up to expectations… or the blogger’s reputation will suffer.
3. Accurate
Nothing stains a blogger’s reputation like inaccurate information, so be sure that your blog posts contain accurate information. Intentionally posting inaccurate or false information will significantly damage a blogger’s reputation. But if an error unintentionally or inadvertently occurs in a blog post, be sure to quickly post a retraction or correction, along with an explanation and an apology in order to salvage your good reputation.
4. Relevant & Timely
Blog posts should always be relevant and timely. Hearing about something long after it has occurred will not captivate readers. Blog about information that is occurring in the here and now. If you are going to write something that is no longer timely, be sure to add some sort of twist, or include new or updated information to make it relevant.
5. On Topic
All blogs should have a general theme that connects all the posts on the blog. Readers will expect posts that are related, so stay true to the blog’s theme and topic.
6. Use Keywords
Use keywords liberally in blog posts. Search engines will attempt to categorize the content of a blog post and discern its general topic. By including related keywords or keyword phrases, search engines will have an easier time classifying the blog’s contents. Additionally, a blog that uses keywords will have a better chance of ranking well for those keywords or keyword phrases in organic search listings.
7. Evaluate Web Logs
Review web logs to determine what blog posts have been popular with readers. Then figure out how to provide similar or related content that might also be of interest to those readers.
8. Original
Blog posts should always contain original and unique content. If you are simply re-posting information from others, include editorial content or a different spin to the information. Readers do not want to constantly rehash the same information — they are interested in reading new material.
9. Chunky Content
Break content into smaller, readable chunks. Most website visitors will just scan paragraphs for information, and very few will take the time to read all the words contained in a post. Use bulleted lists, or break web copy into paragraphs with bolded sub-topics that appear before the paragraphs.
Writing blog posts is not just about spewing forth content. The best blogs are well thought out, and contain provocative and interesting unique content. Follow the above steps to produce a relevant blog worth reading.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
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