Everyone wants to get ahead of the game, and its common that people have used unscrupulous methods, spam and scams to achieve those ends. I would like to suggest that you don’t have to do those, and all it takes is one thing, the best kept secret in affiliate marketing!
If you realize, affiliate marketing is a simple thing to do. You merely find a hot product in a market, and drive traffic that converts. Your cost of promotion will
turn up to be really a way to help you to make profits. Its just a business expense.
At the end of the day, people who forget the aim of affiliate marketing will get extremely frustrated and confused. Is it really just about putting up Google pay-per-click ads? Or is it about using search engine optimization?
In my opinion, the most obvious secret in affiliate marketing is really the idea of being an affiliate. What does it mean? Affiliating means you create some kind of
relationship with the people you connect with. It describes the closeness that you have with people. After all, if you are using affiliate marketing, isnt it important for you connect with people? So let me ask: do you call your affiliates?
Do you contact people to meet them up face to face?
Sure, there are constraints, but consider the possibilities.
As an affiliate marketer, there are three concrete ways to enhance your relationship with your affiliates.
First, give them a priority call on a regular basis. Once you feel that you have a good fit with your affiliates, call them to let them know how important it is for
you to have a connection with them. Often, teleseminars can be run to develop a positive learning atmosphere with your audience while allowing a guest to come on the call to contribute. If you want to learn about teleseminars, the best person in the industry is probably my friend, Alex Mandossian. You can find him at
Second, understanding what they are able to do, and write about them on a regular basis so as to beef up their credibility in the eyes of your audience. While you might think this is a complete waste of time, its a process known as edification. When you edify a person positively, they gain credibility. It also helps you foster a positive relationship with them. One person I know who talks about this a lot is Matt Morris, the founder and CEO of Success University. You can find out what his business is (hint it has got everything to do with affiliating) at
Third, help plug any gaps they might have. Its always useful to help other people to plug in their gaps, especially if there are problems with some area of their
business. Do it discreetly. Many times, however, a small gesture like this can bring you a very long way.
Tag Archives | Home-based business opportunity
Ways You Can Work From Home Online
Working from home is something a lot of people would love to do and spend lots of time trying to find the perfect way to do it with the least hassle possible. More and more people are discovering they can work from home and finding the right at-home business that works for them. Part time and full-time income vary on how much time you spend with her your business, and for the first few months it will be slow going. For this reason, it is probably smart to keep your current job until the ball gets rolling with your home business enough to replace your other job. So what types of home based businesses can you do?
Surveys: This is a popular form to get a decent income online. You sign up at a site that will send you surveys for market research, let you be in focus groups, and even let you try a product for free so that you can give feedback to the company trying to perfect it for a wide release or in the hope you’ll do business with them later. Phone surveys are common from these companies as well, so be prepared to get a few calls and answer some surveys over the phone. High paying surveys are not always available and a lot of your income will depend on the need for the survey at any given time as well as if you fit the target demographic the company is looking for.
eBay: Or any other popular online auction site like Yahoo’s auctions, ubid.com, and onsale.com. It is well known people make very comfortable incomes doing online auctions full time. Finding what to sell is very important and even the perfect product is subject to swings in the public’s mind of what’s valuable. There are many tools to find what is popular and selling like crazy on eBay. And once you discover what you want to sell there’s companies to buy from to resell on eBay. Often, to avoid having pallets and boxes of product at their home, some marketers will use a Drop shipping company to deliver the product to the winning bidder. Having the inventory at home and using a drop shipper have their advantages and disadvantages, but it will depend a lot on what you chose to sell. Using eBay could be an entire article in itself, so let’s move on as other articles will delve into this more than I will in this article.
Affiliate Marketing: This is big business in the internet world. All it really is is selling someone else’s product and you make a commission on every sale. Some popular websites that use affiliates to sell are Clickbank and Commission Junction. You can be an affiliate to sell virtually anything on the internet. Sizable incomes are made using this approach alone. The most effective way to do this is to have your own website, then send you visitors to the affiliate’s main page to finish the sale. If you are very good at AdWords, you can do this without having a website at all. AdWords can be very expensive to the inexperienced and is NOT recommended if you are starting out.
This should set you in a good direction if you are looking to work at home. There are more ways than this to have a home-based internet business and the more you research what you want to do the more ways you’ll find you can make money online. Don’t give up if it doesn’t start happening immediately. Rome wasn’t built in a day, these things take time.
When Do you decide NOW IS THE TIME to be
When Do you decide NOW IS THE TIME to be my own boss and work from home.
I worked for a major company as an executive for over 20 years. I would work long hours and spend many hours traveling to and from work. I use to think what am I doing I could be working for myself and making money for ME and not for someone else!
I use to make millions of dollars for the company I worked for and through this business I have learnt a lot which I now use to make money for myself.
When do you decide enough is enough and I no longer want to commute backwards and forwards when I could work from HOME in my own business. If I worked from home my workdays would be shorter because I wouldn’t need to travel very far just from one room to another :-), I know that working from home can be difficult but if you do what I do and have a room setup as an office so when you are in there working it is your place of work…Sure the kids can still come in and get you or you could step out to make a coffee and a snack…But the beauty of working from home is that you are there and can manage your day as to how much time you are willing to put into your business.
Many people like me start their home business before they quit their fulltime job, which I might say is a very good way to do it…We all need money from one source or another.
I was so glad when I found the PIPS Program (check out pips.html in resource box) it is such a Great work from home opportunity. It allows you to start either slowly or rapidly your choice. There is the great 30 day training program as well, where you learn everything you need to know about successfully building your internet business.
I believe I have made the right decision to work from home. You see when working from home and on your own schedule you are your own boss and creator of your destiny. Don’t get me wrong IM no slouch I work very hard at working my business to be successful. Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean that it is easier…Sure it is less stressful as there is no one on your back to get things done within a certain timeframe, but I am on my own back to get things done, I set goals.
It is important when you work from HOME for yourself that you have goals, it is so easy to fall into the I cant be bothered doing anything today mode. If you work from home for yourself you need to keep focused and motivated, as the saying goes keep on keeping on….
I think everyone knows when they want to work from home and be their own boss….The time comes when you think that`s it no more!!!….And then and only then will you be committed at building your business….Remember you can start building your business slowly and then when you are earning enough to cover what you are earning in your job then you can say seeya later….IM off to work my OWN HOME BUSINESS
You will know when the time is right for you I hope you are not like me and think about it for ages before you take the plunge…I only wished I did it sooner…
Goodluck in whatever home business you decide to do…..
You’ve Got A Site — Now What?
So, you’ve got a website ready to go and you want to get the word out to either make money on it or promote it so it’s the most popular page of its kind. Now what?
Well, the first thing you should do is double check to make sure the site is as search engine friendly as possible. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Done? Perfect. So, now it’s easy for the search engines to find and categorize it once they do find it. Time to get that website where it can be seen.
One of the most common ways to get a site’s presence known is through Pay-Per-Click campaigns. They will assure you that the most qualified and targeted visitors come to your website. Keep your keyword and phrases as relevant as possible. If you keep your bids low, it can be a profitable campaign when it targets the right audience. Keep track of the keywords people are clicking on to go to your site as well. This can tell you if you’re targeting the right people or if you need to change your ad approach. Yahoo and Google are two very popular websites to do PPC campaigns on. There are numerous articles on the benefits and banes of PPC, and though it’s not the focus on this one, its usefulness to site promotion can’t be simply disregarded.
Posting on forums is another way to promote your site. Do it specifically on forums with a topic relevant to your website. Check the TOS and make sure you can do it there first though. Simply placing your web address in your signature can create clicks through the forum, as well as create backlinks for your site. If the forum has a high Page Rank in Google it will work out even better for you. The main benefit of this is the backlinks your posts create which some search engine “spiders” deem gradually more important as they find your site linked more and more in different places on the internet.
On the idea of linking, reciprocal linking is another way to promote your website. This just means trading links with someone by putting a link on your website to them and they put a link on their website to you. Websites like Link Market and SEO Link Exchange are designed for just this purpose. As long as you keep the sites linking to you and from you relevant to your own site it should be just a matter of time before the search engine spiders find your site. The old-fashioned way of emailing the webmaster of the sites can do it for you as well, but web services like the aforementioned ones, get rid of smaller steps that might make it harder to get linked using simple “Accept”/” Reject” buttons.
I hope this helps get your site to the top of the search engines.
Working at Home-Identify Your Why
There are countless reasons for you to start your own work at home business. I would venture to say that the main reason is to generate income. But what will you use the extra income for? The reasons may include getting out of debt, saving for a child’s college education, buying a home or car, early retirement, overcome insufficient income, or just to improve your lifestyle overall. Whatever the reason, it is important to your success to identify it and stay focused on it. There are several reasons for this.
First off, identifying your why will get you started. I don’t know how many people investigate starting a work at home business but never get started. A strong why will enable you to take that all important first step. If your why is strong enough, you can attain it and you will do what it takes to achieve it.
Secondly, when you identify your why, you have a goal to work towards and a target to aim at. Staying focused on your why enables you to keep going as you are reminded why you are doing all the hard work involved in working at home.
Thirdly, identifying your why will help you get through those days when things look bleak. I can tell you from experience that there are times when you will want to quit. There are many ups and downs when working at home. You will begin to doubt that that this just won’t work. When you stay focused on your why, you are constantly reminded to not give up. In the end it will be worth it.
Fourthly, focusing on your why will enable you to battle the doubters. You know them. They are the people, often close to you, that tell you how foolish your undertaking is. They let you know up front that you are wasting your time. But your why, if you stay focused on it, will help you overcome these dissenters.
Fifthly, identifying your why will help you in making decisions about your business. There have been times when I had a decision to make about my work at home opportunity. Should I spend money on this, should I take the time to do that? My why was always there, enabling me to make a decision that I would not have made had I not had a goal or vision that I was working towards.
Sixthly, your why will cause you to work harder and longer. There may be days when you just don’t feel like working. You would rather sit in front of the TV or go somewhere or just take a nap. Once that why is engrained in your soul, you won’t be able to ignore it. You will spend the necessary time to work at becoming a success with your business. That doesn’t mean that you ignore your family. It does mean that you will use more of your free time to work towards your goal.
Finally, identifying your why will cause you to be a success. If your goal is strong enough, you will succeed. A strong why will cause you to do pretty much whatever it takes to achieve it. There is nothing that will cause you to push forward like a strong why. The question is, “Have you identified yours?”
5 Tips to Ranking Well at Search Engines
Do you have a product or service that you want to sell on the Internet? If so, there are a few fundamental components that you must know. Putting your product or service up for sale is easy. You can find a cheap hosting plan and get a 1-5 page site up within a few hours. But what happens next?
Unfortunately, most businesses will never sell their product successfully on the Internet. Their sites may be flashy, but they are not receiving visitors. To receive an endless supply of free, targeted, leads from the search engines you should consider a few of the 5 tips below.
Tip #1- Provide High Quality Content
Providing content does more than give out generic information. Providing content builds trust between you and your visitor. The more content you give, the bigger the bond. Your content should focus around very specific keywords. Each page on your website should be optimized and focused on one keyword.
Finding keywords is a task in and of itself. I will be the first to admit that hunting down keywords with a high demand and low supply is not the easiest task in the world. It can be boring and repetitive. After awhile the numbers will blend together and you will feel a bit dazed. But do not stop now! Keywords are the foundation for your content pages and for your business.
Tip #2- Find Relevant Linking Partners
The days of trading links with any old site are gone. There was a period in time when search engines counted how many links in you had to your site. They factored that and determined if your site was good or not. So if your site had 300 other sites linking to it, search engines would have probably considered it a better site than one with only 10 incoming links.
Search engines have wised up since those days. Now search engines place more emphasis on relevant links. Your site should only link to other sites that are high quality and relevant. If your site is about cookies then you should not be linking to a site about gambling. It doesn’t make sense for your site visitors, and it doesn’t make sense to the search engines.
When you trade links with a relevant, high quality site be sure you specify where your link should be placed, for how long, and what it should say. I often see people exchange links and within a few days the linking partner has taken down the link. Only do business with trusted webmasters.
Tip #3- Submit Your Site to Site Directories
This is a great way to get high quality and high ranked sites to link to you. Think of a link to your site as a vote of confidence. Site directories are less popular than search engines, but their link to you helps you increase in search engine rankings. Be wary of any site directory that makes you pay for submission. There are plenty of great directories that allow you to submit your site for free.
Getting as specific as possible with site directories is a great idea. If your site is about cookies, you should try to find a site directory that only deals with desserts or foods. General directories are fine, but be sure you submit your site to the appropriate category. General directories tend to have a category for almost any topic.
Some site directories will ask you to link to them first. This is your choice. I do not link or pay to get into any site directory. There are too many free ones that do not require a link back. Remember to place only relevant links on your site. Would your cookie site visitors want to click on a link for a site directory?
Tip #4- Add a Site Map
A site map is a single webpage that contains links to all the other pages on your site. Adding a map will help your visitors find information quickly. Besides being a helpful tool for visitors a site map also helps search engines find pages. When a search engine spider visits your site it crawls through a page. It visits all the links on your page and it checks for keywords. This is why keywords and relevant linking partners are recommended above.
Once the search engine spider finds the site map it will find all of your other pages. Search engine spiders do not like to dig very deep into sites. They like to search through 2 or 3 ‘levels’ of information. So pages that are hard to find will not rank well or they will take much longer to rank well. A site map helps the engines find all your pages at once.
Tip #5- Be Patient and Find Other Means of Traffic
Waiting for the search engines to scour your site and rank it could take a bit of time. I recommend a lot of patience. When I post a new content page on my website, it takes a few weeks to get noticed. Some search engines are fast and rank the page immediately. Others are a bit slower.
While you wait for your pages to rank well I recommend finding alternative ways to drive traffic to your site. You can look into PPC (pay-per-click advertising), article writing, off-line ads, buying ad space in newsletters, doing a joint venture with a fellow webmaster or post in relevant forums.
These 5 tips to ranking well at the search engines are tried and true methods. I have built a site using these 5 tips and can personally attest to their sheer power. Patience is the hardest part. Keep building relevant content, link to relevant partners, submit to site directories, add a site map and then keep going.
Persistence pays off. Building a web business takes time. Your business needs to develop and mature. Using some or all of the above tips can ensure a big payoff down the road.
The Potential Of Affiliate Marketing As A Home Based
The Potential of Affiliate Marketing as A Home-Based Business
With more than 15 million Americans now running Home Based Businesses, what are the benefits, if any, to choosing an Affiliate Marketing Program as a part-time Internet Business!
Affiliate Marketing Programs are a great way for anybody to start a home-based Internet business. They offer a wide range of products and services that can, once you have mastered the skills of driving traffic to your website, make you good money.
Due to its almost unlimited potential, it is now one of the most sought-after ways to make extra income quickly. The most common reason that so many people get started in Affiliate Marketing is because by selling other people’s products you save yourself a lot of the headaches that normally go with starting a business.
The number one benefit for most people is there’s no need for you to invent, produce or stock anything. No need for staff or customer service. All these burdens are taken off your hands by the product or service provider. All you do is promote their products and services on your website. Your only real concern is how to increase your income.
Number two on my list of benefits for Affiliate Marketing is the great variety of products and services at your disposal. To help you with your Affiliate Marketing, there are lots of training materials that will help you enhance your Affiliate Marketing capabilities.
Due to the large number of products and services that are out there in the market place, it is advisable to choose products and services that interest you. This will help you to effectively advertise and promote these products or services. Do not select products that you do not know or are not familiar with. The main reason I say this is because your interest and passion for a product or services will prompt you to be creative.
The most popular benefit of Affiliate Marketing is the small matter of being able to earn money while you do other things like go shopping or while you are sleeping. We all like the idea of making money from doing nothing.
Is it really that easy? Well, the answer to that question is Yes and NO. For you to earn a lot of money, you MUST drive traffic from your website to the providers and this is easier said than done. The most common reason for failure is putting up a website with nothing but Affiliate Links. Lets think about this. Why would anyone come to your website? How would they find your website? The most popular sites on the Internet are those with content, things people can read. What do we really use the Internet for Research. On the Internet today, CONTENT IS KING and with so many subjects to talk about, it should be easy to fill your website with content that people will want to read.
Choosing subjects that interest you will help you keep the site interesting. You can always tell when someone has a real passion for the subject they are talking about. Not everyone will agree with your point of view and that’s OK too. Anything that keeps them coming to your website will help you make sales from the products and services you promote.
TOP 5 Reasons WHY Affiliate Marketing Is The Quickest Way
TOP 5 Reasons WHY Affiliate Marketing Is The Quickest Way To Get Started Online
Looking to start a home-based business online for some extra $Cash$ and are looking for ideas on How-To get started as quickly as possible with as little or NO startup costs?
Well… let me share with you my idea on how ‘Anyone’ can get started online within the next 24 hours without a website or product of their own.
Are you ready?
The quickest way ‘Anyone’ can get started online is by becoming an – Affiliate Marketer.
What is a Affiliate Marketer you ask? The answers simple. You simply market other peoples’ products for a cut(usually between 30-70% commission on every sale made by you).
That’s as easy as a definition gets, so I hope you get the picture.
Now that you understand what the quickest way to get started online is it’s now time for me to explain to you the “TOP 5 Reasons WHY” this is the answer.
Reason #1. NO Domain Costs.
The beautiful thing about being an affiliate is they supply you with a unique Domain with your affiliate ID for you to promote. Though some affiliate domains are quite ugly, the fact remains that you don’t have to worry about paying to register any domains to get started with your promotions.
There are advanced affiliate marketing techniques using domains, but I won’t get into that here.
Reason #2. NO Hosting Costs.
By being an affiliate, you don’t have to worry about web hosting because once you sign up as an affiliate you get your own unique URL which simply redirects your potential customer to the main affiliate website.
Again there are advanced affiliate marketing techniques that require hosting but that’s a whole other article in itself.
Reason #3. NO Product to worry about creating.
Once again, the advantage to being an affiliate is that you don’t have to worry about creating your own product. That’s why you became an affiliate in the first place.
Reason #4. NO Website or Sales letter to create.
Creating a profitable Website and Sales letter can be quite the costly task especially when it comes to your sales letter.
By being a affiliate you can choose a good converting affiliate product and not have to worry about all the Trial and Error and testing involved when setting up a direct response website.
Reason #5. NO Refunds to deal with.
This again is another benefit to being an affiliate and that is you don’t have to worry about dealing with any refunds from customers who are unhappy with their purchase.
The less headaches you have to worry about the better.
Well, that’s it. Those are my “TOP 5 Reasons WHY”.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t start your own website, I’m simply sharing with you the quickest way to get started online.
You definitely will want to set up your own website once you feel comfortable with what you want to do online as your own business.
Affiliate marketing is just a EASY way to get in the game and see how things are done online.
Well, I truly hope you see the benefits to being an affiliate marketer and see my point as to WHY getting started online as an affiliate marketer is the most cost effective and cautious way to start your online home-based business.
Work From Home – Affiliate Programs
With the high costs today it’s a necessity for many families to have two incomes. If you’re in such a situation, you might want to consider the possibility of being a work at home parent. The decision to work from home may come swiftly for you once you see how much it costs you to hold your present job.
So you have a $25,000 to $50,000 a year salary; but, after expenses, how much do you have left in spendable income? Sit down and figure out how much it costs you for gasoline, car repairs, added car insurance, work clothes and accessories, child care, fast food dinners, and any other work related expense. Now if you were to work at home and make the same yearly salary, the amount you just added up as expenses in your present job, could be added as spendable income for your family.
You could actually improve your family lifestyle with a work at home career. Not only would have additional money to spend on what’s really important, your family; but, also have more time as you wouldn’t have that daily commute. There is a way to become independent and that is to earn money online.
There are millions of people doing just that each and every day. With the numerous affiliate programs offered, it’s never been easier for new entrepreneurs to take the plunge and start their own home business. With affiliate marketing you can be a part of a multimillion dollar company and advertise their product from the comfort of your own home.
There’s tons of information at your finger tips right now, that could enable you to work from home. If you start out small at a minimal cost and slowly build your business, you may find that special niche that will afford you to someday, quit your day job. I’m sure your family will thank you in the end.
Lead Generation Machine – Turn Your Site Into One
Everyone builds a web site thinking it will be the next big thing. Heres how to really turn your web site into a lead generation machine.
Lead Generation Machine
With a few simple steps, you can turn your web site into a lead generation machine. Grab the attention of your audience, direct your audience, get feedback, keep track, optimize follow-up efficiency and market. Here’s how:
Hook
Get your audience interested in what you have to offer. Make it exciting with catchy copy and compelling graphics. Project professionalism and let you potential customer know how much better off they will be with your product or service. Do this as soon as possible on the entry page.
Direct
Tell your audience what to do. If you tell your audience what to do and you have created the impression of authority, they are likely to follow your advice. Tell your audience to buy your product or, if it is a service you sell, fill out an information request form.
Form
Use your information request form to grab essential information about your potential client. Use an online form to find out exactly what your potential client wants. Use tracking tools to see where the lead originated from, such as what search engine and keyword phrase.
Database
The information from the form should be inserted into a database for easy searching, scheduling and record keeping. Having a good data base system is essential for the next step.
Follow up
Follow up with your potential clients, using your database to schedule events and send marketing material. Stay in front of your clients with an email newsletter and friendly calls scheduled through out the year. You want your potential client to remember who you are, so they think of your company when it comes time to make a purchase.
Marketing
Use search engines, advertisements, television, radio, magazines, billboards, word of mouth, web ads and anything else you can to bring people to your site. If there are no people coming to your site, the best lead generation tools in the world won’t help you get new clients.
Web sites can be very effective lead generation machines. Put some thought into yours and you should benefit.
