It’s really not a matter of one or the other. If you want to maximize your online income, you're going to do both. There is absolutely no way you can personally offer your target market everything they're going to buy...so you definitely want to include affiliate links, even if you sell your own products.
As one of my favorite Internet marketing teachers, John Reese, says - People are going to buy from your commission no matter what you do. You may as well make some money doing it.
Having your own products often allows you a higher profit margin and you'll be building your own list of customers that will buy from you over and over again. But sticking with your own products can be limiting.
Let's say you're writing an ecourse about getting a better night's sleep and you have an ebook on the topic. Obviously, you'll promote your ebook in the course, but there are other products you can recommend too. Perhaps some more comfortable pillows, eye masks or even a special herbal tea that encourages a more restful sleep. The possibilities are endless if you open your business up to promoting all the products your target market needs and desires.
Alice Seba is an online entrepreneur that has been earning a full-time income from affiliate programs since 2003. She thrives on helping people get ahead in their Internet businesses. If you’d like tips to help you increase your affiliate income, sign up for free here: http://www.ezaffiliateprofits.net/tips.html
Friday, March 21, 2008
Should I Get into Affiliate Marketing or Sell My Own Products?
Which Affiliate Programs are Best?
Which Affiliate Programs are Best?
This is one of the questions I am asked most frequently about affiliate marketing for certain.
I believe searching for the best product to promote is doing things completely backward. Yes, you can get recommendations from friends on products that sell well for them - but it all comes back to your target market and what they want.
The key to success in affiliate marketing is relevancy. If your target market is women over 65 interested in reducing wrinkles - you probably shouldn't be bombarding them with satellite offers, even if your friend says satellites sell great!
If you want to make your projects work for the longterm, you need to start by finding a target market and deliver great information to them, establish your expertise and make sure you give them all kinds of irresistible offers. After all, it's people who are going to buy your products - get to know them and exactly what they want before you try to sell to them.
Alice Seba is an online entrepreneur that has been earning a full-time income from affiliate programs since 2003. She thrives on helping people get ahead in their Internet businesses. If you’d like tips to help you increase your affiliate income, sign up for free here: http://www.ezaffiliateprofits.net/tips.html
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Using Articles For Viral Marketing
Using Articles For Viral Marketing
By Paul Majestyck
Viral marketing methods are used today for one good reason – they work. There are many different techniques that you can use, but it tends to be better to focus on one strategy at a time and work at it until you get the results you want. If you are already into ‘bum’ or article marketing, a great strategy is to turn your articles into a viral marketing report or eBook.
As you have already written the articles, it requires very little work on your part to develop something that will bring in traffic (and sales) for years to come. Compiling the articles into a single document is relatively easy although you may need to do some work in re-branding and making it aesthetically pleasing. In addition, there may be some effort required in adding viral elements. Many authors are not so subtle and put in blatant advertisements. You may get more success by adding some value to the reader and disguising the marketing component. A popular technique is to add a review of several products in the particular niche. You will need to include your own affiliate links, but to make them less obvious you should consider cloaking them.
Distribution can be done in many ways. If the resulting publication is of high quality you could consider selling it. In order to make it viral you would need to include reprint rights. Not only do you get sales from the book (which is practically written already), you get others spreading it around on your behalf.
If you really want the material to spread you should consider giving it away and encourage others to do the same (with the proviso that the material is not changed in any way). You can advertise your giveaway in forums and in list emails. One area that can be very useful but is often neglected is on the download page of any related products you sell. People love to be provided with unadvertised bonuses. Because it is on the download page, it is seen as a part of the actual order and most people will download it.
A viral marketing campaign costs a lot less to implement than traditional advertising. It needs to be remembered that viral marketing is just one component of your marketing repertoire. It should be linked with other strategies such as setting up squeeze pages to collect opt-ins. When combined with other essential business building strategies it can help to generate traffic to your web site, build a huge and solid customer base, add to your sales and contribute towards your success.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Email Deliverability Tips
Email Deliverability Tips
by: Tom Kulzer]
Ensuring requested opt-in email is delivered to subscriber inboxes is an increasingly difficult battle in the age of spam filtering. Open and click thru response rates can be dramatically affected by as much as 20-30% due to incorrect spam filter classification.
Permission
Confirming that the people who ask for your information have actually requested to be on your list is the number one step in the battle for deliverability. You should be using a process called confirmed opt-in or verified opt-in to send a unique link to the attempted subscriber when they request information. Before adding the person to your list they must click that unique link verifying that they are indeed the same person that owns the email address and requested to subscribe.
Subscriber Addresses
When requesting website visitors to opt-in ask for their "real" or "primary" email address instead of a free email address like Yahoo or Hotmail. Free emails tend to be throw away accounts and typically have a shorter lifetime than a primary ISP address.
List Maintenance
Always promptly remove undeliverable addresses that bounce when sending email to them. An address that bounces with a permanent error 2-3 times in a 30 day period should be removed from the list. ISP's track what percentage of your newsletters bounce and will block them if you attempt to continually deliver messages to closed subscriber mailboxes.
Message Format
Usage of HTML messages to allow for text formatting, multiple columns, images, and brand recognition is growing in popularity and is widely supported by most email client software. Most spam is also HTML formatted and thus differentiating between requested email and spam HTML messages can be difficult. A 2004 study by AWeber .com shows that plain text messages are undeliverable 1.15% of the time and HTML only messages were undeliverable 2.3%. If sending HTML it is important to always send a plain text alternative message, also called text/HTML multi-part mime format.
Content
Many ISP's filter based on the content that appears within the message text.
Website URL:
Research potential newsletter advertisers before allowing them to place ads in your newsletter issues. If they have used their website URL to send spam, just having their URL appear in your newsletter could cause the entire message to be filtered.
Words/phrases:
Choose your language carefully when crafting messages. Avoid hot button topics often found in spam such as medication, mortgages, making money, and pornography. If you do need to use words that might be filtered, don't attempt to obfuscate words with extra characters or odd spelling, you'll just make your messages appear more spam like.
Images:
Avoid creating messages that are entirely images. Use images sparingly, if at all. Commonly used open rate tracking technology uses images to calculate opens. You may choose to disable open rate tracking to avoid being filtered based on image content.
Attachments:
With viruses running rampant and spreading thru the usage of malicious email attachments many users are wary of attached documents. It's often better to link to files via a website URL to reduce recipient fear of attachments and reduce the overall message size.
CAN-SPAM Compliance
The January 2004 Federal CAN-SPAM law introduced a number of rules regarding the delivery of email. It's important you have your legal counsel review your practices and ensure you are in compliance. The two most important rules include having a valid postal mail address listed in all commercial messages and a working unsubscribe link that is promptly honored to remove the subscriber from future messages.
Reputation
Reputation services are often used by large ISP's as a way to vet email senders regarding their email practices and policies. Businesses listed with these services are then given less stringent filtering or no filtering at all. Several reputation services are:
http://www.isipp.com/iadb.php
http://www.bondedsender.com
http://www.habeas.com
Relationships & Whitelisting
Contact with major ISP's and email providers is essential in letting them know about your requested subscriber email. Many large providers such as AOL and Yahoo have specific whitelisting programs and postmaster website areas to ensure your email is delivered as long as you meet their policies and procedures in handling your opt-in list.
Email deliverability is about ensuring requested opt-in email is delivered to the intended recipient. While no single tip will enable you to get 100% of your email delivered each one utilized as a group can go a long way to reaching that goal.
Tom Kulzer, CEO and Founder of Newtown, PA based AWeber Communications, Inc. an opt-in email service provider. With 7 years managing opt-in follow up and newsletters for small businesses, email deliverability is an integral part of day to day operations. Learn more about AWeber email marketing and email deliverability tracking at DeliveryMonitor.com
Meat and Potatoes for Your Affiliate Diet
Meat and Potatoes for Your Affiliate Diet
By: Beka Ruse
Think of banner ads as the spice in your affiliate diet. Sprinkle them around, but for a heartier helping of sales, you'll need something more solid! Learn to give your visitors longer, more descriptive pre-sales text. Revamp your affiliate advertising using these simple steps:
Pull the Reader in
Introduce the Product
Explain the Product's Significance
Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase
Pull the Reader in
To convince your audience that your text is worth reading, make your first sentence or two very interesting. Make a bold statement, say something seemingly ridiculous, or appeal to your prospect's emotional side. Then, tie this grabber in with the rest of your copy.
Introduce the Product
What is the product you're advertising? What does it do? Directly after your grabber, give a compact explanation of your product. Keep this explanation short, while still being very clear. This should still be a very short section of your text.
Explain the Product's Significance
What will it do for me?
By writing your own copy, you can directly target your unique audience. Make the most of this opportunity! Clearly explain how your readers will benefit from this product.
No one knows your audience like you do. Suggest a variety of product uses just for them, and give examples. This is the time for details - make this section long and rich.
Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase
You've come so far - you've laid out exactly what the product is and how it will help your unique audience. Now, seal the deal - tell your readers to purchase the product! Include your affiliate link in this section.
This step may sound strange, but it's necessary. Often, people hear about a product and are genuinely interested, but fail to actually make a purchase. A clear call to a simple action cuts down on buyer ambivalence. Don't be pushy - just change your verb tenses to the imperative. Instead of:
"If you think that you fit this profile, you might want to think about buying this product."
Say: "Click here to order an account today."
Drive Sales - Use Long Copy
If you don't feel ready to write long copy yourself, ask your affiliate program manager for help! Many companies release well-written articles by respected authors that you can reprint free of charge.
The novelty of the Web is wearing off. People online now are busy. Surfers won't make a purchase unless you make a great case for what they'll get out of it. And you're not going to do that with just a banner ad.
Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy. Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber
Autoresponders = Automatic Internet Marketing Success
Autoresponders = Automatic Internet Marketing Success
By Paul Majestyck
http://www.enetmall.net
What if you could send out all the information that your potential customers have requested without checking your email or answering a phone? While this may seem impossible, it is becoming more and more popular among the most successful Internet marketing gurus. This is all due to what is called an autoresponder. An autoresponder is an automatic method of responding to emails sent by existing or potential customers and is a must for any Internet business. Time is money and answering emails personally take a lot of valuable time for both you and the customer. Not only do autorespnders allow you to spend the time elsewhere in your business, but it gives the customer access to the information almost immediately.
Since there are so many different uses for autoresponders, they can be of value to virtually any type of business. Some choose to use the autoresponders to answer frequently asked questions about a product or service. Others use them to provide information about pricing or product information. Autoresponders are also a nice way to welcome new members to a website or group as well as thank them after a visit.
One might ask what would be the advantage of using autoresponders as opposed to simply listing the information on the site. An important feature of autoresponders is that they send you an email notification each time a response is sent out. This allows you to track the success of your promotions as well as have the email addresses of potential customers at your fingertips so that you can easily send out updated and new information to them.
It is of the utmost importance to choose an effective autoresponder. An autoresponder should be as personal as possible and send out follow-ups to potential customers since it has been proven that persistence pays off. It could take up to seven contacts before a final sale is conducted. Generally speaking an advertisement should be short and to the point. However, in this case, the customer has asked to see this specific information and therefore an effective autoresponder should allow you to place as much text on the page as you desire. The autoresponder that you choose should provide automatic updates to customers free of charge.
The autoresponder is one Internet marketing tool that will not cost you an arm and a leg. You can get free autoresponders online from several sources. The automatic responses will be a welcome addition to your marketing strategy and will help to automatically increase traffic to your site all while you do nothing. Be sure that the one you choose includes all the extras that will send your site to the top and your profits through the roof.
Golden Rules For the Use of Autoresponders
Golden Rules For the Use of Autoresponders
By Paul Majestyck
http://www.enetmall.net
Autoresponders are a perfect way to increase traffic to your site. They can save many valuable hours by automatically answering emails concerning frequently asked questions about a service or product or by sending a welcome letter to new members of your program. There are many ways that autoresponders can help your business. One of the most important is their ability to track the effectiveness of your promotions. Since autoresponders are one of the most popular marketing tools available today, they are being used by a lot of different kinds of business and websites. Some of these take advantage of the system to use the autoresponders in a negative manner. You should be aware of some of the "Golden Rules" when using autoresponders.
Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder Address When Submitting to Search Engines.
Since you will most likely submit your site to search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, directories, classifieds, and free for all sites, you should be made aware of the fact that these sites commonly use an autoresponder as well. If you were to use your autoresponder to contact these companies, their autoresponder will reply to yours and so on and so on. Thus creating a cycle of autoresponses that will flood your email box and theirs as well.
Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Subscribe to Ezines or Discussion Forums.
Since most of the time an Ezine will send you updates and new information regularly, your auto responder will send them a message each time. In a discussion forum, every person in the discussion forum will receive your auto response. This can be irritating and most of the time you will be unsubscribed. It is often hard for the administrators of the forum or ezine to determine who is using the autoresponse and therefore it is simply common courtesy to never use an autoresponer in this manner.
Thou Shalt Not Use an Autoresponder to Take Advantage Of Unsuspecting Individuals.
Some very unprofessional companies will use autoresponders to respond to an automated message when this is done the address in the "from" field will be automatically subscribed to their mailing list. This is a extremely unethical use of autoresponders and those who do it are in jeopardy of creating a very negative image of themselves and their company. Rather than promote their service or business, this usually leads to people becoming very upset and spreading a negative word about your company rather than a good one.
The Internet can be a great place to do business and autoresponders can be an excellent way to save time, however when used in an unprofessional way, they can lead to frustration and aggravation for others. Your company will suffer the loss of much business if you choose to participate in these abusive practices. The appropriate use of auto responders can generate a large amount of business, while inappropriate use can drive away that business.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Helpdesk Tracking Software - The Need Of Every Business
Click Here For Free Info On Helpdesk Tracking Software
More and more companies are realizing the benefits of helpdesk tracking software. Every business knows how important it is to address customers’ issues on time. Help desk software lets them do this effectively and quickly. It helps them create a loyal customer base. It is also important to have help desk software because chances are your competitors already have one.
Trouble Ticket
Helpdesk tracking software is a very effective tool that lets you effectively manage customers’ issues. For every complaint or query raised by a customer, the software generates a customer trouble ticket. The software comes with a ticket tracking program. This lets you prioritize and manage all incoming and outgoing responses for every trouble ticket. Moreover, technical staff and customers can check the status of the concerned query whenever they want. Obviously the ticket tracking program is a very effective tool in managing customer issues.
Ticket Categorization
The benefits of helpdesk tracking software do not stop here. The software also comes with a ticket categorization feature. This allows the technical staff to organize incoming queries on the basis of category, priority and channel. Now your technical staff does not have to spend hours going through each and every email and then send each and every email to the concerned department. With the ticket categorization feature, the software first categorizes the ticket and then sends it to the concerned department. This leaves your staff with more time which they can use to address more tickets or other productive matters.....read more
Getting The Best Help Desk Software
Click Here For Free Info On How To Get The Best Help Desk Software
The best help desk software can spell the difference between profit and loss. Many small businesses use this product to cut costs and improve efficiency. You need not worry about data indexing, logging, assigning calls anymore. The program does it for you. You can also customize the software according to your needs. The right product will help streamline operations. The most common queries can be answered through automated process, leaving the staff free for other tasks.
Repetitive Tasks
An automated process can do wonders for tasks of a repetitive nature. While humans can get tired of the same task and start making mistakes, an automated program will do exactly what it is set to do. Once you put the system on the job, you can go and finish other tasks. This is one of the biggest benefits of the best help desk software.
Speed
When an irate customer wants a refund, you cannot afford to make her wait. If there is a query regarding a product, you need to reply immediately or the customer may go to your competitor. You may have a thousand jobs to do; you cannot find time to respond. Alternatively, you cannot afford the services of a call center. The best help desk software is like a call center staff by itself. It helps you sort data, go through call lists, send emails, escalate the email to the person concerned. In addition, all this is done in lesser time than the staff can do it....read more
Hiring Outsourcing Companies For Search Engine Optimization Services
Click Here For Free Info On How To Hire Outsourcing Companies?
As more and more people are now getting involved in some type of online business, hundreds of outsourcing companies have merged on the World Wide Web that offer promising services in search engine optimization. If you are running some kind of online business, your website or blog is perhaps the main key. The success of your venture depends on how popular is your website. The popularity depends on the number of web traffic it attracts. And, this is where effective search engine optimization comes into action. However, before you hire the services of such outsourcing companies, there are several important things that you need to take into your careful consideration. There are lots of inquiries that need to be resolved before you step ahead and hire them. This is important because they are going to charge you a substantial amount for their services, and you should make sure that the services you will be getting are worth that amount of investment.....read more
